[DEAD] "Old Goat" The 775 Shuttle is reborn! - Nope, Bricked it. Project is Dead.

[d33g33]

The Aim?

So the aim of this project is to update an old PC i've had since 2008. It will remain to be a socket 775 but will get a CPU, GPU and cooling refresh with a new look!

 

The Background

I bought this PC back in 2008 as I thought it would be a cheaper alternative to a full desktop, I was wrong. In the end the cost was about the same, but it was small. However I felt, and still feel that the inconveniences of its small form factor far outweigh the pro's. Shuttles have come a long way and are much better now. A work colleague swears by them but they aren't for me, at least not as a desktop, a HTPC however it fits perfectly and suits my entertainment needs to a tee! The transition from Desktop to HTPC was just a GPU swap, this rebuild will see another GPU swap.

 

Table of Contents

01. 4-4-2014: A walk around the Shuttle SG33G5 and CPU upgrade!

02. 10-4-2014: An IR Power Switch

03. 18-4-2014: Parts delivered!

04. 19-4-2014: The videocard shemozzle

05. 22-4-2014: The CoolerMaster Glacer 240L arrives...

06. 23-4-2014: The replacement 750Ti, An EVGA FTW!

07. 27-4-2014: Making the XSPC GPU Block fit the GTX750Ti

08. 24-5-2014: Painting the motherboard - The Shuttle SG33G5 Black Edition

09. 25-5-2014: Fitting the Glacer 240L into the SG33G5 Chassis

10. 8-6-2014: Painting the Chassis and fitting the CPU Waterblock/Pump to the Motherboard

11. 15-6-2014: Finished customising and sleeving the PSU

 

PC Hardware

2008 - 2010

• CPU: e8400
• GPU: Nvidia 9600GT
• RAM: 2x2gb Corsair DDR2
• Mobo/PSU: Shuttle proprietary
• Cooling: Standard Shuttle "I.C.E. Cooler"

2010 - Current

• CPU: e8400
• GPU: Nvidia GT520
• RAM: 2x2gb Corsair DDR2
• Mobo/PSU: Shuttle proprietary
• Cooling: Standard Shuttle "I.C.E. Cooler"

This Refresh

• CPU: Q9550
• GPU: EVGA GTX750Ti FTW
• RAM: 2x2gb Corsair DDR2
• Mobo/PSU: Shuttle proprietary
• Cooling: CoolerMaster Glacier 240L with XSPC Universal GPU block.

Parts to Order

• GTX750Ti - Received
• CoolMaster Glacier 240L - Received
• Universal GPU waterblock - Received
• IR Power Switch - Received

 

Mods

• Fabricate chassis frame for radiator, pump and reservoir - Done
• Painting chassis and motherboard - Done
• Acrylic front panel and window 
• Paint graphics
• Cable sleeving - Done
• LED lighting
• IR power switch install - Done

[d33g33]

First things first, lets have a look at the Shuttle in its current state:

 

This is it, a SG33G5 Shuttle. Measuring in at a small 310(L) x 200(W) x 185(H) mm. After 2 house moves and travelling through 3 states the poor chassis is looking a bit rough.

 

 

 

 

With the 1 piece cover off exposing the beast that is, a Nvidia GT520! This is a completely passive model, no fans but notice. Do to the unique way that shuttle configured the PCI-E to the outside of the case I had to err... 'modify' the heatsink so it would fit.

 

From the side angle

 

As much of the internal covering as possible was wrapped with some sound deadening foam. It seemed to do a good job but you can see the GPU fit is tight, touching and depressing the foam.

 

Now a view from the top, lol a DVD drive, to be honest I forgot it actually had an optical drive at all! I've never used it at all. It puts into perspective how small this case is.

 

Underneath the optical drive is space to mount a 3.5" drive. I have a 120gb SSD in there at the moment. 2 Screws and the whole mount slides out to reveal!

