overclocking in a shuttle xpc?

[w@termelon]

hi everyone,

im new to this forum but not new to building computers. Since its summer and its REDICULOUSLY hot in my apartment, my gaming rig which i also use for school work is heating up my room even more.

so my solution is to build a smaller, "summer computer" so to speak. Ive pretty much decided on a shuttle XPC, probably the G33 based one becaues it wont break the bank at ~250 dollars.

I still want this computer to be a decent gaming rig and one capable of handling large tasks so the processing power needs to be there but i dont want to spend more than 500 total on the box so that leaves ~250 for HD, and ram, and CPU, i have an old 8800gts 320mb gfx card to put in there as well. im planning to stick in a 750 gig drive and 2 gigs of ram so that'll leave approximately 100 for the CPU. so basically im at the E2180 range.

i want to have the E2180 to be at 3Ghz preferably a little higher. So first question is, does the shuttle overclock well? anyone have a preferend shuttle model that overclocks the best? it doesnt have to be Intel based, an amd system would be fine too, but same type of standard applies (3Ghz+). Also how good is the heatpipe heatsink? i dont like my processor getting too hot. My E6550 @ 3.5Ghz is sitting at 28C idle and 40C max load in 90F temps right now, so i'd like to keep CPU temps below 50C under load. Anyone have any expeirence with this type of box?

thanks in advance!

 

[AA Man]

I haven't done any over clocking with my shuttles,

Currently I have a sd31p, which i could if i desired, but i don't find necessary.
I can say changing the voltage control is very easy. In fact I think it can even be done in windows using a program called XPC Tools, and there is a menu in the BIOS of my SD31P where again you can change voltage... ect. also in XPC Tools run in Windows you can control fan speed for all your system fans.. ect, and also has a few setting to change voltage., though Ive never changed them...

The Ice Air flow system I believe is the best air flow out there. Bringing in cool air from outside the case, instead of hot air in the case, tunneled across the CPU, and then Directly out of the case, again tunneled so the CPU heat doesn't even enter the case.

I like both of the shuttles I own. I would recommend them to my friends.

The A Man

 

[MrkXCeL]

AA Man, I agree, shuttles are sweet. Though the OP is trying to cut down heat, I'm not sure I'd classify my Shuttle SN25P as a cool operator *sorry

Anyway, fire up Crysis or COD4 and things get pretty toasty. That's with a single HD, and currently my CDROM removed since my new HD3870OC has a larger than standard fan.

XPC tools, or RIghtMark CPU utility are your friend when you need to keep things cooloer, but when you're asking a lot of the machine, undervolting/underclocking isn't going to be exactly what you want. Though, I fold with my CPU @ 60% (which is 25% below stock clock) just to keep the fans from going into warp speed.

 

[w@termelon]

thanks for the resposes guys!

i have a few questions though, AAMan, about the ice cooler, does it pull in cool air from the outside? or blow hot air out? i always thought it blew hot air out of the case?

Also, MrkXCel, how did you manage to fit a 3870 into a shuttle? doesnt that have a 2-slot cooler? i always thought that the shuttles had the pci-express slot on the outside so a dual slot cooler wouldnt be possible? at least with the side panel on?

Also, how many harddrives can the shuttle hold? one or two?

I guess my overclocking question can only be solved by trying it myself eh?


thanks agian for the replies!

 

[AA Man]

thanks for the resposes guys!

i have a few questions though, AAMan, about the ice cooler, does it pull in cool air from the outside? or blow hot air out? i always thought it blew hot air out of the case?

Also, MrkXCel, how did you manage to fit a 3870 into a shuttle? doesn't that have a 2-slot cooler? i always thought that the shuttles had the pci-express slot on the outside so a dual slot cooler wouldnt be possible? at least with the side panel on?

Also, how many harddrives can the shuttle hold? one or two?

I guess my overclocking question can only be solved by trying it myself eh?


thanks agian for the replies!

Goto Shuttles site and check out there cooling system, mine has the two ICE fan system, they even have newer stuff now.... though I really think that its possible to make a custom case that could be better, by using the same idea.

Check out this link
http://www.sfftech.com/index.php?/articles/show/Shuttle_SD31P_XPC_Review_-_Intel_Dual_Core_SFF/internals

It shows the internals of the SD31P which i believe has the ICE 2 System, it has a tunnel that directs air from outside the case to be drawn in by a fan next to the ICE unit.


My shuttle has enough space for 3 HDs, and and Optical drive. If you buy a TB drive.. there is really no need for more then one. I suggest backing up data on an external drive.

