Help needed on SFF rig

Johnz0r · 7 Aug 2007 at 11:15

Hi

Right, I have decided I want a shuttle. However, after being out the loop for so long I don't know what is decent anymore, so I thought I would ask the gurus that reside here.

The main usage of this will be gaming in particular CSS and the assorted HL2 mods. I would prefer an Intel chip but was unsure as to whether a quad would be worth it? My max budget would be around £750 for the essentials, not worried about monitor, sound card and all the rest as I have those already

Thanks a lot

Johnz0r

Pulse · 7 Aug 2007 at 12:22

it really does depend on what you want, a lot of 775 shuttles dont actually properly support quads and some time not even c2d, so should have a look at what you want, c2d or c2q?

also what gfx would you be looking at? as all 8800's would run slightly hot in a shuttle and are dual slot, so you need to find that out. how many harddrives would you have? again most these days only fit 2 or 3 (if you put one in the floppy drive bay.)

personally i'd go for the SD39P2 which does support quad cores and does have space for a dual slot gfx card and she be a lovely shuttle or SG33G5 this porperly supports quad core rather then virtualization technology, but does not support dual slot gfx cards

one last thing you have to think about is the heat issues with having a quad core in a shuttle even with the extremely optimized cooler that it has i wouldnt expect temps less then 50.

Johnz0r · 7 Aug 2007 at 12:39

Pulse said:
it really does depend on what you want, a lot of 775 shuttles dont actually properly support quads and some time not even c2d, so should have a look at what you want, c2d or c2q?

also what gfx would you be looking at? as all 8800's would run slightly hot in a shuttle and are dual slot, so you need to find that out. how many harddrives would you have? again most these days only fit 2 or 3 (if you put one in the floppy drive bay.)

personally i'd go for the SD39P2 which does support quad cores and does have space for a dual slot gfx card and she be a lovely shuttle or SG33G5 this porperly supports quad core rather then virtualization technology, but does not support dual slot gfx cards

one last thing you have to think about is the heat issues with having a quad core in a shuttle even with the extremely optimized cooler that it has i wouldnt expect temps less then 50.

Well I would be looking at future proofing the machine, is quad core really that necessary? If not then I wouldn't bother really.

I would only be using one hard drive since I have an external already. Yeah I had a look at the G33 and asked for peoples opinions, but seems that no one had any. I am not looking to buy this machine until after my student loan so hopefully the price might drop and I will be able to get the sd39.

What about graphics cards? Is the 8800gts going to last for a fair while or not?

Thanks for your reply mate, appreciated

Biffa · 7 Aug 2007 at 12:41

NEC AD5170 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99 (£17.61)
Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 NCQ 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £32.99 (£38.76)
Leadtek GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £194.99 (£229.11)
OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit £69.99 (£82.24)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 "LGA775 Conroe" 3.00GHz (1333FSB) £144.99 (£170.36)
Shuttle XPC SG33G5B Aluminium Barebones System - Intel Core 2 Duo (LGA775) £194.99 (£229.11)
Sub Total : £652.94
Shipping: £9.95
VAT: £116.01
Total : £778.90

Pulse · 7 Aug 2007 at 12:43

Biffa said:
NEC AD5170 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99 (£17.61)
Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 NCQ 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £32.99 (£38.76)
Leadtek GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £194.99 (£229.11)
OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit £69.99 (£82.24)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 "LGA775 Conroe" 3.00GHz (1333FSB) £144.99 (£170.36)
Shuttle XPC SG33G5B Aluminium Barebones System - Intel Core 2 Duo (LGA775) £194.99 (£229.11)
Sub Total : £652.94
Shipping: £9.95
VAT: £116.01
Total : £778.90

nice spec, but one flaw. the SG33G5 does not support dual slot gfx cards, which the 8800GTS is.

as for quad cores, a lot of the time only one core is used, let alone two or four :eek:

. people still get duos over quads. ill prob look to get a duo soonish.

as for the 8800's they are bloody good graphics card but we wont be seeing another few versions for a while so they are the best at the moment.

