Shuttle Comes with First Broadwell-based Fanless PC

[btarunr]

Following the introduction of the XH97V and SH97R6 barebone PC models that have been prepared for the fifth generation of Intel Core processors, Shuttle today introduces a new member to the product family - the DS57U. This is the company's first barebone PC with a built-in Broadwell processor. As a successor to the DS47 and DS437 models, the DS57U also belongs to the 1 litre PC class. The DS57U is delivered as a barebone PC and includes the case, motherboard, cooling system and power supply unit as its core components as standard.

The system is powered by a pre-installed Intel Celeron 3205U dual-core processor (2x 1.5 GHz), which also is part of the delivery. The 14-nm architecture and power consumption of less than 15 W promise low energy costs together with improved performance. The completely fanless DS57U not only works remarkably quietly, it is almost maintenance-free, as the passive cooling ensures that no dust is sucked into the machine.



Once the two screws on both covers of the steel case are undone, space for one 2.5" hard drive or SSD drive and two SO-DIMM sockets with a capacity for up to 16 GB of DDR3L memory comes to light. One Mini-PCI Express slot (full-size) is available for additional expansions, e.g. an mSATA module. A second Mini-PCI Express slot (half-size) comes already fitted with a WLAN module.

With its ultra-slim dimensions of 20 x 3.95 x 16.5 cm (DWH), the DS57U as the first Shuttle barebone sports two Intel Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. Plus, 2x USB 3.0, 1x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI and audio ports can be found. Also at the rear side of the machine sits a multi-pin connector for remote power-on (e.g. in the case of fixed installation in an awkward position). The front panel unveils a card reader, four USB 2.0 ports and two RS-232 interfaces for connecting peripheral devices.

"We are delighted to expand our product family with the DS57U, which adds the latest Intel processor generation to our portfolio. We see the DS57U as a versatile PC platform, which can in principle be used wherever efficiency, quietness and longevity are required. For Shuttle, this also means a further step in the direction of vertical markets where precisely these features are in demand," says Tom Seiffert, Head of Marketing & PR at Shuttle Computer Handels GmbH.

The DS57U can be operated in various positions, e.g. upright or mounted on suitable surfaces or monitors with the supplied VESA mount.

The recommended retail price for the Shuttle Barebone DS57U is EUR 192.00 (ex VAT). The machine launched with this press release is available from specialist retailers Europe-wide as of now.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Uplink10]

They could use stronger CPU, 2C 1.5 GHz is not strong enough.

 

[cheesy999]

They could use stronger CPU, 2C 1.5 GHz is not strong enough.

Probably not meant to be a high end gaming platform if I'm honest

 

[Ja.KooLit]

Probably not meant to be a high end gaming platform if I'm honest

yes this. The purpose of this computer is for office stuff. more like opening documents and browsing web and so on. Where it doesnt need a high performance CPU.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

yes this. The purpose of this computer is for office stuff. more like opening documents and browsing web and so on. Where it doesnt need a high performance CPU.

Entirely right.

I have loved Shuttles ever since i had my first one, they sit on a shelf and do everything an office might need.

I fitted a gaming gpu in one for my daughter but i had to cut a hole in the case so the fan could get some air.

 

[64K]

You don't need much to run MS Office and internet browsing. We have some people at work that are still using an 8 year old Dell Optiplex with a dual core Pentium D and 1 GB of RAM. One lady was trying to stick with an even older Dell with Windows 98 because she couldn't learn new tech easily but they finally made her stop using it a couple of years ago and take a new PC.

 

[rruff]

The system is powered by a pre-installed Intel Celeron 3205U dual-core processor (2x 1.5 GHz), which also is part of the delivery. The 14-nm architecture and power consumption of less than 15 W promise low energy costs together with improved performance.

You can get a 10W 2.0 GHz quad core in the J1900. How is this an improvement?

 

[ty_ger]

You can get a 10W 2.0 GHz quad core in the J1900. How is this an improvement?

Apples to Apples my friend.

The number of cores and number of GHz means nothing on its own. You are comparing a 2013 processor to a 2015 processor. They have different architecture and different amounts of optimization.

 

[rruff]

So will new Celeron actually do more with half the cores and 75% of the processor speed? I'm skeptical but can't find any benchmarks yet.

 

[cheesy999]

Probably won't be out right faster in multithreaded situations but it's going to have several times the graphics peformance

 

[Aquinus]

Probably won't be out right faster in multithreaded situations but it's going to have several times the graphics peformance

Also consider that the maximum power envelop of this CPU is also adjustable by the vendor where the J1900 is rather stuck where it is. Lets keep everything in perspective. Also the J1900 is an SoC, the Celeron is not. The Celeron can run faster memory and supports more, the graphics on the Celeron is faster, the Celeron has more PCI-E lanes (12) versus the J1900 (4). I also suspect that the Celeron supports a bit more than the old and lowly SoC as it's not even an SoC and has a real PCH iirc. Lastly, the Celeron actually has VT-d and supports higher density DIMMs. So performance aside, the Celeron offers quite a bit more.

