I took some pictures of my Shuttle PC. It is a lot smaller than yours, but it's a real fast machine and has everything I need.

I have only two HDs since I have a large RAID 5 NAS storage for my valued data and DVD RAM as backup for my NAS backup...

Nice Thank you for the pics. I've never built a shuttle.

Me either. What are the advantages(if any) of building a shuttle? Just size? Good for PVR?

I have never seen a " Shuttle"

I've only seen pics of them. Never seen one someone built. th_mi's build looks like a very healthy one for this day and time

I'd like to buy a small sized PC since a long time, because I do not need a PC with a big case, since I do not make a lot extensions over the PC life cycle. So why a large PC case. I still have a few MidiTower PC's (Pentium 3 Dual CPU systems), but in the next few weeks I'll retire 2 of this systems.

The positive point with the Shuttle PCs is in my opinion the good cooling concept. My Shuttle does not have any problems with temperature. I also have a MSI booksize PC and this form factor has more problems with cooling since the PC case has only a small height. The Shuttles have a real good quality and most of the systems have a performance comparable with a normal desktop PC. The Shuttle flagship the SD39 is not slower than a desktop PC with the same configuration and supports Core2Quad. My SD32 is a little bit "smaller" choice (the case is ~1/3 cheaper than the SD39 and it is fast enough for me, I do not need a C2Q).

My Shuttle has everything I need USB (every PC has this), FireWire 400, Gigabit LAN and HD sound. Since my demands to a sound card are not too high the onboard sound is perfect for me, but I could plug a PCI sound board in my Shuttle since the PCI slot is free. Currently I use the slot plate of the PCI slot for 2 additional USB ports. My shuttle has 8 USB ports, this is not bad for such a small PC.

Thanks rolling that is good information to know, I was completely unaware of this situation.

From what i remember reading the size of the case also relates to "thermal headroom" and airflow efficiency - additionally as large fans can be fitted their rotational speed can be lowered for the same airflow - as a result My DELL Dim.9200 (desktop) is as quiet as a lap top - you say ther are no heat issues with a shuttle but what about the sound?
It seems the mainly comparible Quiet computers are Macs - UNFORTUNATELY unless you are living in a permanently cold climate you'll be lucky to avoid various problematic overheating issues - look how many different generations of Macbook there have been in a couple of years for eg.. Of course new customers are generally unaware of this as Apple make M$ look positively philanthropist when its comes to propaganda,deceit and greed added to the fact the majority of Mac customers don't even really use a computer - its just bought for show

From your description its sounds more like having the limitations of a Laptop (tho cheaper i guess) little room for additional internal HDD , optical drives ,card reader,bigger more powerful Graphics card etc all of which would cost more (cf internal) if you wanted to buy them as externals and defeating the object of a small sized box.I agree it may be fine for your specific needs but i suspect its a niche product (?)

I recall that dell, and I believe Acer had issues with laptops overheating and either bursting into flame or exploding under certain conditions.

And that was a separate issue to the exploding SONY batteries.

The SD32 is not very loud, the fan of the chipset it the loudest fan, that kan be read in a lot reviews about the SD32, and the reviews tell the truth. At the moment I do not have the time and the joy to exchange the fan, I read in a shuttle froum there are people changing the chipset fan and cooling device against a larger passive cooling device (I guess somethinf from Zalman!?) and the do not have any problems qwhen the chipset graphic is not used.

For me I do not see any limitations, I have 2 HDDs in it "only with 250GB size since I do not need larger HDDs. My data storage will be done to a 1TB NAS and additional backuped to DVD RAM.
since I have more than one PC I have the components I need external. I have one USB card reader, and a collection of optical drives. And for me the graphics card is powerful enough. A 7950GT with 512MB is engough for me. If I'd would like to have a 8800GTS or GTX or whatever needint 2 slots, I'd have bought a Shuttle SD39.

Sure it may be a nice product, I never said it is not. But Shuttles are so popular you can get Shuttles almost all over the world. The most positive thing of my Shuttle is you need only a small place for your PC, instead of the place for a big tower. For example I like rolling56 machine, it is cool and I like the silver case, looks really great, but I would never need 10 "slots" for 5.25 drives. If you need all your CD and DVD, and BD and HD DVD drives at the same time, it is perfect. But I do not need that, that is my reason for a Shuttle.

I added one of these as my free Ultra 600w started messing up on me. Very nice cabling

Well i'm almost finished with my new build. I'll have my 10th drive (Samsung 203B) to put in it on Monday and my PCI/IDE card will be here Tuesday so i'll post some pics next week. I have 9 drives in it now but only 6 are connected to the mobo.

Here's a sneak peak at tomorrows pics This is why i need a black bezel for my Premium 2 and oem 1655 bezel (it has a 1640 black bezel on it ).

Well this is it for awhile. Everything is working no problems.

Glad i put that Seasonic 700W PSU in it

Not to cluttered up with everything that's in there

1. Plextor PX-760A
2. BenQ 1655 (with 1640 bezel on it i have a bezel on order)
3. Plextor Premium 2
4. Plextor Premium
5. Lite-On LH-20A1P
6. Lite-On 160P6S
7. LG H-42N
8. LG H62L
9. Samsung S183L
10.Samsung S203B

What a machine 700W PSU The electricity bill

Is is correct 5 hard drives??? Wow your disk space will last forever
A real great machine

Can you post a shot of all the drives as seen in CD-DVD Speed?

It's only 3 physical drives in the cage next to the PSU, probably 2 extra partitions.

[Edit]
Sorry...double post.

damn...10 drives...crazy setup

Thanks.
3 HDD's one is in 3 partitions. 720 gigs total. Not sure if the electric bill is higher or not.

CD Speed will not show all my drives Not sure why it will show 8 of them but all my other programs show all of them. Anyone know how to fix it? I posted my problem so Erik will see it

DVDFab Platinum shows all of them though.

Yes 3 HDD's

Mighty nice rig Bob, LOL you are my hero