Shuttle SG33G5: Black Beauty or Black Sheep?
by Matt Campbell on December 13, 2007 12:02 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
Shuttle has had a long history in the arena of small form factor (SFF) PCs. Originally these were available only as barebones systems, but now the company offers complete systems directly from their website. Today we're looking at one of their "Glamour" series XPC barebones systems, the SG33G5.
Specifications
| Shuttle SG33G5 Features and Specifications | |
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo, Pentium Dual-Core,
Pentium 4, Celeron 400 series FSB 800/1066/1333MHz support |
| Chipset | Intel G33 + ICH9DH |
| Memory | 2 x 240 pin DDR2 DIMM slots,2GB per DIMM (Max
4GB) Dual Channel DDR2 667/800MHz |
| Vidoe | Built-in Intel GMA 3100 256-bit 3D engine with a
powerful 400MHz core and DirectX 9.0 Dynamic Video Memory Technology 3.0 supports up to 384MB of video memory |
| Audio | Realtek ALC888DD 7.1 channel High Definition Audio support Dolby Digital Live! and DTS |
| Network | Marvell 88E8056 IEEE 802.3u 100Base-T specification revision 1.0 100Mb/s and 1Gb/s operation Support Wake-On-LAN function |
| IEEE 1394a (FireWire) | TI TSB43AB22A Complies with 1394 OHCI specification revision 1.0 Support 400Mb/s,200Mb/s,100Mb/s transfer rate |
| Storage | (3) 3.0Gb/s bandwidth SATA II (2) 3.0Gb/s bandwidth eSATA (1) Ultra DMA/100 IDE channel (1) Floppy |
| Onboard Connectors | (3) SATA connectors (1) ATA100 bus IDE connector (2) 2x5 pin USB 2.0 header (1) Floppy connector (1) ATX main power connector (1) ATX 12V power connector (1) set 4pin fan connectors (1) set 3pin fan connectors (1) PS/2 keyboard and mouse header |
| Front Panel | (2) UBS 2.0 ports (1) mini IEEE 1394 port (1) Microphone-In (1) Earphone-Out Power-On button Reset button Power LED HDD LED |
| Back Panel | (1) PCI-E x16 slot (1) PCI slot (1) RJ45 Gigabit LAN port (2) eSATA port (1) HDMI port (4) USB 2.0 ports (1) VGA port (1) Line-in port (1) Front out port (1) Side Surround out port (1) Rear Surround out port (1) Center/Bass port (1) S/PDIF Out port (1) S/PDIF in port (Option) (1) IEEE1394 port (1) Clear CMOS button (1) Printer port fixture (1) Wireless Antenna fixture |
| Drive Bays | (2) 3.5" bay (1) 5.25" bay |
| Dimensions | 310(L) x 200(W) x 185(H) mm |
| Power Supply | 250W Input:100-240V AC Dimensions:190(L) x 82(W) x 43(H) mm |
| Accessories | Mainboard User manual Mainboard CD-Driver XPC Installation Guide FDD Cable CD-ROM Cable(pre-install) SATA cable(pre-install) HDMI to DVI converter Power cord Others: Screws Heatsink Compound |
The SG33G5 lacks the Fingerprint Recognition and "USB Speedlink" (PC-to-PC file sharing) of its Pro brother. There is another closely related model, the SG33G5M, marketed specifically towards the home theater crowd. It includes a color front panel display and remote control.
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complectus - Thursday, December 13, 2007 - link
What is the point of showing graphs of performance figures without anything to compare them to? Are we supposed to have committed to memory a range of Cinebench results so we know where this product stands?JonathanYoung - Thursday, December 13, 2007 - link
I, too, have had negative experiences with Shuttle. One of the worst offenders was their KM400 model. On paper, it supported 333MHz FSB Athlon XPs, but I never found one that could. It was obviously a Shuttle problem because 1) regular ATX KM400 boards supported 333MHz AXPs and 2) there were tons of other users who had the same problem (there was a huge thread over at Sudhian for awhile).To sum it up, Shuttles look nice and appealing, but their QC leaves a little to be desired.
Flunk - Saturday, December 15, 2007 - link
I have a shuttle with a KM400 chipset too and it is currently working just fine with a barton 2500+ processor. One thing though, the board has a physical jumper on the board that you must set to change the FSB, it is listed in the manual. Perhaps you have a similar issue?retrospooty - Thursday, December 13, 2007 - link
I have a shuttle sk43g with K400M chipset. I bought it used, and built it for my son, and it has been working for well, overclocked on the 333mhz bus for over 3 years... In the Arizona heat. Never an issue, never a problem with it at all, and he is often on all day and 1/2 the night. Maybe you just had a bad one.Frumious1 - Thursday, December 13, 2007 - link
My experience with Shuttle SFFs has been ... poor would be a kind way of putting it. We sold these at the computer shop I work at for a while. All was fine for about six months, and then the stupid things started coming back! I bet more than half of them came in for repairs within the two years. Needless to say, we don't carry SFFs anymore.These were the socket 939 models (SN95G5), so maybe the newer ones are better, but they appear to use the same old power supplies. Oh, and these 939 units somehow didn't work with X2 chips when those came out. Anyway, the PSUs were the point of failure most of the time.
I'll stick with regular PCs, thanks. Cheaper, quieter, AND more reliable! Three strikes, Shuttle. You're out.
sprockkets - Friday, December 14, 2007 - link
Out of curiosity, did those systems have the Shuttle branded power supplies or HiPRO? All the OEMs seem to like HiPRO now for simple reasons: They are complete crap and cost less.But hey, I make $60-$240 labor having to replace the power supply which killed the motherboard which then usually requires a OS reinstall, so I guess Dell, HP, Shuttle and others can keep using them.
No pictures of the inside? WTF?