The world has seen a stunning increase in CPU and bus speeds over the last few years. This extreme acceleration, combined with the need to pack even more functionality into ever smaller spaces, today mean an equally dramatic increase in the amount of heat generated by components inside the computer.

Most PC manufacturers have done the obvious: increase the size of the heatsinks along with the number and power of fans located inside the chassis. The big problem with this approach, of course, is the noise. Imagine being in a small room where one person is whispering quietly. You probably don't even notice the noise. But when a half-dozen people are whispering at once and all you want is a little peace and quiet, it's enough to drive you mad. The comparison with PCs is quite similar. Many performance systems, sporting numerous high-speed fans, output more than 60 decibels, which is about the same level as a regular conversation. Knowing that few PC users want this sort of noise pollution, Shuttle devised a better heat solution: our Integrated Cooling Engine (I.C.E.) heat pipe technology.

The idea is deceptively simple. Heat from the CPU (the system's hottest component) transfers into a heatsink. The heat travels up a series of pipes and into an array of radiator fins screwed into the back of the chassis. A single, whisper-quiet fan mounted just behind this blows air through the fins, thus carrying the heat outside and away from the system. Every XPC uses this patented cooling technology to prevent heat damage and deliver some of the quietest computers in the world.