Customer Reviews Of Shuttle XPC SN95G5V3 AMD Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64 / Sempron AMD Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce3 250Gb none Barebone

Customer Reviews

Shuttle Computer
SN95G5V3
Barebone Systems

Customer Reviews for Shuttle XPC SN95G5V3 AMD Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64 / Sempron AMD Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce3 250Gb none Barebone - Retail
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Review Summary (57 Reviews):
Excellent	36ReviewsExcellent	63%
Good	15ReviewsGood	26%
Average	2ReviewsAverage	4%
Poor	3ReviewsPoor	5%
Very Poor	1ReviewsVery Poor	2%
Excellent	0Reviews	0%
Good	0Reviews	0%
Average	0Reviews	0%
Poor	0Reviews	0%
Very Poor	0Reviews	0%
Excellent	0Reviews	0%
Good	0Reviews	0%
Average	0Reviews	0%
Poor	0Reviews	0%
Very Poor	0Reviews	0%

Reviewer	Product Review
JayKay Tech Level: high Ownership: 1 week to 1 month This user purchased this item from Newegg	7/12/2006 8:59:40 AM One Caveat Pros: Small, speedy, does just about everything it says on the tin. No real complaints with the product (see below). Newegg shipping stellar as always. Cons: As others have mentioned in here, if you get an X2 chip make sure you have a way to upgrade the BIOS (or that it is already). I ended up getting one that didn't have the BIOS upgraded and Shuttle's response is that they have no way to track BIOS rev. numbers. To be fair, they offered me a refund or exchange, though still a pain. This resulted in me having to take the machine to a local shop to get an upgrade (for another $80). That or buy a compatible CPU just for an upgrade, or remove my BIOS chip and mail it to Shuttle. All not the most favorable options when you expect to get a machine delivered ready to build. I do tech for a living so it was more a time annoyance than anything, but could be a lot worse for someone else I think. Only other “complaint” is that it’s not as quiet as I expected. Even on the UltraLow BIOS setting (for the fan) it’s a tad noisy. That said, I will use it with a dynamic mic and I need it DEAD quiet. Should be silent enough for most people I think. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
mickeyd Tech Level: high Ownership: 1 week to 1 month This user purchased this item from Newegg	6/29/2006 11:58:57 AM Good Stuff! Pros: Great Design, Great Compatibility Cons: Some minor sound problems Other Thoughts: I bought this barebone in hopes of making a very nice HTPC (Home Theater PC)[Microsoft Media Center Edition]. It turned out great! I paired it up with a Gyration Suite and a old Radeon 9600XT. I even ran bootvis and tweak with some services and stuff and got the boot time incredibly low. MCE runs great on it and the issues with lining up the optical disk drive with the stealth bay are minor if any at all. Great buy and you wont regret it! 1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
port_problems Tech Level: average Ownership: 1 day to 1 week This user purchased this item from Newegg	5/15/2006 1:25:19 PM Unlucky Pros: Sleek system... surprisingly quiet (note that this usually almost always depends on how loud an individual's previous system was.) Pop-out DVD/CD tray works really well - specifically designed to NOT catch your DVD/CD drive door unlike what others may claim. VERY easy to assemble (most everything is done for you - just throw in the drives, CPU and memory). Cons: Company technical support wasn't very knowledgeable about questions that I had for them about the product. My ethernet port was broken. Other than that, NONE! Other Thoughts: Alright, I ordered this computer V3. It's great. Unlike what other people said, it posts with the FX-60 chip without needing a BIOS update. After it posted, I updated the BIOS with the dual core chip. I don't know what the others were talking about when they said that they need to borrow a single core chip in order to update the BIOS. Maybe they had an older version of this computer. I really like the look of this system and there are tons of options for customization. I am running this system on: Athlon 64 - FX60 Corsair 1Gb DDR Ram X 2 ATI all in wonder 2006 Ed. Sadly enough, the computer is not currently in my possession. I had to send it back to newegg because the ethernet port was defective. So I am anxciously waiting on my replacement to come in. :-( 1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
porkchop Tech Level: high Ownership: more than 1 year This user purchased this item from Newegg	5/2/2006 4:58:40 PM Some people... Pros: I love it. Haven't put my x2 in yet but it has been great with my 3200 and a geforce 7800 graphics card. No sound issues, no network issues. (just stay away from shuttles internal wireless modules) Cons: None for me. Apparently most people haven't built enough computers to know that you can remove the front bezel from your dvd drive and the door works fabulously. Other Thoughts: Remove the plate just below the buttons and glue a few washers or nuts behind it and you will increase the airlow. Also consider drilling a few holes where your gfx card intake is. Great Unit 1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
rs Tech Level: high Ownership: 1 month to 1 year This user purchased this item from Newegg	4/23/2006 2:02:25 PM Beware Pros: what everyone else has said. it handles a 7800GS wonderfully. Cons: The mobo is the nividia nforce3. There have been many documented problems about the ethernet NIC SOMETIME shutting off when the computer is at the most CPU usage. This has happened two times over the span of two months when I played BF2. Other Thoughts: After searching on the internet, there are other shuttle SN95GV3 users with this problem. Nivida is not making any new nforce3 drivers as it's an older technology, so I went out and bought a cheap USB to Ethernet adapter and disabled the onboard LAN in bios. Internet works now. 2 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
