Shuttle New Build

[Apex]

Well my Shuttle SN26P2 has served me well but it's time to move forward slightly

Currently have a X2 4400 with 2Gb of DDR ram

I will carry over my hdds 750gb Samsung and 1tb Samsung and gfx ATI 4850 to the new rig but am at a loss on which route to go.

Do I go the DDR II route with either the Shuttle SP35P2 or SX38P2 or the DDR III route with the SX48P2E.

Once decided on that what chip ? do i go quad core or do I go the cheaper option and go dual again ?

[Grey M@a]

I have the SX38P2 Pro myself and I run 4gb DDR with the Q6600 Quad cpu and a dual slot 8800GTS G92 core fx card and I will say that heat is a major issue in the SX38. With the stuffy weather atm the q6600 which is now at stock speeds to help cool it will sit around 56c and full load will hit 64c. No matter what I try won't help cool the system. I was even looking at a single slot fx card to replace the 8800GTS to keep the heat out the case.

I have replaced all the shuttle fans with higher spec ones to get more air out the case and that helped marginally (All because the shuttle fans died within 4 months and I wasn't RMA'ing it for a few fans)

If you have the money I would go for the SX48 or infact the newer SX58 and the DDR 3 route and get quite a few years out of it Mind all reports I am seeing on the SX48 and SX58 the heat issue is still there if you are running gaming components. I love the SX38P2 but the sheer amount of heat in the system isn't good.

[Apex]

Isn't the SX38 the same has the SP35 but the SP doesn't have the extra features ?

[Grey M@a]

Essentially but the SX was a gaming chassis so they upped the features and the PSU etc.

What you will notice though is the PSU for some reason in all their wisdom they have the PSU power cables coming out the side of the PSU into the PCIE slot space. So if you have a dual slot FX card like most gaming cards are you will find you are forcing and bending all the PSU cables out the way and down the side of the fx card.

[staffsMike]

Have you considered the alternatives? Not too hot on shuttle models at the moment but you can get something like a silverstone SG05 with 300W psu for about £80 and either intel based mini ITX (zotac comes with a PCI-e slot) or AMD for ~£100. Not sure if it's worth considering but it's there for you to decide

[Apex]

Recommendation for a CPU ?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Q6600 is a hot running processor BTW and the newer Q8000 and Q9000 series processors run far cooler and consume less power too.

Here is a comparison of the power consumption of the Q9550 and Q6600:

http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles...&id=2521&pg=11


The first option would be to get the DDR2 version of the SX48P2 for around £290 and a Q9550 for around £170:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145419

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel...che-85x-Retail

The second option would be the SX58H7 and it looks nice but TBH is overpriced as you can the SX48P2 and a Q9550 for around the same price!

The SP35P2 can also be had for around £210 from Ebuyer too but the SX48P2 is worth the extra cash as it has a newer chipset and a more powerful PSU.

Remember Scan do free postage for Hexus members with over 20 posts and also check the Scan Today Only webpage for special offers too.

I have the SX38P2 Pro myself and I run 4gb DDR with the Q6600 Quad cpu and a dual slot 8800GTS G92 core fx card and I will say that heat is a major issue in the SX38. With the stuffy weather atm the q6600 which is now at stock speeds to help cool it will sit around 56c and full load will hit 64c. No matter what I try won't help cool the system. I was even looking at a single slot fx card to replace the 8800GTS to keep the heat out the case.

I have replaced all the shuttle fans with higher spec ones to get more air out the case and that helped marginally (All because the shuttle fans died within 4 months and I wasn't RMA'ing it for a few fans)

If you have the money I would go for the SX48 or infact the newer SX58 and the DDR 3 route and get quite a few years out of it Mind all reports I am seeing on the SX48 and SX58 the heat issue is still there if you are running gaming components. I love the SX38P2 but the sheer amount of heat in the system isn't good.

Wow-those idle temperatures are high!! I have an SD37P2 and have modified the ICE cooler by reversing the fans and I replace the stock fans with a 92mm Noctua unit and a 80mm Sharkoon Silent Eagle 2000. These are both quieter than the stock fans but will shift less air at full speed. I also use an Akasa Vortexx Neo on my HD4830 too. My Q6600 at stock is currently at around 48C and it is one of the hottest days of the year in Kent.Normally it idles at around 40C. Using Intel Burn Test the Q6600 will reach around 70C and with OCCT a few degrees less and the room the computer is very warm too.

The main reason I replaced the fans is that the Shuttle fans will do a good job of cooling but when the temperatures start rising the fans become very noisy as they ramped up.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Reversing the fans is a good idea as the dual slot cooler on my graphics card acts as an exhauest vent. Just checked my system temperatures again and the CPU,hard drives and graphics card are now at under 40C. Opening the window in the room does help on a hot day it seems!!

[Apex]

Cheers for the heads up, looks like I might end up with a cheap upgrade and you pointed out the items I was looking at anyway

[Grey M@a]

It's always ran hot but I have the power settings in vista set to high as I cba with the constant flicking of states for it to go between low and high power settings etc.

It's always ran hot this q6600, when I first got it the temps were a little lower but the problem is the room the shuttle is in has the sun all hours of the day, by the time I get in from work I have to go open the window of the room and leave if for an hour before I can work in there without suffocating from the heat. Just a combination of using the thing for gaming in a room that collects heat and gets the sun all day :/ Other issue is probably the non working smart fan lark. It has never worked one bit on this SX38 so I always run the shuttle at low fan speeds as anything above that is loud and overkill. Running it on smart just made the fans quiet and it never up'd the RPM of the fan's once the temps went through the roof.

I will probably go back through the Shuttle over the next few weekends to re-apply the thermal paste etc and see about reversing the fans on it. Ideally the machine only needs to last another 2 years then I will be upgrading again probably and will go back to tower cases

[Apex]

Looking at the DDR II version of the SX48 and looking at the chip, the chip is listed with 1333mhz but the ram in DDR II format only goes to 1066mhz, is correct or am I seeing it wrong ?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Looking at the DDR II version of the SX48 and looking at the chip, the chip is listed with 1333mhz but the ram in DDR II format only goes to 1066mhz, is correct or am I seeing it wrong ?

Yep,your right!! I would go with 4gb of low latency PC2-6400 DDR2 RAM TBH as it makes little difference with the Core2 IIRC.

[scaryjim]

the chip is listed with 1333mhz but the ram in DDR II format only goes to 1066mhz, is correct or am I seeing it wrong ?

The processor runs off a 1333MHz quad-pumped clock (i.e. the real speed is 333MHz). The DDR II memory runs up to a 1066MHz dual-pumped clock at a real speed of 533MHz. The motherboard uses a base clock and a variety of multipliers to make everything run at the appropriate rated speed. So there's no problem with running a 1333MHz FSB processor with 1066MHz DDR II RAM!

[Apex]

Ok that made my head spin.......