 

 

The "I.C.E." Cooling system. basically a CPU mount, heatpipes and a heatsink located at the back which sucks air from the front/side of the case and then exhausts it straight out the back, quite a clever arrangement actually.

 

Mmm dusty... not a lot of maintenance goes on in here.

 

the heatsink is quite thin so does a very good job considering. I prime95'd just before this and max temp after an hour was 54 degree.

 

The RAM, at least I had good taste in memory, even back then!

 

I had to include a screenshot of these bastards. I'm not going to lie, this Shuttle hasn't been without its quirks. And it seems that afetr any hardware change, it will decide not to POST for a while until you check and reconnect, seat, switch, plug everything and then for no reason will start to work again but this takes the cake.

 

this is the set of jumpers that must be changed to tell the mobo to use the PCI-E card for display and not onboard. 12 jumpers, dear god. Seriously? These gave me issues for years (and I no joke mean years) where when booting up I would have no display.  It turns out the jumpers when in the correct way don't have a  good pinch on the pins resulting in some not touching, meaning it was confused as to boot onboard, or PCI-E.

 

The fix? 

Put them on upside down. Good god.

 

The current CPU. Core 2 Duo - E8400

 

ERMAHGERD FIRST UPGRADE!!!

 

I picked up a Core 2 Quad Q9550 from a local forum for $60, hard to knock back. It wont make this thing a folding machine but it sure cant hurt for that money.

[d33g33]

I'll just leave these here,

 

This is exactly what got me in trouble with the R4. A damned tape measure.

 

Originally I was thinking of just putting in a 120mm rad on the back but internally. After having a look I don't think this is possible, the PSU is hard up on one side and pretty close to teh GPU on the other, I then thought about putting it in the front? I could do up a funky front panel and it would look OK.

 

As I started to pull everything out to change out the CPU and I was looking at that big space in the top where the optical drive is, the forsaken tape measure came out and it was decided...

 

A 240mm in the roof.

 

The term "as tight as a fish's arsehole" comes to mind...

 

 

[CCap]

I find this very enjoyable to read along to, can't wait to see that top 240 in there... 

 

Good luck my friend. 

[Anthony10]

Only this man would watercool and upgrade a lga 775 computer lmao. This is gonna be cool when it's done though

[d33g33]

Only this man would watercool and upgrade a lga 775 computer lmao. This is gonna be cool when it's done though

I'm not sure what you mean, but i'm taking it as a compliment anyway!

[T.E.D]

This is going to be capable of quite a bit. Dam good for such an old socket.

[Homicidium]

This is going to be awesome, damn!

[d33g33]

So i've been thinking about this watercooling. I was thinking of buying an Alphacool 120mm kit and using one of the 2, 240mm rads I have here. A XSPC RS240mm or a BlackIce GT 240mm...

 

 

But now i'm thinking that will have a separate pump and res that I will need to mount. I'm thinking of getting a Cooler Master Glacier 240L and putting that in and just extending it to the GPU... I think this will work best... maybe? I'll just sell off these 2x radiators somewhere.

[d33g33]

Mini update.

 

So I have the following item on their way!

 

 

 

 

I got the NB 40mm to try and replace the stock fan on the PSU. The standard one is a bit noisy so hopefully this chills it out a bit.

 

Stock fans on the 240L are reported as very loud so I have 2x 2150rpm Gentle Typhoons left over form my R4 rebuild that I will use on the rad.

 

I think the 240L will work really well, I will set it back from the roof a bit so the fillport actually comes out of the case a little. It gives me some room and should allow for easy filling I just hope the WB fits the 750Ti. I dont think there are too many watercooled GtX750Ti's in the world...

[The_Strict_Nein]

My initial thought when I saw that block was "What about the VRMs?" but then I remembered the Ti is so low power it won't need that much cooling.

Interesting build. I'm trying my hardest to get a cheap 775 mobo and CPU on ebay atm. It seems to be the right balance between old enough to be cheap but still have somewhat decent performance.