FutureD Tech Level: high Ownership: 1 week to 1 month This user purchased this item from Newegg	4/6/2006 12:46:43 PM Snazzy XPC Pros: 1. Quiet, great form factor, and stylish 2. Installation of hardware is a breeze. Cons: 1. The CD bay overlay button has a "50%" chance of ejecting when I want it to. 2. Installation of the onboard NIC drivers did not work from the packaged CD. When to the Shuttle website to grab the 5.12 (5.11 packaged) drivers and all went well. 1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
guernyman Tech Level: high Ownership: more than 1 year	4/6/2006 11:12:30 AM Superb SFF PC Pros: Quiet, well designed. Have installed 4 of these XPCs (2-V2, 2-V3) and all have performed perfectly. Installation of components is quite simple. Various configurations, including AMD x2 CPUs have been noted to operate at low temps (<40C). Cons: These are minor gripes. A second SATA drive power connector added to the package would be nice as would a additional SATA communication cable. Other Thoughts: If you have version 2, YES it will support the AMD X2 CPUs (as V3 does) with a BIOS upgrade and the latest NVidia NForce 3 drivers. If you flash the BIOS and the system does not come back on reboot, don't panick.. pop the BIOS battery and reboot.. you should be good to go. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
Jack Tech Level: average Ownership: 1 month to 1 year This user purchased this item from Newegg	3/27/2006 4:07:50 PM Easy 2 Work with Pros: I've built two of these.Easy to work with, Fast, sleek looking system. The shuttle name, which is the leader in SFF PC's...This PC runs faster than my Dell 4600, at about one third the size. Cons: Does not come with a FDD/Card reader..you must purchase one. don't let the pictures fool you. Also, the case absorbs finger prints like crazy, and when the system first starts up, it's loud as heck. 1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
r_z Tech Level: high Ownership: 1 week to 1 month This user purchased this item from Newegg	3/27/2006 1:10:50 PM Superb Pros: -Easy to setup; great instruction booklet. -Onboard sound is great. -Hidden CD tray is very easy to set up, it amazes me how people complain about that... did they even read the instruction booklet??? -Looks fantastic. -VERY quiet, my vaio is a jet engine compared to this computer. Cons: -2 USB ports in the back, but then again there are 2 additional ports in the front. And who doesnt have a USB hub these days? So this really isnt a con. -Make sure you buy Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste. Other Thoughts: There is probably one reason why youre considering this system, which is the AGP slot. If you still want to hold onto your AGP card for a little longer, this shuttle is for you. I dont know if that will save you more money in the long run, but that's really up to you. I upgraded my SS56G shuttle to this one, and I love it! Onboard sound is GREAT, so no need to buy a sound card Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
Belseth Tech Level: high Ownership: 1 week to 1 month This user purchased this item from Newegg	3/19/2006 12:13:24 AM Sweet little box Pros: Extremely easy to work on. Absolutely the most fun I ever had building a machine. Beautifully made and well thought out. After a couple of weeks of use not a single problem. Don't be scared of the size. My desk tops are harder to work on. The second easiest I ever owned to work on was a server tower so it's impressive that a shoebox sized machine is that easy. Also dead silent. My laptop is a jet engine next to it. Slight fan sound and that's it. A liitle more noise during start up but not bad even then and it stops in seconds. I want to build one as a living room home theater system. Looks great and very easy to build. Cons: The CD/DVD external button is a little fiddly to get lined up but it only took a second try and it works fine. Never had the sound or driver issues some had so not sure where there problems were. Everything installed fine. Best computer I ever owned so I give it a solid 10 out of 10. Highly recommended. Other Thoughts: Not having a parallel connector caused me some stress, no place for my dongle and no easy fix other than replacing the dongle. Given it's size it's understandable. 1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
ernie Tech Level: somewhat high Ownership: 1 week to 1 month This user purchased this item from Newegg	3/13/2006 7:41:43 AM Nice box Pros: Assembles quickly. I think it took me about 45 mins to put the whole thing together and boot up an OS. Room for my AIW 9600. Quiet compared to my old tower. However, not silent like I had hoped. Cons: So far, I have only had luck running the NVIDIA drivers provided on the included CDROM. DO NOT TRY TO USE THE LATEST DRIVERS FOR THE NFORCE CHIP SET. They are not stable -- ie, your box will reboot randomly. Other Thoughts: In general, a very nice product. I would like to have seen a more refined integration between the door that hides the CDROM and the CDROM itself. Often when the drive retracts the CDROM tray, the door catches it and it stops. 1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
best defense Tech Level: somewhat high Ownership: 1 month to 1 year	3/7/2006 12:19:15 PM follow-up to "not perfect" Pros: Small, pretty, very easy to assemble (except for optical drive "stealth" cover) "Coolness" factor overrode any "cons"; my wife doesn't mind it being in her home office...she hates big and flashy boxes and holds beige boxes in even greater contempt. And I wanted her happy so my big 'ole computer would be available for less productive endeavors. Cons: Optical drive "stealth" cover is hard to get working properly (I never did); My onboard sound isn't working (so I just used a spare Audigy2). Other Thoughts: In prior review I mentioned that default fan setting caused proc (AMD64-3700) to overheat and lock up. While the BIOS will let you set a "target" temperature, I found that to be a noise problem. This feature would eventually let the fan stick on a very high setting, and I had to re-boot to reset it. So I went with one of the moderate fixed-fan-speed settings, and now the CPU idles at about 40 and rarely rises above 47. The noise level is minimal. (BTW, this is a very basic browser-and-quicken machine for my wife, so it is never stressed or OC'd.) Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
