Shuttle XPC SG33G5M Deluxe

[TedMosby]

Hi,

This is my first post, sorry if this is going over old ground.

I have a Shuttle XPC SG33G5M Deluxe and have been using the onboard graphics to use as a Media Centre PC. I have since bought a Blu-ray player for this and upgrading the Graphics card as the Shuttle doesnt support Blu-ray on the onBoard Graphics.

I bought the XFX GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB DDR3 PCI-DVI 675mhz. This was great for a few weeks until it seemed to pack in. (from this I mean that when switching on the PC it would kick in but nothing would appear on screen. It would also kick in and before the bios, reset and start again. Very odd!!) I took the Graphics card back to the store, they replaced it and all seemed to work great for a good few months. It then did the same. This time I upgraded the Card and bought XFX GeForce 9600 GT 740mhz 512MB DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI. Again this has worked for about 3 weeks and funnily enough the same has happened. Tearing my hair out I thought I'd test both cards in another Shuttle I have (Shuttle XPC Glamor SG31G2)

They both are working great in this, so now I am totally confuesd as to why they have both worked for a few weeks/months and then seem to pack in.

Can anyone help in where I have gone wrong or what can I do to rectify?

[vicar]

Have you tried a bios upgrade and disable your onboard graphics?

[TedMosby]

No I havent tried that, never really done this before...

Looking at the Shuttle website there are quite a number of updates. Do I choose the latest one?

uk.shuttle.com/download03.jsp?PI=873&PL=2

[vicar]

Yes choose the latest one.

[TedMosby]

Thanks, I'll give it a try and see how I get on

[transylvanic]

Do let us know. My immediate thought was that it could be a power issue, as the cards are not getting enough juice. What else is in your system?

[TedMosby]

I tried to update the BIOS yesterday, downloaded file from the site in the thread above, Burned it to DVD and rebooted the PC. I dont know if it updated or not, but did give me the option after doing something to either load Vista or run a Memory check. How do I know if its updated?

Currently what is in the machine is this.

XFX GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB DDR3 PCI-DVI 675mhz or XFX GeForce 9600 GT 740mhz 512MB DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI (tried with both cards)
Intel Core 2 Quad Core QX6600
Corsair 2GB DDR2
WinTV PVR Card

This is also the spec from Shuttle Website of the Barebones PC

Intel G33 Express / ICH9DH chipset
Supports Intel® Core[TM] 2 Quad, Core[TM] 2 Duo E6000/E4000 series, Pentium Dual-Core E2000 series, Celeron 400 series with socket 775 and FSB 1333
Max. 4 GB Dual Channel DDR2 800 (OC to 1066 MHz)
1x PCI-E X16, 1x PCI
Gigabit LAN
2x Firewire, 6x USB 2.0
3x SATA2, 2x eSATA
8-channel audio with Dolby® Digital Live! and DTS® Connect
DX9 ready Intel GMA3100 graphics with HDMI incl. HDCP
Infrared remote control, VFD display
250 Watt SilentX power supply
310(L) x 200(W) x 185(H) mm

I really dont know why this would happen,

It maybe something or nothing. There is a set of Jumpers to eith swith the PCI-E X16 off and just have the HDMI on. This is set for the PCI-E X16 on, but it seems to have part one block and then the rest are indivual jumpers does this matter?

[DanceswithUnix]

Have you tried the Nvidia utility to monitor the temperature of the graphics card?

That is quite a lot of heat generated in a small box there.

[vicar]

Graphic card spec from above should not pose a problem, heat wise. Try running it without the Win TV card and see what happens.

[Jay]

I think this is the PSU

[vicar]

You might be right Jay, just going down the food chain to speak.

[TedMosby]

Graphic card spec from above should not pose a problem, heat wise. Try running it without the Win TV card and see what happens.

Hi, Still nothing even with the TV Card taken out.

So you think mybe a more powerfull power supply needed? I think Shuttle only do one about 300Watts would that be better?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Shuttle PSUs are actually based on server units so they are pretty good and the ratings are actually a bit conservative.

It could be with the Q6600 you are pushing the PSU too far. I would try a card like a HD4670 as it has lower power consumption than either an 8600GTS or 9600GT.

An upgrade to the 300w PSU is probably worth it BTW with a Q6600.

[DanceswithUnix]

Graphic card spec from above should not pose a problem, heat wise. Try running it without the Win TV card and see what happens.

*sigh*

I wanted to know what sort of ambient temperature the OP was getting in the machine, and graphics cards have temperature sensors on them that most people don't bother reading. I never said the graphics card was some sort of space heating monster, but if the graphics card is showing the symptoms then perhaps some investigation into what environment that card is running in would be good?

My actual thoughts were that the big CPU could be heating things up, perhaps the machine is recycling hot air into its intake or something and the TV card whilst again not being a huge heat source might be interrupting the air flow inside the case. OTOH, it could be that the CPU is running nice and cool so the radiator fan on the back isn't running fast enough so the video card isn't getting the airflow it needs.

There are a host of possibilities when it comes to airflow around a machine, and I have seen Shuttles that have had holes drilled around the video card area in the case to improve airflow into that area to make them stable.

Overall I don't like working by guesswork. I want to see a number that looks bad, then we can make it look better.

Ted, if you are worried about the PSU, then an energy meter from Maplins is under 20 quid and will again give you cold hard numbers to work with as to how many watts the PC is actually using. Damned useful devices generally too.

[mightymouse]

i agree with the last post about the ambient temp of the machine

a typical error that is not usually spotted, check the system fans and make sure they are blowing higher than the original settings. i think its usually set on ultra-low or something. maybe consider using speedfan to control all your fans, check here http://www.sudhian.com/index.php?/forums/ if you want to know how to.

shuttles are great, i have three of them but for some bizarre reason they seem to not set the fans on full as a default so that we know to turn them down to medium. i guess they were trying to promote silent htpcs

anyway good luck and post the results, would be interesting to know if that is the issue.