BIOS and tweaking software
Tweaking and overclocking options are probably the last thing Shuttle wants in a BIOS for its complete systems division, but they're essential for enthusiast-oriented barebones systems. Fortunately, the SN27P2's BIOS has just enough options to keep most enthusiasts happy.

HyperTransport clock speeds are available between 200 and 300MHz, which should be more than enough for most. However, the BIOS's core voltage options only go up to 1.525V. That's not nearly enough for more extreme overclocking, although in a system with such limited airflow, you probably don't want to be turning voltages up too much.

A decent array of memory timing options also makes it into the SN27P2's BIOS, though the list isn't as extensive as what's available in other Athlon 64 motherboard BIOSes. Still, the big four—CAS latency, RAS-to-CAS delay, RAS precharge, and active-to-precharge delay—all make an appearance. Control over the DRAM command rate is currently only available in a beta BIOS.

Fan speed control should be an integral part of any small form factor system's BIOS, and the SN27P2 serves up 10 fan speed profiles. Users can lock the fan to a specific speed or have fan speeds ramp and throttle to maintain one of six given CPU temperature. Additional fan speed control is available through Shuttle's XPC Tools software, which we'll discuss in a moment.

Before we dive into XPC Tools, it's worth noting that the SN27P2's BIOS also lets users adjust the brightness of the system's blue power LED. Many a home theater PC user has cursed the piercing brightness of blue LEDs in the dark, so it's nice to be able to tone down the volume a little.

If you don't want to poke around in the BIOS to adjust fan speeds and other system variables, the SN27P2 also supports Shuttle's own XPC Tools Windows utility. XPC Tools has been in development for what seems like forever, and the app's current incarnation is pretty polished.

XPC Tools can be used to monitor system variables, such as fan speeds, temperatures, and voltages.

Overclocking options are also included, although control over the system's CPU multiplier is not. If you're not comfortable changing the CPU multiplier in the BIOS, you probably shouldn't be overclocking, anyway.

Users are also given more extensive control over the system's variable-speed fans. Minimum "Smart Fan" speeds can be defined in addition to the threshold temperature that triggers an increase in fan speeds.

XPC Tools can manage multiple profiles, so it's easy to define a few for lower noise levels or faster performance. The SN27P2 also offers support for NVIDIA's latest nTune system utility, which unlocks a considerably more extensive array of tweaking options.

NVIDIA's utility provides access to a wide range of memory timing options. The app also supports voltage and fan speed control, but Shuttle hasn't included the BIOS hooks necessary for those features to work. XPC Tools' fan speed control options are better than those available in nTune, anyway.

nTune includes a monitoring utility, but the SN27P2's BIOS doesn't correctly report voltages to it. Fortunately, it's still possible to use nTune's custom rules control panel, which allows the system to switch automatically between nTune profiles according to user-defined conditions.