SD37P2 - Are they any good?

Bennah · 31 Jan 2007 at 19:53

Thanks. Will take a closer look when I get one but I guess I'l just get HD's for now.

Anyone how the raid performs on here with the Intel Chipset?

FrankJH · 31 Jan 2007 at 20:24

WoZZeR said:
I have 2 Raptors in RAID 0 and they are quite nippy. I originally had them in mirroring and was less than impressed. The only thing that worries me is data loss if 1 drive fails, so I do a DVD backup once a week or so of work in progress.

Edit; I suppose I could use the external SATA port and get an external HD for the wee beastie? (a rare lightbulb moment!!)

Thats why I am interested in if anyone has Vista running on one of these yet - as the backup (and imaging) options are much better

Supercow · 31 Jan 2007 at 21:48

FrankJH said:
Thats why I am interested in if anyone has Vista running on one of these yet - as the backup (and imaging) options are much better

Im running Vista (x64) on mine, what's the question?

Tad off topic and a noob question i need to ask: How do you guys Update your BIOS?
I dont have a floppy drive.

Stephen B · 31 Jan 2007 at 23:25

in case anyone was interested, here was my brief [almost suicide run] with the 4300 in the sd37p2 screenies at 3.6 gig,400 fsb, +0.15vcore, 2 gig Corsair VS ddr2-667 running @pc800 1.9vdimm

started at 360 fsb and nudged it up in 10mHz steps after a succesful Super Pi 1 meg run up to the screen shot, completely forgot to up my fan speeds from ultra quiet mode :eek:

, but impressive results I thought for a 1st attempt.

ordering an Abit quad gt early next week and a Lian Li for the 4300

FrankJH · 1 Feb 2007 at 07:44

sup3rc0w said:
Im running Vista (x64) on mine, what's the question?

How good are the vista drivers? - Im guessing shuttle already have 32bit signed drivers (I would be surprised if they released 64 bit ones first)

Cant decide whether to go MCE 2005 or Vista Ultimate (OEM), admittedly the latter is nearly twice the price but think that should be worth it in the long run, also need to check terretac's site for my 2400i tuner, see if they have vista drivers - certainly listing beta drivers for vista so looking good.

cmt · 1 Feb 2007 at 08:37

FrankJH said:
also need to check terretac's site for my 2400i tuner, see if they have vista drivers - certainly listing beta drivers for vista so looking good.

vista picked up my Terratec Cynergy USB TV card no problems and istalled its own drivers which are working fine with Media Center, so you 'should' be ok.

FrankJH · 1 Feb 2007 at 09:08

cmt said:
vista picked up my Terratec Cynergy USB TV card no problems and istalled its own drivers which are working fine with Media Center, so you 'should' be ok.

Thanks for that - now I just hope that the card actually fits in with the dual slot X1900 XT Master, otherwise Im going to be making a downgrade to an single slot X1950 Pro

cokecan · 1 Feb 2007 at 11:32

sup3rc0w said:
Tad off topic and a noob question i need to ask: How do you guys Update your BIOS?
I dont have a floppy drive.

I've always used winFLASH that i believe should be in the utilities folder on the CD you get with ya shuttle (or at least you used to on the older models?)

if not you can always download it.

people say flashing within windows is bad and could kill ya comp if somethin went wrong. but to be fair even doin it with a floppy drive theres still a chance it'll kill the bios. I've flashed all of my computer with it and never had problems. just select the new bios, click on update, restart, jobs a gooden

FrankJH · 1 Feb 2007 at 18:44

yayyyyyy mine has arrived - unfortunately my terretac isnt going to fit in at all with my dual slot card, so going to flog my X1900 master on MM and get an X1950 of some flavour

(I could get a usb stick tuner but only ones currently in stock are single tuner versions and I know I would use a dual tuner a lot more frequently)

So looks like this is going to be my final spec:

E4300
2GB Gskill NR from rig in sig (dont think this ram is particularly good but its good enough for a HTPC)
X1950 Pro (silent single slot variety hopefully)
Terretac 2400i Dual tuner
2*320GB 7200 rpm hdd
DVD RW
Vista 32 bit Ultimate OEM
(attached to a Samsung 32" Hdtv)

Depending on releases I might even add a HD-DVD drive also ( blast I just thought I think this means I will have to go via vga )

with a gigabit wired lan with a NAS hdd

Bane · 1 Feb 2007 at 22:57

WoZZeR, probably not a deciding factor for you. But how loud was a single Sapphire Toxic with the separate fan all inside the Shuttle?

