Shuttle Reveals SZ170R8 Barebones PC With High-Capacity Storage Options

[kewlguy239]

huttle announced a new small form factor (SFF) barebones PC that can store up to four 3.5-inch hard drives despite its limited footprint.

Shuttle Reveals SZ170R8 Barebones PC With High-Capacity Storage Options : Read more

 

[BulkZerker]

$450 and no hot swap bays.

 

[darcotech]

Exactly, hot swap bays would be great to have. I was looking at HP Microserver G8 but it doesn't have RAID5. I am looking for small (quiet) home server to install Vmware ESXi but still couldn't find anything interesting.
And HP microserver is like 260USD for versuion with CPU and some memory. So Shuttle proposition seems expensive (to me).

 

[Nick_50]

I saw this a while ago as I was looking at a new PC and my old one was a shuttle.

They have now made it compatible with mini itx motherboards if you want to upgrade in the future which is good but the power supply ruins it for me. Its non standard design means it's expensive to replace and you have zero choice.

If you add the cost of a small case, PSU, motherboard and CPU cooler it works out similar or cheaper than this and that is with a 650w gold tier 1 atx PSU.

 

[hellwig]

$450 for case + mobo. And then they put 3 video outputs on the back? Who is going to buy this and NOT put a discrete graphics card in there? The Z170 is only practical for performance Core i7 CPUs, right? If you're getting an i5 or i3, there are cheaper chipset options. Guess I'm just confused on the practicality of the setup.

 

[Solandri]

$450 for case + mobo. And then they put 3 video outputs on the back? Who is going to buy this and NOT put a discrete graphics card in there? The Z170 is only practical for performance Core i7 CPUs, right? If you're getting an i5 or i3, there are cheaper chipset options. Guess I'm just confused on the practicality of the setup.

I bought one of the older Shuttle computers and don't have a GPU in it. I stuck a Coolermaster 4-in-3 HDD cage inside it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817993002

Had to remove the black fan filter in front and a couple of the side plates, but it fits. It hangs inside the case on cloth velcro strips, though I could've used any kind of cord, There's enough room inside for 4 HDDs and a 2.5" SSD sitting on top. It always seemed weird to me that they put 6 SATA ports on the motherboard and only designed the case to support 2 HDD + 1 optical drive. I did have to get 90 degree SATA cables because there's not enough space between back of the cage and primary case fan to fit straight cables. The closest thing to the bottom of the cage is the RAM sticks, not the CPU heat pipes. There's actually enough room for another SSD or maybe even a 3.5" HDD on the side, where the GPU would normally go, if I wanted to use that last SATA port.

It has functioned as my ESXi server and NAS for close to 5 years now. I like the setup (aside from the drives being a PITA to access if one fails - none have so far). The only reason I'm planning to replace it in the next few years is because I want to move to something with ECC RAM. I'll echo the first two posts - hot swappable bays accessible from the front and a motherboard that supports ECC RAM and they would have my money.

 

[Valantar]

hellwig: Z170 is for overclocking, not just i7s. An i5 6600K is a natural fit for a Z170 board. Also, Z170 has more I/O and more PCIe lanes than lower end chipsets. Neither really matters in a build like this though - that cooler can't possibly be able to OC anything.

Typical Shuttle: small, but expensive, with proprietary motherboards and PSUs, horrible airflow, and lackluster cooling in general. Today, one is better off getting a decent itx case + mobo + sfx or atx PSU.