First ever shuttle build - advice needed

bloodline76

bloodline76

bloodline76

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7 Feb 2004
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I am looking to build my first ever shuttle for use with LAN parties as my main computer is too large to move. I have made loads of full stack computers for myself and family/friends.

I am having to do this on the cheap so searching the bay. There seem to be lots of standard shuttles, basic rectangle sort of shape.

If i were to get one of these what coould I actually put in it?

I was hoping to get a core duo mb
Maybe a cheap 8800 off mm
And a couple of gig in ram
250-500 HD (Would it be better to get a laptop HD to make more space?)

What sort of MB would I need to get to fit one of these?

Would I have room to do that?

Thanks
 
erm, dont all shuttle boxes use proprietry (ie their own) motherboards? Also, the trays/hubs/whatever that you fix the hdds to in a shuttle are only compatible with 5.25" drives from my experience, which is not much. So if laptop hdds are different...
 
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bloodline76 said:
I am looking to build my first ever shuttle for use with LAN parties as my main computer is too large to move. I have made loads of full stack computers for myself and family/friends.

I am having to do this on the cheap so searching the bay. There seem to be lots of standard shuttles, basic rectangle sort of shape.

If i were to get one of these what coould I actually put in it?

I was hoping to get a core duo mb
Maybe a cheap 8800 off mm
And a couple of gig in ram
250-500 HD (Would it be better to get a laptop HD to make more space?)

What sort of MB would I need to get to fit one of these?

Would I have room to do that?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Most if not all shutles are full barebones i.e come with the motherboard and all cables etc, yes you would be able to fit all of the above in depending which one you are looking at getting. Also as far as i know they all accept regular 5.25" drives and 3.5" hard drives.
 
Shuttles are usually barebones systems; i.e. they come with the case, motherboard, CPU cooler and PSU. Google for a review of the one you're looking at and you should be able to find photos of it being taken apart. They are usually designed to hold 2 standard hard drives and an optical drive.

The motherboard on my old shuttle has just died, which has made me realise that while they may look good and be really small, they do lack upgradability. The case is going in the loft for use as a possible mini-ITX rig in the future, but even that will require some hefty modding.

PK!
 
misterPK said:
Shuttles are usually barebones systems; i.e. they come with the case, motherboard, CPU cooler and PSU. Google for a review of the one you're looking at and you should be able to find photos of it being taken apart. They are usually designed to hold 2 standard hard drives and an optical drive.

The motherboard on my old shuttle has just died, which has made me realise that while they may look good and be really small, they do lack upgradability. The case is going in the loft for use as a possible mini-ITX rig in the future, but even that will require some hefty modding.

PK!
Click to expand...

So if I stripped it out what MB should I be looking at? Something with a 775.
 
bloodline76 said:
So if I stripped it out what MB should I be looking at? Something with a 775.
Click to expand...

Why would you want to do that? Just get a shuttle with a socket 775 mobo in it already? Shuttles use Flex ATX motherboards which as far as i know arnt widely produced buy anyone else. Otherthan that the only other real option is to use a mini itx motherboard but im not even sure if it would have the mounting holes.
 
buy a bare bones shuttle and add your own memory, hdd, cpu, gfx and optical drive.

3 major draw backs with shuttles are space, cooling and psu. you'll need to measure the space you have for the gfx and the wattage before you buy as the psu are around 250w, with mine that leaves less than 100w for the gfx. Also dont expect to be overclocking either as the chipsets are usually passively cooled so they get quite toasty.

MW
 
Black Hat said:
Why would you want to do that? Just get a shuttle with a socket 775 mobo in it already? Shuttles use Flex ATX motherboards which as far as i know arnt widely produced buy anyone else. Otherthan that the only other real option is to use a mini itx motherboard but im not even sure if it would have the mounting holes.
Click to expand...

Because if you read my originaly post I was looking to get on the cheap. So I will be searching the bay and on there their systems are old and not 775. So that is why I was going to strip it out.

Anyone got a recommended build which doesnt over heat which is quite good for gaming?
 
bloodline76 said:
Because if you read my originaly post I was looking to get on the cheap. So I will be searching the bay and on there their systems are old and not 775. So that is why I was going to strip it out.