stmpynode Tech Level: high Ownership: 1 week to 1 month This user purchased this item from Newegg	3/2/2006 2:44:22 PM great box Pros: Easy to assemble. Everything worked the first time I powered it up. Tiny. Quiet. Cons: I wish the hdd bay had rubber gromets. They make a huge difference in silent hdd's. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
jmbeck Tech Level: high Ownership: 1 day to 1 week	2/9/2006 12:38:47 PM Dual Core Requires Single Core Pros: Very quiet, very portable, and very organized on the inside. Cons: When I first installed my AMD64 3800+ x2 chip the machine didn't post. I had to track down a single core AMD64 Socket 939 processor to flash the BIOS using a boot cd available here: http://www.xpcbios.com/ I needed this bios revision to get it to work: SN95S3XA It came with: SN95S3X8 Yeah, it's a pain, so if you can't find a single core to borrow, this isn't the right machine for you. 6 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
best defense Tech Level: somewhat high Ownership: 1 month to 1 year	2/7/2006 7:06:58 PM Not perfect Pros: Very compact, very easy to assemble if you follow instructions. I put it together and had it ready for an XP install in less than 30 minutes. Cons: 1. Onboard audio didn't work no matter what drivers I used. I didn't really care because I had an extra Audigy2 laying around. So I am reluctant to rail on this design just because I didn't want to troubleshoot it. 2. The "stealth" optical drive cover is pretty, but very temperamental. (And don't say that "pretty" doesn't matter; you wouldn't be buying one of these XPC's if you didn't have aesthetic issues with big 'ole computer cases.) The button mechanism simply wouldn't work on my DVD, so I just used that 5 1/4" slot to hold my 400gb WD HD and then used an external enclosure for the DVD. Someday I'll try a different optical drive and see if that helps. BTW, I was using an OEM Pioneer drive from newegg. Other Thoughts: 1. My default fan settings were something like "ultra quiet". Yeah, and ultra-hot too. AMD 3700 and HD were hitting 50+ celsius and the system was locking up. At first I left the cover off. Then I looked into the BIOS and found that it will auto-regulate fan speed with a target temp of your choosing. I chose 45 degrees, and the CPU runs between 41-48 degrees under a small load. No more lockups. 2. If you don't already have a high-end AGP card available, consider the economy of buying a PCI-Express version. PCI-E video cards often are priced significantly lower than the AGP equivalent (just compare ATI x800xt versions by price) 4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
imagic Tech Level: somewhat high Ownership: 1 day to 1 week This user purchased this item from Newegg	1/30/2006 11:44:57 AM Dual core beware Pros: other than that great Cons: Be care when ordering for dual core......it says it supports but you have to make sure your proccessor has this E6 stepping....educate your self before buying for dual 4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
MK Tech Level: high Ownership: less than 1 day	1/28/2006 8:54:08 AM USB problem Pros: well.. this is a great PC just look at it. Cons: AGP location... Other Thoughts: for anyone having the USB port problem i suggest using this.. its cheap but you can hook up all your perephereals too it.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817801001 Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
Lefty Tech Level: high Ownership: 1 month to 1 year	1/24/2006 2:44:24 PM Über Fast, Über Small Update Pros: Same as below but hit 43FPS on Doom3 Cons: I have had problems with the onboard audio using the Nvidia Drivers when playing GTA San Andreas, So Im currently using the Realtek AC 97 drivers, and the seem to holding stable. I also changed the Hyper Transport from the stock 4x to 5x, and eliminated the Over Clock, and it holds stable at 1000. that and Usually have to remove the cover during gaming to remove excess heat. I'm probably going to get the cover with more vents on it. Other Thoughts: AMD Opteron 148 ATI AIW X800XT 1GB Corsair XMS SeaGate Barracuda 160GB SATA 150 1 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
Lefty Tech Level: high Ownership: 1 day to 1 week	12/30/2005 8:03:45 AM Über Small Über Fast Pros: I Slapped an AMD Opteron 148, and OC'ed to 2.53Ghz very stable. The CPU cooling system is outstanding, with the heat pipes, and radiator. with my configuration, it runs Doom3/HL2/Quake 4 with no hesitation. the NForce 3 250GB Has native SATA support, unlike the earlier NForce 3 150. Cons: make sure you have a floppy drive on hand if you plan to load WinXP on a SATA drive for drivers It gets a little too warm but not hot with the cover on when fully loaded. I wish the AGP slot was where the PCI slot was so I can use a bigger heatsink on my video card. Its Cramped when fully loaded, but hey. they don't call it a shuttle for nothing. Other Thoughts: AMD Opteron 148 OC'ed to 2.53 Ghz(not recommend or supported by AMD) ATI X800XT AIW, 1GB Corsair XMS, Liteon Dual Layer DVD burner, 160GB Seagate SATA Drive. The best small form factor media/gaming PC I have ever built. 2 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
