Outside

As has already been mentioned, the SZ170R8 uses the R8 chassis, which, like its predecessors, features a black-brushed finish (hair-line finish). There is a significant difference in design, though, as there is no door for an optical drive since the SZ170R8 doesn't support one. The lack of an optical drive won't pose much a problem since ODDs are rarely used in systems nowadays. Most users prefer portable storage devices like flash drives or external HDDs instead of having to mess around with optical media, which is slow, bulky, and limited in terms of storage space when compared to other solutions.


There is a door at the bottom of the front. Opening it reveals various I/O ports, including two USB 3.0 and line-out and mic-in ports.


Compared to the R6 chassis, which we evaluated in the SH87R6 review, the ventilation grilles on the sides are much larger.


The chassis has four plastic feet on its bottom, which keep it in place nicely so long as it is placed on a smooth, even surface.


Around the back are the PSU's small fan, which is pretty quiet, the fan of the ICE cooling system, and most I/O ports. The PSU unfortunately doesn't have an on/off switch, which is a great shame since such a switch has proven to be of use to me in many different situations. The mainboard features a lot of I/O ports. These include two DisplayPorts and an HDMI output, six USB 3.0 ports, an eSATA and Ethernet port, and audio-in and out sockets. There is also a Clear CMOS switch should you want to reset the BIOS. The PCIe slots also don't use a tool-less mechanism.

Inside

We removed the side- and top cover for a quick internal look. The drive cage is held in place by two screws, and you have to completely remove the cage to install the drives. The whole procedure is easy, but Shuttle unfortunately didn't provide an SSD adapter (3.5" to 2.5") in their bundle, so you have to spend some money on this optional component for up to two SSDs to be installed into a 3.5" bay.


The I.C.E 2 cooling system's heatsink has four heatpipes to it and isn't very large. It secures to the socket with the same pins as Intel's standard cooler, which aren't our favorite choice.


As you can see, most cables are pre-installed and connected, which reduces the time and effort a user has to devote to setting up the system.


There are a PCI-E X16 and a smaller PCI-E X4 slot. The latter can be used by a PCIe SSD or sound card.


The mainboard features four SATA 3 connectors, which is enough to cover most needs. There are also a mini-PCIe and an M.2 slot on the mainboard. The M.2 slot can hold 2280 sized modules while the mini-PCIE slot is compatible with short cards only.


A heatsink cools down the FETs the CPU's power circuit utilizes. There are seven power phases in total. The filtering polymer caps are provided by Apaq, a Taiwanese company.


The PSU has a capacity of 500 W and is 80 PLUS Silver certified. Its model number is PC6311005. It features three +12V rails, and its capacity is adequate since the SZ170R8 can only take a single graphics card.