Shuttle SA76R4 AMD Phenom II and Athlon II processors (45nm process) (CPU power consumption (TDP) = max. 95W) Please refer the support list for detailed processor support information. AMD Socket AM3 AMD 760G ATI Radeon 3000 Barebone

Pros: Small box and powerful enough for entertainment use.
Bought when Newegg was offering free CPU. I already had SATA HDDs, DVD-ROM, and RAM, so the transferring components were easy and cheap.

Cons: The DVD-ROM eject switch and power switch are too close. Sometimes, accidentally pressing the power switch when I was gonna insert movie disk.

Other Thoughts: Not sure how fast USB3 works, but when I was bucking up my data using Seagate external HDD, it took me a while to save 1.5TG worth of data.

Pros: - Very simple to navigate
- Comes with CPU Cooler and thermal paste
- Comes with cable ties, short sata cables, and other nice-to-haves
- Great size
- Easy to build in, not too cramped at all.

Cons: - Drive bay enclosure are is a bit tough to pull out of where it's seated. No big deal.

Other Thoughts: I'm very pleased with this build. It exceeded my expectations.

Pros: Nice basic setup, easily upgradeable, and get the same performance as any mid-tower ~ I am very happy with this machine!

Cons: Power supply upgrade can be a little pricey.

Other Thoughts: Running Windows 8 Pro, installed a 500 watt PSU and huge PCI-E graphics card.

Pros: We have somewhere between 16-20 Shuttle XPC's in our building (combination warehouse, service, counter and office use). The SA76R4 is the best unit so far, bear in mind all the Shuttles are AMD based systems. The new model appears to be a revised case from previous ones and the CD / HD aluminum carrier is a bit trickey. Other than that it's a solid performer.

As a side note, all of our units are AMD based running XP professional. When it's time to upgrade an old Shuttle I simply remove the old drive and drop it into a new Shuttle and Voila!. Boots up, no blue screen, natta. Install new driver and go. This saves me HOURS of work.

PS, I just ordered another one.

Cons: The aluminum carrier for the CD / HD is a bit slimmer and lighter weight than other models i.e. thinner and flimsy.

Pros: Good concept, cheap, small size.

Cons: Haven't used it yet so I don't really have any cons.

Other Thoughts: After building the system I power it up. Fan turns on (very loud) the power led on the front was on but nothing else happened. I bought all the suggested hardware from the newegg site. Afterward, I check the manufacture web site and noticed the cpu, that was suggested buy newegg, is not on the list of supported cpu's. However, you would think it would still boot and say something like no cpu found. So I have to exchange it or purchase another cpu and or build a regural pc. All these opitions are annoying and wasteful of both my time and money.

Pros: Quick to put together with your chosen components. Very quiet on the desktop and doesn't take much space.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: I've built 2 of these with 8GB ram and a 120GB SSD for the ladies in my office. All storage is done on a NAS, so the 120 GB is fine for programs & OS. They boot up Win 7 Professional in 20 seconds! I chose this model because it included the VGA, so it works with our existing monitors.
One of the users loves her old Gateway keyboard so I added a Rosewill PS/2 to USB keyboard/mouse adapter.

Pros: Easy build. Everything went together as you would expect with no surprises. Others have said it is a little picky with memory. I guess I got lucky. I was worried about noise but I was pleasantly surprised at how quiet it is. So far it's been a great little machine. I'm probably going to use it as a media computer to replace my Tivo.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: My build:
Athlon X4 615e
OCZ Agility 3 60GB (included with shuttle purchase)
OS WIN7 64 bit
WDC 1TB Black drive
EVGA GT520
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB DDR3 1600
HDHomerun dual tuner

Pros: once I found Shuttle I never built another system from scratch. great bargain, probably an ideal compromise for DIY components and ease of assembly in a nice looking, compact form factor.

The onboard Radeon 3000 is worked perfectly on install of Linux Mint 13 with dual monitors using the open source drivers, hardware accelerated. No configuration needed AT ALL. If you are a long-time Linux desktop user you'll know how amazing this is (audio works well too and might sound great if I had decent speakers)

It's also very quiet, with my ears about 6" away I can hear the fan.

So, if you are a Linux user (or wannabe) looking for a dependable, fast everyday desktop machine, I'd say go for it.

Cons: maybe needs moar USB ports in the back, I'm filled up.

Not sure what the plexiglass panel on the front is for, but my kids like using it as a mirror to make faces in.

also a slot or mounting holes for a SSD drive would be nice - had to drill a couple holes in the back panel to hold the drive bracket. It's sort of suspended awkwardly above the power supply, but it works.

Pros: Decent price overall if you get the free SSD deal.
Case and PSU is Mini ITX compatible so it can be reused.
Can accomidate full length PCI Ex GPUs (I have a GTX 275 and it fits, barely. Will need to mod the 5 1/4" Bay area to plug in PCIe power connectors)
Even at 95 Watt TDP, you can build with decent CPUs. My Athlon II 630 still does me well so it went in.
ICE cooler isn't terrible. Warmer than stock, but lower max temps. Easy to add a 92mm Fan to the outside for a push/pull config on the radiator.
This case is very modding friendly.
There is a little pocket in the case (behind the power switch) for excess cables to be tucked into. Cable management is very doable with this system.
Quite stable upon initial burnin.
Booted right up without issues. No tweaking needed to get everything running (save for RAM, read below)

Cons: This system *IS* picky about RAM. I had GSkill DDR3/1333 sticks from my previous build. System booted and ran fine but only allowed me to use HALF the installed RAM. (4x2GB) Had to buy Kingston 2x4GB to bring myself back up to my 8GB total. Win7 saw ALL the 8GB but only had 4GB available to it. This is a BIOS issue and should not be a problem.
BIOS Options fairly limited. No update since initial release.
However, despite it only allowing me to access half the RAM, it ran fine with all sticks installed.
Acrylic panel hides an exposed 3.5" bay. Uses hex bolts to hold in place. Cannot remove entire front plastic panel without removing bolts... and no hex wrench is included. Smooth, Shuttle... Really smooth. (Sarcasm)

Other Thoughts: I wanted to go smaller without sacrificing performance. This system allowed me to keep my CPU. GPU will be doable with a PSU Mod and RAM I had to buy for this setup. Ah well.
I figure smaller case, less fans needed to move all the air within it, less area to dust... so it'll be easier to keep clean and cool. I've just had bad luck with closed loop water cooling and want to be able to precisely choose intakes by modding them into a case. So this one fits the bill.
Shuttles are (rightfully) known for being toasters but the layout makes for easy modding for additional fans if you're handy with a Dremel.

Pros: Small form factor, reliable, it's a Shuttle, included SSD (if you purchase it while it is offered), mini pci-e slot (not mentioned in any of the literiture I reserched before purchasing this unit), 1 external 5.25" bay, 1 external 3.5" bay (if you remove the plexi panel), 1 internal 3.5" bay, 4 sata connectors, optional ps/2 connectors for mouse & keybd.

Cons: You have to mod the plexi front panel if you want to use the external 3.5" bay AND use the plexi panel for custom art/photos. If you don't need both at the same time, no mod needed.

Other Thoughts: Over the past 10 years of owning Shuttle computers I have found them to be reliable and the company a joy to work with on the one occasion I needed help from them. My original Shuttle SK41G system is still running after ten years. These systems are easy to build, well put together, and very portable. With the included free SSD this was a no brainer for my daughter's who needed one for college.
AMD 955 Phenom II
OCZ 60 gig SSD
WD 500 gig Caviar black edition
16 gig Corsair memory
Samsung DVD reader/writer
Rosewill pci-e wireless NIC