As far as a Video card goes, my has the PCI-E slot on the wrong side, so I couldn't customize it if i wanted to. The x1800x is HUGE, and barley fits, I actually had to take the air tunnel to make fit, and still was tight.

I still like my shuttle, and there really aren't smaller cases out there in my experience.

 

[Spare-Flair]

This is not the best place to ask about Shuttles, goto here:
http://www.sudhian.com/index.php?/forums/viewforum/4/

That's where all the Shuttle users are and they have a shuttle mod forum as well.
Shuttles overclock just fine for all of their newer models. If you have an 8800GTS, the G5/G6 cases are out of the question for you since you can only fit a single slot card in the unless you cut a hole in the side of your case. You'll need a P2 Shuttle.

 

[neogenesis2004]

ive got a e8400 in my sx38p2 running at 3.7ghz. I'd run more but I seemed to have got the biggest dud of all e8400s. I'm not complaining though 3.7ghz is still fast as all hell. Also I have a 9800gx2 in it as well. Runs beautifully!

 

[BillR]

On the NewEgg site to the far right you will see a drop down marked “Specials”. This can be your Shuttle salvation believe it or not.

From time to time the Egg will get a load of machines from Shuttle and typically they get palette loads. Click the drop down and select “Open Box” then look on the left side of your screen for Bare Bones mini systems.

Week before last they had a wide selection of machines and I picked a few up. Not one of these were open box. Most were overstocks and the Egg got a good deal. I’ve been buying them for years now and when you suddenly see a nice collection of machines and you also see “Limit 2 per customer” the odds are you are getting either new or something that failed due to a cosmetic flaw, I’ve never found a flaw.

Four years ago I grabbed 4 Socket “A” machines that were all defective. The defect was that the CPU fan was plugged into the wrong header preventing the machine from booting. It was simply cheaper to sell them to the Egg then fix them.

People have started waking up on these so when they appear don’t wait, just get one. I bought on Friday and by Sunday they were all gone.

They will be back, they always are.

As for heat, well a SFF is probably not your best choice to be honest unless you go to a 45 nm process CPU.

I just finished a BRBN SHUTTLE SG33G5M G33 775 RETAIL with a Q9300, a 1 Tbyte drive and an LG Blu-Ray reader burner. Now that runs cool even running all 4 cores on folding at home 100% and still makes a nice HTPC machine. I didn’t get the deluxe, didn’t need a finger print reader however the thing is a beauty and did come with the MS remote.

http://us.shuttle.com/barebone/Models/sg33g5m_deluxe.html

As for mods, probably a NB and SB fan and probably a nice quiet 80mm blowing air in.

SFF, you either love them or hate them, I love every one I’ve built.

 

[w@termelon]

wow thanks for all the informative responses!

as for the shuttle, i do plan on cutting the side panel to fit 8800gts, i do have a little bit of experience with a dremel and i've helped my friend cut a window for his p180 (lol quiet an experience)

as for shuttle models, i've been eyeing the SD30G2 for its cheap-ness (lol spare computer for hot days and im not made of cash) and i plan on sticking in a thermaltake dvd-drive power supply (250watt) that i have to provide juice to the gfx card cuz i dont want the little 250watt psu that comes in the shuttle to get overworked.

any thoughts on the sd30g2? it uses the intel g945c chipset

also my friend just gave me a pentium d 930 so ill probably use that instead of a core2duo e2180.
i used to have a pentium d 805 that was a little overclocking beast but i know the 930 outputs alot of heat, will the stock cooling solution on the shuttle be adaquit? i also have a corsair nautilus 500 watercooling ssytem that i could use. Anyone try using the nautilus with a shuttle b4?


thanks for all the help!
-w@termelon

 

[neogenesis2004]

the core2 would eat that pentium d for breakfast. the 2160/80 can both be had for really cheap. I'd rather buy one than use a free pentium d personally.

 

[w@termelon]

haha im sure the core 2 duo would eat the pentium d, spit it back out, then kick it while its down, then steal its wallet LOL.

i have a core 2 duo e6550 @ 3.5ghz in my main rig so thats plenty fast if i need the processing power. I think im gona stick with the pentium d for the shuttle since its a backup comp for hot days (my parents really drilled the whole waste not mentality)

plus im a little strapped for cash, since i am just finishing up school, got a mini-mountain of school loans to pay back, at least my EE degree landed me a decent job to pay back said loans lol...

gota love the college lifestyle, probably gona live it for a few more yrs (the ramen noodles and money saving, not the wild binge drinking)


agian, thanks for everyone for thier responses!