linux-works Tech Level: high Ownership: 1 day to 1 week	12/30/2005 4:01:14 AM many don't work with x2 chips Pros: it didn't work for me, so no pros at all - it was a waste of my time. Cons: did not post at all on the x2 chip. had to take to local computer store to upgrade its bios using single-core chip. it took the new bios but when we put the x2 chip it, still no POST. support for x2 is 'iffy' at best with this system. I also didn't like the cheap design for 'stealthing' your cdrom. dumb idea for dumb gamers (sorry, but its a dumb idea! it is not smooth how it hits the plastic with the cdrom edge. really not a great design and has NO real utility purpose at all). Other Thoughts: newegg was great in taking this back. I spent at least 2 days on it including a lot of net searching and found that some users DO get x2 to work but some (like me) just could not. 3 out of 7 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
N/A Tech Level: somewhat high Ownership: 1 month to 1 year	12/27/2005 6:35:43 PM Nice product but has problems Pros: Small form factor. If a single HD and DVD/CD are enough then this may be for you. Cons: Not as quite as I would like for sitting on the desktop. V2's don't "really" support a dual CPU. Other Thoughts: I had good luck until a couple of weeks ago when I upgraded to the latest BIOS for a V2. This morning the system failed similar to another post here; "as soon as you connect the power supply, the system fan spins up to full speed and stays there, but the system never POSTs." At this point the BIOS cannot be re-flashed and I'll have to send it in to Shuttle for repair. Radeon 9550 AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester NEC 3520A DVD Burner 2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
N/A Tech Level: high Ownership: 1 week to 1 month This user purchased this item from Newegg	12/22/2005 6:11:15 PM Very nice case Pros: Small Nice looking Good cooling Lots of feature Reliably runs at 5% overclocking Cons: Could be more quiet Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
FantasticDamage Tech Level: high Ownership: 1 week to 1 month	12/13/2005 11:02:17 PM Splendid! Pros: Excellent successor to my SN41G2. Runs even cooler and quieter. Cons: I still don't understand why Shuttle continues to make XPCs with legacy serial and PS/2 ports, while seeing fit to only have two USB ports in the back. I also wish it came with PCIe... Other Thoughts: Liked it so much I decided to nab a 17" Shuttle LCD to go with it. They make a killer combination. 0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
N/A Tech Level: Ownership:	11/12/2005 6:39:15 PM Great product...needs more USB support Comments: I really like this system. Quality workmanship, easy to build. It arrived earlier than advertised...thanks Newegg! Only real concern is only 4 USB ports, after attaching mouse, keyboard, scanner and a printer, no room left for a jump drive or my MP3 player without unplugging something. This is only a minor hassle but, it would be nice to have more USB ports. 1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
N/A Tech Level: Ownership:	11/9/2005 10:06:28 AM Comments: I'm running an s95g5 with an XFX 6600gt (it is listed in that link as having the problem as well as the 6800). I have never noticed any stuttering. I'm using nforce 5.10 and the 78.x series drivers. I've played UT, Guild Wars, several flight sims and never had any stuttering issues. I got lucky I suppose, I've been very happy with this box, and as always newegg has great service. Details: Win XP SP1 3500 Winchester core 1GB Crucial mem XFX 6600gt, not overclocked usb pci card Samsung Spinpoint SATA hd Memorex cdrw Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
a heads up Tech Level: Ownership:	10/29/2005 3:59:36 PM CAUTION Comments: The nForce3 250GB chipset (the one is this barebones) has a confirmed stuttering issue with the 6800GT. There is no known fix for the problem, other than get a different video card other from the 6800GT. Read more about it here: http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=4758 wah, this is why you may be suttering or experiencing problems. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
N/A Tech Level: Ownership:	10/26/2005 7:47:48 PM Sweet!!!! Comments: I have been trying to build my own PC for about 3 months, with nothing but headaches. 1. From the place that I bought the parts and the barebones system from, it took almost 3 months to get all the parts in to assembly the system. 2. When the PC and parts finally arrived the packages looked like somebody put them in a mosh pit. I was about to give up hope and buy a store bought pc until a friend recommended me to visit newegg.com. I am so glad I did and IN 3 DAYS! 3 DAYS! I received all the necessary components to assembly my PC and they were all professionally wrapped and undamaged; everything worked the first time the system was powered on, and it is still working. Thank you new egg for carrying the shuttle, and most of all thank you for your overall professional customer service. Now about the shuttle. For all us newbie’s this system is a breeze to setup (Thank you Shuttle) the instruction booklet is very clear and easy to understand and this system comes with everything you need to fasten down and connect your components, they even include the thermal gel! Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
