Barebone, I want one- so help me out here!

xeefus

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 25, 2005
Messages
328
I'm about to get one of those cute and sexy little things, but, as we all know they might get a little hot compared to normal ones? And overclockability (not that I overclock much, but what the heck)

I was wondering, what one might I get then? I don't think I'll OC at all, and I was wondering would an XP-120 CPU-cooler fit? Would it even be any good if it fits? If not, which CPU cooler can I get?

Price range: Let's say, 500, only need mobo + barebonechassis thing + PSU, don't need SLI, I just sold my GTX and downgraded myself since I don't game enough to use it :)
My rig is currently:
AMD 64 3500+ (2250 mhz! That's a 50mhz overclock, aren't you all jealous?)
ASUS A8N-E (I hate it, really, I do. ;))
Corsair TwinX PC4000 @ 250.9 mhz 2x1024 (3-4-4-8 timings)
Gainward 6800GT (I use it at over-ultra speeds, can't do that in barebones I guess? Or can I?)

Would I be dumb changing to barebone? I love them. My friend has one, Shuttle SN85G5V2, it's absoluteley teh sexiest thing on earth! Also, I go to alot of LAN-parties, so I guess it would be smooth too. How many HDD's do they fit btw? I've currently got 2x250gig's, but can move one to servermachine if necessary.

So, uhm, yeah, what one should I get, if you think I should get one that is? :)

I'd like a quiet one, so cooling ideas and stuff I can put into them would also be very nice! 1.4V mobo is a must, or else I'll cry myself to sleep.

Plexiglass thing on the side isn't too important if it's there or not, also, would a PSU of that size be able to power my stuffs? I got one optical drive and a floppydisk-drive.

Thanks!
 
Yeah, Shuttles cost a lot for what you get and you have to buy the chassis, motherboard, and PSU altogether. It looks like you have a s939 setup, in which case you would have to get a SN95G5 if you wanted a G5 chassis, although its only an nForce3 250GB and thus, AGP (and I think you have PCIe). If you want PCIe in a G5 chassis, you'll have to settle with an ST20G5 which sports an ATi Radeon XPress 200. If you don't care too much about the G5 chassis, then the SN25P with an nForce4 would be a good candidate, or the SN26P for SLi.
And for any G5 chassis, you can't really replace the HSF without disrupting the cooling system massively. Unfortunately the G5 series didn't have that great of cooling so they're pretty loud. The SN25P and the P chassis, on the other hand, provide excellent cooling although they are not whisper quiet or anything. If you aren't overclocking, however, then I wouldn't worry about the heat or noise issue, really.
Hope this helps,
-fobis
 
fobis said:
Yeah, Shuttles cost a lot for what you get and you have to buy the chassis, motherboard, and PSU altogether. It looks like you have a s939 setup, in which case you would have to get a SN95G5 if you wanted a G5 chassis, although its only an nForce3 250GB and thus, AGP (and I think you have PCIe). If you want PCIe in a G5 chassis, you'll have to settle with an ST20G5 which sports an ATi Radeon XPress 200. If you don't care too much about the G5 chassis, then the SN25P with an nForce4 would be a good candidate, or the SN26P for SLi.
And for any G5 chassis, you can't really replace the HSF without disrupting the cooling system massively. Unfortunately the G5 series didn't have that great of cooling so they're pretty loud. The SN25P and the P chassis, on the other hand, provide excellent cooling although they are not whisper quiet or anything. If you aren't overclocking, however, then I wouldn't worry about the heat or noise issue, really.
Hope this helps,
-fobis

Thank you. The shuttles are the leading market I suppose? The SN25P was buttugly tho
:rolleyes:. What are those QPacks and stuff? Are those larger, or something? Which ones got the best motherboard? Also, do they support 2x1024 sticks @ 1T command rate? My asus one don't :p The ST20G5 looked OK, but it isn't NForce 4? I don't know much about this but I do like NForce 4 :p Can I fit in an Audigy 2 ZS card there too? I'm getting an USB one soon (M-Audio :D!), but that's for my laptop I was thinking, so, I'd rather have the Audigy in my stationary/barebone thing if I get one.
 
