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Shuttle SZ77R5 Review

S

simonmaltby

n00b
Joined
Feb 19, 2012
Messages
54
Finally got my hands on the latest Shuttle to review last week and have just published my review.

The SZ77R5 is the third machine using the R5 chassis and this one is reviewed using the 3770K Ivy bridge and 2600K Sandy bridge.

http://www.motormice.com/reviews/SZ77R5/

Hope you find it useful :)
 
A nice review.I appreciate the work you put into it. I been thinking of using the the SZ77R5 in my next build but the Bios issue of not supporting IB out of the box has me looking at other choices. There is no excuse in my thinking for such a thing. Shuttle clearly got lazy about that. My other concern is the smart fan problem. If Shuttle can rectify those two problems I would give the SZ77R5 more consideration of my money. Until then I will have to avoid it unfortunately. A real shame too because it has many things going for it.
 
Smart fan problem is supposedly an easy fix. Just change the fan mode to advanced, and set your own ramp up. It's apparently even better than smart mode, since you don't get the fan jumping between speeds when it's right on the edge of the cutover point. Just a nice gradual ramp up. One of the posts here I think had a good starting point for speed/temp.

I noticed the SZ77R5 was delayed here in Oz by about a month, I wonder if we'll have the proper bios. I guess I'll know in a couple days when mine gets here.

Edit:
This post: http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1038788345&postcount=10
starting point at 35% at 50 degrees or under, and 100% at 80 degrees or over.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Has the Shuttle PC form factor changed at all? My Shuttle SD37P2 stands taller and wider than my Silverstone SG08 with the SG08 being a inch or two longer.

Other than that Shuttles are larger...so why would anyone consider a Shuttle at this point? Especially considering there are now, finally, some very good ITX motherboards.

My sig system is awwwesome and I am totally glad I didn't go Shuttle!
 
JoeUser said:
Has the Shuttle PC form factor changed at all? My Shuttle SD37P2 stands taller and wider than my Silverstone SG08 with the SG08 being a inch or two longer.

Other than that Shuttles are larger...so why would anyone consider a Shuttle at this point? Especially considering there are now, finally, some very good ITX motherboards.

My sig system is awwwesome and I am totally glad I didn't go Shuttle!
Click to expand...
You usually have to go to the video card forum to find this kind of thread crapping. Kudos to you for expanding fanboism to SFF.



OP thanks for the nice review!
 
Prav said:
You usually have to go to the video card forum to find this kind of thread crapping. Kudos to you for expanding fanboism to SFF.



OP thanks for the nice review!
Click to expand...

That wasn't thread crapping, it was a genuine statement. With SFF cases getting 100x better in build quality, features, and size along with M-ITX motherboards far surpassing even Shuttles most current Z77 offering what is the point of Shuttle now a days?

Better yet, what advantages are there using Shuttle instead of a DIY M-ITX build?
 
"Thread Crapping" occurs when a person comes into a thread and posts something contrary to the intent of the thread, often derailing the discussion or turning it into an argument. If you feel the need to turn a discussion into a debate, start a new thread instead.

example:
JoeUser said:
..so why would anyone consider a Shuttle at this point? Especially considering there are now, finally, some very good ITX motherboards.

My sig system is awwwesome and I am totally glad I didn't go Shuttle!
Click to expand...

You cannot hide the smell of this thread crap behind one legitimate question about case size
 
JoeUser said:
Better yet, what advantages are there using Shuttle instead of a DIY M-ITX build?
Click to expand...

4 memory slots? Dual mPCIe slots, one with mSATA support? 2 PCIe slots (16x and 4x)? Proper cable management?

I'm sure there's more, and that's not even considering just how much nicer the SZ77R5 case looks compared to an SG08. And pricewise, it's a wash. $200 + $150-$200 for an SG08 and mobo, $360 for the SZ77R5.

And now that the recent Shuttles all have mITX support, why DIY when a Shuttle looks so much nicer and is upgradable in the future (though giving up some of the benefits of the custom Shuttle mobos)?
 
Prav said:
"Thread Crapping" occurs when a person comes into a thread and posts something contrary to the intent of the thread, often derailing the discussion or turning it into an argument. If you feel the need to turn a discussion into a debate, start a new thread instead.

example:

You cannot hide the smell of this thread crap behind one legitimate question about case size
Click to expand...

who made you a mod. Your panties are in a bunch if you really think he was threadcrapping.