Draggy Tech Level: Ownership:	10/26/2005 8:11:52 AM Comments: I love this little case. It's amazing that something so small can be so powerful. Shuttle did an excellent job wiring the case and installation was headache free. I was able to install everything in about an hour and start installing windows. Yes, the case does get a little hot, but that's also what happens to a laptop which has everything crammed into a little space. I went with a 90nm CPU core to reduce heat, and it works fairly well. The biggest heat emitter in there is the PSU, which gets very hot regardless. My GPU also stays at a decent temperature, it was about the same temperature as my friend's case with the exact same GPU, but his is in a very roomy case. THe onyl thing that really concerns me is that if you are installing more then one hard drive adn they are very big or very fast, heat becomes an issure and I worry for their safety. The internal fans stay very quiet, and I can barely hear it. Performance wise, this case is very fast. I can play EQ2 with max settings, HL2 runs at well over 100fps maxed. doom3 gets about 80fps on the benchmark on ultra settings and farcry looks like a dream running the 64-bit edition with everything maxed. I opted for an AGP instead of PCI express because that's the kind fo video card I had and I didn't want to buy a new one. Over all I am very satisfied with this case and would readily buy another one, though I may go the PCI express one next ;) My System: Athlon 64 3200+ Winchester core 1 GB (2x512) Patriot 2-3-2-5-T1 Sound Blaster Audigy Gamer EVGA Geforce 6800GT SATA Western Digital 80GB SATA Western Digital 320GB (this is the one that gets hot) HP DVD-RW Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
Grizz Tech Level: Ownership:	10/13/2005 6:11:00 PM response to Comments: five of them exhibited the same malfunction, which always resulted in a return: as soon as you connect the power supply, the system fan spins up to full speed and stays there, but the system never POSTs. Shuttle Tech support has told me each time that the motherboard is bad. Here's a workaround, I know it's kludgy, but it works. If it doesn't post, tap the reset button and see if it posts then. My shuttle has this problem when it's cold. Hope this helps ya. 1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
N/A Tech Level: Ownership:	10/12/2005 2:56:46 AM wah Comments: I just purchased this system with a dual core 3800 to pass my 3500 and sn95g5 to my girlfriend. I also scored a bfg 6800gt and 2gb of corsair 74gb raptor and audigy 2 zs. As soon as I got this system home, naturally the bios did not support x2's so I had to drop in the 3500 and flash the bios. Fast foreward 3 hours, finish loading my sound drivers and lo and behold every game I play freezes up for a few seconds, resulting in a minimum of 5 seconds of lag time followed by either the game resuming for another 5-10 minutes or the system completely halting. I took everyting back out, and dropped all my old stuff back into this rig, reformatted windows and reloaded, SAME PROBLEM. Now I am having video problems with the old shuttle as well. I have yet to setup an rma through shuttle but basically the only good shuttles are the sn41g2 (I envy those of you that have a working sn95g5) newegg rules though got this heart breaker to me in a few days. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
N/A Tech Level: Ownership: This user purchased this item from Newegg	10/5/2005 12:52:53 PM If it worked, it would be great Comments: Over the past few months, I have gotten a total of six of these (some from NewEgg, some from other vendors) and five of them exhibited the same malfunction, which always resulted in a return: as soon as you connect the power supply, the system fan spins up to full speed and stays there, but the system never POSTs. Shuttle Tech support has told me each time that the motherboard is bad. The systems that I have actually running are quite nice, though. It's just a shame that the failure rate is so high. 0 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
barildevin Tech Level: Ownership: This user purchased this item from Newegg	10/3/2005 1:52:36 AM Nice little system but... Comments: OK, so this thing is supposed to be compatible with the Athlon 64 X2, and it seems to be... but not as shipped (September 2005)! You must flash with the latest bios (I'm using version 2005/08/19) AND use the latest NVidia NForce chipset drivers (I'm using 2005/07/26). I don't know what versions came with the system originally, but WinXP will not detect the dual processors - runs OK otherwise. I became suspicious when the performance on the Shuttle was noticeably slower than on my Athlon 64 X2 Hewlett-Packard office machine. You must update the NVidia drivers (from the shipped drivers) if you flash with the new bios or Windows won't boot (curiously, Fedora Core 4 had no problems!). In short, what I recommend is to update the NForce drivers FIRST and then flash the bios. This applies only to a WinXP install, of course. Also, the PSU is noisier than I would like. I think this is due to fan being mounted too close to components inside the PSU... Lets just say a solution was found involving voiding the warranty on the unit (mount the fan on opposite side of PSU wall). OTW, a very well designed unit with good mechanical form and fit. The manuals are quite useful; if you can tolerate the grammar (or lack thereof). Processor: Athlon 64 X2, 4200+ Video: ATI All-In-Wonder 9600 Memory: single stick of Geil 1 Gb DDR400 CL=3-8-4-4 OS-1: MS Windows XP, Pro OS-2: Fedora Core 4 2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
JB Tech Level: Ownership:	10/1/2005 10:06:10 AM AWESOME Comments: This XPC really delivers performance. Im running an AMD X2 4400+ with no problems (just updated the BIOS) and the ICE cooling system works great! Im idleing at 30c right now and around 40c under load (fan at 50%). HIGHLY recommended! Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
John Schuster Tech Level: Ownership:	9/22/2005 7:39:04 PM Comments: I've been running this system with an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice core and a Radeon 9800 Pro. Mine was running very hot. The system does get hot on the inside, primarily because of the fan. This unit is exceptionally quiet, and this seems to be the source of the thermal problems many mention. The fan is under a BIOS control by default and keeps the speed very low (around 800 rpm). This does not increase even under load. Right now I live in a dorm room with no AC and have 50 fans anyway, so noise doesn't matter so much, and I set the fan to full blast, it runs much cooler. There are many options in the BIOS relating to fan speed and I'm sure you can strike a balance between noise and cooling. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
