Shuttle XPC SN27P2 (Socket AM2)

SN27P2 Interior Part 1

SN27P2 Interior Part 1

The overall design and placement of components like drive bays and the 350W SilentX power supply remain essentially unchanged from the older 'P' chassis but there has been a fundamental change in the approach to the installation process. To put it simply, screws are back. Maybe we were mistaken but modern casings usually opt for the tool-free approach if possible nowadays, especially the more expensive ones. Shuttle has generally gone the tool-free route in the past but it seems that they have changed their minds.

All the drives and their cages are secured by screws and not the tool- free drive rails that we have seen before. This meant extra work for the screwdriver, though to be fair, it was not that much of a chore. It helped that the interior of the casing has ample space after we removed all the drive cages. We did encounter a fair bit of trouble for installing the optical drive though. As you should know, the external drive bays on the SN27P2 are stealth'ed. So it took us quite a while to align the eject button on the drive properly with the eject mechanism on the exterior. The length of each optical drive differ too, so you may need to adjust a few times to get the right screw hole for your particular optical drive.

Fortunately, while the return to screws was rather disconcerting, so used are we to Shuttle's tool-free designs, the company's excellent cable management is still present. All the cables have been aligned, twisted, routed, positioned and tied so neatly so that users basically just need to grab the nearest power or SATA connector and they would be the right ones to use. There are hardly any messy cables, which is good, as they tend to trap heat when clustered together.