 

[Uplink10]

@Aquinus
J1900 is still better option because Intel Celeron 3205U has not enough processing power for all these additional features that J1900 lacks. VT-d is great but in this case and with this performance you won`t need it.

 

[Aquinus]

J1900 is still better option because Intel Celeron 3205U has not enough processing power for all these additional features that J1900 lacks.

...and where is this proof that the J1900 is faster? Now for multi-threaded situations where the CPU is fully taxed on all cores, sure. However, there are a couple thing I think you're missing with respect to architectural changes.

IMC-level memory sub-systems!

1. Size of the L1 Cache.
   • The J1900 has 224KB of L1 cache (128KB code, 96KB data).
   • The 3205U has 128KB of L1 (64KB for code and data).
2. Size of the L2 Cache.
   • The J1900 has 2MB of L2 Cache.
   • The 3205U has 512KB of L2 Cache.
3. Size of the L3 Cache.
   • The J1900 does not have a L3 cache.
   • The 3205U has a 2MB L3 cache.
4. External memory interface (DDR3)
   1. J1900 supports DDR3-1333.
   2. 3205U supports DDR3-1600.

Arguments for the J1900: It has a larger L1 cache, so instructions will hit more often than a smaller cache. Being the fastest level of cache, it's important to have enough of it without "missing" the cache too often. The same deal with the L2 cache, which is something AMD went heavy on as well so make up for caching hit/miss ratios on memory accesses. The drawback is the larger you make the cache level, the more latency will get introduced because of the size of the SRAM array.
Arguments for the 3205U: It has a smaller L1 cache which could be a bad thing, but that depends a lot more on the rest of the memory hierarchy. The big thing with this CPU is that it has 3 levels of cache where the smaller (and most likely faster as a result) L2 cache on the 3205U make up for latency where the L3 makes up for the amount of cache. So while without seeing a real benchmark, I could see the 3205U gaining some IPC headway over the J1900 as a result of the differences in the caching hierarchy and faster external memory.

Now, this isn't to say the 3205U is faster than the J1900, but it adds an interesting dynamic.

VT-d is great but in this case and with this performance you won`t need it.

Do you even know what VT-d is used for? You don't necessarily need a faster server or workstation to use VT-d in a way that's advantageous. You just need an application where you want a VM to have hardware level access to a device. Considering VT-d removes emulation overhead by using a real physical device on the host instead of faking one, I would make the argument that is improves performance by needing to do less work. So while you may be right that the J1900 might be faster, it doesn't change the fact that the 3205U is loaded with features and some very interesting architectural changes.

I also suspect that the 3205U uses a lot less power at idle and when decoding video as well, but until we get some benchmarks, it's all just speculation.

 

[Uplink10]

How "many" VMs can you have with 2 cores clocked at 1.5 GHz which will use VT-d? You do not have any PCI Express slots as desktop motherboards do, where you can put in PCI Express card and give VM direct acces to this card. You have Mini-PCI Express slot but you can`t put in it standard PCI Express cards.

I think this is not meant for heavier virtualization where you would require VT-d but still it is nice they included it. They should have included vPro technology which should be a must on every motherboard, how many times did you screw up something in OS and wanted to reinstall it but you did not have physical acces?

Also 3205U probably runs cooler than J1900 and as you mentioned SOC is slower than normal CPUs with chipset on motherboard. I have i3 3110M (2 cores 2.4 GHz, HT) which should be faster than J1900 in benchmarks.

 

[Aquinus]

How "many" VMs can you have with 2 cores clocked at 1.5 GHz which will use VT-d? You do not have any PCI Express slots as desktop motherboards do, where you can put in PCI Express card and give VM direct acces to this card. You have Mini-PCI Express slot but you can`t put in it standard PCI Express cards.

That depends on what you're doing. A VM acting as a gateway wouldn't need a full cores worth of resources and passing through the integrated LAN for the external connection would be a reason to use VT-d, you can also pass through USB devices, so there are a lot of possibilities. The question would be, what will this box be doing, because you have a gateway vm and a nas VM running on the same box. You would want to pass through at least one network device for the gateway to minimize latency leaving the network, but you need to bridge both VMs to the second physical port for the opposite end of the network. As for the NAS, passing through physical drives is like using the drives on the host; it's just as fast.

So all in all, there are a lot of applications that don't need even two full cores at 1.5Ghz and there are plenty of things that can share those cores without an issue. The simple fact is also that using VT-d could reduce CPU overhead for virtualization, that's why it's important for people who might consider doing what I suggested. I'm just saying, it really comes down to what you plan on using it for, but to say you should just get a J1900 hands down doesn't make a whole lot of sense without figuring out what the machine will be doing.