Johnz0r · 7 Aug 2007 at 12:47

Pulse said:
nice spec, but one flaw. the SG33G5 does not support dual slot gfx cards, which the 8800GTS is.

as for quad cores, a lot of the time only one core is used, let alone two or four . people still get duos over quads. ill prob look to get a duo soonish.

as for the 8800's they are bloody good graphics card but we wont be seeing another few versions for a while so they are the best at the moment.

Ah right nice one, looks like a core 2 duo will do then. So biffa's spec is a good 'un then (bar the case)? Pretty much what I wanted really, and I wouldn't want to overclock with it being a shuttle an all. I think it will be plenty fast anyway.

Pulse · 7 Aug 2007 at 12:51

Johnz0r said:
Ah right nice one, looks like a core 2 duo will do then. So biffa's spec is a good 'un then (bar the case)? Pretty much what I wanted really, and I wouldn't want to overclock with it being a shuttle an all. I think it will be plenty fast anyway.

yes but you wouldnt be able to just change the case as the cpu has choosen has a FSB of 1333mhz which very few shuttles support

BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £154.99
Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £35.99
NEC AD7170A 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM NEC £15.99
Shuttle XPC SD39P2 Aluminium Barebones System - Intel Core 2 Duo (LGA775) £276.99
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 PK PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400 £59.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £104.99
Sub Total : £648.94
Shipping : £9.95
VAT : £115.31
Total : £774.20

bit over but would be nice

Johnz0r · 7 Aug 2007 at 12:54

Pulse said:
yes but you wouldnt be able to just change the case as the cpu has choosen has a FSB of 1333mhz which very few shuttles support

BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £154.99
Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £35.99
NEC AD7170A 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM NEC £15.99
Shuttle XPC SD39P2 Aluminium Barebones System - Intel Core 2 Duo (LGA775) £276.99
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 PK PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400 £59.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £104.99
Sub Total : £648.94
Shipping : £9.95
VAT : £115.31
Total : £774.20

bit over but would be nice

Would the 6850 work in the sd39?
edit: Just checked apparently not... oh well might go for the one 6420 like you mentioned

Pulse · 7 Aug 2007 at 12:55

nope fraid the not, the SD39P2 wouldnt be able to support the 1333MHz FSB, the max Fsb the SD39P2 can support is 1066MHz

Johnz0r · 7 Aug 2007 at 12:57

Pulse said:
nope fraid the not, the SD39P2 wouldnt be able to support the 1333MHz FSB, the max Fsb the SD39P2 can support is 1066MHz

The difference in speed worth the extra dosh between the 6420 and 6600? A few fps at best?

Pulse · 7 Aug 2007 at 13:00

no not really the difference between 2.13GHz and 2.4GHz will be practically un-noticable but if you do want a few more fps then i can suggest this

BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £204.99
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C5 800MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400DC) £54.99
Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £35.99
NEC AD7170A 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.99
Shuttle XPC SD39P2 Aluminium Barebones System - Intel Core 2 Duo (LGA775) £276.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £104.99
Sub Total : £693.94
Shipping : £9.95
VAT : £123.18
Total : £827.07

obviously it is a lot more over budget but not many ways to dramatically increase fps, still i would say you'd be better off with my 1st spec

the PERFECT spec for you (well from my point of view) -

BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £154.99
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C5 800MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400DC) £54.99
Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £35.99
NEC AD7170A 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.99
Shuttle XPC SD39P2 Aluminium Barebones System - Intel Core 2 Duo (LGA775) £276.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £104.99
Sub Total : £643.94
Shipping : £9.95
VAT : £114.43
Total : £768.32

if you do get this and feel that it is a bit slow you should easily be able to overclock that cpu and even the value ram should be able to give you a comfortable clock of around 2.8GHz or more

