Shuttle XPC systems have practically become a form factor all of their own, and while the SG33G5 doesn’t depart from Shuttle’s standard styling, there’s plenty going on under the cover to make it worth investigating.

The motherboard’s Intel G33 chipset offers plenty of performance potential. The 775-pin Intel socket accommodates all Intel Core 2 Duo E6- and E7-series CPUs, as well as the quad-core Q-series – all with a 1333MHz FSB. For budget PCs, the new Dual-Core Pentium processors and Celeron 4-series processors are also supported, as well as legacy 800MHz FSB Pentium 4 and Pentium D processors. While the chipset supports DDR3, this unit has only two DDR2 RAM sockets onboard (capable of running speeds of 667MHz, 800MHz and 1066MHz), so upgrading in the future could be an all-or-nothing job.

The G33 chipset hosts Intel’s GMA 3100 integrated graphics. Gamers needn’t panic, as there’s a 16x PCI Express slot for a graphics card, but the GMA 3100 is good enough if you won’t be gaming. There’s a D-SUB output, and an HDMI output for digital TVs. Shuttle gets a gold star for attention to detail, too, as it includes an HDMI-to-DVI-I converter for those with standard LCDs.

The motherboard also supplies eight-channel HD audio, which you can access using either the 3.5mm jacks or the optical S/PDIF-out port. There are plenty of USB ports as well: two on the front of the machine (both pre-connected) and four on the back, plus risers for four more on the motherboard, for a USB backplane or front panel. There’s a mini-FireWire port on the front of the case, plus a full-sized port on the back. Add in two eSATA ports and Gigabit Ethernet, and the SG33G5 is every bit as peripheral-friendly as a tower PC.

A hinged cover hides the 5.25in optical drive bay at the front, and there’s a 3.5in drive bay immediately below, either for an external drive, such as a media card reader, or a hard disk. There’s also a single internal 3.5in bay. Shuttle has pre-routed SATA and power cables, so once you’ve installed your hardware you won’t need to spend time trying to poke cables through only-just-big-enough holes. Building a fully working PC (using a Core 2 Duo) proved straightforward, and once it was up and running with its integrated graphics, it was all but silent. As a bonus, it also consumed a relatively low 80W while idling.

Life isn’t all rosy with the SG33G5, though. It might be the perfect size for the living room, but it will never make a particularly capable gaming PC. The chassis is too small for top-end, double-height graphics cards such as the 8800 GTX, and the power supply can deliver only a relatively meagre 250W.

The SG33G5 isn’t cheap, either – for this price you could get a deluxe full-sized case and motherboard, and have money left over. But we’re sold on Shuttle’s main selling point: the truly tiny size of its systems, and the convenience that comes with the build. As it’s just 185mm high and 200mm wide, convincing someone that the SG33G5 deserves a place in your living room won’t take much diplomacy, and with this much performance headroom, it’s well worth a look if you need great performance on a miniature scale.