JE Tech Level: Ownership: This user purchased this item from Newegg	9/22/2005 10:53:59 AM Nothing but trouble. Comments: I cannot recommend this case unless you are going use it for devices which don’t produce much heat. The heat pipes keep my AMD64 processor around 43C, but the video card, which is a 6600GT, gets up to 75C while playing games, and sits at 55C idle. Took off the outer casing and the idle dropped to 38C and goes up to 48C under load. There are air holes on the side of the case where the AGP slot is, but not enough at all as the heat just sits there. The Seagate HD gets incredibly hot in there as well, and the rails do not allow for the addition of a HD cooler. The CD opening mechanism only works with CD-ROM drives with large buttons. The motherboard also did not recognize the correct CAS latency timings on my Kingston DDR 400 sticks, caused all sorts of weird errors that took some playing around with to figure it out. Also, FedEx lost my package, so I had to wait 10 business days before another one was even shipped. It was a month before I finally got this box of frustration. 1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
Pinto Tech Level: Ownership:	9/18/2005 11:18:44 PM U won't B sorry Comments: I always read the customer reviews before buying any Newegg product because many of them are insightful. This is my third XPC build. It is also the best. Shuttle has come a long way from their early models. The unit is very quiet in idle mode. In fact, I have it 2 feet away from me on my desk and it makes no more noise than a Dell laptop that I also use. The fan does spin up under heavy use, but nothing too annoying. The heatsink fan combo uses a 92mm fan, which is easy on the ears. The RAID option works great. I have 2 Samsung 80Gigs in RAID 1. You will be very pleased with this machine. Pair it with a black LCD and keyboard/mouse combo like I did and your system will be as sexy as it gets. I would have too think to hard before coming up with any negatives. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
Jack Tech Level: Ownership:	9/17/2005 9:59:19 PM easy to work with Comments: This is my first time building system, and working with this systen couldn't be easier. The directions were very clear to us First timers. Combined it with an Athlon 64 3200+, 1 GB of Corsair XMS memory, and an X800XL VIVO....I Couldn't be happier...this thing also runs cooler than my mid case tower. It doesnt come with any 3.5 inch drive, you must purchase one (dont let the pictures fool you). Special Thanks to newegg and Fedex for getting it here 28 hours before the estimated arrival date!Excellent service and every part worked right out of the box! Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
jack Tech Level: Ownership:	9/17/2005 1:36:44 AM Easy to Work with Comments: This was my first do-it-yourself system build, and this couldn't be easier to work with. The instructions are clear and the pictures make the whole process alot easier. Does not come with a floppy drive or media reader, you must purchase one. The power supply is strong enough for now, my X800XL and AMD64 3200+ run flawlessly with no problems. Get this product if you are considering small form factor PC's, I'm a convert. Thanks to newegg and FedEx for shipping so promptly, got here 27 hours before estimated date. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
N/A Tech Level: Ownership:	9/5/2005 5:58:08 PM Comments: I have been building PC's for a few years now, always the mid or monster full tower PC cases. Wanted to make sure I could stuff everything I could my custom PC. I started looking at SFF PC's recently, thought I would try one out so I bought this Shuttle unit. Newegg service was excellent as usual(I live in Hawaii) and have been using my Shuttle for about a week now. Well needless to say I'm full convert now, this is the slickest little thing to come down the pike. Very impressed with the fit and finish and how easily everything went together. I could actually sit at my little desk and put it all together! Basically my system is a FX-53 CPU, Liteon DVD-RW, Gigabyte X800XL-PE graphics card, couple of sticks of Kingston ValueRam and a SB audio card. Loaded Windows XP and everything booted right up. Been solid and stable on continuous use for a week now. As far as I'm concerned this is the way to go for a lot of PC in a small package, unless you need to go SLI(overkill I think) in a typical back breaking tower case. My only gripe is I wish Shuttle would included some sort of utility to monitor motherboard parameters. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
N/A Tech Level: Ownership:	9/2/2005 8:00:35 PM Comments: This is my second shuttle XPC...This one has 1 gb kinston ram...Gygabyte 6200....and two 40 gb harddrives and it runs cooler than my tower did...I'm definitely a convert. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
N/A Tech Level: Ownership:	8/30/2005 2:49:32 PM Comments: Does this barebones system come with a media card reader, or do you have to buy a seperate one? I saw that on Shuttle's site about this system, it showed a media card reader in a picture. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
