The quality of Shuttle SFF Barebone systems is going downhill!

Looks like Shuttle is really penny pinching now!

This is the previous high end SFF system, the SX58H7:

http://www.shuttle.eu/fileadmin/resources/download/docs/spec/barebones/SX58H7_e.pdf

This is the replacement,the SX58J3:

http://www.shuttle.eu/fileadmin/resources/download/docs/spec/barebones/SX58J3_e.pdf

For the same price the SX58J3 is made from cheaper steel, weighs 6.8KG instead of 3.8KG and has a cheaper looking motherboard.

SX58J3 motherboard



SX58H7 motherboard



The SX58J3 seems to have the build quality of a cheap XFX X58 motherboard.



The SX58J3 is currently priced at £440 at a well known retailer.

I have used Shuttles for years as my primary PCs but it looks like I will be avoiding them for my next PC!

The motherboard doesnt look that bad to me... are you expecting heat pipes and a better colour pcb? maybe they've impoved the airflow in the case, so they wouldnt need some heat pipes and copper heat sinks.

but it being almost twice as heavy is really bad

The case has the same internal design. Also the SX58J3 costs the same as the preceding SX58H7 too. The Shuttle SFF systems can run hot so having better cooling for the parts is very important.
In many cases components in the VRM have failed as they were running at excessively high temperatures.

SX58J3 internal design



SX58H7 internal design




The back of "new" Shuttle looks cheap!

SX58H7 rear panel



SX58J3 rear panel




Both systems have the same CPU cooler and the same PSU.

Since the PSU can be bought as a replacement part for around £100 this means you paying around £340 for a cheaper to make steel chassis and a slightly revised version of the motherboard found in the SX58H7.

How on earth do you think you can assess motherboard build quality based on a photograph?

The first motherboard picture is disgusting tbh

I'm surprised Shuttle still hasn’t come up with a better way of connecting the front ports apart from cables. Especially as they have complete control over the design of case and motherboard.

As for Shuttle quality I tired of their ongoing issues with AMD platform from Socket 754 onwards. And since mini-ITX has advanced there's little point going back to a propriety system with poor support.

Yeh the metal looks terrible on the new one, nothing like my SP35P2 build quality!

glad i went itx now and didn't wait for the shuttle.

I thought the J-series were meant to be the budget shuttles? Hence steel and cheaper cooling on the mobo...

While the high end ones still use the better materials/boards etc.

I bought the low end SG41J1 PLUS for the Mrs a couple of weeks back, and tbh the build quality seems fine, yeah it uses steel and is the grey colour instead of shiny, but tbh who looks at the back? and as for weight, I don't care its just going to be sat on a desk.

It didn't feel low quality at all. Admittedly the last shuttle I used was an SK41G, so they might have come on a bit since then, but for what it was, and what I paid, it seemed fine.

Only thing I was a bit miffed about is that the J1's don't come with ICE cooling, which is rather annoying, as you just expect it with a shuttle! So I had to go and spend extra on a CPU cooler (and find one that would fit!).

HeX said:

I thought the J-series were meant to be the budget shuttles? Hence steel and cheaper cooling on the mobo...

While the high end ones still use the better materials/boards etc.

Click to expand...

I thought the same too until the actual specifications of the J3 series came out.

HeX said:

I bought the low end SG41J1 PLUS for the Mrs a couple of weeks back, and tbh the build quality seems fine, yeah it uses steel and is the grey colour instead of shiny, but tbh who looks at the back? and as for weight, I don't care its just going to be sat on a desk.

It didn't feel low quality at all. Admittedly the last shuttle I used was an SK41G, so they might have come on a bit since then, but for what it was, and what I paid, it seemed fine.

Only thing I was a bit miffed about is that the J1's don't come with ICE cooling, which is rather annoying, as you just expect it with a shuttle! So I had to go and spend extra on a CPU cooler (and find one that would fit!).

Click to expand...

The J1 is a £150 barebone system so for the price it is not too bad.

However, the SX58J3 retails for around the £450 mark which is the same as the preceding SX58H7. Shuttle have basically cut costs and offered more or less the same system as the SX58H7 but using lower cost materials.

The PSU is available as a replacement part for around £100. This means a steel case and the SFF X58 motherboard comes to around £350.

Most of the competing higher end SFF cases such as the Lan Gear Da Box 100 and the Silverstone Sugo SG01,SG03 and SG04 are all made of aluminium. The Silverstone SG02,SG05 and SG06 are made of steel but they are priced according.