The Qpack is just a mATX case, you add in a motherboard etc. The nVidia 6100/6150 boards are what most are using in them.

I've got a SN25P, sure it could be a little sexier - but it holds 3 hard drives, is fairly quiet, and overclocks great. See sig for mine, I've got the fan in the BIOS set for auto and only if I'm running benchmarks or gaming for a while will the fan kick up from ultra-low to low speed. Temps are great, around 38c idle and 40c under load.
 
[LYL]Homer said:
The Qpack is just a mATX case, you add in a motherboard etc. The nVidia 6100/6150 boards are what most are using in them.

I've got a SN25P, sure it could be a little sexier - but it holds 3 hard drives, is fairly quiet, and overclocks great. See sig for mine, I've got the fan in the BIOS set for auto and only if I'm running benchmarks or gaming for a while will the fan kick up from ultra-low to low speed. Temps are great, around 38c idle and 40c under load.

Mmm, that's not too bad. Can you change the front of it and like, is it brushed aluminium? :)
It'd make me buy one I guess, the price isn't too much? Any input on those mATX cases + boards, anyone? They were ugly though :p
 
If you don't mind dropping the bank, the Silverstone SG01 is a nice looking, reasonably small case with lots of expandability. They just released a new model to improve the cooling, but the current one runs $165 on Newegg, without a power supply or board.

You might want to check Biostar's lineup of SFFs. They're dueling with Shuttle and have released some nice models.

Shuttle was also about to release a new G chassis that looked gorgeous. Here it is SN21G5. Major downside with Shuttle (other than price) is that all they give you is a uselss PCI-E x1 slot, so no place for a decent Audigy card. :(
 
I've heard alot of rumors though that Creative would have a PCIe X-Fi card out within the First Quarter. It seems only logical. I like the Silverstone Case and wait for the DFI nForce mATX motherboard to come out. That at least is my plan.
 
I heard Creative say they had no current plans for PCI-E and the DFI board is going to be Radeon Xpress based, which has so far not been aimed at overclocking. People always seem to forget that DFI also makes OEM boards and has shoddy reliability.
 
xeefus said:
I'm about to get one of those cute and sexy little things, but, as we all know they might get a little hot compared to normal ones?


Shuttles are hotter than normal atx cases, but the qpack certainly is not.

The exhaust from my qpack is actually cooler than it was from my Antec Sonata, and the sonata is one of those atx cases well regarded for good stock cooling.

Would I be dumb changing to barebone? I love them. My friend has one, Shuttle SN85G5V2, it's absoluteley teh sexiest thing on earth! Also, I go to alot of LAN-parties, so I guess it would be smooth too. How many HDD's do they fit btw? I've currently got 2x250gig's, but can move one to servermachine if necessary.

So, uhm, yeah, what one should I get, if you think I should get one that is?

I'd like a quiet one, so cooling ideas and stuff I can put into them would also be very nice! 1.4V mobo is a must, or else I'll cry myself to sleep.


If you want it quiet, again, I'd recommend the qpack. The 120mm fan is perhaps the best design idea on the entire case. And of course the psu and cpu coolers are all up to you. As for 2 hdds, yeah they will easily fit into a qpack, and even 3 if you only use 1 optical drives and have a bracket to attach a 3.5" drive into a 5.25" bay.

But if you are planning on LANing then that is one area where the shuttle can't be beat. The reduction in size from a qpack to a shuttle is definitely significant. The shuttle cant be beat for the power you can get in that small a box. The shuttles also look much better as well and are better built than the qpacks.
 
benamaster said:
I've heard alot of rumors though that Creative would have a PCIe X-Fi card out within the First Quarter. It seems only logical. I like the Silverstone Case and wait for the DFI nForce mATX motherboard to come out. That at least is my plan.
in case u havent noticed, according to anandtech's ces report dfi is releasing a s754 mobo w/ the c51 chipset, its s939 mobo is the ati chipset (rd482? whichever ones new).
 
I was still under the impression DFI would have a SLI mATX board kinda like the eVGA one that Monarch is using in their Hornet.
 
agentzero9 said:
Shuttles are hotter than normal atx cases, but the qpack certainly is not.

