Shuttle XPC slim DH370 mini-PC Review: A Compact Digital Signage Powerhouse
by Ganesh T S on May 6, 2019 8:00 AM ESTDriving Three 4K Displays - There is No Free Lunch
The unique feature of the Shuttle XPC slim DH370 is the ability of the system to drive three simultaneous 4Kp60 displays from the integrated GPU. This is particularly useful for digital signage purposes. However, if one were to purchase the DH370, expecting it to playback three different 4Kp60 video streams on three different 4K monitors, the person is in for some disappointment. In fact, I actually tried playing back three different 4K streams on the three monitors, and ended up with stuttering videos in all three.
In order to study this aspect further, I fired up DXVAChecker's benchmark section and benchmarked each video in our decode / rendering test set for playback at 3840x2160. The first iteration was done with one monitor connected, the second with two, and the final one with three 4Kp60 displays being driven by the iGPU.
Benchmarking the VP9 Profile 2 HDR Stream with DXVA Checker
The best-case playback frame rate obtained for each video in the three different display configurations is presented in the table below.
| Shuttle XPC slim DH370 DXVA Checker Playback (3840x2160) Benchmark Best-case FPS |
|||
| Single Monitor | Dual Monitor | Triple Monitor | |
| 480i60 MPEG2 | 118.2 | 91.9 | 83.3 |
| 576i50 H.264 | 124.1 | 103.4 | 98.4 |
| 720p60 H.264 | 101.5 | 100.4 | 78 |
| 1080i60 MPEG2 | 114.2 | 102.7 | 91.4 |
| 1080i60 H.264 | 104.7 | 92.6 | 82 |
| 1080i60 VC1 | 115.6 | 109.5 | 98.1 |
| 1080p60 H.264 | 108.1 | 86.7 | 82.6 |
| 1080p24 H.264 | 107.8 | 97.3 | 78.8 |
| 4Kp30 H.264 | 91.1 | 82.8 | 75.5 |
| 4Kp60 HEVC | 84.8 | 67.1 | 61.1 |
| 4Kp60 HEVC Main10 | 66.6 | 68.3 | 55.6 |
| 4Kp25 HEVC HDR | 55.5 | 52.9 | 49 |
| 4Kp60 VP9 Profile 2 HDR | 55.3 | 51.2 | 47.2 |
The above numbers indicate that playback with a single monitor is fine for all the codecs (ignoring the VP9.2 video, as DXVAChecker was not able to use the ff-vp9-d3d11va decoder for the benchmarking). However, once more monitors are added to the fray, the ability of the iGPU to decode and play back the video at the required frame rate comes into question.
To be clear, the iGPU does not seem to have the ability to decode three simultaneous 60fps streams for any of the tested codecs irrespective of the resolution - the best case appears to be 124 fps for the 576i H.264 stream in the single monitor mode. That said, decoding three simultaneous 24 fps streams for certain codecs or some legal combination based on the numbers in the above table seems to be possible.
Driving multiple displays from a discrete GPU is relatively simple. The GPU has its own RAM where the frame buffers can reside. The GTX 1650, with its 128-bit memory bus, has a 128GBps memory bandwidth number. Contrast that with the Coffee Lake desktop processors, which, in dual-channel mode, have less than 40GBps available for both the CPU and the GPU together. It is likely that driving three 4Kp60 displays can take up a significant chunk of the available bandwidth, resulting in the performance loss that we see above.
The takeaway is that the Shuttle XPC slim DH370 can drive three 4Kp60 displays simultaneously. However, users must be prepared for some performance loss in this process.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
37 Comments
View All Comments
timecop1818 - Monday, May 6, 2019 - link
Intel CPUs only have native DisplayPort output, not HDMI (licensing?). Nothing is technically preventing fullly complaint HDCP 2.2 path when using the MCDP part - unless shuttle cheaped out and didn't include the keys? Anyway i never looked into this as HDMI port is never something I'm looking for in a PC. I'm curious what exactly prevents the playback, as the same part (or a similar one from Parade tech) is what would be used inside a USBC to HDMI 2.0 cable as well.ganeshts - Monday, May 6, 2019 - link
All three display outputs support HDCP 2.2Intel supports HDMI, but, only 1.4a as of now. If OEMs want to put a HDMI 2.0a port, then, that HDMI capability of the Intel CPU is left un-used.
Some LSPCons do not do Stereoscopic 3D forwarding, which results in the loss of 3D capabilities.
rchris - Monday, May 6, 2019 - link
Thanks for a good review. But please include physical dimensions; particularly important when you're reviewing a compact system. The volume specs are nice, but not sufficient. Yes, they are available at the "Full Specifications" link, but would be more helpful to be in your article.Guspaz - Monday, May 6, 2019 - link
Be wary of Shuttle claims that their systems support standard motherboards. I bought a Shuttle XPC SZ77R5. Years later, the motherboard died and Shuttle wanted an absurd amount of money for the replacement (enough to buy a whole new computer). They claimed in the advertising for the system that it was "easily" upgradable with any standard mini-itx motherboard. In fact, the product website STILL says that.Three problems: the case uses a non-standard motherboard standoff height, and does not include any standoffs. There are a few of them directly welded to the chassis, but only enough for Shuttle motherboards, more are required for a mini-ITX board. I couldn't even find any of the right height online to buy, short of ordering them in bulk from China and waiting a few months. Instead, I had to take standard brass motherboard standoffs and filed them down by hand. It took hours.
Second: the included power supply didn't have a full-width power connector that mini-ITX motherboards required. Luckily, the missing pins were just for providing power, so they seem to be in the "strongly recommended but technically not required" category, and it worked OK without them.
Third: Shuttle motherboards don't have the CPU in the same location as a mini-ITX motherboard, so the system's custom heatpipe-based cooling system must be thrown out and replaced by traditional air cooling, which is less effective.
Death666Angel - Monday, May 6, 2019 - link
Well, mITX motherboards don't have the CPU sockets in the same location, so that point is moot. And all I just read about their advertising the ITX compatiblity (granted, I only found the German site) is that they said you can use mITX motherboards without having to modify the case. And that seems right, doesn't it?Guspaz - Wednesday, May 8, 2019 - link
It was not really true for the SZ77R5, no. Because short of fabricating custom mounting hardware like I did, you would have needed to modify the case with a deemed to install an mITX board. Requiring mounting hardware that does not exist is far from the easy upgradability they claimed. Now, hopefully this isn’t the case with the product that is the subject of this anandtech article. But I’ve been burned by them before.Guspaz - Wednesday, May 8, 2019 - link
*with a dremel, not a “deemed”timecop1818 - Monday, May 6, 2019 - link
Dude this is a completely non-standard SFF motherboard that doesn't follow any particular layout or spec. Do you complain that Intel NUC doesn't fit into Mini ITX board? There are no claims made anywhere that this board is user replaceable.0ldman79 - Tuesday, May 7, 2019 - link
"Mini-ITX Mainboard SupportShuttle expands the capabilities of its R chassis, adding support for Mini-ITX mainboards (17 x 17cm or 6.7 x 6.7 inches). The Shuttle chassis can go beyond the Shuttle mainboard, so you can easily upgrade or downgrade the mainboard to your desire, without any modifications to the chassis."
http://global.shuttle.com/main/productsDetail?prod...
timecop1818 - Tuesday, May 7, 2019 - link
Yes and that link has nothing to do with the product reviewed here...