Slight Upgrade?

Szemen · 9th September 2006, 8:04 PM

I think my current rig is up for a revamp, it running a P4 640, with an AGP X800XT. Been thinking tonight that i might upgrade it for a SFF system, retain most hardware and eventually, make a HTPC once i get a newer rig for Vista =D But for now, i hope to do what i normally do with my current rig..ie, games and typical stuff...games like Fear,Oblivion, WoW... This is my first time venturing into the SFF...

Anyway, ive come across several problems...

1) Which one??? Ive decided Shuttle, but not sure which model..i'm stuck between SD36G5M or SS30G2_SE . If there are better ones, can anyone recomend one?

2) My current car is X800XT, i was thinking at least get something better then this, so im thinking of either 7900, or X1800...one problem arises,the stock 240W PSU probably cant handle it, I have a SATA 300Gb HDD and a DVD burner as well to power...so what can i use to boost power? what companies make these SFF PSUs?

3)Ive got an Audigy 2ZS as well...i know most of these come with onboard sound, should i keep this card into the SFF rig as well? If i do, i will defiently need a single slot graphics card...would you guys recomend me keep using the card or just stick on onbaord sound?

Cheers~

SLATYE · 9th September 2006, 11:14 PM

How about the Shuttle SD37P2? More expensive, but it supports Conroe. That'd be good for three reasons:

(1) Conroes make less heat than just about any Intel desktop CPU since the P4 Northwood, which will be good in a small case.

(2) Even the slowest Conroe has no trouble competing with the top-end Pentium-D.

(3) Less heat = less power. Less power for the CPU means more power for everything else.

Because it's been designed to handle things like the Pentium-D 840 (which draw a huge amount of power and make a huge amount of heat), running a Conroe in it will give you plenty of headroom (in terms of cooling and power). Quite apart from that, a 400w PSU in a Shuttle box should be more power than you can possibly use in there (it's designed to use CrossFire). For some odd reason they decided to give it support for up to 8GB of RAM too - not something that you're likely to need, but good to have anyway.

I'd be inclined to go for the SD37P2 and a Radeon X1950XTX (which it should handle pretty well) or alternatively a Geforce 7900GTX. If you need to save money, the 7900GS has just been released and it looks like excellent value (the X1900GT is good value too).

I'd recommend using the Audigy, but unfortunately that's not an option in that box - it's got two PCIe slots and nothing else.

Szemen · 10th September 2006, 7:09 PM

ah! I see where you are coming from! 400W...hmMmM~!! but then its 2 PCI-E slots...Dilemma..cant keep my Audigy....

Plus, if i choose the X1950XT, thats double slot and that takes up the other spce...i might opt for NVidia this time with their single slot 7900GT or ATi 1800...hmmm!

SSJX · 12th September 2006, 1:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Szemen

ah! I see where you are coming from! 400W...hmMmM~!! but then its 2 PCI-E slots...Dilemma..cant keep my Audigy....

there are pci-e to PCI cards /adapters; not sure if it will fit in the case nor line up with the rear bracket though

Szemen · 12th September 2006, 1:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SSJX

there are pci-e to PCI cards /adapters; not sure if it will fit in the case nor line up with the rear bracket though

Yeah, I would assume a PCI-E -> PCI adapter would add at least another 2-3cms. THis would put the rear brace out of align and prob be edging too close to the top...i might have to give up my Audigy 2

SLATYE · 12th September 2006, 1:19 PM

Another option would be something like this. A bit larger, but it gives you far more flexibility in terms of components. Almost any mATX board will still include at least one PCI slot, so you could keep the Audigy and have a high-end video card too. The PSU is 420w (should be plenty) and it's also a standard ATX one (easy to replace).

Apart from that, it'd also be relatively cheap.

Aspire X-QPACK $149
Asrock ConRoe945G-DVI $114.70
Core Duo E6300 $300.70
Geforce 7900GS $284.20

Total so far is $848.60. You'd need to add RAM, a HDD, and an optical drive to get a complete system.

Szemen · 13th September 2006, 7:45 PM

You would recomend the ASrock? I did a quick rummage around good ol Asus and saw some mATX boards as well....You wont recomend them? I have yet to find a review place on them yet though...

Your way Slatye, seems to be the way to go, most of them have PCI-Ex16, PCI-Ex4 and PCI as well, which is perfect~! Now to look for boards >.<

edit: now to find some repectable DDR2 as well =.="

Szemen · 14th September 2006, 10:50 PM

Another Q as well...The ConRoe945G-DVI has "4 x Serial ATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors (No support for RAID and "Hot Plug" functions)", Can you use SATA HDDs with SATAII connectors?

edit: yes i can! Found it in the HDD section! should of looked in there first...=D

9th September 2006, 8:04 PM	#1
Szemen Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Mortdale, Sydney Posts: 1,011	Slight Upgrade? I think my current rig is up for a revamp, it running a P4 640, with an AGP X800XT. Been thinking tonight that i might upgrade it for a SFF system, retain most hardware and eventually, make a HTPC once i get a newer rig for Vista =D But for now, i hope to do what i normally do with my current rig..ie, games and typical stuff...games like Fear,Oblivion, WoW... This is my first time venturing into the SFF... Anyway, ive come across several problems... 1) Which one??? Ive decided Shuttle, but not sure which model..i'm stuck between SD36G5M or SS30G2_SE . If there are better ones, can anyone recomend one? 2) My current car is X800XT, i was thinking at least get something better then this, so im thinking of either 7900, or X1800...one problem arises,the stock 240W PSU probably cant handle it, I have a SATA 300Gb HDD and a DVD burner as well to power...so what can i use to boost power? what companies make these SFF PSUs? 3)Ive got an Audigy 2ZS as well...i know most of these come with onboard sound, should i keep this card into the SFF rig as well? If i do, i will defiently need a single slot graphics card...would you guys recomend me keep using the card or just stick on onbaord sound? Cheers~ __________________ Shuttle SP35P2 Pro \| Intel C2D E8400 \| OCZ OCZ2T800C44GK \| Inno3D G92 8800GTS 512MB \| Dell 2408WFP \| Logitech z5500 \| Western Digital 500Gb/320Gb HDD \| Pioneer BDC-S02 \| G15/G9

