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scrowe

scrowe

scrowe

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Joined
18 Dec 2005
Posts
24
HI All,

Looking at my first build in 3 years, not interested in overclocking, and this is gonna be a main PC (MCE2005) but in the Front room connected to 50" plasma. I'm an occasional gamer (MMORG and odd FPS or Adventure), otherwise more A/V stuff and general Internet/PC.

Putting aside the impending Core2 Duo, if I were ordering tomorrow, here's what I've come up with so far, budget around £800 + VAT, looking to source from OcUK where possible.

Shuttle XPC SN27P2 Barebones
AMD Athlon X2 4200+ AM2 Dual-Core
Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ballistix Dual Channel Kit
Gainward BLISS Geforce 7900 GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI-E
Leadtek Winfast DTV1000-T Digital TV Tuner Card
Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB (x3 in Raid5)
NEC ND4571 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter
Microsoft Remote Keyboard
Microsoft MCE2005 Remote (Already Have)
Microsoft MCE2005 Operating System (Already Have)

The above puts me around £200 over-budget, so immediate questions:-

1) 3x Drives gives Raid 5, but can I get 3 drives in the chassis???
2) I could redeploy my 150Gb Raptor as boot drive and 2x drives in Raid1 if that saves cash, but I'm worried about the potential Raptor noise, this needs to be quiet as possible.
3) Could drop some processor speed to save cash but 4200 seems best bang for buck currently
4) Any cheaper but fast reliable memory? Needs to be DDR2 800MHz
5) Could I go cheaper on GFX without losing performance on current games, given my less-than-demanding requirements?

Any other comments? I know the Shuttle SN37P2 for Intel Core2 Duo is out in August, so could be worth hanging on, although I guess things will be more expensive on launch.
 
OK, revised build :-

Shuttle XPC SN27P2 Barebones
AMD Athlon X2 4600+ AM2 Dual-Core
2Gb G.Skill DDR2 PC2-6400 NR Series
XXXXValue GeForce 7300GT 256MB DDR3 PCIE DVI TVO
Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB (x2 in Raid1)
NEC ND4571 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter
MSI Freeview DVB-T USB Digital TV (silly to waste pci-slot)

Western Digital Raptor 150Gb (Already Have - As Boot)
Microsoft Remote Keyboard (Now Sourced for £30)
Microsoft MCE2005 Remote (Already Have)
Microsoft MCE2005 Operating System (Already Have)

Which will be about £750 + VAT

Shall I recycle my Audigy2 ZS into the PCI-slot, or is the inbuilt Shuttle audio up to it? Plus final comments before I bosh the card?

I've sort of decided against waiting for the Intel equivalent, I've got a soft spot for AMD and I think the Shuttle/Core combo will cost another £200 methinks.
 
Last edited:
Ordered today, everything from Overclockers other than the Shuttle which they don't stock.

Shuttle XPC SN27P2 Barebones
AMD Athlon X2 5000+ AM2 Dual-Core
2Gb G.Skill DDR2 PC2-6400 NR Series
Leadtek GeForce 7600 GS SILENT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI
Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB (x2 in Raid1)
NEC ND4571 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter
Leadtek Winfast DTV1000-T Digital TV Tuner Card

Western Digital Raptor 150Gb (Already Have - As Boot)
Microsoft Remote Keyboard (Now Sourced for £30)
Microsoft MCE2005 Remote (Already Have)
Microsoft MCE2005 Operating System (Already Have)

Hopefully this will all run pretty silent, sitting under the Plasma, and ready for Vista in January.
 
Yeah, according to reviews and the shuttle site it has 1xPCIe 16x slot and 1xPCI, so should be OK.

I think this chassis is bigger than normal shuttles, so I'll hopefully have more luck with 3x drives fitted.
 
Thanks for the advice,

I guess I could make do with Raptor as boot, and single 250Gb as Data, with the second as a spare kept in the box, if people really think the 3 drives will have cooling/ventilation issues. I'll need to make sure I get the data backed up regularly.
 
Too late, ordered, but I do have a couple of 200/250Gb USB external drives anyway, plus a caddy I could but another drive into. One will certainly be used for data backup.

In the medium term I intend to get a NAS device anyway for permanently storing Music and Video archives on.
 
Well, maybe it's not too late, as I've just cancelled my order with Overclockers.

Everything was in stock Monday (and plenty of it), but I was told it could not be shipped to my work address. I said I could receive it Wednesday at home, but they weren't able to do that, I would have to call back today (Tuesday) to arrange delivery for Wednesday. Phoned this morning and was told there was no stock of the processor so I agreed to downgrade to the 4600+ which was in stock. Which was fine and was told it would be delivered tomorrow. Concerned at lack of confirmation email I phoned today 5pm to be told the DVD-Writer had also gone out of stock, and it was too late to substitute another for delivery tomorrow, nor apparently were they going to try to call me or email me to notify of the fact. Displeased at almost wasting a day off work for no reason (lucky I checked), plus the way my order has been compromised after initially being assured on Monday there was plenty of stock, I think I'll go elsewhere.
 
