What barebone?

Pulse

Pulse

Pulse

Soldato
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Looking to replace a current 939 Dual core in the living room with a slightly faster one as I don't appreciate the long start up times. We want something that is 'On demand' if you like. Also the idea of it running a few games wouldn't hurt :D

Currently I'm choosing between two Asus barebones but not sure to go for the 945 or G33.

Any help? I'm not too sure of the spec that I wish to put in their either just yet. Obviously mid-low Intel, 4GB ram PC6400, and just a small harddrive, 250 or something.
 
I had the 945G based one and the mobo is a P5GC-MX. Ran my E2180 no problem, even clocked it a little by setting the FSB to 1066.

The PSU isnt bad either, ith dual 12v rails, it ran a 6800GT must fine

Theres only 2 memory slots so youd have to get 2x2gb and theres no voltage adjustment for the memory either so make sure you get stuff that needs 1.8v, having said that tho it ran my Geil ULL no problem but it was only running at 533Mhz instead of its full speed of 800Mhz

Only thing is it dosent support quads or 45nm chips, for that you ned the G33 based system.
 
Thanks for replying, I don't suppose you have pics of the inards do you?

There is quite a few advantages of the G33 over the 945, just trying to weigh it up if it's worth it. Ie. If I upgrade my PC I'd stick my E8400 in it, which then straight away I'd need the G33. If I want the memory to run at full speed that'll need to be the G33 as well. I take it the G33 would have better overclocking to begin with. Then there's is the Gigabyte LAN although I wouldn't make too much use of that as it'd be in the living room using a Abit wifi adapter as the router is in my bedroom. Something we'd also use is the memory slots on the front to take the cards from digital camera's.

All of them bar the full speed RAM are that not that important, so I'm trying to weight up, price Vs. functionality. And depends if I can shift my current HTPC to pay for around half of the new one.
 
Yup ive got some pics, i'll try and dig them out :) Look ate all the space where that 6800GT is, you could easy get an 8800GTX in there ( assuming you also relaced the PSU as i dont thik the supplied unit would be sufficient )

Also, theres no 6 pin PCI-E power plug, i had to use a 2 molex to 6 pin pci-e to power the 6800GT

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Thanks mate, much appreciated, few questions, how much space is there to put a bigger CPU cooler in there and any idea of the fan sizes for front and back?

I've got a choice of 4 graphics cards, none that taxing so should be alright. I've got 2400pro, X800XT, 7600GT, 9600GT.

Probably gonna steal back the 9600GT that I bought for my dads computer and put the X800XT back in there. The 2400Pro is what I've got in my current HTPC and the 7600GT I've just got laying about.
 
All the cards should be ok, i had a 7600GT in a previous AM2 based barebone and it was fine. Not sure about the 9600GT, but if it uses less power than the 6800GT it should be ok, worst than can happen is it wont start up.

They looked like 80mm fan mounts although im only going from memory

You may get away with a larger cooler but theres a duct on the side panel which takes the air away from the cpu, i removed it but i still not sure theres space for a bigger cooler, something like a freezer 7 may be ok, but i doubt youd get anything bigger in there. To giver you an idea of the width of the case its barely bigger than the with of a standard dvd drive
 
Was thinking either the Thermalright Ultima-90i or the Mini Ninja. If they're 80mm that's fine as I've got some Ambers to hand. And the 9600GT is meant to use about the same as an X800XT so, sod all.
 
If its just the start up times that are bothering you why not just upgrade the hard drive? This is usually the bottleneck for start up times. You could even consider getting a small ssd drive for the os if you want it really 'on demand'.
 
jak731 said:
If its just the start up times that are bothering you why not just upgrade the hard drive? This is usually the bottleneck for start up times. You could even consider getting a small ssd drive for the os if you want it really 'on demand'.
Click to expand...

I suppose I can at least try this as it's a cheaper option then buying a whole new computer. I did clean up some of the vista services and got it down to 40, didn't notice much of a speed up.
 
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