Anyone got a recommended build which doesnt over heat which is quite good for gaming?
Click to expand...

Shuttle's are never cheap, mainly because they use unique parts. Even if you bought an old one to strip out and put a new system in you'd have to pay a lot for a new motherboard. Currently the only gaming standard mini-ITX board avaliable is the Zotac GeForce 9300 which is also pretty expensive and you'd still probably have to do a fair bit of modding to get it to fit. Even then you have no guarantee it would fit and work with the shuttle PSU, especially if you had one of the lower power ones.

If you want a small system for LAN's I'd reccomend going for a micro-ATX setup. They are still fairly small, and are much cheaper as they've been around for so long. Take a browse through the case gallery in the small form factor forum for some inspiration.

PK!
 
misterPK said:
Shuttle's are never cheap, mainly because they use unique parts. Even if you bought an old one to strip out and put a new system in you'd have to pay a lot for a new motherboard. Currently the only gaming standard mini-ITX board avaliable is the Zotac GeForce 9300 which is also pretty expensive and you'd still probably have to do a fair bit of modding to get it to fit. Even then you have no guarantee it would fit and work with the shuttle PSU, especially if you had one of the lower power ones.

If you want a small system for LAN's I'd reccomend going for a micro-ATX setup. They are still fairly small, and are much cheaper as they've been around for so long. Take a browse through the case gallery in the small form factor forum for some inspiration.

PK!
Click to expand...

Are the micro atx slightly bigger then than the ITX boards?

If I went with an ITX case which would you recommend which has an 775 MB?
 
bloodline76 said:
Yeah that looks really nice. And a bonus that it fits an 8800 as well.

Now to price one up and see how much it would be for all the extras.

So if I got that, I would need a Graphics Card, some mem and a cpu?
Click to expand...

No, that's just the case. You'd still need a motherboard.

PK!
 
I have built a few shuttles in the past, and my advice to you is to try a Silverstone sugo case, which can be had for around £80, these are not much bigger than the Shuttle but take a full size PSU, Matx motherboards, space for two DVD/CD drives and two hard drives.
Also you can use 3 fans to keep it cool.

This is worth a look.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-009-SV
 
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trackrat said:
I have built a few shuttles in the past, and my advice to you is to try a Silverstone sugo case, which can be had for around £80, these are not much bigger than the Shuttle but take a full size PSU, Matx motherboards, space for two DVD/CD drives and two hard drives.
Also you can use 3 fans to keep it cool.

This is worth a look.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-009-SV
Click to expand...

Yeah that looks interesting. I havent worked out how much money I will have to spend but its definately on a budget, so cheaper the better. I would have to get a MB with that as well. Any suggestions?

The option of taking a full sized PSU sounds good though.
 
Mul (if he sees this) can probably give you more detail - he's just done a build with the case I linked. That's where I thought of it from.

Direct copypasta of his sig:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00GHz CPU
Zotac GeForce 9300 WiFi Mini ITX Motherboard
2GB Patriot PC2-6400 4-4-4-12 Extreme Performance
Xpertvision GeForce 8800GT 512mb GDDR3 @ 600MHz/1800MHz
160GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA II
Silverstone Sugo SG05 Mini ITX Case
Click to expand...
Which runs at a max of 60c (under the limit of the E8400) and cost him about £500 all told. Naturally an E5200 or similar would bring the cost down, and if you can re-use any parts.
 
Audigex said:
Mul (if he sees this) can probably give you more detail - he's just done a build with the case I linked. That's where I thought of it from.

Direct copypasta of his sig:

Which runs at a max of 60c (under the limit of the E8400) and cost him about £500 all told. Naturally an E5200 or similar would bring the cost down, and if you can re-use any parts.
Click to expand...

Thanks, thats great. You have been very helpful!

Would have to drop the price a little for my budget. So I will be looking out for something on MM :D
 
If you grab an item or two off MM it should be easy enough to do. Motherboard I'd say will have to be new as miniITX is pretty rare, along with the case.

E5200 and clock the nuts off it (stock voltage and you should keep the heat down fine) and you're already down to £400 :-)
 
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