The exhaust from my qpack is actually cooler than it was from my Antec Sonata, and the sonata is one of those atx cases well regarded for good stock cooling.




If you want it quiet, again, I'd recommend the qpack. The 120mm fan is perhaps the best design idea on the entire case. And of course the psu and cpu coolers are all up to you. As for 2 hdds, yeah they will easily fit into a qpack, and even 3 if you only use 1 optical drives and have a bracket to attach a 3.5" drive into a 5.25" bay.

But if you are planning on LANing then that is one area where the shuttle can't be beat. The reduction in size from a qpack to a shuttle is definitely significant. The shuttle cant be beat for the power you can get in that small a box. The shuttles also look much better as well and are better built than the qpacks.

I was more about weights, not size actually... I'm a reallyyy tiny guy without muscles you know, I get exhausted from carrying my 19" fatass CRTmonitor :p Although my Antec LANboy case is pretty lightweight... It's too big imo.

The QPacks, what PSU and Mobo would be the best? Are there any NF4 mATX mobos? :)
And do they come with those cool carrying handles?
Do they have USB connectors at front? :D
 
Read around, go look at one. www.newegg.com. X-Qpacks have all you are asking, in one form or another. The 6100 boards are essentially the 90nm, NF4 microATX equivalent. Most of them have been solid.
 
Before you settle on AMD, consider the 65nm offerings intel has. The Pentium D Presler offerings, even though the only current 65nm avaliable, are pretty awesome. They run a lot cooler than the current AMD offerings and are much more efficient. Cheaper too :D. The fact that it runs cooler and is quite powerful is gawdly in itself, so you might want to look into that. Im getting a Presler 920 myself, plan on possibly a little overclocking, but yes, the shuttles are a tad expensive, but they offer a lot for it.
 
emptyshell said:
I personaly wouldent trust that handle on the front, but you can if you want....

Ow, didn't look that great actually :p Hmm, guess I can make a bag or something for it... :)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811144109 <-- This one, is the PSU any good in it or do you need to buy a new one? The price was crazy, but, damn, I live in Sweden! :p Hmm, the price wasn't too bad in Sweden either... Found the same one here... Are there ATX power supplies in those babies?! If so, I could probably use my current one, right? http://www.webhallen.com/prod.php?id=51246 (Swedish, but this one is half in english though :D, is it any good?)
 
They come with ATX PSUs, although they should probably be replaced. Depends on what your current one is...

MSI is fine stability/features. OCing is basically non-existent.
 
sleepeeg3 said:
They come with ATX PSUs, although they should probably be replaced. Depends on what your current one is...

MSI is fine stability/features. OCing is basically non-existent.

Oh, that sucks. What about Asus A8N-VM CSM? http://www.webhallen.com/prod.php?id=48771 or, would I be better off with the MSI one if my OC is only +50 mhz? I don't like ASUS :D
 
All of the Asus mATX boards completely suck for any type of overclocking, let alone working without overclocking. If I read correctly, it couldn't handle something about the HyperTransport at full speed. :mad:
 
fobis said:
All of the Asus mATX boards completely suck for any type of overclocking, let alone working without overclocking. If I read correctly, it couldn't handle something about the HyperTransport at full speed. :mad:

Ouch, no ASUS for me then. The MSI one, is OK though?
 
kirbyrj said:
If OCing in mATX, the Biostar TForce is on the short list.

I hate living in Sweden, we don't have any of those cool ones :p The only 6150 and 430 mobos I could find were Asus and MSI... Sorry :(
 
xeefus said:
I hate living in Sweden, we don't have any of those cool ones :p The only 6150 and 430 mobos I could find were Asus and MSI... Sorry :(

Well, from what I've read, the MSI is a little better of an OCer at this point, but it has no voltage adjustments to the Vcore. Supposedly, MSI said they would add this in future bios revisions, but to this point they haven't.
 
kirbyrj said:
Well, from what I've read, the MSI is a little better of an OCer at this point, but it has no voltage adjustments to the Vcore. Supposedly, MSI said they would add this in future bios revisions, but to this point they haven't.

