Shuttle KPC

Got everything installed and running; the KPC is pretty noisy but thats easily the fault of the stock Intel heatsink, rear fan used and very possibly the PSU.

Leo installed fine with the exception of no audio; reinstalling with an audio option selected to see if that fixes that issue.

Specs:
Shuttle KPC
2180 Dual Core, 2 Ghz
2 gigs of memory
Samsung 750 gig HDD (just for testing right now, going to drop it down to a 400 gig after I get everything worked out)
slot loading DVD/CDRW pulled from a Mac Mini
Stock Intel cooler (need to replace)
D Link DWA-542 802.11n wifi card
OS X 10.5
 
CrimandEvil said:
Got everything installed and running; the KPC is pretty noisy but thats easily the fault of the stock Intel heatsink, rear fan used and very possibly the PSU.

Leo installed fine with the exception of no audio; reinstalling with an audio option selected to see if that fixes that issue.

Specs:
Shuttle KPC
2180 Dual Core, 2 Ghz
2 gigs of memory
Samsung 750 gig HDD (just for testing right now, going to drop it down to a 400 gig after I get everything worked out)
slot loading DVD/CDRW pulled from a Mac Mini
Stock Intel cooler (need to replace)
D Link DWA-542 802.11n wifi card
OS X 10.5
Click to expand...

Hmm, everyone says the PSU fan is noisy. I'm thinking of getting one but I really would hate to have a 40mm fan buzzing away 24/7. Perhaps it's possible to do a little surgery on the PSU and stick a Scythe Mini Kaze in there.

Also I can't wait to see pics of your build if you have any.
 
IcedEmotion said:
Hmm, everyone says the PSU fan is noisy. I'm thinking of getting one but I really would have to have a 40mm fan buzzing away 24/7. Perhaps it's possible to do a little surgery on the PSU and stick a Scythe Mini Kaze in there.

Also I can't wait to see pics of your build if you have any.
Click to expand...
I'm going to work on it, I hate absurd amounts of noise and the PSU qualifies for that,

I just bought my little sis a new camera, it'll be here Monday so I'll start taking pics then of all I've done. :)

Saturday I'm going down to the local Apple store with the GF to pick up a keyboard for it. She wants to look at getting a Macbook for School this fall too. :D
 
Did you get audio now with an audio option selected? Also interested in getting one of these for a Hackintosh build.
 
CrimandEvil said:
I'm going to work on it, I hate absurd amounts of noise and the PSU qualifies for that,

I just bought my little sis a new camera, it'll be here Monday so I'll start taking pics then of all I've done. :)

Saturday I'm going down to the local Apple store with the GF to pick up a keyboard for it. She wants to look at getting a Macbook for School this fall too. :D
Click to expand...

I hope your successful in making it quieter. I really want to buy one but only if there is a way to make it silent or near silent.
 
Word on the sudhian forums from the shuttle rep is that there is a Shuttle ICE cooler of some sort in the works for the KPC.
 
Just picked up this KPC, 2gb ram, Celeron 430 (775), 120gb hard drive...decent performance for only a lil over $200! Have not received these parts yet but ill throw a pic or two up when its done..and will also be awaiting to see what happens w/cooling for this thing to make it as quiet as possible!
 
Looks like the Sudhian forums is the best place for info. Reading the main KPC thread there I've gathered that:

- You can do FSB overclocking up to 265, at least with an E4400
- Stock Intel fan and the PSU are the two main noise sources
- The Zalman CNPS8000 fits without modification, so that means there is at least 62mm of clearance for a heatsink.
- Any CPU rated 65W and under is compatible

Based on this I think I'll pick one up. I'll probably order a Scythe Shuriken as it is 64mm tall and pair it with an E7200/E4600 or maybe just an E2200 and see how well it overclocks.
 
It's cheap but if you want full functionality with this size why not buy a Shuttle G5, G6, or H7 case???
outtu4.jpg

Got optical drive in built in flip down stealth bay, has floppy/card reader in second stealthed bay, 8800GT, PCI expansion, wireless adapter, etc. all there.

I would think a Shuttle ICE would me more silent than a regular CPU heatsink because it doubles as the exhaust fan, you only have 1 fan in the system. What model of Shuttle PSU is in the KPC? It's possible to replace these with server PSUs that are cheap, like $20-$30 that are quiet. You can take off the PSU casing and put some bigger heatsinks on it and make it passive as well. Shuttle also has an external brick PSU.

The built in picture mount is pretty cool.
http://www.fareastgizmos.com/entry_images/0208/21/Shuttle_green_cube.php

I hope people don't buy this thing and think this is general of Shuttle build quality. Their XPC systems are all aluminum inside and better than Silverstone/Lian Li.

Here is a mod I did for a Sparkle 300watt PSU. It has cool and quiet tech with a temperature controlled fan. The fan is OFF most of the time. We thought it was broken :)
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1310817
cornerbs8.jpg
 
Normal shuttles are fine, but if I were spending $300 I would just get another 3480 and throw a real motherboard in there. I want the KPC because it's small and cheap, I would probably only use it as an OSX test system and folding anyway.
 
Spare-Flair said:
Here is a great article about it at Sudhian
http://www.sudhian.com/index.php?/articles/show/my_experience_with_the_shuttle_k45/
Click to expand...
and I believe it to be the cause of noise issues some people have complained about on some forums.
Click to expand...
While I'm sure that having the heatsink not making proper contact with the CPU is a major design flaw I will argue that the source of noise in my system comes from the PSU fan and not the CPU cooler (which, for now, is a stock Intel heatsink). I have one of these, the CPU fan hasn't even ramped up yet and I'm running it with a slight OC. The PSU on the other hand is noisy, can't stand it.
 
CrimandEvil said:
While I'm sure that having the heatsink not making proper contact with the CPU is a major design flaw I will argue that the source of noise in my system comes from the PSU fan and not the CPU cooler (which, for now, is a stock Intel heatsink). I have one of these, the CPU fan hasn't even ramped up yet and I'm running it with a slight OC. The PSU on the other hand is noisy, can't stand it.
Click to expand...

I don't know specifically what the KPC's PSU looks like but I gather it's just another server rack PSU that might be custom made for Shuttle. I know lots of people who have swapped fans on these.
 
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