CAT, I understand why you'd be annoyed with shuttle for making the near case steel rather than aluminium, but apart from the heatpipes I really can't see much difference between the board.
If there is no difference between the 2 boards, then why worry and not just get the SX58H7? They won't have got rid of the heatpipes if they were really worried about everything overheating and dying - it would just cost them more.

OK so some people won't like the new version, but most people won't notice much of difference or care. We are still in a recession, you can hardly get at them for cutting their costs. The old one is still avaliable - buy that if you want one.

Else as you've said buy a m-atx / m-itx system. The shuttle really doesn't give you much of an advantage in the current markets with SFF becoming so popular.

The fact is that Shuttle has much more competition nowadays with the plethora of mini ITX and mATX cases out there. £450 is premium pricing for such a system and cutting corners is not acceptable TBH when the competition is not doing so for a similar or slightly lower price. Even the X48 based Shuttles and their predecessors used to cost between £300 to £350.

Cooling is also very important for Shuttle motherboards as many of the components run too hot especially when people ramp the fans down so to stop the systems being too loud. The Shuttle SFF barebone systems only have a one year warranty. In many cases these systems have had issues after this.

Some of the earlier P2 Shuttles had similar aluminium heatsinks and ran very hot meaning in many cases people either had to attach fans to them or replace the whole assembly with an aftermarket cooler.

The Oasis cooler was an improvement over the older style coolers the previous Shuttle SFF PCs used.

Cutting back on cooling for a SFF X58 based motherboard in a small case with limited airflow is not a good idea in the long run.

I am probably not going to get another high end Shuttle in the near future (I have one of the socket 775 P2 Shuttles ATM) if they want to rip their customers off and I am hearing the same from many long term Shuttle users too who have bought their higher end SFF barebone systems.

CAT-THE-FIFTH said:

However, the SX58J3 retails for around the £450 mark which is the same as the preceding SX58H7. Shuttle have basically cut costs and offered more or less the same system as the SX58H7 but using lower cost materials.

Click to expand...

In that case then yes, it is pretty shocking tbh.

I wouldn't want to dish out £450 on a steel shuttle when the previous gen one had a better cooled mobo and higher quality case.

CAT - repeating what you've said further up the post unfortunately doesn't correct things (We all wish it did!) So I guess the best you can do is leave it to me muppets who like brand names and don't have the knowledge that shuttle are now ripping them off and go buy a m-itx or m-atx as you've said.

I'd be doing the same if I were in there position and thought I could get away with it. There most likely testing the water to see how many *muppets* actually buy it or whether to revert back to what they know works.

You've got to remember there are a lot of people who buy things because they are expensive... Look at anyone cool enough to have an iphone for example

So if I was in the market for a new Shuttle to replace my SD37P2 then the SX58H7 would be the one to go for?

WoZZeR said:

So if I was in the market for a new Shuttle to replace my SD37P2 then the SX58H7 would be the one to go for?

Click to expand...

ATM,it looks like the SX58H7 would be a better choice. TBH,I would wait until Intel Sandy Bridge is released.

It looks like the new SX58 H7 Pro has gone back to using an aluminum chassis:

http://www.shuttle.eu/fileadmin/resources/download/docs/spec/barebones/SX58H7Pro_e.pdf

However,the motherboard seems to lack VRM cooling!

OTH,pictures of a display model seems to show larger chipset and VRM coolers when compared to the SX58J3:

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgu...=suggest&tbs=isch:1&ei=1QOVTYq7Fsur4AarlOiXDA

I have been a Shuttle fan for many years now, and recently decided that I would like to replace my E8600 powered SP45H7 with a Sandy Bridge variant.

However having built my own systems for many years 'pre-Shuttle' and rather liking the idea of being able to accomodate a dual slot graphics card, as well as a TV card I finally decided to go micro ATX, but in a compact SFF case.

The one I have finally chosen is a Silverstone Sugo SG04F, and as soon as my replacement motherboard arrives from Asus on Tuesday I will start to think about the build.

If anyone is interested, then I will post some pictures on here... and maybe even a 'project log' also!

think i might go for a shuttle, simply 'cus its the smallest footprint for high end?

I see what you mean OP, but at the end of the day, isn't the proof "in the pudding" so to speak?

i.e Surely it's fairer to judge this system on how it actually performs, rather than rant about how it looks?