Johnz0r · 7 Aug 2007 at 13:02

Pulse said:
no not really the difference between 2.13GHz and 2.4GHz will be practically un-noticable but if you do want a few more fps then i can suggest this

BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £204.99
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C5 800MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400DC) £54.99
Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £35.99
NEC AD7170A 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.99
Shuttle XPC SD39P2 Aluminium Barebones System - Intel Core 2 Duo (LGA775) £276.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £104.99
Sub Total : £693.94
Shipping : £9.95
VAT : £123.18
Total : £827.07

obviously it is a lot more over budget but not many ways to dramatically increase fps, still i would say you'd be better off with my 1st spec

Thanks very much for your help mate will go with what you suggested. Now I have to wait for student loan time \0/

Pulse · 7 Aug 2007 at 13:04

have a quick refresh and see the 3rd spec

Johnz0r · 7 Aug 2007 at 13:06

Pulse said:
have a quick refresh and see the 3rd spec

Yeah just seen it there, looks even better now and makes the wait harder. Thanks a lot for your help mate!

Pulse · 7 Aug 2007 at 13:08

no problem mate, just give a little email to my msn address when you order or recieve it as i'd like to know how it turns out and how you like it

Biffa · 7 Aug 2007 at 13:36

Thanks didn't realise that shuttle didn't support two slot cards.

My perfect spec for the budget would involve a bit more work but would be more satisfying, faster and quieter than the shuttle.

Its from a competitor so I can't tell you where. Google is your friend.

You could save even more money if you got the higlighted Sugo case, PSU and cooler, then got everything else from OcUK

SilverStone 'SUGO' Evolution SG01B Black Aluminium Small Form Factor Case w/o PSU £64.39 £75.66
Silverstone SST-NT06 Lite NT06 w/o 120mm fan. w/o fan controller AM2 RoHS £22.00 £25.85
500W Silverstone ST50EF-Plus-SC super silent, 80 PLUS, short cable v.1 ROHS £49.99 £58.74
Asus P5K-VM iG33, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 1066/800/667, SATA II, uATX, On Board VGA £68.69 £80.71
300 Gb Seagate ST3300620AS Barracuda 7200.10, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ £33.79 £39.70
Samsung SH-S203/BEBN 20x DVD±R, 16x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, SATA, Black, OEM inc. Nero £15.49 £18.20
2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator, PC8500, 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered,CAS 5-5-5-15, EPP £102.85 £120.85
320MB BFG Technology 8800GTS Overclocked, PCI-E, Mem 1600MHz, GPU 550MHz, 96 Streams, 2x DVI/HDTV £162.18 £190.56
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750, S775, 2.66 GHz, 1333MHz FSB, Conroe Core, 4MB Cache, Retail £101.59 £119.37

Net Total £620.97
Carriage £9.93
V.A.T. £110.41
TOTAL £741.31

Biffa · 7 Aug 2007 at 13:47

Tada!

SilverStone 'SUGO' Evolution SG01B Black Aluminium Small Form Factor Case w/o PSU £64.39 £75.66
Silverstone SST-NT06 Lite NT06 w/o 120mm fan. w/o fan controller AM2 RoHS £22.00 £25.85
500W Silverstone ST50EF-Plus-SC super silent, 80 PLUS, short cable v.1 ROHS £49.99 £58.74

Net Total £136.38
Carriage £9.93
V.A.T. £25.60
TOTAL £171.91

Asus P5K-VM Micro ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £79.99 (£93.99)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £154.99 (£182.11)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.66GHz (1333FSB) - Retail £106.99 (£125.71)
NEC AD5170 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99 (£17.61)
Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 NCQ 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £32.99 (£38.76)
OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit £69.99 (£82.24)

Sub Total : £459.94
Shipping : £8.95
VAT : £82.06
Total : £550.95

Grand Total: £171.91 + £550.95 = £722.86