e-cube or SB65G2?

[stardust]

Shuttle SB65G2

e-cube EG65

Im new to SFF computers... what do u suggest? What are the pros and cons of both? The review is weird in that it complimented more on the e-cube and critisized the shuttle, but gave the editors choice award to the shuttle. I am confused..

 

[RamIt]

I prefer AMS's design over the shuttle's but I purchased the Shuttle due to wanting to overclock.
There are no overclocking options for the E-Cube.
What was criticised about the shuttle?

 

[stardust]

What was criticised about the shuttle?

It was "noisy" . I've never heard one, but im sure its quieter than the computer I have now!

 

[RamIt]

Originally posted by: stardust

What was criticised about the shuttle?

It was "noisy" . I've never heard one, but im sure its quieter than the computer I have now!

You might be suprised how loud these things can be unmodified but both can be made much quieter with inexpensive mods.

 

[stardust]

Can you be more specific? Do you mean Stealth or Panaflo fan replacements? Or a whole Asaka Vibration mat makeover?

Can you put a handle on a shuttle? I don't like those thin steal handles they sell in Xoxide, they look weak.

 

[RamIt]

Originally posted by: stardust
Can you be more specific? Do you mean Stealth or Panaflo fan replacements? Or a whole Asaka Vibration mat makeover?

Can you put a handle on a shuttle? I don't like those thin steal handles they sell in Xoxide, they look weak.

The sunnon fan is a tad on the loud side so I replaced it with a Zalman. The shuttles have a 3 step fan control so they dont make a huge amount of noise just surfing the net. Cutting out the fan grill on the back and replacing it with a wire grill droped the temps about 3 degrees.
I transport my box a couple of times a week and I just throw it in a small duffle bag with the kb and mouse.

 

[Foghorn]

I just ordered a SB65G2, Next week I'll let you know how (subjectively) how loud it is running stock and under load.

 

[bakeweasel]

I just set up a SB65G2 and a high pitched noise eminates from the HEAT PIPE fan area. The whole case vibrates as well with the strongest vibration coming from the fan area. Anyone else with this problem? I removed all drives to narrow the noise down to the fan assembly.

 

[RamIt]

Originally posted by: bakeweasel
I just set up a SB65G2 and a high pitched noise eminates from the HEAT PIPE fan area. The whole case vibrates as well with the strongest vibration coming from the fan area. Anyone else with this problem? I removed all drives to narrow the noise down to the fan assembly.

If you are getting vibrations, it is highly likely that your fan is out of balance. If you are going to replace the I.C.E. fan be sure to replace it with a fan that can turn at least 2600 rpm.
I dont know about the high pitched noise comming from the I.C.E. Some people have complained about high pitched electrical noise comming from the motherboard it self when scrolling the mouse or putting the system under load. A fix can be found here if this is the noise you might be hearing.

 

[bakeweasel]

Thanks. I did notice the pitch of the "whine" changing whenever I scrolled with the mouse. I read the thread that you linked me too. Sounds like a lot of people are having this problem.

 

[bakeweasel]

 

[eastvillager]

I just ordered an e-cube in black, with the side panel cut-outs. I don't really need an SFF machine, but I do have a noisy old inwin case I've been thinking about replacing.

 

[stardust]

Originally posted by: eastvillager
I just ordered an e-cube in black, with the side panel cut-outs. I don't really need an SFF machine, but I do have a noisy old inwin case I've been thinking about replacing.

was it from SVC?

PLease let me know how these computers turn out! thnks guys

 

[eastvillager]

No, I ordered from some other place, couldn't find it at the usual places (newegg/mwave/googlegear/etc.), looks like newegg does have some of them now, though. I believe I ordered from AMS. Went smooth as butter, order got shipped next business day, UPS ground, showed up 2 days later at my door(UPS ground is pretty quick going from jersey to nyc, hehehe)

Not sure which of my current machines is going in there, think it'll probably be my slowest one(p4-2.2Gig) though, because the other two both have raid 0'd raptors and I don't want to give that up. I can post some pictures after I do the swap.


black e-cube I ordered

 

[stardust]

Wow for a second i thought i made my decision on the Shuttle, but that e-cube sure is amazing. I like that side window and the CPU fan. Iono if its just me, but the AMS PSU looks alot more rugged than the Shuttle's. Decisions decisions... I don't think I will be overclocking this, but if i buy the shuttle i will definitely give it a try. You think it can power a AIW9600PRO?

 

[eastvillager]

trying to set the e-cube up right now. I can't figure out the magic bios settings to get the stupid thing to boot from a SATA drive. I can get XP to start the install from CD to the sata drive, but can't ever get the machine to boot from the drive. I remember having a similar problem with an IS7, but it isn't in service right now, so I can't look up the bios settings over there.

This cube runs HOT with a p4/3.06, raptor, and an old gf4 ti. It was kind of scary hot to the touch, so I took the sides off for now.

 

[eastvillager]

took care of the SATA stuff, what a pain.

Anyways, this thing runs far too hot unmodded, imho. I notice AMS has a newer one, where most of the metalwork is now perforated for ventilation.

I'm gonna try to put a fan in the middle drive bay, or perhaps on one of the sides. Also thought about a hole in the side over the vid card, and then making a small duct down to the vidcard. Course, if I do that, it won't be pretty if I replace the vid card at some point.

 

[RamIt]

Originally posted by: eastvillager
took care of the SATA stuff, what a pain.

Anyways, this thing runs far too hot unmodded, imho. I notice AMS has a newer one, where most of the metalwork is now perforated for ventilation.