vidshrinker Tech Level: Ownership:	8/30/2005 1:06:56 PM Excellent system Comments: Others have written plenty of wonderful things about this case/mobo combo, so I'll just add a little of my comments. I think this box came out JUST after I purchased my first HTPC mobo/case, and if I had known it was just around the corner, I would have gotten this instead. This case has one of the best cooling systems I've ever seen, and I wish more manufacturers can do something similar. Most CPU coolers will blow air down the heat sink, recirulating a lot of the hot air within the case, whereas this cooler expels the hot air from the case pretty much immediately. The guys who found the fan running too loudly probably did not find all the settings in the BIOS that can tailor the cooling strategy. Mine came with the fan set to the "smart" mode, which ran the fan purely based on CPU temps. As such, the fan was turning at a silent 750 rpm, and the CPU was actually cooler than the rest of the case. I was concerned that the other components, such as the HD, was getting too warm, so I set the fan so that it runs at about 50%, which is almost inaudible when it sits in my equipment rack. For most of what I do, such as watching or encoding videos, I've never seen the CPU temp get over 50C. You can also install speedfan for finer control of the cooling system. I did use a graphics card with a small, and very noisy fan. As someone else wrote, the case has vent holes on the side, so any noises inside canbe clearly heard on the outside. It was the only noise that that I could hear from the box. I took care of it by undervolting the fan (7 volts between the +5 and +12); the GPU didn't need the fan blowing so hard on it all the time. The only problem I had was with trying to load a new BIOS. It seems to be the thing to do when you get a new mobo; get the latest BIOS from the manufacturer's web site. But the new BIOS I loaded somehow made the PS2 mouse port stop working under WXP (it was still working under RHEL4/x86_64). When I backed down to the original BIOS, the PS2 mouse port started to work again, so I left it there. I really like this case... 1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
Old Dog Tech Level: Ownership:	8/21/2005 5:30:03 AM Old Dog's Toy Comments: I have built a lot of Shuttles. So when I felt the need for a new game box, the choice was easy. Here is the config: SN95G5V3 AMD 3700 San Diego 2 gigs Corsair PC3200C2 Sapphire X800XL 1 Western Digital 36 gig Raptor 1 Samsung Spinpoint 160 gig NEC 3540 DVD burner Audigy 2zs Arctic Silver 5 No problem with the built. The 240w PSU is fine for all this stuff. Fans set to low makes it a quiet runner. Little guy folds proteins 24/7 (100% CPU usage) for Stanford University and the temps still stay within spec.. Hope never to go back to the big boxes. Games run and look glorious. Next build will be a dual core Shuttle. Newegg service was great! Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
N/A Tech Level: Ownership:	8/12/2005 7:22:27 AM errors in detailed description Comments: Overall I really like this box, I just put it together and the instructions were clear and easy to follow. There are two issues I have with the dedetailed description: 1 it list an LPT port which is not included and 2 it says there are no 3.5 inch external drive bays and there is one. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
N/A Tech Level: Ownership:	8/9/2005 9:46:45 AM Comments: This is my 2nd shuttle SFF and I am now convert. Install and config was super easy! I'm going to start getting these from now on instead of buying MB/Case seperately like I used to. With a seperate case/mb I always run into trouble getting some of the case features to work. Front audio/usb, drive activity lights, etc because not every motherboard and case are meant to work together. These shuttle boxes just work and are beautifully designed. It only takes about 15 minutes to add in components (DVD/HDD/RAM/CPU) and be ready to install an OS. My favorite feature is how quiet it is. It's soooo much quieter than my old PC. I was initially worried about having to have a floppy drive to install raid drivers as other people mentioned in Shuttle reviews but I didn't have to. Maybe that's because I only have 1 HDD in it (a WD serial ATA drive). The cables are pre-run and managed with clips and ties which made it even easier to make it look nice. My ATI9800Pro fit easily and the shuttle had a spare 4pin power connector to power it. The pioneer 109 DVD burner works great with the flip out door cover. I used some old 1GB pc2700/333 memory that I had lying around and it worked great. I bought the athlon64-3000+ venice CPU to go with it. Shuttle says they are working on a bios/firmware upgrade that will allow for the new dual core athlon64's to work in this box, so in a year or so I'll upgrade the CPU to a 4800+ dual core and get some faster pc3200/400 RAM to go in it. Obviously, I am very pleased with Shuttle. Oh, and NewEgg rocks! Overnight shipping got it here overnight. Those who know, NewEgg. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
N/A Tech Level: Ownership:	8/4/2005 2:22:42 PM Good case Comments: Nice and small...fit everything just fine. Fan is a little loud, but not terrible. I put an AMD64 3000+ Venice chip in, but I bought the one that came with the a heat sink. Bad idea, you have to use the heat sink that comes with the case. Does anybody know how to get around that? Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
N/A Tech Level: Ownership:	8/3/2005 6:24:45 AM Perfect if you have AGP video and SATA drives Comments: http://global.shuttle.com/Product/Barebone/SN95G5%20V3.asp I built a new system with this case and used AMD64 3800 SanDiego processor, 1GB PC3200 ram, SATA harddrive, SATA DVD/RW and nVidia 5900 video card, games run great. The built in 6.1 digital audio works great on home theater with optic cable. Check out the Shuttle website for the details on this XPC cause it has tons of great features for such a compact case. The fan is only loud when you first turn on the PC but it shuts off when the processor cools down and only runs when things get hot in the case, which is a good thing. You are not supposed to use the retail heatsink, this case comes with a heat pipe that goes on the processor which is way better than the regular AMD heatsink/fan. Not for a first time PC builder though, everything is very close and packed tight so need to know your way around a case. You can also get extra components that fit in the back like extra USB ports (PC9B) and a wireless card (PN15g), shuttle website shows em, wish Newegg sold em. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
