What is considered the best SFF overall and what to upgrade to.

[HandsOnApproach]

Just a few quick questions I am hoping you might be able to answer.

I own the Soltek QBIC 3801A which is their top of the line AMD64 SFF case.

I want to upgrade or alternatively "move across" to a similarly spec'ed machine. I would really like to get a higher end type SFF (either Intel or AMD).

Essentially it will be used as an entertainment machine ie. games, videos and internet browsing, FM radio.

I will transfer the following parts over from my current machine, namely the X800XT, DVICO HDTV tuner, 1 36gig Raptor, 1 200gig SATA HDD (storage), 1 Sony Dual-Layer DVD burner. Also I have two stick of 512megs 400mhz DDR ram.

Really need USB and firewire ports and of course an inbuilt network card for the LAN's and Internet (ADSL).

Your comments would be greatly appreciated. Thermodynamics are important as I live in a humid, hot climate in Summer.

If model numbers could be quoted that would be good.

Note that my setup does not have a FM radio or analogue TV tuner. I think some SFF companies built some of these into their cases.

[Thomas887]

Well MSI is rules out as it's cooling isnt too crash hot

Abit digidice is still P4 i think

I dont think anyone else makes anything for you?

[Jazz]

I've just put together a SN95G5 AMD64 Shuttle, and am very happy with it, lovely build quality and runs very fast.


2 things to note,

If you have a long PCI card, it will cover the chipset fan,

and

the current BIOS reads the CPU temp too low, so the BIOS auto fan setup runs slow and the system gets hot. Either manually set the fan in bios or run smartfan in windows.

Any other questions let me know, I've also got a Intel i875 based shuttle, SN75? but i cant remeber the model.

[jascii]

Originally posted by Thomas887
Well MSI is rules out as it's cooling isnt too crash hot

Abit digidice is still P4 i think

That is the reason why the digidice boxes are so cheap. They are no good for anything over 70w, so that rules out anything but the 2800-3000C, 2800E, and Prescott Celerons.

Since you want a media machine, I'd have a look at the shuttle, and modding the SilentX powersupply with some quieter fans like the silenX (no relation to shuttle) 40mm models. When warm, the supply running on stock fans is an absolute screamer.