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Shuttle SD36G5M: DIY Viiv PC

You don't have to bow to a large manufacturer to be a part of the Intel Viiv crowd. You can Viiv it yourself with the funky SD36G5M from Shuttle

Rory Reid

Good news for home entertainment PC freaks -- Shuttle has, somewhat predictably, released a barebones small form-factor PC that's compatible with the Intel Viiv standard.

The diminutive Shuttle SD36G5M SFF is a part of the company's successful XPC range, so it inherits the small, cube-like chassis we've come to know and love. The main difference with this new model is that it's the first to sport an Intel 945G chipset with an integrated GMA950 graphics card.

It's a barebones system, so that's about all you get. You'll need to supply your own processor and memory, but the good news is that the SD36G5M is compatible with the latest Pentium D or Celeron D dual-core processors. Provided you buy one of these chips alongside a copy of the Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system, you'll have a Viiv-certified PC crafted with your own fair hands.

At around £290, it's not exactly cheap, but that's the price you pay for style, quiet operation, and to an extent, exclusivity. -RR