Question about Shuttles

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quiksilverx181

2[H]4U
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Nov 21, 2003
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I know that they are the tiny computers that u can move around easily, and i was wondering some information. Do shuttles use special mobos, and for what processors, and are they as good as regular mobos? Do they have enough room for a vid card (big one like 6800u) AND sound card/ethernet? Does it cool well enough? Wheres a good place to look for Shuttle parts? I know its a lot but i googled and i just got overwhelmed/confused by it all. THanks! (also how much do shuttles run for?)
 
Yes, they use special motherboards. No standard motherboard would fit in that small a case. Most new shuttles come with 2 expansion slots. One AGP, and one PCI. Not to worry, the ethernet, sound, and video are built into the motherboard. Of course, you will need to add a read video card, but the sound and ethernet work just fine.

Heat *IS* an issue with the shuttle (and any other SFF), as there is very little room for proper airflow. Although the ICE does a pretty good job keeping the CPU cool. This is the reason that both of my shuttle boxes have intel processors in them, as the intel chips have much better thermal management built in.

I've been pleased with both of the ones i have, and the newer ones just seem to get better and better.
 
i just purchased the socket 754 sk83g and have a 3400+ clahwhammer in it overclcocked. and yes heat does build up. but its not as bad as everyone thinks it is. yes its going to run warmer then a regulaar box. but thats the nature of the beast.


i took mine to a lan party last weekend. was so easy porting that thing around. i dont know why i waited this long to buy one.
 
Shuttles are great little systems. The boards are a special form factor, but they use the same chipsets as the full size boards, so performance is not an issue. If your going to be carrying yours around a lot, I'd recommend putting a handle on the top, but they do make very good systems.
 
So honestly if i stuck 4 fans on it (all 4 sides) would i get better airflow and less heat? I wanan stick a 6800 GT in my shuttle if i get one. It would be a p4 or a a64 system. If i were playin a game like doom3 it should be the same right? Thats what i think according to these replies... Also what are the prices like on shuttle parts etc.
 
There are some great people on sfftech.com who know a lot about shuttles. There is also a lurking shuttle employee there who answers questions from time to time.

I just bought an SN45G and I love it. You'll be really happy with one of these guys. :)
 
quiksilverx181 said:
Is it possible to build my own shuttle rather than buying from them?
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Yes and no. You'll still will have to purchase the case that includes the PSU, systemboard and case, thats as barebone as they come. Thats the drawback to shuttles is that other then CPU, RAM and other components, you get what you pay for with the shuttle cases.

Due to their properity design and small size, there gonna be more expensive then the ATX equivalent. The newest P4 and A64 models cost over $300 just for the case.

Sticking 4 fans would do more harm then good, plus I honeslty don't know where you would fit 4 fans on a shuttle case. People HAVE put blowholes on cases, cut out the side panels for better airflow, put in bigger ICE system fans but its a bit more work then your standard ATX system.

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Shuttles have MOST of the equipment that current high end ATX motherboards carry but their are drawbacks and cuts they have to do to make them work in a such a small size such as fewer USB ports, lower end NIC's and built in soundcards. Shuttles are also not the most overclockable systems for obvious reasons.

If your needing more info, visit the boys at www.sfftech.com and tell them IceWind sent you. Lotta knowledge there and a Shuttle employee frequently visits to check in.
 
If you already have a high end pc which you built 1 year ago (like p4 2.6 style) would u grab a shuttle for sake of lanning? Is it worth it? (i lan a lil bit its hard as hell movin my tower) also where cna i buy shuttle cases/mobos etc.? Somewhere relaible and safe/cheap please
 
quiksilverx181 said:
If you already have a high end pc which you built 1 year ago (like p4 2.6 style) would u grab a shuttle for sake of lanning? Is it worth it? (i lan a lil bit its hard as hell movin my tower) also where cna i buy shuttle cases/mobos etc.? Somewhere relaible and safe/cheap please
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Considering the fact that when I USED to have a LAN place to go to, I was hauling around my 60pound Antec tower with water cooling. But at the time I was desperate to play stuff on the T1 line as I didn't have access to broadband at home.

