Shuttle's HOT687

 The Hot-687
Shuttle's Lean Mean BX Mobo

Ok, with 3 Shuttle reviews on the books here at HotHardware, two of the socket 370 variety, the latest 370 board weighs in at a svelte (I actually looked the word up) Micro ATX weight. Our test unit lacked the hardware monitoring chip (available as an option) that lets you keep tabs on cpu/system temp, fan speed etc... But hey, so you have a choice. This board did not give up the overclockage easy but with some help we got the goods. Read on for the um... skinny on our latest board from Shuttle.

PROCESSOR

• · PPGA Celeron 300 ~ 500MHz
• · 66/75/83/100/103/112/124/133/140/150 MHz System Bus
• · Clock Multiplier 2.0/2.5 ...... / 8x

  
  CHIPSET

• · Intel 440BX AGPset
• · Winbond 83977 I/O Controller

  
  DRAM

• · 3 Dimm (normal or PC 100); Max 768MB
• · Configurable Support for EC(Error Checking) and ECC(Error Checking and Correcting)

  
  EXPANSION SLOTS

• · 3 32-bit PCI bus slots
• · 1 16-bit ISA bus slot
• · 1 32-bit AGP slot

  
  AUDIO

• · ForteMedia FM801
• · Proprietary Logic for Read DOS games support
• · Optional Qsound HSP dynamic 3-D positional audio support
• · S/PDIF (Sony Philips Data Interface Format) Output
• · Built-in SRC (sampling rate converter)

• I/O

• · PS/2 Mini-DIN mouse & keyboard ports
• · Two sets of USB connector
• · One SB-Link Connector
• · Audo Ports (Line-in, Line out, Mic, CD-in and Game port)
• · Two - 16C550 high-speed ports (2 connectors)
• · IrDA Header
• · One - SPP/EPP/ECP Parallel port
• · Supports 1.2/1.44/2.88MB FDDs or LS120

  
  BIOS

• · Award PnP BIOS v4.51PG

  
  SPECIAL FEATURES

• · Supports Wake-On-Lan (WOL), Wake-On-Alarm
• · Auto-detect CPU voltage (optional)
• · Supports Multi-boot function
• · Supports Hardware Suspend (APM mode only)
• · Onboard hardware monitoring by Hardware Doctor
• · Keyboard power on
• · Power failure resume

  
  OPTIONAL FEATURES

• · Temperature Monitoring and Alerts
• · Voltage Monitoring and Alerts
• · Fan Status Monitoring

(Our Test System)
Mini Tower ATX Case w/ 235W PS, Celeron 300a PPGA Overclocked to 450MHz. Shuttle Hot-687 Motherboard, 64MB of PC100 RAM, WD Caviar 36400 6Gig, Skywell Magic TNT W/16MB, Sony CDU76E, Win 98, DirectX 6.1, Nvidia Detonator Reference Drivers V2.08

As we expected, the HOT-687 comes in nicely within a few ticks of its counterparts in the BX Chip-set based motherboard field.

Once again, the 687 holds its own. Not a total speed demon mind you but no slouch either.

The addition of on board sound saves you a slot. The sound quality is excellent. The 3D Positional Effects were convincing. Shuttle also threw in "EZ-Audio" with this board which is basically a CD Player Wave, and MIDI Controller to replace the windows default system. This software as well as Windows 98 compatible drivers are on the included CD.

Well my overclocking brethren, I can say without a doubt. I have HAMMERED on this baby for quite some time, playing (and kicking some butt I might add) copious amounts of Q3 Arena, Unreal etc... With temperatures in the upper 80's in the testing area, this board was just soaking it all in at 463MHz!!!


The Final Word?

Pluses:
Price,Price,Price... Stable,Stable,Stable... Even without a voltage adjustment, we were able to achieve stability at 463MHz. It comes with kick-butt sound chip built in and a well laid out design.

Minuses:
Jumpers-a-plenty... It's Micro-ATX design leaves it a little light in the available slot department. The presence of a voltage adjustment may have made 504MHz possible with this board. That's all, we'd add another downer, if we could think of one...

We give the Shuttle HOT-687 a Hot Hardware Temp-O-Meter rating of...

85 Hmm, spicy little chili peppa!

Kujo-BG