Replacement Motherboard for SN41G chassis?

[Stoo]

Mum and Dad have changed their main pc and moved to a laptop, which leaves me a spare SN41G box to play with..

It's currently got an XP 1700+ CPU in it, but that's a little slow these days..

What I wouldn't mind doing is replacing the motherboard to something like a core2duo (or even a core2quad if it'll work) capable board and turning into a dedicated crunch box..

Any ideas where I can get the boards other than trying my luck on ebay?

[chrestomanci]

I may be proved wrong, But I think you are out of luck on this. It is not in Shuttle's interests to sell motherboard upgrades when they can sell complete barebone systems for more money. Also remember that that they board layout of system will change with each design so the cooling will from an old case may not fit a new board.

I used to be a big fan of Shuttles, because of their size, but because of the lack of upgrades, I have now moved to Micro ATX based systems such as the Siverstone SUGO series, that are not much larger, and infinitely upgradable.

Back to your problem, you can probably increase the performance noticeably and quite cheaply by fitting an XP 3200+ CPU and maxing out the RAM, but that will be your limit.

[Stoo]

I'm not fussed about Shuttle selling me a new board, I just want something that will fit in, whether this is from a shuttle broken for parts, or some sort of spares shop I don't really care..

Chucking the whole lot seems a waste, not to mention the added cost.

[mike306dt]

Ebay is probably your best bet mate. I assume that they don't use some funky shaped motherboard for each case, like the dells of old?

[DanceswithUnix]

Even if you could get a new motherboard to fit, you are surely looking at different cooling systems for core2? Maybe those heatpipes will bend a bit, but that doesn't sound like a game I would want to play.

I notice you can get a small selection of motherboards from Microdirect but at 60 quid they seem rather steep for something that isn't guaranteed to work. Note I have no idea what Shuttle that motherboard I linked to comes from or what CPU goes in it even but was just trying to give you an idea of cost.

I think a Shuttle is a thing of beauty to sit in front of all day, but a dedicated number crunching box implies to me that it can sit on a shelf and micro ATX would do you fine.

Perhaps a compromise would be one of the Shuttle BTX systems though that says it only takes Core2 duo processors with an 800MHz FSB.

[jimbouk]

The only two options are mini-itx or a second hand shuttle motherboard. You'll have to stick to the same generation of shuttles gue to the cases and motherboards getting larger in more recent years, which means you may as well just stick in a new CPU and some new ram and save yourself the trouble.