I know OcUK have a good reputation, it's why I was keen to order as much of the kit as possible, and their pricing is often superb. However their order processes clearly aren't up to scratch. It seems now, that actually payment was taken for my entire order on the 22nd, irrespective of stock, and yet the fact payment has been taken isn't enough to secure you the stock they do have, is quite unfair.
 
I think the 3800+ is specced at 35w, maybe too under-specced if I want to use the rig for gaming too?


I'm assuming the current AM2 4600+ is 89W and a new 4600+ model will be 65W?

I see there's a 4800+ model at 65W also.

When are they due out?
 
Looking at the shuttle case last night, it has it's own heatsink/cooler for the CPU, but you need some thermal paste.

Would Arctic Silver 5 be the thing?

Or this stuff that says AMD recommended?

Akasa AK-TC5022 Thermal Compound
 
Been waiting nearly 3 weeks for the 5000+, finally gave up when I saw the 4200+ Energy-Efficient model available, and was told maybe 2-3 weeks for faster EE's and the 5000+.

Anyway it all went together fine today, the only exception was having to pry off the moulded socket from a USB header on the board, so the floppy\media reader would fit.

Final spec was :-

Shuttle XPC SN27P2 Barebones
AMD Athlon X2 4200+ AM2 Dual-Core (Energy Efficient)
2Gb G.Skill DDR2 PC2-6400 NR Series
Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache
NEC ND4571 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter
Misumi 404M 7in1 USB 2.0 Floppy & Media Drive - Black
Leadtek Winfast DTV-Dongle Digital TV USB2.0 Tuner
Western Digital Raptor 150Gb (As Boot)
Microsoft Remote Keyboard
Microsoft MCE2005 Remote
Microsoft MCE2005 Operating System

Anyway MCE2005 is flawless, and having it connected to my 50" plasma screen and THX Amp is pretty impressive, although I've yet to install and try any games, I've just been playing back music and video, and playing with the Freeview TV, which is impressive quiality for a tiny little usb dongle. It's also extremely quiet, you can only hear the box when it first spins up from standby.

Anyway I'm trying to install the Vista X64 Public Beta in dual-boot, so hope it doesn't mess everything up, after the time spent so far.
 
OK, couple of problems ....

1) 64-Bit Vista doesn't work, when it reboots for the final time after the install I just get a Black Screen. I 'can' get into Safe Mode, but to be honest as the Public Beta 2 is many revisions old now, I'm goping to wait for the RC1 puiblic release rather than mess around trying to troubleshoot it.

2) I cannot get the shuttle to boot from standby. When I first set the PC up I set S3 standby options in the BIOS before installing MCE. Ordinary restarting, shut down, restart is fine. But the computer standsby OK, but when you switch back on the fans spin up ans stay at maximum (sounds like a hairdryer( but it won't POST. Only disconnecting the power lead, and switching off the PSU, then back on again gest the shuttle starting again.

3) Assuming I can fix point 2, to be able to 'wake' the PC from standby via the MCE Remote and keyboard the MCE receiver needs to be connected to a USB Port with 5V standby enabled? There doesn't seem to be any Shuttle documentation that details this, other motherboards suggest there is a motherboard jumper to be set, although I doubt this is the case for the Shuttle, and also I can't find any Wake-Up options in the BIOS under power management (Wake from USB, needs enabling I gather).

As always, any pointers welcome.
 
Total Posts 3
Joined 2006-08-13


I’ve heard back from Shuttle in Europe, with the following response:

Question 1: This can be related to memory or VGA card.
Please try another memory and another card. Background:
RAM: Error while data transfer to memory before S3 mode.
VGA: Overcurrent that cause problems with PSU 12V line.

Question 2: All XPC have 5V USB supply in suspend by default. There is no jumper or special BIOS config. To use MCE remote please see this FAQ. You need special driver and config to use this feature.

http://de.shuttle.com/en/DesktopDefault.aspx/tabid-246/316_read-10342/

re: 1 - I have been reading of lots of issues with DDR2 800MHz memory, but my Gskill booted fine from first install, and I haven’t had any crashes after 72 hours of use However the x1800xt card does specify requiring a 450W PSU whereas the Shuttle only has 400W, I believe, so could this be the issue? Unfortunately I don’t have other compatible memory or GFX card to test.

Is there a utility around that shows load on the PSU of the different components?

re.2 - After making the required changes to the settings, and replacing the standard USB registry fix, with the slightly modified Shuttle one still can’t get the system to resume from a MCE keyboard or remote press.

Does anyone else with a similar setup have the Standby Issue?
 
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