Help Me Build A SFF System

[hOrnizuka]

Hello!

I'm getting this for a friend whose going to use it mainly for watching video, word processing and surfing. This will be my first time dealing with SFF system.

Here is what i'm thinking right now:

-Shuttle SN27P2 Socket AM2 nForce 570 Ultra MCP Chipset DDR2 533/667/800 7.1 Channel Audio Gigabit Lan Firewire SATA $409.99
-AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Socket AM2 Orleans 2.0GHZ 2000FSB 512KB L2 Cache 90NM Retail Box $89.99
-Corsair DDR2 PC2-5400 667MHz Value Select 1GB 240-pin Unbuffered DIMM (VS1GB667D2) $129.99
-Asus EAX1300/TD ATI Radeon X1300 Chipset(450MHz) 128Mb DDR(500MHz) 64 Bit DVI-I TV-Out 16 Lanes PCI Express Graphics Card $63.99
-Internal All-in-1 internal 3.5" Card Reader (CR-RW1350) $18.99

I believe there is a heatsink/fan that comes with Shuttle SN27P2 so i don't have to worry about that. I have a extra DVD-Rom lying around which i could put it in. As for HD I have extra 160gb IDE. I'll try to get a IDE to SATA converter and hopefully it will work. For audio i will just use internal audio.

Did I miss anything there? Any suggestions would be appreciated!!




Thank you!!

[ppl4golf]

Wow! These XPC tiny boxes are pretty pricey.

Does the barebone come with onboard video ?? If not, I'll consider get a fanless video card...I made a mistake putting a low profile XFX 7300GS that has a fan in an HTPC, it is not noisy by any means...but if the adjacent PCI slot is used, it will get hot and the fan will pick up speed and be heard. Luckily the 2-pin fan plug goes in the 3-pin Zalman fan controller so I am all good again :~)

Alternatively, you can consider the small cases from Silverstone (like the SG01 and ML01) and build from scratch. They are both portable small but not as small as the Shuttles.

[ppl4golf]

BTW - Why do you need the SATA-IDE converter ??

[TenzoR]

putting an ide-sata adaptor won't do much anyways ..so why bother

I personally don't like shuttle myself but that looks pretty solid. Shuttle haven't came out with anything new or innovative in these few years

[Jon Lai]

Wow! These XPC tiny boxes are pretty pricey.

Does the barebone come with onboard video ?? If not, I'll consider get a fanless video card...I made a mistake putting a low profile XFX 7300GS that has a fan in an HTPC, it is not noisy by any means...but if the adjacent PCI slot is used, it will get hot and the fan will pick up speed and be heard. Luckily the 2-pin fan plug goes in the 3-pin Zalman fan controller so I am all good again :~)

Alternatively, you can consider the small cases from Silverstone (like the SG01 and ML01) and build from scratch. They are both portable small but not as small as the Shuttles.

Yea, it's like nanotechnology, smaller the more expensive.

[hOrnizuka]

Wow! These XPC tiny boxes are pretty pricey.

Does the barebone come with onboard video ?? If not, I'll consider get a fanless video card...I made a mistake putting a low profile XFX 7300GS that has a fan in an HTPC, it is not noisy by any means...but if the adjacent PCI slot is used, it will get hot and the fan will pick up speed and be heard. Luckily the 2-pin fan plug goes in the 3-pin Zalman fan controller so I am all good again :~)

Alternatively, you can consider the small cases from Silverstone (like the SG01 and ML01) and build from scratch. They are both portable small but not as small as the Shuttles.

I will take a look into that SG01. Thanx for the suggestion.

BTW - Why do you need the SATA-IDE converter ??

I believe this shuttle doesn't have IDE.

putting an ide-sata adaptor won't do much anyways ..so why bother

I personally don't like shuttle myself but that looks pretty solid. Shuttle haven't came out with anything new or innovative in these few years

what do you mean? It won't work? If not i might have to buy a SATA HD then.

[BlueMax]

Shuttle's warranty service is crap! Build a mATX system yourself. The SG01 is a far, far nicer machine that's only 10% bigger but is better-looking, will have a better ATX power supply (not included, so get a good one) and standard uATX motherboard with 4 expansion slots, not 2.

And as pricey as the SG01 may be - it's still cheaper than the Shuttle, after all bits are added!

If you don't need fancy video, there's lots of other mATX boxes to choose from - some are low-profile reducing the cards you can put in, but if you don't need any you're laughing!

[ppl4golf]

There should be 1 IDE plug for optical drive and a HD but not more.
If it doesn't come with an IDE header, definitely don't ever bother with the barebone :~)

When I looked at the price, I haven't even factored in a manadatory video card (the spec didn't mention it has a vga port), you are talking about 5 bills for a case, psu and mobo with vga and thats a lot of coin and against the spirit here...

If you go SG01 and blow $150 each for psu and mobo, you're still even but the components are fairly high end. Ultimate thrifty solution is ML01 (card reader is built-in), some all-in-one mobo like nvidia 6150 chipset and that would serve well for the intended use.