Now with my own DSL, I wouldn't go as much as I can play anything I want online on my own time. I also have since gone with a completely Aluminum chieftec tower case which makes it real easy to move around considering its size.

If your LAN tremendously, it might be worth your money to go the shuttle route, you'll just have to weight your options and decide yourself.
 
would it be recommended to build a high end system in a shuttle? my next system (about 1 year from now, maybe even 6 months which isnt too far away) will be high end i wanna make it faster than my 2.6 and get a high end gfx like geforce whatever is after 6800 series :p
 
You could build a pretty close high end shuttle at the time to decide to do it, just keep in mind your going to be paying premium price for the shuttles proprietry design which means it will be more expensive then the ATX route and it will take longer for new high end shuttle systems to come out in comparion to ATX motherboards for the latest and greatest as there is much more development and research time needed to do so.
 
Shuttle is usually pretty close to the official release date for new chipsets and the like. They have systems that are built to handle a64's and P4-E's. You slap down your cash, generally a little over $300 for one of the newer models and get a 'barebone system,' case, power supply and motherboard. Lately they've been including 8-in-1 card readers and wireless networking as well. The mobo's usually have built in video, it's crap but it's there... they also have built in sound, ethernet and firewire.

All you need to get the system up and running is a CPU, hard drive, optical drive and RAM. You'll want to upgrade the vid card. If you're picky maybe the sound as well. But since you only have that one PCI slot, you've really got to decide what you want to do with it.

You can fit any of the single slot vid cards in, but there just isnt space for the two slot style cards without some modification.

As an exersice you could price out a system with a good case, psu and mobo and compare it to a XPC... All together, the XPC system usually isn't that much more than a tower. Just smaller and sexier. :p

To really get into this stuff you should go read a bunch of reviews for the the different models, I'd start at sfftech.com. Best of luck.

-dB
 
Vga silencers or any 2 slot solutions for that matter, will not fit into a shuttle unless you leave the cover off and do some modding at the back of the case.
 
I had lots of spare parts just sitting around. So all I needed to build a SFF was the barebones (motherboard, case, power supply). Now I had an Athlon 2500+ for the processor. So the best choice for me was the Shuttle SN45GV2, which uses the nF2-400 Ultra chipset. I'm only using a GF3 video card, heh no one would ever buy it from me. But I have a new 6800 in my main rig so I wanted to get a 6600GT for the XPC. That will do whatever I need for LANs. I would not want to try and get a 6800GT to work in a SFF, because most of them don't have big enough powersupplies IMHO.

Oh and my Shuttle overclocks just fine! My 2500+ is happy @ 11x200MHz and would probably go higher if I could stand the fan noise. I'll most likely go for a replacement though and get an XP Mobile. They run cooler and are better at overclocking.
 
my ONLY beef that I've ever had with my Shuttle (SB75G2) is the fact that the vcore adjustment on the damn thing is only 1.58v max.

1.58v sometimes just isnt enough for power hungry people like myself.

my current 2.8C runs @ 3.4Ghz w/o a glitch but I know for a fact I could probably get a few hundred more Mhz if I could stick some more voltage to the chip.
 
for the VGA silencer, what kinda mods are we talkin here? Serious cut up your shuttle type or just a few minor ones?
 
quiksilverx181 said:
ouch. What do you guys suggest on how to handle something like that on a shuttle?
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1. Learn the limitations of Shuttles and that you will have to make sacrifices as a result.

2. Stick with ATX standard cases and use smaller lightweight cases and still be able to use any hardware you want.

3. Mod the shuttle to accompany bigger hardware. Doing this however immediatly voids your warranty.

Those are basically your only options.
 
Because the Video Card fan is right up against the side grill on some shuttles, like the SB75G2, the GPU cooling is actually pretty good. The fan draws air from the outside rather than just moving around already hot air as in a conventional case. The drawback of this is that that little fan can be quite noisy. Many shuttle owners trade the extra cooling capacity for quietness by running lower voltage to the GPU fan via a rheobus or fanmate.
 
noise doesnt bug me at all, my current tower has 8 fans and it sounds like a lawnmower, so i never even notice that.
 
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