[d33g33]

My initial thought when I saw that block was "What about the VRMs?" but then I remembered the Ti is so low power it won't need that much cooling.

Interesting build. I'm trying my hardest to get a cheap 775 mobo and CPU on ebay atm. It seems to be the right balance between old enough to be cheap but still have somewhat decent performance.

 

It did cross my mind, but i'm not too worries about it. Really its only going to be for HTPC and maybe for SteamOS to stream from my gaming rig. If I need to i'll make something work, weather its ghetto heatsinks or another 40mm fan it will be fine i'm sure.

 

It only just occurred to me that this PC is 6 years old. 6 years! For that age this has certainly stood the test of time. I honestly cant see me replacing it in the next 2-3 years. depending on how fast 4k comes in and how demanding it will be.

[d33g33]

So this arrived today and i'm SUPER EXCITED about it...

 

Anyone care to have a guess as to what it is?

 

 

[das affe]

So this arrived today and i'm SUPER EXCITED about it...

 

Anyone care to have a guess as to what it is?

 

 

some kind of on/off switch.. with touch? or its a thermo-sensor. or a indicatorlight

[d33g33]

some kind of on/off switch.. with touch? or its a thermo-sensor. or a indicatorlight

 

Very close...

[Jenna Haze]

Very close...

Remote control? IR receiver?

[d33g33]

some kind of on/off switch.. with touch? or its a thermo-sensor. or a indicatorlight

 

Remote control? IR receiver?

 

Both together you're right.

 

It's an IR receiver wired directly to the PSU for an IR power switch

[flibberdipper]

I'm interested. Insta-sub.

[MrYuriy]

Both together you're right.

 

It's an IR receiver wired directly to the PSU for an IR power switch

This.

It's an IR Receiver for you to power up your PC via Infrared.. Though, it looks different than I am used to seeing.

[d33g33]

Hi guys need some help.

 

the rad will need some dust filters. theme will be black and white. mostly black with some white leds, my fans are whitre also.

 

should i go white filters in the roof

 

or black?

[RyAn_Z]

If you plan on keeping the case black, then the black filters. Personally I don't think filters should stand out, they should blend in with the case.

[d33g33]

If you plan on keeping the case black, then the black filters. Personally I don't think filters should stand out, they should blend in with the case.

 

yea i decided on the black ones. These will be under a perforated roof which I will drill out, its all getting covered with some graphics anyway so figured make them as subtle as possible. 

[d33g33]

Some goodies have arrived.

 

2x 120mm Silverstone fan filters

 

A 40mm fan to replace the current noisy PSU fan

 

A white ring vandal switch

 

An XSPC GPU Universal block

 

A Galaxy GTX750Ti!

 

Now the fun begins.

 

The waterblock clearly doesn't fit the 750Ti, so I need to make it fit. Its a bit risky but why not? If i am unsuccessful EK have a dedicated waterblock in the works... 

[flibberdipper]

Some goodies have arrived.

 

2x 120mm Silverstone fan filters

 

 

A 40mm fan to replace the current noisy PSU fan

 

 

A white ring vandal switch

 

 

An XSPC GPU Universal block

 

 

A Galaxy GTX750Ti!

 

 

Now the fun begins.

 

The waterblock clearly doesn't fit the 750Ti, so I need to make it fit. Its a bit risky but why not? If i am unsuccessful EK have a dedicated waterblock in the works... 

 

Sweet! I want MOAR!!!

[d33g33]

So this is my challenge, after some doodling I think this is solution but its gonna be tight. I only have 2mm in the adapter plate to work with.

 

 

 

I got the Galaxy Slim version of the 750Ti because I only want 1 slot but the whole thing is really compressed. Even the mounting holes. Mine are rectangular in pattern where reference isn't... 

 

If this doesn't work I will have to sell off this card for a reference one.

 

This is reference

 

and this is mine