Shuttle SZ68R5 Review

SimonMaltby

SimonMaltby

SimonMaltby

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Shuttle have very kindly given me one of thier latest bare bones machines, the SZ68R5 which I have now reviewed.


The full review can be found Here

The SZ68R5 is a typical Shuttle cube computer built with the Intel Z68 Express chipset and this should be a great improvement over the previous SH67H3 and SH67H7 which were based on the Intel H67 chipset.

The R5 chassis is very slightly bigger than the H3/H7 and seems to have more space inside due some structural changes and the re-possitioning of the PSU.

So this shuttle is for the Intel Sandybridge 1155 socket CPU and supports unlocked K processors.

Please post any comments or questions and I will be happy to answer.
 
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CAT-THE-FIFTH...
Why are you so desperate to fit a mini-ITX board into the shuttle?
Shuttle make good motherboards, although thier bios development is not the best.

The SZ68R5 motherboard has standard Intel heatsink holes which means that watercooling will become an option. I have ordered a load of H2O kit for next week and plan to see just how well this can be achieved. I'm going to do the CPU and GPU using a 92mm Rad, which should just replace the Shuttle ICE without any modification at all.

Personally I would like to see much more bios development or for Shuttle to partner with Asus or Gigabyte and either get them to build motherboards for the Shuttle, or at least help with bios and windows tools development.
 
Still working through the review, should be done by the end of this week :)

Shuttle just sent me a new Bios with Overclocking enabled. My 2600K is straight in at 4.5Ghz without any issue.
 
I need to correct my earlier statement that the SZ68R5 will not accept mini-ITX motherboards. Shuttle have just demonstrated that it does and all you need are two motherboard risers.

PS: Now at 4.8GHz Prime stable - bit hot, as you would expect, but wow.
 
At 4.8GHz and running prime, they do feel warm, but far from excessive.
I did have to mod the bios to make 4.8 stable they had set too low a maximum load wattage which made it throttle when under full load.

I think if I were going to run 4.8GHz all the time, I would cool the VRM but at 4.5GHz I think everything will be fine. Mind you everything scales back well, so its only pulling the power when needed.
 
lrlcr said:
Watercool it!!!!!
Click to expand...

New plan as my old watercooling idea was a no go and the CPU hit 90c while running prime at 4.8GHz earlier eeeek.

Have ordered a 92mm Rad from germany and the- OcUK H²Flo Liquid Single Fan CPU Cooler today.
Going the have a go at modding the H²Flo by replacing the rad and see if I can get the whole thing to fit neatly inside the shuttle.

With the Shuttle ICE cooler i think 4.5GHz is really all we can hope for i'm afraid.
 
OcUK H²Flo Liquid Single Fan CPU Cooler arrived today and I have fitted it to the shuttle currently using the 120mm Rad and a silent 120mm fan and the difference in temps is quite large. I know this will reduce with a 92mm Rad and fan but even so it looks good... i'm seeing a 15c downward shift in load temps and more importantly it transfers the heat much more quickly. This is evident when the CPU load is reduced, the Shuttle cooler dropped back to idle temps very slowly this drops back almost immediatly.

The 92mm Rad is comming from germany so will probably not be here till mid next week. But I think this is going to be a good mod and maybe something Shuttle will have to consider.
 
-BA- said:
I notice the new one doesn't do DD live which is a shame.
Click to expand...

Can you expand on this and I will check it out... I'm not up to speed with Audio so explain it a simply as you can please :)

I can see that it sends Dolby Digital and DTS, lossless compressed audio streams Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio to the HDMI, which is how I use it.

Thanks for any help.
 
So when I connect the Optical out to my Logitech speakers it gives me the option of Dolby Digital or DTS and both sound excellent. Is that not the same?
 
All my water cooling parts arrived today so I have spent the evening doing my conversion.
I shall write this up a bit better and add it to the review in the next few days, but here are the basics...

I took the OCUK sealed water H2o unit and removed the pipes and 120mm Rad.
Then I attached a 92mm rad and some new pipes before refilling with fluid.

Temps are down quite a lot. Noise is very much the same or lower.

At 4.5GHz
Idle........ Was: 45c 47db Now: 36c 47db
Full Load.. Was: 84c 50db Now: 74c 50db

The main advantage is that temps drop much more quickly when load is reduced.

Here are a few pics.
DSC05737_s.jpg

DSC05758_s.jpg

DSC05755_s.jpg
 
TD24 said:
nice review....i been looking to get rid of my monster rig (Antec 180) and moving to a smaller barebone unit. looked at a couple of a Li Lian cases but after reading your review.....i want this!

The 4.5ghz overclock you did, was that using the stock ICE cooler?
Click to expand...

Yes all the stats in the review are using the stock cooler.
 
Right, after spending out and building my sealed water conversion I discovered that there is a maker that does a proper 92mm sealed water system. Asetek have a model called the 545LC
545lc_straight.jpg


The odd thing is that Asetek will not sell them to the general public, just OEM system builders :(

I spoke nicely to Asetek USA though and they sent me one to test with the Shuttle, it arrived today.

The Radiator surround is smaller than my custom one and it does not block any of the Shuttle case. The fins are also more spaced out, so air flow is better too. I'm seeing temps a few degrees lower than with my custom version and thats with the fan at a slower speed.

I will do some numbers and let Shuttle know... hopefully they will do a deal with Asetek and offer these coolers either as an optional extra or as a standard fitting on some of thier most powerful machines :)
 
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As requested some photos showing the Asetek 545LC in place.
DSC05763_s.jpg


DSC05767_s.jpg


DSC05768_s.jpg


DSC05769_s.jpg


A few fitting notes.
Firstly you have to remove the motherboard to put the backing plate on, which is a bit of a pain.
The radiator only fits with the tubes at the top, which is how I would want them anyway.
The Block possition needs carefull attention, I found that a sideways tube location was best and allowed the Hard drive caddy the cleanest fitting. If the tubes were a little shorter the block could be seated with the tubes at the back, but they also cross over when you do that.

Summary... Fitting is ok. The Rad fitting is perfect, the block is good and the tubes ok.

Temps... I tried this with the Shuttle ICE fan and a purchased 3800rpm 73cfm Asetek Vapochil fan and both were very similar with the Asetek one winning as its slightly quieter. Temps are way below the ICE air cooler. Here are a few samples.

SZ68R5@4800_Battlefield3_25Minutes_s.jpg

Full Size

SZ68R5@4800_prime95_1Hour_Full Fan Water_s.jpg

Full Size
 
Montala said:
Probably been 'grabbed' by other readers of this thread! ;)(
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Well so far the review has had 853 visits by 634 different people viewing 4,408 pages with the average user staying 7:01 minutes

Of the 853 visits 256 have been directed from the OCUK forum

As you can tell I love my stats :)
 
Quick update on UK supply. It's odd that the SZ68R5 does not appear to be really available in the UK yet, I just spoke to Shuttle in TW and they have told me that UK distributers have just finalised thier orders and should expect product next week.
 
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