As to answer the why shuttle question with their recent pricing (core 2 duo shuttles were $600 for the flagship stuff) is that they offer a competitive offering when you factor in the cost of a case,mobo, and a quality psu. I think their biggest plus is the psu. It uses a smaller footprint compared to other itx cases when you want to build a gaming box. I was turned off by shuttle when the pricing was over $500 but the shuttles for the sandy bridge and ivy bridge have been priced pretty good.
 
morgwon said:
. Your panties are in a bunch if you really think he was threadcrapping.
.
Click to expand...

Posting in a Shuttle review thread that you are glad you didn't buy Shuttle is textbook thread crapping. Derailing a review thread with mATX vs ITX arguments is also thread crapping. I have to wonder what your imaginary definition for thread crapping would be?
 
i too am glad i built my own itx rigs, however this is a completely different animal. i am a SFF enthusiast and i think anyone else who is can also appreciate what shuttle is doing. i gotta say that 5 years ago when i saw one at school and looked it up, i thought "thats a complete waste of money for a slightly smaller computer." these new ones look so much better, are so much more capable, and actually cost less. i think this is a great buy. im also thinking about designing my next itx rig around that 500W psu, its on amazon for about $100. also thanks OP for the nice review. really like how theyre making them itx compatible and also so you can use a different heat sink on their board.
 
Can I just jump in as its my thread :).

The shuttle is one option when thinking about SFF, its not to everyones taste. Some m-ITX solutions are smaller and do what they are built for, some people prefer one look to another. It is all down to personal preference. If thinking about SFF then most of us would do lots of research and decide which way we wanted to go.

The Shuttle has a few advantages over most m-ITX solutions - in my opinion. Those are that it is slightly bigger so can take more inside and still have reasonable air flow. It does have 4 ram slots and 2 Pcie slots and to me it looks great.

It also has some downsides... Its bios is more basic than some m-ITX and it is bigger, making it not so good in certain circumstances.

Its all down to personal choice and its great that some people prefer bespoke solutions and I welcome them posting here :)

Final Shuttle fan boy thought is that with the Shuttle all you do is install a CPU, Ram, Hard drive and possible a graphics card. Then the bios will work (in the most part) so for the non builders out there it is a very simple solution, quite different from picking a combination of components and putting them together from scratch... Thats Shuttle's unique selling point I supose.

Enjoy.
 
the second pci-e slot is something I forgot about. Definitely could be a plus. All in all the only problem I had with Shuttle was the pricing. Shuttle seems to have rectified that.

Prav said:
Posting in a Shuttle review thread that you are glad you didn't buy Shuttle is textbook thread crapping. Derailing a review thread with mATX vs ITX arguments is also thread crapping. I have to wonder what your imaginary definition for thread crapping would be?
Click to expand...

If you really have an issue with someone's post why dont you just hit the report button and let the mods decide if it is threadcrapping. This is the sff forum. Just cause the thread is about Shuttle it doesn't mean that anyone who isn't going to say glowing things about them should not post here. He was stating his opinion based on his last shuttle he had purchased (which by the way was one of the pricier shuttle models). Instead of calling him a troll and fanboi (which you come off as fanboi more than he does) contribute something to thread instead of trying to be a moderator. So I understand if his last Shuttle purchase turned him off from Shuttle. I would advice JoeUser to check them out once more as they offer a real nice package. I am sure the sg08,psu,mitx board he purchased cost a little more than the shuttle being reviewed here. Either way like OP said to each their own. I am glad there are people like OP that put out reviews. It can spark such titillating conversation.
 
Good point. I should have just hit report instead of hoping someone would edit their post before the OP read it. Good thing he was so understanding about a post that effectively said 'my rigs owns yours, why would you buy that, shuttle sucks'. I dont own a Shuttle so it would be hard for me to add anything other than thanking the OP which I did.
 
Got my SZ77R5 last night, it had the 107 BIOS so worked just fine with my i5-3570k. Must have just been a early batch that had the wrong BIOS included.

Haven't had much time to mess with it, I just swapped over everything directly from my old SP35P2 Pro and then spent most of the night figuring out why nothing USB would work. Turned out to just be some missing files on my Windows install (weird), all sorted and working OK.

So far, no major complaints, and can't believe how quiet it is at stock speeds. In fact, the only thing I hear even with the case cover off is the fan on my 670.

Only issues I've noticed are that it's a pretty tight squeeze to get the PCIe power cables plugged into the video card if the plugs are on top, and that front panel USB3 cable isn't exactly in the best spot. But really, those are pretty minor.
 
