Need your opinions on 'shuttle gaming pc's'

[TunnelRat]

Gents (and Ladies if there are any on here)

Some of you already know that I am from Beast Computers so I'd like to ask your opinions on something the Beast team are mulling over...

We recently received a request for a 'shuttle gaming system' quote (which is not a standard product of Beast). Now, I have seen many reviews on this type of system, some of them good. However, I'm not convinced that something this small is really for performance use? I'd like to hear people's thoughts on this to help us make our decision whether to have 'shuttles' as standard products.

Sure, we can build anything but we prefer to give a potential customer our honest opinion and recommendations when enquiring about anything and then letting them decide based upon their own needs, wants and the info we have given them. We are split as a team at the moment as some of us think it's something we should be doing, and some of us think we'd be jumping on the band wagon and fobbing people off by telling them it's a gaming machine, when it's clearly just another way of trying to compete with those cheeky enough to claim they are gaming machines.

Please, your thought's would be greatly sppreciated. Thanks in advance.

[tino]

I have an relativly old SN41G2V2 with an 6800GT in it. Can play all the latest games at high resolution's they might be small but they are as powerful as standard size case's I would avoid the first generation of there products tho as they seem to have quite a few bugs. Is it AMD or Intel they want?

The SN26P is a very good SLI gaming rig if thats what they are looking for.

[PeteB_2000]

Ive got a P4 3ghz XPC SB61G2 v3 with an ATI 9800 256mb and it goes like a rocket runs everything hi-res that I throw at it, at the end of the day its just a case really

HTH
Pete

[Hans Voralberg]

As long as you dont plan on overclock the hell out of it, get a NF4 system couple with a 7800GT/GTX running as stock is perfect for gaming, i'm sure it can run max details @ 1280x1024 no prob.

And i stress running them @ stock, dont oc them too far cause there's not enuf air circulation inside the shuttle to aid the cooling.

[tino]

I disagree there are very good for cooling although the graphics card really does not get enough circulation. For the CPU they have one of the best methods of cooling there is imo. Ive seen lots of people overclocking there components in Shuttle's.

What shuttle where they specifically looking at?

[PeteB_2000]

yeah mines got a fan mod on the rear much larger than stock

Pete

[Hans Voralberg]

Yeah, i agree, the Shuttle cooling is very efficient, my point is it's good until you push the heck out of ur component and start generating way more heat, think of something like 1.6 - 1.7 vcore on CPu or 52x/14xx for a 7800 and u know what i mean

[RDL]

Of course you can make an excellent gaming rig in a shuttle PC. Check out the Hexus review on the new ARMARI Pantheon FX.

[Jinx]

I would tend to agree with pretty much all of the above.....I've been running an SN95G5 for the past 12 months, with a A64 3500+ (@ stock) and a 6800GT (@410/1150) and I've never had a problem yet. Heat has never been an issue, especially as I bought the Shuttle Case Shell that has the mesh sides.....loads of air!

Anyway, in answer to the overall question, YES, they do make very good gaming platforms, as long as you don't mind the limited upgradeability (proprietary mobo) and the minimal o/c potential.

[kalniel]

Absolutely - shuttle computers can make awesome, and very practical (especially for lan) gaming machines.

Limited upgradability just means people will upgrade the whole machine (more money for the retailer ) rather than the parts. But yes there are gamers out there who want pre-built systems.

[[GSV]Trig]

When we had the last big GSV LAN down in Plymouth the guys that took shuttles regretted it as the machines didnt last the weekend, one ended up being reinstalled and another sat there with its lid off with a big desk fan pointed at it....

[kudosdude]

I have a pentium m 760 2gig in a shuttle SD11G5 with 7800GT, it works fine, but I'm not paricularly happy with the noise of the fan/airflow on the 7800 in this particular case.

Apart from that it's excellent; it's not ideal for everyone though.

[dannyboy83]

I bought the Shuttle Case Shell that has the mesh sides.....loads of air!

Can I ask what sort of Shuttle cases this is designed for, and where you got it?

[Dark Horse]

The SN25p is a pretty good chassis, I made one for my housemates with a 3700+ sd and 7800gt and he has been really happy with it. No heat problems and almost exactly the same performance as a desktop equivalent.

[Jinx]

dannyboy83 - The shell is an Official Shuttle accessory, and designed to fit most 'G' series chassis. A full list can be found here
This is a list for all their accessories, so to identify, the shell is code PF16 on the left hand list. Scroll down the list for more compatibility with more chassis.

As for where I bought it, it was from a place called Gemma Computers, who you can find here....<linky>

[dannyboy83]

thanks for the info!