WoZZeR · 2 Feb 2007 at 07:08

Originally Posted by Bane
WoZZeR, probably not a deciding factor for you. But how loud was a single Sapphire Toxic with the separate fan all inside the Shuttle?

To be honest I think the loudest fan is the outer CPU fan. The 1950XTX's are quite quiet, although the Toxic fan was on Max as it struggled to stay cool in there under heavy load. Highest after a bash on Oblivion was 81.

Out of idle curiosity I may have a more detailed inspection later.

FrankJH · 4 Feb 2007 at 08:44

I am really happy with My 37p, just letting it all settle in with vista 32 before clocking it.

Just tell me this - this unit was released when there was only dual slot Crossfire cards available and yet there isnt enough space for two cards?

Most of the single slot crossfire cards now even have dual slot coolers anyway - so its kinda false dont you think?

WoZZeR · 4 Feb 2007 at 09:09

Originally Posted by FrankJH
Just tell me this - this unit was released when there was only dual slot Crossfire cards available and yet there isnt enough space for two cards?

Most of the single slot crossfire cards now even have dual slot coolers anyway - so its kinda false dont you think?

Somebody wrote or told me a while back that the Crossfire slots were for older cards. I see it as a challenge.

The 2 XTX's slot in although the backplates have been cut down, I'm struggling to find slim enough water blocks with RAM cooling for them though.

Wonder if R600's will fit in as a pair...

FrankJH · 4 Feb 2007 at 09:20

WoZZeR said:
Somebody wrote or told me a while back that the Crossfire slots were for older cards. I see it as a challenge.

The 2 XTX's slot in although the backplates have been cut down, I'm struggling to find slim enough water blocks with RAM cooling for them though.

Wonder if R600's will fit in as a pair...

Older cards were just as big were they not? Iam sure the X1800's were double headers too but I could be mistaken (and would anyone partner a brand new conroe with a much older card? Seems strange to me but possible I guess)

WoZZeR · 4 Feb 2007 at 09:27

Perhaps it is a sales gimmick, there certainly isn't room for 2 double width slots and the big GFX cards are blocking all the vent holes in the side panel.

FrankJH · 4 Feb 2007 at 09:31

I have to say setting up RAID 0 (1st time) and then Vista was a doddle, but make sure the floppy drive with the RAID driver is in the drive from the beginning - I found Vista asking me which driver was required and it didnt really give me any clue in reference to the chipset.

Started Vista install again with floppy in place and it found it automatically (no F6 or whatever) and sorted it, installation was pretty fast too evne though there were a couple of prolonged blue screens with nothing seemingly happening (not BSOD just a blue background)

WoZZeR · 4 Feb 2007 at 09:45

This Shuttle was my first foray into RAID and it went smoothly with XP too. Though the format I decided to do took eons.

Have you got the 1950PRO yet? or are you still on the 1900XT?

FrankJH · 4 Feb 2007 at 09:54

WoZZeR said:
This Shuttle was my first foray into RAID and it went smoothly with XP too. Though the format I decided to do took eons.

Have you got the 1950PRO yet? or are you still on the 1900XT?

Still on the X1900XT Master (all the X1950's look like double fans anyway so I wouldnt gain the slot back anyway)

WoZZeR · 4 Feb 2007 at 10:07

I was very aware when I bought my SD37P2 that I was going to watercool it for that reason. I bought the Master card first to check the fit then when I'd got enough pennies got the Slave.

I'm going to start ordering bits the end of this week for my watercooling, I've decided on a pump and reservoir that will squeeze under the floppy case on brackets when the CPU fan has gone. Then the Radiator will have to mount on the CPU side of the case on the outside, fortunately some of them are just a tad over an inch thick so the lines won't be ruined too much. There is some serious case modding to do, I have the Raptor X's so I'm going to fit 2 bevelled glass windows in the top of the case to show 'em off.

FrankJH · 4 Feb 2007 at 10:31

What brands are your XT-X's as all the ones on OCUK's pages are clearly double height (at least in the cooler but not always in the backplate.