Recommend me a Shuttle replacement!

[Gillbot]

Ok, after my 1st Shuttle XPC (SN45Gv2) treated me very well I opted to upgrade.

Unfortunately that did not go well as seen here: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=51&threadid=1995593&enterthread=y

After trying 5 different AMD Athlon 64 cpus, 6 different brands of ram and many video cards shuttle determined that the SN95G5V3 I recieved was defective. When they got it back they claim it works fine and it was a misset Clear Cmos jumper. :roll: I know that was NOT the problem but anyway, they are supposed to give me a refund after MUCH battle with them. Due to their poor customer service, I prefer to take my buisness elsewhere since they obviously do not care about return customers.

Now after this ordeal, Shuttle has left a very bad taste in my mouth so i'm looking for a suitable replacement unit. I'd like to remain with a similar size but i'm open to change. Maybe a small uATX or something, Any ideas? I'm not opposed to building a system myself but after years of faiithful service i'm a bit lax on newer technology.

My main reason on going with the SN95G5V3 was so I could transfer most of my current hardware over to the new system and save some $ but as it stands now, I'm really open for anything. I have a 939 AMD A64 chip here (i think it's a 3400+) so 939 would be my first choice but i'm also not opposed to AM2.

Since AGP cards with Dual DVI are getting nearly impossible to find, I've decided to step up to at least PCIe. This will allow me an easier upgrade to Dual DVI, I just need to fit the rest of the system around this.

 

[IlllI]

i have a biostar sff(210p). never had any problems with it. no idea how good their customer support is though.

http://www.biostar-usa.com/bbmain.asp

 

[Gillbot]

I'm just looking for something small that works! Unfortunately Shuttle support has gone down hill considerably since my first system purchase.

 

[wwswimming]

the incentive for me to get a Shuttle was that, with a 3.06 P4 with Hyper-threading,
it was about as fast as a 2.4 Xeon, and took up about 1/4 the space.

sorry to hear about your experience. sounds like it's less stressful to just
throw it away if it breaks, than to deal with Shuttle customer service.

i think the micro-ATX form factor offers a lot of solid motherboard options,
and case options.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: wwswimming

the incentive for me to get a Shuttle was that, with a 3.06 P4 with Hyper-threading,
it was about as fast as a 2.4 Xeon, and took up about 1/4 the space.

sorry to hear about your experience. sounds like it's less stressful to just
throw it away if it breaks, than to deal with Shuttle customer service.

i think the micro-ATX form factor offers a lot of solid motherboard options,
and case options.

as of right now, that's the route i'm going with.

 

[Skott]

The Qpacks are very popular cases but alot of people feel the MicroFly case is a better case. Reasonably priced too. Shuttle cases are too restrictive IMHO. I never liked how they were limited in psu size.

I just ordered a Qmicra case yesterday. Its pricey but its selling points is that its built for modders in mind and more importantly it fits a 8800GTX, full size ATX psu, and a Zalman 9500 hsf without any modding. To me thats worth the hefty price.

If I were to buy a mATX mobo today it'd be the ABIT NF-M2 nView. Its a good OCer and not overly pricey. Right now I'm holding off waiting to see if the new ABIT IB-90 HD Conroe mATX comes out soon. The hope is that it'll be a good Conroe overclocker.

 

[jevans64]

The Silverstone SU01 ( Sugo Evolution ) cases are popular as well. They are larger than a Shuttle P/P2 series case but can take a regular ATX power supply, micro-ATX motherboard, and up to a 8800GTS ( the GTX is too long. ) You can get the SU01 at Newegg with or without a window and pair it with an Asus P5B VM motherboard and maybe an Enermax Liberty PSU ( modular - to lessen cable clutter. ) It comes with two 80mm fans and an open spot for a third 80mm fan. Most folks are using the Silverstone NS06 heatsink, which goes for $80, but the Thermalright XP-120 or SI-128 fit with a little bending of the pipes and cost less. These large heatsinks sit right under the power supply fan and use that to dump heat from the CPU. It seems to work well with the Conroe but it requires a PSU with a strong 120mm fan at the bottom. Since two of the 80mm fans exhaust at the top of the case, this keeps you from stacking stuff on top of the case.

Link to my wish list for a Sugo build... <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.asp?ID=4201611">https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion......t/MySavedWishDetail.asp?ID=4201611</a>

The Qmicra, as stated above, is also a very nice option and I might go this route since I can pop in a 8800GTX and I have a Zalman 9500 left over when I got a 9700. It IS more than double the cost of the Sugo so it depends on what video card you want to be able to install as to which case you go with.

I didn't like the Qpack because of the cheap plastic look ( and weak-looking handle ) up front.