Shuttle vs. Biostar

[Dadofamunky]

After several frustrating months with Antec Taiwanese crap (2 burnt motherboards, one dead power supply, and another one that ran amok during intial startup) I've decided to give one last try in a system build. I have an AthlonX2 4200+, OCZ PC4000 memory, an EVGA 7800GT PCI-E that they swapped to me for an RMA'd 6800 Ultra AGP, and several drives. At least the most valuable components of my dead system survived.

I've been reading a lot about Shuttle and am really squirelly about buying their gear because it sounds like they have serious quality control problems and absolutely no support. For every guy who loves them I see reviews of someone having them die a year after they bought them, or go through half a dozen replacements before they finally get one that works, etc....

This is par for the course for Taiwanese companies. I no longer trust any of them as far as I can throw them.

I'm also looking at Biostar but there just doesn't seem to be the install base with them that there is with Shuttle, even though their prices and configuration are comparable. They seem to be direct competitors, with Shuttle owning most of the user mindshare.

Are either of these companies worth taking a chance with? Or should I just go Micro-ATX? (That choice is appealing to me because I could buy a PC Power & Cooling power supply and a Tyan Socket 939 mobo, which are still MADE IN THIS COUNTRY.)

Unless I get an integrated solution, I will never buy a Taiwanese/Chinese power supply again - EVER. That's why I'm inquiring here.

 

[IlllI]

if you want something rock solid stable for your expensive components, then i would say stay away from sff completely. they do have a little more risk involved. it seems like you have doubts about them already...so why get one at all?

 

[Trey22]

I've had both Shuttle and Biostar SFF's.

I had both a Shuttle SN95G5 and a ST20G5. Each had different hardware vendors components installed (AMD Winchester vs AMD Newcastle, Corsair vs Crucial, Seagate vs WD, ATI vs Nvidia, NEC vs LiteON), and they both worked great (used them for FPS gaming mostly, and overclocked quiet well). The general consensus that Shuttle support sucks is true for the following reason... it seems like they almost never answer your inquiries. They do keep up w/ driver and BIOS upgrades.

The Biostar IDEQ 210VB I just built has also been rock solid... granted it is an older Socket A/462 system, but it is quieter than the Shuttle, and has a slightly better layout. This is more of a home PC, no gaming. I can't comment on their service or support as I haven't needed to contact them.

 

[pukemon]

Shuttles XPC's are generally a lot quieter than Biostar IDEQs and have better power supplies. (ie they are rated at 250 or 300 W but can handle high end parts without much problem)

Good luck trying to find computer components that aren't made in Taiwan or China. BTW Tyan Computer is based in Taipei, Taiwan. If you honestly believe that much of anything other than the cardboard boxes the products were shipped were made in the USA, well then, ignorance is bliss I guess?

 

[Dadofamunky]

Originally posted by: pukemon
Shuttles XPC's are generally a lot quieter than Biostar IDEQs and have better power supplies. (ie they are rated at 250 or 300 W but can handle high end parts without much problem)

Good luck trying to find computer components that aren't made in Taiwan or China. BTW Tyan Computer is based in Taipei, Taiwan. If you honestly believe that much of anything other than the cardboard boxes the products were shipped were made in the USA, well then, ignorance is bliss I guess?

Guess you're right. Ah, the good ol' days of Hauppauge....

I've had no luck with any AMD-based systems yet, so I guess it's a matter of pick your poison....

 

[Chunkee]

Originally posted by: pukemon
Shuttles XPC's are generally a lot quieter than Biostar IDEQs and have better power supplies. (ie they are rated at 250 or 300 W but can handle high end parts without much problem)

Good luck trying to find computer components that aren't made in Taiwan or China. BTW Tyan Computer is based in Taipei, Taiwan. If you honestly believe that much of anything other than the cardboard boxes the products were shipped were made in the USA, well then, ignorance is bliss I guess?

This is not true...the biostars are much quieter, cheaper, and more stable.

JC

 

[Fox5]

Isn't Shuttle American?

I've been running a rock solid shuttle motherboard for a few years, the best nforce2 overclocker out there. (unfortunately, I think performance is lower per mhz than some of the best boards, but the performance per mhz is about average for an nforce2 board) I only wish shuttle was active in the mainboard market, their motherboard has been a high class product for me.

I also had a biostar motherboard, no real problems with it, at least none that weren't common to any motherboard using a VIA chipset.

 

[pukemon]

Nope. Shuttle is Taiwanese... Their motherboard line used to be called "Spacewalker" ... funny name, their website actually was www.spacewalker.com (which still works amazingly), www.shuttle.com used to take you to NASA's Space Shuttle program.

A "unique" feature of Shuttle motherboards is that they have rounded corners. I think even my old Shuttle HOT-569 (Socket 7) had them. Those were the days... hehe

 

[Sead0nkey]

Biostar 200n was an eye opener for me. It was rock solid, quiet, and ran cool. To bad the new biostars look so bad.

 

[KeepItRed]

My vote goes to Shuttle.

 

[MotionMan]

I have owned and written reviews of both Shuttles and Biostars. I think that thye are both very good SFF solutions. There have been some recent issues with Shuttle quality control and customer service, but I have not personally had to deal with either. Biostar certainly has a smaller fanbase and they have not come out with anything "exciting" recently, but I like their computers and have not heard of any particular issues with their recent offerings.

All my personally owned computers are SFF and I love them!!!

BTW, I do have a Biostar for sale. If you are interested, see my sig.

MotionMan

 

[Mik3y]

Originally posted by: skunkbuster
if you want something rock solid stable for your expensive components, then i would say stay away from sff completely. they do have a little more risk involved. it seems like you have doubts about them already...so why get one at all?

because you're wrong.

 

[Dadofamunky]

Well, I'm burning the ST20G5 in right now and so far it looks very very good. I love the fact that it has a BIOS reset switch on the back of the chassis! I had to upgrade the BIOS to recognize dual-core but WinFlash took care of that in a hurry. (At least Shuttle did offer a recent BIOS upgrade.) Unlike all NVidia boards I've tried, the onboard GigE actually works. Still trying to get the sound chip to work, but that's something I can work around.

The assembly and setup was also much easier than I expected. While it's not perfect, so far I'd have to give it an 8 or 8.5 out of 10.