The XPC is chic rhough :~)

[hOrnizuka]

Could you recommend a setup if I go with SG01(mb, psu, etc.)? I read somewhere that cpu heatsink/fan might cause some prob.

Thank you very much!

[cloneman]

go for a dual core CPU. Shuttle is a little pricy, but when you consider:

Case & PSU ~100$

Good heatsink ~40$

Motherboard 120$

= 260$

Your paying about 150 for the SFF'ness and the shuttle name.

Shuttles are fairly quiet if your videocard is fanless and you replace the northbridge fan with a passive solution.

[TenzoR]

Shuttle's warranty service is crap! Build a mATX system yourself. The SG01 is a far, far nicer machine that's only 10% bigger but is better-looking, will have a better ATX power supply (not included, so get a good one) and standard uATX motherboard with 4 expansion slots, not 2.

And as pricey as the SG01 may be - it's still cheaper than the Shuttle, after all bits are added!

If you don't need fancy video, there's lots of other mATX boxes to choose from - some are low-profile reducing the cards you can put in, but if you don't need any you're laughing!

SG01 Evo is nice but it's fairly big compare to a true SFF. The PSU location won't allow any decent cooler cept for Silverstone's NT-06

As for price that will depend on PSU, mobo. I'd recommand PSU that has modular cabling else you'll have a heck of a hardtime routing the pwoer cables and other cables nicely. It took me a good hour to get my SG-01 E wire placement right.

[ppl4golf]

Could you recommend a setup if I go with SG01(mb, psu, etc.)? I read somewhere that cpu heatsink/fan might cause some prob.

Thank you very much!

The stock Foxconn heatsink/fan came with my single core AM2 cpu is acceptably quiet when 'quiet fan' function on the mobo is enabled (some mobo won't work unless you have a 4-pin fan!!). The HSF is small and should fit inside any setup. Both my A64 3200+(with Cool'n'Quiet) and S64 2800+(overclocked to 2GHz) are cooled well by the stock fans even at reduced speeds. You should be pretty safe with a A64 3200+ or something slightly faster. I personally might go fo the x2 3800+ but if it is a lot hotter/noisier I won't be too happy.

For thrifty mobos, I enjoy the 2 nvidia 61xx series I have (ASRock AM2NF6G-VSTA and ASUS M2NPV-VM), neither one is absolutely perfect, but if I have to get one of these now, I might try ABit's or MSI's versions of nvidia 6150/430.

The newer lower ends Core 2 Duos systems are good choices as well, but I don't have nay personal experience with them.

[BlueMax]

SG01 Evo is nice but it's fairly big compare to a true SFF. The PSU location won't allow any decent cooler cept for Silverstone's NT-06

As for price that will depend on PSU, mobo. I'd recommand PSU that has modular cabling else you'll have a heck of a hardtime routing the pwoer cables and other cables nicely. It took me a good hour to get my SG-01 E wire placement right.

The new Shuttle machines just keep getting bigger, rather than smaller. A case similar to the SG01 just isn't that much larger, but the functionality is much better. Better value, too. Like I said; Shuttle SUCKS when it comes to warranty! If the Shuttle's special PSU dies (pretty high failure rate) YOU buy a replacement. Period. Tough luck if the blown PSU takes out your other components too.

I'd trade 20% more space to get upgradable mATX and more slots any day. If portability is #1, there's smaller SFF's than Shuttle out there.

[hOrnizuka]

go for a dual core CPU. Shuttle is a little pricy, but when you consider:

Case & PSU ~100$

Good heatsink ~40$

Motherboard 120$

= 260$

Your paying about 150 for the SFF'ness and the shuttle name.

Shuttles are fairly quiet if your videocard is fanless and you replace the northbridge fan with a passive solution.

The stock Foxconn heatsink/fan came with my single core AM2 cpu is acceptably quiet when 'quiet fan' function on the mobo is enabled (some mobo won't work unless you have a 4-pin fan!!). The HSF is small and should fit inside any setup. Both my A64 3200+(with Cool'n'Quiet) and S64 2800+(overclocked to 2GHz) are cooled well by the stock fans even at reduced speeds. You should be pretty safe with a A64 3200+ or something slightly faster. I personally might go fo the x2 3800+ but if it is a lot hotter/noisier I won't be too happy.

For thrifty mobos, I enjoy the 2 nvidia 61xx series I have (ASRock AM2NF6G-VSTA and ASUS M2NPV-VM), neither one is absolutely perfect, but if I have to get one of these now, I might try ABit's or MSI's versions of nvidia 6150/430.

The newer lower ends Core 2 Duos systems are good choices as well, but I don't have nay personal experience with them.

SG01 Evo is nice but it's fairly big compare to a true SFF. The PSU location won't allow any decent cooler cept for Silverstone's NT-06

As for price that will depend on PSU, mobo. I'd recommand PSU that has modular cabling else you'll have a heck of a hardtime routing the pwoer cables and other cables nicely. It took me a good hour to get my SG-01 E wire placement right.

Thanx for the feedbacks ppl!!!. Which model/brand of PSU do you recommend that has modular cabling? Could you tell me one that i can buy locally in Toronto?



Thank you very much!