9th September 2006, 11:14 PM	#2
SLATYE SLATYE, not SLAYTE Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Canberra Posts: 21,040	How about the Shuttle SD37P2? More expensive, but it supports Conroe. That'd be good for three reasons: (1) Conroes make less heat than just about any Intel desktop CPU since the P4 Northwood, which will be good in a small case. (2) Even the slowest Conroe has no trouble competing with the top-end Pentium-D. (3) Less heat = less power. Less power for the CPU means more power for everything else. Because it's been designed to handle things like the Pentium-D 840 (which draw a huge amount of power and make a huge amount of heat), running a Conroe in it will give you plenty of headroom (in terms of cooling and power). Quite apart from that, a 400w PSU in a Shuttle box should be more power than you can possibly use in there (it's designed to use CrossFire). For some odd reason they decided to give it support for up to 8GB of RAM too - not something that you're likely to need, but good to have anyway. I'd be inclined to go for the SD37P2 and a Radeon X1950XTX (which it should handle pretty well) or alternatively a Geforce 7900GTX. If you need to save money, the 7900GS has just been released and it looks like excellent value (the X1900GT is good value too). I'd recommend using the Audigy, but unfortunately that's not an option in that box - it's got two PCIe slots and nothing else. __________________ Main system: Pentium-D 805 \| 1GB (2x 512MB) PQI DDR400 \| Gigabyte 8I865GMK-775 \| Xtreama Radeon 9800Pro with Zalman ZM-80HP-D \| 320GB WD SATA HDD \| Antec SmartPower 2.0 500w Laptop: Compal EL80 \| C2D T7200 \| 320GB Fujistu HDD \| 2GB DDR2-667 \| GF Go 7600

10th September 2006, 7:09 PM	#3
Szemen Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Mortdale, Sydney Posts: 1,011	ah! I see where you are coming from! 400W...hmMmM~!! but then its 2 PCI-E slots...Dilemma..cant keep my Audigy.... Plus, if i choose the X1950XT, thats double slot and that takes up the other spce...i might opt for NVidia this time with their single slot 7900GT or ATi 1800...hmmm! __________________ Shuttle SP35P2 Pro \| Intel C2D E8400 \| OCZ OCZ2T800C44GK \| Inno3D G92 8800GTS 512MB \| Dell 2408WFP \| Logitech z5500 \| Western Digital 500Gb/320Gb HDD \| Pioneer BDC-S02 \| G15/G9

12th September 2006, 1:19 PM	#6
SLATYE SLATYE, not SLAYTE Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Canberra Posts: 21,040	Another option would be something like this. A bit larger, but it gives you far more flexibility in terms of components. Almost any mATX board will still include at least one PCI slot, so you could keep the Audigy and have a high-end video card too. The PSU is 420w (should be plenty) and it's also a standard ATX one (easy to replace). Apart from that, it'd also be relatively cheap. Aspire X-QPACK $149 Asrock ConRoe945G-DVI $114.70 Core Duo E6300 $300.70 Geforce 7900GS $284.20 Total so far is $848.60. You'd need to add RAM, a HDD, and an optical drive to get a complete system. __________________ Main system: Pentium-D 805 \| 1GB (2x 512MB) PQI DDR400 \| Gigabyte 8I865GMK-775 \| Xtreama Radeon 9800Pro with Zalman ZM-80HP-D \| 320GB WD SATA HDD \| Antec SmartPower 2.0 500w Laptop: Compal EL80 \| C2D T7200 \| 320GB Fujistu HDD \| 2GB DDR2-667 \| GF Go 7600

13th September 2006, 7:45 PM	#7
Szemen Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Mortdale, Sydney Posts: 1,011	You would recomend the ASrock? I did a quick rummage around good ol Asus and saw some mATX boards as well....You wont recomend them? I have yet to find a review place on them yet though... Your way Slatye, seems to be the way to go, most of them have PCI-Ex16, PCI-Ex4 and PCI as well, which is perfect~! Now to look for boards >.< edit: now to find some repectable DDR2 as well =.=" __________________ Shuttle SP35P2 Pro \| Intel C2D E8400 \| OCZ OCZ2T800C44GK \| Inno3D G92 8800GTS 512MB \| Dell 2408WFP \| Logitech z5500 \| Western Digital 500Gb/320Gb HDD \| Pioneer BDC-S02 \| G15/G9 Last edited by Szemen; 13th September 2006 at 7:47 PM.

14th September 2006, 10:50 PM	#8
Szemen Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Mortdale, Sydney Posts: 1,011	Another Q as well...The ConRoe945G-DVI has "4 x Serial ATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors (No support for RAID and "Hot Plug" functions)", Can you use SATA HDDs with SATAII connectors? edit: yes i can! Found it in the HDD section! should of looked in there first...=D __________________ Shuttle SP35P2 Pro \| Intel C2D E8400 \| OCZ OCZ2T800C44GK \| Inno3D G92 8800GTS 512MB \| Dell 2408WFP \| Logitech z5500 \| Western Digital 500Gb/320Gb HDD \| Pioneer BDC-S02 \| G15/G9 Last edited by Szemen; 15th September 2006 at 12:41 AM.