I'm gonna try to put a fan in the middle drive bay, or perhaps on one of the sides. Also thought about a hole in the side over the vid card, and then making a small duct down to the vidcard. Course, if I do that, it won't be pretty if I replace the vid card at some point.

On my gbox:
Drilled holes in the plexi right next to the vid card fan.
Replaced the heat sink with a modified Alpha 8942 and a quiet 80mm fan.
7 volted the xblade and power supply fan.

These items lowered the noise substantially and made it a lot cooler.

 

[stardust]

Originally posted by: eastvillager
took care of the SATA stuff, what a pain.

Anyways, this thing runs far too hot unmodded, imho. I notice AMS has a newer one, where most of the metalwork is now perforated for ventilation.

I'm gonna try to put a fan in the middle drive bay, or perhaps on one of the sides. Also thought about a hole in the side over the vid card, and then making a small duct down to the vidcard. Course, if I do that, it won't be pretty if I replace the vid card at some point.

what are the temps? is that blue LED heatsink not good enough? I was planning on getting an OCZ gladiator HSF.

edt: oh, is it the video card thats hot? Yah i think you should do what RamIt suggests.

BTW RamIt, how are the temps in your modifide gbox? I think the e-cube should be a little hotter am i right?

 

[eastvillager]

I didn't measure the temps by anything other than my nose. when i can smell that almost-burning electrical smell, I get scared.

The heatsink has no problem absorbing heat from the processor, it gets wicked hot to the touch. The case itself has next to no airflow though, which is the problem. Don't matter how good that cpu heatsink fan is if its just blowing continually hotter air onto the heatsink. Soon as I took the panels off, it cooled right down. The really messed up putting the agp socket where they did, it puts the heatsink/fan on most vidcards smack dab up against the side of the case. I'm gonna put a fan and cutout through the right side panel, and put a cutout and short duct through the left-side panel to the graphics card.

the heatsink+fan over what I imagine is the northbridge popped loose on the end nearest the cpu too. the mounting clips for that are just barely soldered into the mobo. I bent that end of the retaining clip, trimmed the end a bit shorter, then wedged it under the black cpu heatsink/fan mounting bracket.

 

[RamIt]

Originally posted by: stardust

Originally posted by: eastvillager
took care of the SATA stuff, what a pain.

Anyways, this thing runs far too hot unmodded, imho. I notice AMS has a newer one, where most of the metalwork is now perforated for ventilation.

I'm gonna try to put a fan in the middle drive bay, or perhaps on one of the sides. Also thought about a hole in the side over the vid card, and then making a small duct down to the vidcard. Course, if I do that, it won't be pretty if I replace the vid card at some point.

what are the temps? is that blue LED heatsink not good enough? I was planning on getting an OCZ gladiator HSF.

edt: oh, is it the video card thats hot? Yah i think you should do what RamIt suggests.

BTW RamIt, how are the temps in your modifide gbox? I think the e-cube should be a little hotter am i right?

Cant remember what the actual temps were but loaded temps dropped 10c.
I played with the gbox for about 2 weeks before returning it for the shuttle with no regrets other than the looks.

 

[stardust]

Originally posted by: RamIt

Originally posted by: stardust

Originally posted by: eastvillager
took care of the SATA stuff, what a pain.

Anyways, this thing runs far too hot unmodded, imho. I notice AMS has a newer one, where most of the metalwork is now perforated for ventilation.

I'm gonna try to put a fan in the middle drive bay, or perhaps on one of the sides. Also thought about a hole in the side over the vid card, and then making a small duct down to the vidcard. Course, if I do that, it won't be pretty if I replace the vid card at some point.

what are the temps? is that blue LED heatsink not good enough? I was planning on getting an OCZ gladiator HSF.

edt: oh, is it the video card thats hot? Yah i think you should do what RamIt suggests.

BTW RamIt, how are the temps in your modifide gbox? I think the e-cube should be a little hotter am i right?

Cant remember what the actual temps were but loaded temps dropped 10c.
I played with the gbox for about 2 weeks before returning it for the shuttle with no regrets other than the looks.

that's an incredible drop!! 10C! wow.. any cheap "around the house" tools i can use to make such a whole?

edit: i dont have a dremel... they are like 50 bucks! lol

 

[eastvillager]

I picked up a ridiculously expensive 3 inch holesaw this morning and went to work.

Right side has a clear 80mm antec fan mounted inside, blowing air in now.

Left side has a hole directly over the heatsink/fan on the gf4, I have a grill to put over this, just can't find it yet.

The way I mounted the 2 drives left the middle slot behind the door open, so what I do is pop that open when I got the machine on, now air is venting pretty good from both front and back, and the machine doesn't smell like an overused toaster oven when it is on.

 

[eastvillager]

night view, black e-cube, showing fan added to right side of chassis.




ecube pic



if you look at it really close, you can just make it the Danzig skull sticker I put on to the right rear of the case. I wish that was glow in the dark sticker, lol.


ah, here is one with the lights on, lol

That rig has the following:

visiontek gf4 4600 ti
2x512meg Crucial pc 3200?
WD Raptor 10krpm SATA drive
Plextor Plexwriter Premium
P4 3.06GHz 533

 

[stardust]

WOW looks impressive! how did u manage to hold down the case while drilling? Did u take that side panel off and secure it in any way? Does the hole on the other side have a fan on it or its just acts like an intake for cool air to difuse into the graphics card fan.

Again, that looks amazing! oh my i want an e-cube now!