Good to hear they got the new Bios shipping with the units now. That removes the biggest worry I had about it. I still have my eye on this Shuttle for next build but not ready to build yet.
 
Thanks OP for the review. Looks like this will be my Little brother's upgrade to his SG41J4 that has been troublesome from the start. BIOS doesn't didn't want to boot with 8gb ram (BIOS upgrade shuttle?) and we had to underclock his processor and even buy an upgraded PSU (PC63J). When his q6600 passes away or i upgrade my 2600k I'll be looking forward to building this rig for him.
 
simonmaltby said:
Finally got my hands on the latest Shuttle to review last week and have just published my review.
Click to expand...

Are all your old shuttles still in working condition Simon?

I have a Shuttle ST20G5 from the year of 2005. I'm using a Athlon 64 3200+ which has 89 watt TDP. My graphics card is a very silent Radeon 5670.

Do you think a new SZ77R5 will make less noise? I've read a few people praising the low noise of the new Shuttles. I think my own Shuttle makes a little bit too much noise in idle mode but perhaps I'm just very sensitive :)
 
Jacob666 said:
Are all your old shuttles still in working condition Simon?

I have a Shuttle ST20G5 from the year of 2005. I'm using a Athlon 64 3200+ which has 89 watt TDP. My graphics card is a very silent Radeon 5670.

Do you think a new SZ77R5 will make less noise? I've read a few people praising the low noise of the new Shuttles. I think my own Shuttle makes a little bit too much noise in idle mode but perhaps I'm just very sensitive :)
Click to expand...

I have 31 shuttles now and I think 28 are fully working and complete with components and windows licences. I have 1 thats an empty case and the other 2 have faulty motherboards which i'm looking to fix or replace sometime :)

I hesitate to comment too much on noise as its so personal and if I say the SZ77R5 is really quiet, you can be sure that when you get one expecting silence you will be disapointed. To me the latest machines are the quietest yet, although it does depend greatly on the GPU you install of course.
 
simonmaltby said:
LOL Its a collection. I have one of just about every model made - They are on display in my office and not really used, but look great :D
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nice! man i want your job. sounds like you have a lot of disposable income and a really big office.
 
ekuest said:
nice! man i want your job. sounds like you have a lot of disposable income and a really big office.
Click to expand...

Not really ;) I picked most up for very little cost and just applied time to clean and repair as required. Most cost between £25 - £50... I got a couple for the cost of postage. I recon the whole collection cost me less than £1000 and this was built up over a couple of years so as hobbies go its quite reasonable. Its also great the memories some of this kit kindles... playing with the AMD Athlon's and Intel P4 again is fun. Most systems I brought came with cpu, memory, hard drives and graphics cards... its amazing what you can get hold of.
 
simonmaltby said:
I hesitate to comment too much on noise as its so personal and if I say the SZ77R5 is really quiet, you can be sure that when you get one expecting silence you will be disappointed. To me the latest machines are the quietest yet, although it does depend greatly on the GPU you install of course.
Click to expand...

I don't need total silence. I plan to get a mid - high gfx card with a good cooler. When you are for example 2 meters away from the computer and the computer is idle can you then still hear it ? But I guess it it difficult to answer as you say. We all have different opinions on noise

Can you then say that Shuttle has improved over the last years. To me it looks like the I.C:E cooler is the same as in my 7 year old machine. But I would guess the-power supply has improved a bit and will make a bit less noise. And the performance of an Ivy bridge is of course way better than my old Athlon. It will have even easier, handling a job like internet browsing
 
Jacob666 said:
I don't need total silence. I plan to get a mid - high gfx card with a good cooler. When you are for example 2 meters away from the computer and the computer is idle can you then still hear it ? But I guess it it difficult to answer as you say. We all have different opinions on noise

Can you then say that Shuttle has improved over the last years. To me it looks like the I.C:E cooler is the same as in my 7 year old machine. But I would guess the-power supply has improved a bit and will make a bit less noise. And the performance of an Ivy bridge is of course way better than my old Athlon. It will have even easier, handling a job like internet browsing
Click to expand...

The ICE changed from 80mm fan to 92mm fan at some point - the older shuttles have the 80mm. The latest power supplies are a big improvement both regards noise and reliability. The fan only gets audiable if under lots of load so if you use a good low power GPU it should always remain quiet. 7850, 7950, 7970, 670, 680 are perfect.

