I’m thinking about buying an i5 version and throwing in a GTX 970 in there–would that work? I’m okay with having to replace the PSU (Actually, can you? A lot of prebuilt PCs have proprietary PSU/mobo/case combinations which makes it impossible to upgrade.). While I could use an upgrade (older i3 + GTX 750 Ti), I don’t absolutely need one, but considering I can find 970s for $250-300 nowadays, it’s tempting. The main issue here is upgradability/futureproofing (e.g., would I have to replace the motherboard for PCIe 3.0, can I replace the CPU down the line, etc.).
This is a small form factor chassis with custom Shuttle motherboard and power supply. Graphics card selection is limited due to physical size and power envelope.
Nevertheless great systems if you can handle the constraints.
I bought one of these systems from a previous Woot deal. It was packaged very well but I wasn’t impressed with the quality control. It had some minor scratches but I wasn’t concerned with that since this is a refurbished product. There were mounting screws missing for the hard drive, optical drive and drive assembly frame. Luckily the screws it did have held everything in place and prevented other components from becoming damaged during shipping. To me this is a major oversight. I ended up purchasing the necessary screws along with other hardware to upgrade the system before I put it into use. Other than that I am happy with the purchase. Shuttle definitely makes some quality products.
All the refurbished PC’s & Laptops I’ve bought here have been like that.
Seems like the rebuilder knows the least number of screws possible to hold it together, and that’s what they use.
I’ve had good luck with the refurbs, except for a slight snafu where one had W7 Home installed instead of Pro.
The refurbisher sent the correct disc and product key no problem.
I just built one of these for a client and it was a little scratched up on the outside but nothing really that bad. Took a black sharpy to one big scratch and that worked.
The biggest annoyance was the main cpu cooling fan was totally bad. It made horrible noise and would try to spin up and if it did get to that point of full spin, it would chug and struggle and was unbearably loud. Fortunately i had an extra 90mm fan and it fit right in and was near silent like these computer are known for, fans are only a $12 item but have to wonder if these systems are even tested with that kind of oversight.
The other issue was it had one foot missing lol. So it was wobbly. Luckly I had a 10yr old dead Shuttle computer i kept for parts and the feet were exactly the same.
Same issue others mentioned, with screws only one per component. Considering how cheep and abundant screws are for computer repair people (like me), I literately have like tubs of them from computer builds and recycled PCs. One can hardly imagine what would compel them to do such a half-ars job.
My real concern is the PSU as it is proprietary. I haven’t had much luck with the small form factor PSUs on other thin desktops. You can get a replacement on Amazong but your savings starts to diminish the more crap you have to repair yourself.
Still considering how overpriced these barebone cases are, this is a great deal. Clients really love them for being so small but so powerful. Price is low enough you can install an SSD for them without inflating the price.
Yes it can handle modern powerful Graphics cards. Check the motherboard and chipset stats , these are mostly modern boards and should have 3.0. Measure the case where the grahpics will go before you buy a card they leave room for big cards but some of those cards are monstrous.
i own one of these purchased from another site. And, i do like the system - especially for music and video. Graphics cards compatibility are very specific to this system. be sure to refer to graphics cards on this shuttle site page: Shuttle Global || SH67H3 - Compatibility
One other thought: in the shuttle xpc BIOS you must select the PCIe setting that fits your graphics card or other device. The primary PCI slot does have support for ‘gen 1’ thru ‘gen 3’. But, the express slot only supports gen 1 or gen 2. This is on an updated BIOS for a Shuttle XPC SH67 with motherboard V2. So – PCIe 3 is possible BUT only with compatible graphics cards. hope this helps.
I bought one of these and was very excited to receive it. I am replacing a laptop that my family uses for watching TV on Windows Media Center, which is part of Windows 7 pro. When it came to the house, I wasn’t there so I had my wife open the package and plug it in to ensure that it came up. It did not. She pushed the plug into the back all the way and tried again. Still did not come on. I told her to leave it until I got home. I tried it as well and no dice. I ended up taking the cover off and checking the wiring on the inside. Turns out the connector for the front panel wasn’t connected very well. Since then the unit has been running very well and has replaced the laptop that we were using. There’s definitely a problem with the QA for these devices. I am not going to send it back unless I encounter issues where it crashes. Will post back here if I experience other problems.