Lets play: Who wants to help me pick out a Shuttle SFF case? (1 Viewer)

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theweaselboy

Guest
HEllo all, as i sit here eagerly awaiting the release of TV Engine 2.0, i have been reworking my hardware options. My Current MPPC is an amd 1900+ with 512 ram, 60GB (os), 80GB (data), hauppauge pvr 150 and a geforce 4 5200 MX.

The next version of my MPPC will be brought in the living room (currently all the wires run thru the wall into a closet, where the poor MPPC sits in the dark) So it will need to be quiet. I was thinking about the Shuttle Zen, but its integrated ATI 9100 is listed as being directx 8.1 compatible, so its out.

So i have decided to go with an AMD platform, 3000, or 3200 (depending on what newegg has used at the time of purchase). I have secured a 200 GB Maxtor HDD for data, and have a laptop 20gb hdd i might use for the os (any opinions here?)

I also have 1GB pc 2700 laying around. (i know that the MOBO supports 400mhz memory, but is there really a performace difference that would offset the cost?)

SOOOOOO, The only thing i havent chosen is the case.
Ladies and gentleman, if you would, please point your browser here:
http://global.shuttle.com/Product/Barebone/brb_default.asp

Here you see the candidates.

I am trying to minimize the cost of this beast, (who isn't?) so that leaves out the highest end versions. And i am not planning to use a 64bit proc. so that leaves the two most likely candidates being the SN41G2 V3 and SN45G V3. For some reason i am leaning towards the SN41, so lets focus on that.

Looking on newegg, i see that the SN41G2 has older V2 version availiable, and the only difference i can tell is that the video isnt integrated as it is with the V3 models. the price difference is about 40-60 dollars us. Is there any advantage to spending the extra money? I have the exact same card in AGP. I suppose it might be louder?

Anyone have any experience with this who can give me a good reason to not cheap out and buy the v2?

Am i the only one who enjoys this kind of geekery?
 
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theweaselboy

Guest
That Thing looks EXPENSIVE!!!! Very Very Cool, but it will probably be well out of my price range. Not to mention funky drivers, etc., and most likely it will run XP MCE.
How to the MSI boxes compare to shuttle in terms of volume/performance?
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Re: Lets play: Who wants to help me pick out a Shuttle SFF c

theweaselboy said:
I have secured a 200 GB Maxtor HDD for data, and have a laptop 20gb hdd i might use for the os (any opinions here?)

I wouldn't advise it. Laptop HDDs generally run at at much slower rpm than 3.5" desktop versions. The speed of the HDD which the OS runs on is one of the biggest bottlenecks on a PC. What I would do is create a smallish partition (say 10GB) at the start of your new 200GB for the OS, and use the rest for data. You could even mount the 20GB drive within the second data patition if you want to use the space.

Just my 2cents.

BTW I have a SB61v1 and love it, can be very noisey though. Make sure that whatever version you get it has the newer "silient" PSU.


Cala - nice find - looks great.
 
T

theweaselboy

Guest
You say the 9100 has dx 9 drivers? That would be sweet.
the ati website lists dx 8.1, which was the cause for my confusion.
http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9100igp/features.html

But if there are 9.0 drivers/compatibility then i think that is another option.

So the current candidates are:
ST62K (assuming dx 9 compatible) w/ intel proc
http://www.shuttle.com/share/product_data/spec/ST62K DM.pdf

OR

SN41G2 V3 AKA The AMD route.
http://www.shuttle.com/share/product_data/spec/SN41G2_V3_DM.pdf

I think either one would be great, and will have to price out processors at lunch. I think the Zen would be the best, because of the external PSU, but i need to find some documentation on the video card first.

Anyone have any more input?

on another topic, i currently have 1gb of pc2700 ram that i think i could use in this system. I could use the 3200 ram, but i would only be able to afford 512mb. So we are talking about 333mhz versus 400 mhz. But double the ram? I think the 2700 will work fine, but am willing to listen.

Thanks to everyone for all the information.
 

jdiffend

Portal Pro
January 9, 2005
98
0
tklon said:
Look at the ATI web site here:

http://ati.com/products/mobilityradeon9100igp/features.html

On the bottom you will find:

Microsoft DirectX 8.1 and OpenGL® drivers

Same like the Radeon 9200, which also has no support for DirectX 9.

Your right... it doesn't support DirectX 9... sorry about that. I was thinking of a review of their newer chipset. But I'm pretty sure I have that machine set to DX9 renderless mode for running MP. So how the heck is that working unless there is at least partial DX9 support?

I do know the 9200 supports overlay on the primary display which is supposed to work on MP but in that mode the popup display over the video flickered.

I'll check my settings.
 

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