At idle yes I would call it nearly silent. In the review the background noise was 25dba and at idle with my iPhone about 20cm from the side of the case (on the PSU side and middle back to front) recorded 35dba so very quiet.
 
simonmaltby said:
Not really ;) I picked most up for very little cost and just applied time to clean and repair as required. Most cost between £25 - £50... I got a couple for the cost of postage. I recon the whole collection cost me less than £1000 and this was built up over a couple of years so as hobbies go its quite reasonable. Its also great the memories some of this kit kindles... playing with the AMD Athlon's and Intel P4 again is fun. Most systems I brought came with cpu, memory, hard drives and graphics cards... its amazing what you can get hold of.
Click to expand...

yeah old tech is pretty affordable. office must be big though, i have a 8x8 cube. :/ mind posting pictures of your collection? id love to see all of them. maybe in a new thread though.
 
I must get round to takeing a new set of photos, but here is the last 'Wall' I did... this has 24 machines.

DSC05133.JPG
 
Nice collection Simon are they in sequential release order?

I note a slight mistake in your review of the SZ77R5. If using two Dimms they should be placed in the yellow sockets not the red as stated.

I just setup a machine (OS Windows 8 consumer preview) and did not use the Shuttle driver CD.

Is it needed as things seem to be working okay?
 
pcb_revival said:
Nice collection Simon are they in sequential release order?

I note a slight mistake in your review of the SZ77R5. If using two Dimms they should be placed in the yellow sockets not the red as stated.

I just setup a machine (OS Windows 8 consumer preview) and did not use the Shuttle driver CD.

Is it needed as things seem to be working okay?
Click to expand...

I recall questioning myself as I wrote about the Dimm slots and negleted to go back and check. Oh well, if thats the only error then i'm happy LOL.

No the photo shows the machines in a random order, more grouped on style that anything.

No idea ref drivers and Win 8 as not used. I needed the driver CD for USB3 and Audio in windows 7 I think and also for the intel storeage to enable SSD caching.
 
simonmaltby said:
I recall questioning myself as I wrote about the Dimm slots and negleted to go back and check. Oh well, if thats the only error then i'm happy LOL.

No the photo shows the machines in a random order, more grouped on style that anything.

No idea ref drivers and Win 8 as not used. I needed the driver CD for USB3 and Audio in windows 7 I think and also for the intel storeage to enable SSD caching.
Click to expand...

i wanna see them all stacked in chronological order! that would be interesting. is it too much to ask, simon? :(
 
Hey Simon. There have been a couple BIOS updates since I last been here. Have you used them and what do you think of them?
 
this is fascinating.. I was set on getting a SG05 w/ an ASROCK Z77 board.. but this Shuttle option is very nice.. the size and appearance are appealing, and the price point is very attractive..

I see that the shuttle doesnt have WIFI onboard.. does that mean I need a USB wifi card if I use a large GPU?.. and how are the USB wifi cards performance?

so many questions.. lol.. I dunno why I havent seen these around more..
 
Digikid said:
Hey Simon. There have been a couple BIOS updates since I last been here. Have you used them and what do you think of them?
Click to expand...

Afraid I only had the machine for the review so have not been able to try the later Bios updates.

dapoktan said:
I see that the shuttle doesnt have WIFI onboard.. does that mean I need a USB wifi card if I use a large GPU?..
Click to expand...

The latest Shuttles will take a Mini PCI wifi card in an additional slot thus keeping the PCI-e slots free for the big Graphics card. I purchased mine on Ebay for £5 (UK) an RTL8188CE and performamce has been ok. Its bascically a Laptop type card. There are holes in the case for decent antena as well.
 
Its a shame can't find this case with just the 500w psu. The mobo and ICE cooler removed. I'd love to build a rig with the mobo and hsf of my choosing. I don't want to buy this unit though and remove the mobo and ICE cooling. Waste of money.
 
Yeah but the mobo's that come in these are pretty good anymore, way back I had trouble with their longevity but that has changed.
 
Skott said:
Its a shame can't find this case with just the 500w psu. The mobo and ICE cooler removed. I'd love to build a rig with the mobo and hsf of my choosing. I don't want to buy this unit though and remove the mobo and ICE cooling. Waste of money.
Click to expand...

You couldn't find a standardized board to fit in the case anyway, mount points are all wrong for ITX, the shuttle boards are good deal larger.
 
You could probably put your own mount points in no? Or would the IO shield ports and pci slots not line up either?
 
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