New Gaming/Graphics production SFF

DarkMage

DarkMage

DarkMage

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Joined
25 Sep 2003
Posts
15
Location
UK
Hi guys,

Bit of background: I'm moving to Germany for a year and want to take a new rig with me. Due to travel a desktop isn't applicable, I had considered a laptop, but decided that I'd prefer a SFF due to cost/upgradeability etc.
I am a 'Computing Visualisation' student, which basically means I'm running a lot of graphics production/modelling/rendering software, and also I'm a bit of a gamer, so this needs to have a decent spec to run the latest games, and be comfortable with the next few years as well.
I've made a spec to start with, there's probably problems with it, so if you could look it over and let me know whats good/bad and what's going to cause issues (heating etc) in a SFF rig I'd really appreciate it.

-Shuttle XPC SD37P2 Aluminium Barebones System - Intel Core 2 Duo (LGA775)

-BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC2 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

-GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)

-Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail

-Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB ST3500630A ATA-100 16MB Cache - OEM

One of the potential problems I can see, on the 8800 page, it recommends a 500W or 600W PSU, and the stock PSU with the barebones is only 400W. Also, is an 8800 physically going to fit inside a Shuttle box?

I already have optical drives and periferals, hadn't planned on getting a Soundcard (don't know if one would co-habit with an 8800 anyway) unless you think it is a good idea.

Many thanks in advance


Edit: Budget. Anything under £800 really (I had planned to spend nearly £1700 on a laptop, so it's all good)
 
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to be fair mate i havent seen many 8800's in shuttles there are a few but they are with lesser parts then what your planning to put in there.

in my opinion you should possibly look at an Sugo, that way you can stick a full size psu in there and not worry bout power consumption, plus parts willl run cooler and you'll have even more space to upgrade.

the Sugo01 can be had for around £87 or the 02 for £58, depends on which one you like. but say the Sugo01 as i would have thought that is a much more popular model.

BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £204.99
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £54.99
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C5 800MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400DC) £57.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.66GHz (1333FSB) - Retail £106.99
Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 NCQ 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £51.99
Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R Micro ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £69.99
Sub Total : £546.94
Shipping : £9.95
VAT : £97.46
Total : £654.35

+ Silverstone Sugo01 £87 + £5 delivery

= £746.35
 
Yer the 400w shuttle psu can power a 8800gts. A person on this forum has one, the only problem you need to watch out is can it fit in the case. You could what this person did??? http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1004600

But if you dont like cutting into a nice case, i know a few shuttle case can fit one but ill have to check first.


Edit: I know the SD39P2 can take double width graphics cards.
Edit: Your case (SD37P2) can also take double width graphics cards.

While these can take double width cards you will have to check if the length of the cards. Too make sure they fit. Personally i would go as above and build your own machine.
 
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The SD39P2 is the new replacement for the SD37P2. Its 400w power supply is easily enough for that, it can do a GTX with no problems.

Thats a great looking rig, perfect.
 
have to take into consideration the heat a quad core gives off and if in a shuttle rending with all 4 cores at 100% that is going to give off some major heat and may be liable to crashing, i'd either go for a dual core setup or if going quadcore go with the Sugo
 
I don't fancy getting a quad core, happy with the CPU I've specified above.

-Shuttle XPC SD39P2 Aluminium Barebones System - Intel Core 2 Duo (LGA775)
-Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
-BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC2 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
-GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)
-Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB ST3500630A ATA-100 16MB Cache - OEM

With this setup is cooling going to be a problem?
 
Having just read up about Sugo's and the pricing I'm starting to think this is a good option as well. I had originally been put off by building from scratch, but I've done it before and the advantages of better cooling and PSU seem to prevail.

Do the Sugos come with fans and cooling systems or will I need to buy a cooling setup for the CPU etc?


Edit: Just seen Biffo's suggested Sugo setup:
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
Click to expand...

This combined with:

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) £57.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.66GHz (1333FSB) - Retail £106.99
Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 NCQ 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £51.99
Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R Micro ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 motherboard £69.99

Looks about ideal. Any thoughts?
 
The only thing I dont like about the sugo is the limits they place on the size of the CPU coolers. That said I'm sure they wouldnt be as popular as they are if it was a big issue.

PK!
 
im pretty sure that the low profile zalmans do fit in there.

edit: no reading properly, yes the NT06 will fit nicely.
 
just to let you know that the sd37p2 has absolutely no problems with my 8800 gts 320mb...
i've got a e6600 overclocked in there too:)

and 4gb ram, 500gb hdd...

a very good system:)
 
Thanks for all the replies.
Decided to go with a Sugo and slightly altered components (mainly a step up because of reduced cost due to Sugo rather than shuttle.)

Will post results when the build is complete.

Cheers again
 
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