am0x Tech Level: Ownership:	8/1/2005 12:41:23 PM Solid Comments: Easy upgrade from old computer. Paired with athlon64 3000+ with 512 mushkin ddr400, ATI 9600xt. 4152 3dmark03 Score with no overclocking. Easy set up, instructions are simple. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
N/A Tech Level: Ownership:	7/29/2005 8:15:12 PM Solid Case Comments: This is a great case for building a solid PC. The fan is a bit loud, but it's not too bad. I might look into getting another one. I did have one problem with the processor. I threw a AMD 3000+ in there, but I couldn't use the heat sink that came with the processor (the clips were not right). Does anyone know what I can do about this? As far as I can see, this unit (which I purchased on newegg) will not work with the AMD heat sink, so if you buy this case, don't get the heat sink too. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
mounddog Tech Level: Ownership:	7/18/2005 12:56:06 PM Nice package - Loud fan Comments: I mostly like this setup - its easy to work with - Pretty nicely laid out and all the cables you need. Main thing that is a problem with me is the fan is very loud - my purpose of this system was to put in a conference room - an inconspicous pc in the corner - but the fan is way too loud - im disconnecting it and trying to see if just the heatsink on the AMD will do hte job. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
N/A Tech Level: Ownership:	7/4/2005 11:01:44 AM Splendid! Comments: Amazing SFF! Running a Athlion 64 3000/1gig Kingston Ram/Nvidia 6800/and two hard drives. Some say it feels flimsy on front panels but I have no doubt that it won't break or anything. My first DVD burner I had installed on it wouldn't connect with the case's external button so I couldnt get it to open. But my new NEC 3540a works great with the case and the external button is a problem no more. Onboard sound isn't the best out there but I am using and spdif 5.1 and am satisfied. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
N/A Tech Level: Ownership:	6/28/2005 7:35:06 PM Comments: This is by far the best looking SFF I have seen so I bought it. Everything fit very tightly and was kind of a hasstle to put in but let me tell you, it was so worth it. This thing is so slick. 6 eggs out of 5. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
805 Tech Level: Ownership:	6/16/2005 10:06:29 AM good experience... Comments: built a new xpc coming from an sn45gv2 (Barton 2500+ @ 3200+ 2.2ghz, undervolted @ 1.55volts, ati x800xl, 1gig -2x- Mushkin enhanced pc3500, using the 200w achme psu) just implanted all my old hardware into the new sn95g5v3 with a Venice 3000+ and notice an increase in overall speed and processing power even tho its at 1.8 (for now...) coming from 2.2 but the 240w psu upgrade did help. good experience... ordered fedex 2day and got fedex next day. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
Mike Tech Level: Ownership:	6/12/2005 1:41:40 AM Very Satisfied Comments: This is a very attractive and space-efficient way to have a small yet really powerful desktop computer. I decided that I didn't want my school computer to be a laptop, but I dont want to have to haul home a huge desktop tower. For this reason I compromised on the Shuttle compact system. One thing that amazed me was the detailed setup guide. It shows step by step with really helpful pictures how to completely assemble the shuttle out of the box. I found it very easy to follow and complete the installation. The only thing that I can see to point out as a "dissapointment" is the quality of the front bottom drive door that covers the front ports. It's plastic is rather flimsy and takes a lot of pressure to push it closed. It is not bad enough where I feel it will break though. Minor complaint. Overall, great product, motherboard seems really fast with the nForce3 chipset. I'm thinking of upgrading to a soundcard because the onboard audio isn't as clear as I would have hoped for. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
N/A Tech Level: Ownership:	6/8/2005 8:56:31 PM Well worth it Comments: Just got mine the other day and setup was quick. So far it is flawless to say the least. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
Neuroman Tech Level: Ownership:	6/3/2005 6:17:19 AM Good box Comments: Nice box. Roomy inside, easy to put together, and supports Venice core. If you update BIOS, it needs a hard reset (jumper). Other than that had no problems. Just be sure to get passive cooled video card, as case does nothing to muffle sound from GPU fan, which is right next to left side wall of enclosure. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!
Wineapple Tech Level: Ownership:	5/21/2005 12:08:46 PM Comments: Ive been using the SN95G5V3 for a week now and everything runs flawlessly. The earlier version s of the SN95G5 had major issues, but it seems that all of them have been solved with V3. The V3 supports Venice (which im using) and San Diego cores, and should support the upcoming X2 (with a bios update). Everything runs whipser quiet even with my 3000+ Venice overclocked to 2250mhz. There are a few minor issues (if you are an overclocker). The max HTT you can use is 250 and you you cant select 1T command rate. All of these issues could be easily solved with a bios update, which i hope shuttle will release soon. Did you find this review helpful? Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!