Questions about current bits into SFF

Madhog

Madhog

Madhog

Associate
Joined
29 Jul 2008
Posts
8
So we just had a study area built into our dining area, and me and the missus both have large PCs, housed in Gigabyte Aurora 3Ds, and they're just too big for the study area we've had built.

With this in mind, I did some checking, and SFF would be the ideal solution, in fact, the Shuttle XPC SX38P2 Pro is really the perfect size.

Now, I have perfectly good bits in my current PCs, and basically want to know if I would be able to fit these into that Shuttle?

The bits I have are:

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz, 2400 Mhz
OS Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS
DVDRW Optiarc DVD RW AD-5170A ATA Device
HDD Seagate 320gig X2 in a RAID0 config
Wireless Netgear RangeMax N PCI Card

So, I'd like to not have to replace any of them bits if possible, to reuse them.

Would they fit in ok?

Will I be able to just plug everything into a Shuttle case, switch on, and do whatever, or, will I have to format the drives and start from new?

Do I literally just unplug my CPU and lob it into the Shuttle, and does the shuttle have its own CPU cooling system or am I going to need to buy something?

Will my windows licence work ok? I'm not going to try using the same licence twice.

The GFX card seems quite thick to me, and is quite long too, is that normal and will that be ok? My graphics card is HERE

Also, I was thinking of ordering myself OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 and then putting four 1GB DDR PC2-5200 sticks that we currently have into my missus's. Will this all work too?

Other info that might be helpful:

We surf the internet, email etc. We play WoW. Thats it pretty much. No FPSs etc.

I wont be planning on SLiing up, am happy with the cards as they are atm, but if there was an option for that, what is it? No need for lots of room inside, this config will do me fine for a while yet.

So, any comments / advice welcome!
 
Oh and if I could get say a Lian Li with mobo (same as the shuttle) or something else similar, please say so! Size cant be any bigger than that shuttle though please.
 
Another way to say this is, what Im after is..

1. Will that shuttle above work?

2. Reading a reply to another post, replied by Slick, what other options have I got? Like a Lian-Li case + mobo + what else?
 
i would just go with the case + matx mobo combo.. the shuttles (are good) but are quite pricey in my eyes and not as customisable e.g. a bigger psu is BIG money.

get the lian li case or the sugo and build an matx rig!

StevenG
 
The thing about the Lian Li case is, its 5 cm longer than the shuttle, and the Shuttle is the perfect size for under the worktop, as in it fits with nothing extruding from under, I know the difference is only 2 inches, so might measure up and ponder that tonight.

Which is the best Lian-Li for the bits Ive got then and what else would I be best getting. ie mobo, cooler, PSU etc? I dont have a budget as such, I dont mind paying for good quality stuff, but dont need extreme performance type stuff and would like to keep costs down as much as possible if I can seeing as I need 2 sets.

Also, I take it in any case, because Im going to be attaching my HDDs to a new Mobo, will I need to reinstall my OS?
 
Hmm the Sugo 03, according to another site, has dimensions of a depth of only 31cm which is 1cm shorter than the Shuttle.

What else would I need with this?

Also just thought, I dont think I have DVDs for my OS, they are on a partition on my RAID (dont hate me, it was a Packard Bell system!), will I be able to connect all this up and still either run my OS as is, or will I need to reinstall, and if so, how?
 
If you switch to a board with the same chipset you won't need to reinstall. I beleive there are ways to change chipset but I'm not too familiar with them.

There are much cheaper shuttles, the x38 one is rather excessive, but it would still be cheaper to get a decent mATX case+PSU+Mobo.
 
Ok so my current board is an P5N-E SLI with the nVidia nForce 650i SLI chipset.

The only SFF mobo I can see close to this is theGigabyte GA-73PVM-S2 NVIDIA GeForce 7100 / nForce 630i Chipset (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard with a nVidia 630i chipset.

Would that be close enough to my 650i or does this look like Im gonna need to buy new copies of Vista and do a format and reinstall?

If that IS the case, could anyone recommend a decent combo of

Case
Mobo
4 GIG Ram
CPU Cooler
PSU

I'll want to use my 8800 GTS graphics card, current HDDs and DVDRW. No overclocking, no demanding games, just the internet and WoW.

Thanks in advance and sorry for being such a numpty.
 
Urm windows can cope with a completely different chip set change, for example i did amd 939 rdx200 chipset setup to a core2 duo with a p35 board just by moving the hdd so a reinstall really isnt needed (as windows is relitivly intelegent).

Anyway next week in doing a similar thing too :) into either the sg1 or sg3 (both look good) and it looks like the top end gigabyte board is the one to go for http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-091-GI and the cpu cooler is the hardest bit to chose. If your getting an sg3 a Zalman cooler seems to be the best option, and with the sg1 something like the sythe mini-ninja is a good option. PSU and ram are forum standards (aka all standard ones will fit, just not really long psus...)

One odd thought is that you may have to look for a board with raid on it to use your rai0 array (just checked the OP) but most top end boards have that :)
 
If you want to move your RAID array you'll need another nVidia board and even then there's no guarantee that it will work and if you change chipset you'll need to reactivate Vista.
 
Hmm arse heh. I'd not thought about the RAID, so annoyingly it seems that Vista would continue to work providing my RAID worked, which unless I went for something with the exact same RAID controller, wont? Seeing as I cant get the same on a mATX I might just forget this for the moment and try and find a smaller ATX case.

:(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom