The quality of Shuttle SFF Barebone systems is going downhill!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

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!

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

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.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

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

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!).

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-THE-FIFTH]

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]

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?

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

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

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

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

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?

Even,at stock speeds some of the recent Shuttle motherboards have had issues and IMHO this more down to cost cutting.

Parts of the VRM circuitry in many Shuttle PCs run very hot and this has lead to premature failure of VRM capacitors in 2 to 3 years. Even the northbridge does run very hot in many cases too.

However,not cooling the critical parts of the Shuttle motherboard is not a good idea as people tend to use normal desktop components in the motherboards. The SX58J3 has a socket 1366 motherboard for example which uses 125W~ 130W TDP Core i7 processors. Many of these systems are run overclocked too.

Using steel for an SFF PC which is made for portability is nothing but cost cutting especially when it costs the same as the system it replaced. If the launch prices with new chipsets were much lower then it would be understanadble(not EOL pricing though).

Even Shuttle has realised its mistake and is shifting back to aluminum for its cases it seems. It also appears that they have also enhanced the VRM and northbridge cooling for their new socket 1366 motherboards too.

At least with the soon to be released H67 Shuttle motherboards which do not support overclocking and have a 95W limit you can get away with less cooling.

The fact is that I am a Shuttle fan but TBH, I really think that they should switch to making cases and their associated PSUs and leave the motherboards to other companies. It would make the company more competitive as they take ages to launch new motherboards with new chipsets,are cutting costs and of course they have their buggy BIOS too.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It looks like SH67H3 and SH67H7 will be around £270 to £300 at launch. They use an H67 motherboard with 4 RAM slots,have a PCI and PCI-E slot and a 300W 80+ certified PSU.

The SX58H7 Pro is around £450 at launch at a well known retailer and now that the SX58J3 is EOL it can be had for around £340 from the same place.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

ahhh really? I haven't looked properly at the size comparisons tbh.


I'm just looking into maybe a downsize from my lian li q08 to something smaller (so im looking at sg05/07/shuttle)

The H7 is actually is quite a compact case but a Lian Li Q11 will have a smaller footprint but will be taller.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

try and put a gfx card in a q11? I need a workhorse/high spec pc for uni/work, but would love a tiny silent out the way computer

I have seen a picture of an HD6870 1GB shoe-horned into a Q11.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

i doubt the side panel will fit on with the front bowed out like that though, however its facking awesome.

how longs a 6970 and what else is comparable size/performance (nvid)

The HD6970 is longer than an HD6870. The HD6970 is targeted at the GTX570.