MiniITX Cooling

Mercutio

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
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For the non-EPIA mini-ITX machine, how the heck is cooling handled? There can't be a full-size fan in those things, right?

I notice today that there are mini-ITX systems from shuttle that support real desktop chipsets, which means real-desktop CPUs and therefore real desktop heat.

Anyone know anything about it?
 
honold said:
shuttle doesn't make itx boxes

http://www.shuttle.com/new/images/productimages/ph4.jpg for their cpu cooling solution - everything blows out a single 80mm in the back
Click to expand...


Shuttle makes flexATX boxes (or atleast clost to it). They use a heat pipe that they call the I.C.E ... in my opinion it's the best invention for cooling PCs yet.

Using a single 80mm fan you can cool the CPU and the case simultaneously with minimal of noise (think sub 2000rpm 80mm fan).

I am dissapointed that shuttle uses 40mm fans in their PSUs.... I've seen some boxes that make use of a 60mm fan that acted as a combination case/PSU fan... don't think you can use a stock ICE on those boxes though. The problem with the 40mm fans is that some of them are kinda noisy(probably the fault of Sunon) and I don't trust them as much as a 60-80mm fan.
 
in the sv24s they failed CONSTANTLY

i have about 15 sv24s and i've rma'd about 16,000 psus from them because of fan failure

ss51gs/sb51gs have nary a problem (yet)
 
From what I've seen on various forums:

- the early Shuttles relied on ACME PSUs which tended to be problematic and seemed to be stamina lacking in terms of life expectancy.

[honold, which PSUs were in the sv24s?]

- ACME quality improved somewhat and more reliable units are now being utilized

- Concurrently, Shuttle and other manufacturers with their derivatives (here after refered to as the Shuttlites [and not to be confused with Shiites or one of the lost tribes of Israel]), started using Enhance branded PSUs, which have exhibited to be more problematic then the ACME units.

My questions are:

Are these two (ACME/Enhance) just the same company (or manufactured by the same company and sold and relabeled by ACME or Enhance) ?

If unique companies and/or products, why did the Shuttlites start utilizing Enhance as well? (economics?)

Why haven't respectable manufacturers/labels jumped on the opportunity to provide units for these Shuttlite boxes either as that which is included in the box (less likely scenario ? as I suppose Shuttle et al. would want to keep their box prices stable nor erode into their existing margins by using more expensive units) or as a third party add ins?

Personally, I think one of the major sticking points against the Shuttle SFF's, and other manufacturer's derivatives is those ACME/Enhance PSUs. Given the opportunity to switch to, oh say, Antec PSUs, I'm sure many SFF buyers/owners would opt for that route...

CK
 
of course, it could be that the manufacturer of the ACME/Enhance units is the same company that produces stuff for Antec....but the point I was trying to get at was that quality control (standards) and design could be improved.

CK
 
Lastly, maybe Merc was refering to Shutlle's mATX boards (MN___) and constructing a mATX system around them as opposed to the flex/SFFs ?
 
channel well technology cwt-150 fatx 150w
Click to expand...
Interesting. CWT is probably a Antec PSU builder...which doesn't mean anything, or imply that their own label would have higher QC....nonetheless, kind of surprised.

matx isn't itx
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I know...I was, how should I say it, being diplomatic, in implying that perhaps Merc had confused the two.
 
The Enhance PSUs are a different company than the Achme. I believe Shuttle may have switched to the Enhance because they are supposed to be quieter. Unfortunately, after enhance PSUs started getting popular there seemed to be alot of reports of problems.


You can buy the Enhance PSUs anywhere where Enhance brand PSUs are sold.. although I've heard that the one's used in shuttles are somehow special (although the regular version works fine).


I also think the PSUs used in the shuttles are very similar in size to 1/2U server chassis PSUs.. possibly they are just a shorter version.. I'd have to look at the specs for different 1U PSUs and compare that to the available space inside a shuttle SFF.
 
Holy crap. Spacewalker.com's main page takes 2 minutes and 48 seconds to load @ 26.4. I'm starting to think motherboard manufacturers just hate me.

(next there will be an "improved" version that includes flash and uses java to animate all the text, or something).

I got a good look at the very, very sexy SB61G2 XPC yesterday. I saw it at a shop in a 3GHz/800MHz P4 configuration, along with a Radeon 9800, 1GB of RAM and a couple raptors. It was running a pair of Samsung 17" LCDs and doing Unreal 2 on both of them.

Dream machine, basically.

Of course, it wasn't until I got out of the shop that I had the thought that there's no way that little box could keep all that cool. Hence the question I posted.

I do recall that the PSU in question as an Enhance. That much was listed on the spec sheet.
 
Mercutio said:
Holy crap. Spacewalker.com's main page takes 2 minutes and 48 seconds to load @ 26.4. I'm starting to think motherboard manufacturers just hate me.

(next there will be an "improved" version that includes flash and uses java to animate all the text, or something).

I got a good look at the very, very sexy SB61G2 XPC yesterday. I saw it at a shop in a 3GHz/800MHz P4 configuration, along with a Radeon 9800, 1GB of RAM and a couple raptors. It was running a pair of Samsung 17" LCDs and doing Unreal 2 on both of them.

Dream machine, basically.

Of course, it wasn't until I got out of the shop that I had the thought that there's no way that little box could keep all that cool. Hence the question I posted.

I do recall that the PSU in question as an Enhance. That much was listed on the spec sheet.
Click to expand...


The cooling the boxes is actually pretty good (design wise). If you want it to be quiet, use cool components and a slow fan. If you want to run the hot components use the stock fan or something faster.

The ss51g I built uses 512MB PC2700 and a passive Radeon 9000 for DVI, along with a 80GB DM+9 (not the coolest drive on the block). The CPU is, however, a modest Northwood Celeron 2GHz. My SB51G has 2x256MB PC2100, the same celeron and an ATA IV. The onboard video and sound is plenty for my needs. Both have the Achme PSU, one PSu fan is quiet, the other makes a little bit of a buzz.

Suppercaf from SR, uses 2GB RAM, P4 3.06 HT CPUs, and radeon9000s in his shuttles.. I think he uses seagate IDE drives though. I believe he uses quieter than stock cooling in his...
 
Mercutio said:
Holy crap. Spacewalker.com's main page takes 2 minutes and 48 seconds to load @ 26.4. I'm starting to think motherboard manufacturers just hate me.

(next there will be an "improved" version that includes flash and uses java to animate all the text, or something).
Click to expand...

forgot to mention that shuttle's server was slow for me too at that time... it usually loads very fast.
 
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