As I don't really overclock much, I only use 1.4V, which is like default, right? :) So no worries there I guess.

I'll go with the MSI one then? And, the PSU is now the main worriage, is it good or is it teh sux?
 
xeefus said:
As I don't really overclock much, I only use 1.4V, which is like default, right? :) So no worries there I guess.

I'll go with the MSI one then? And, the PSU is now the main worriage, is it good or is it teh sux?

I don't remember what you're using specifically, but default is usually more like 1.35V. In my case, there's a big difference from what I get at 1.4V and what I get at stock 1.35V...like 150mhz or more.

But if I were choosing today, I'd get the MSI over the Asus.
 
I do believe I am choosing today :) Just got some money so...

Complete specs I guess are following:

AMD 64 3500+ (2250 mhz, 1.4V)
Corsair TwinX PC4000PT (@ 250mhz, 3-4-4-8, voltage set to AUTO, like all default I guess)
Asus A8N-E with all stock cooling and stuff, this thing is loud!
Gainward 6800GT @ 400/1100 (Ultra-speeds)
Creative SoundCrackler Audigy 2 ZS (Sucks but pretty OK for gaming...)
Tagan 380W PSU
Maxtor Diamondmax 10 200gigabytes NCQ thing...

That's about it I think.
 
3500+ should do maybe 2.4Ghz or so with stock voltage. Maybe even a little more. You should be fine. I believe the MSI has some VDimm options up to 2.8V, so you should be ok with higher speed RAM.
 
Hmm I never tried that :) Just CBA to try new settings right now. Anyhow, you think the PSU is fine or will my Tagan be better, if it even fits that is? :)
 
If your Tagan fits, I'd replace the stock Qpack one. The Qpack PSU's seem to go through a new revision every month or so. So who knows what you'll get. I have a Tagan 380W PSU and it is great...I'd definitely recommend using that ;).
 
You got it in the QPack? If so, I bet we have the same? And it will fit? :)
 
No, I just have one sitting here :). But I think you have a decent shot of getting it into a Qpack. It might be tight, and it kind of depends on the optical drives you use.
 
kirbyrj said:
No, I just have one sitting here :). But I think you have a decent shot of getting it into a Qpack. It might be tight, and it kind of depends on the optical drives you use.

Mmh, I can try... Or else, should I get a new one, or the stock one? If new; which one? :)

Thanks for your help dude :) I am going to sleep now tho... I'll reply tomorrow. :)
 
I've seen lots of people using the Enermax Liberty series in their Qpacks...seems to be a popular choice.
 
kirbyrj said:
I've seen lots of people using the Enermax Liberty series in their Qpacks...seems to be a popular choice.


Allright... Will see if I can get one then :) and uhm what about those "short" Optical Drives you need to use? Mine's like 17cm or something... Is it OK? And do you need shorter cables?
 
xeefus said:
Allright... Will see if I can get one then :) and uhm what about those "short" Optical Drives you need to use? Mine's like 17cm or something... Is it OK? And do you need shorter cables?

Yeah, 17cm is probably the shortest you're going to get. I just measured my LiteOn and they are known for being short. As for the cables, I'm not sure. Probably see what your mobo comes with. Also, the Liberty is a modular PSU, so you can pick and choose what cables to use there also.
 
kirbyrj said:
Yeah, 17cm is probably the shortest you're going to get. I just measured my LiteOn and they are known for being short. As for the cables, I'm not sure. Probably see what your mobo comes with. Also, the Liberty is a modular PSU, so you can pick and choose what cables to use there also.

It was 17... Cool... Ahm, hmm, we swedes are too retarded for Enermax PSUs :( I didn't find one. My Tagan aint Modular, so I need to get a new one then, right? Oh well... I guess I can sell my old stuffs :p
 
you don't have to sell your old one yet. I'd just wait and see if it works. You can always try the one that comes with the Qpack also.
 
kirbyrj said:
you don't have to sell your old one yet. I'd just wait and see if it works. You can always try the one that comes with the Qpack also.

Well yeah... I guess I could do that too, but I heard it sucks though :(
 
xeefus said:
Well yeah... I guess I could do that too, but I heard it sucks though :(

Depends on the model. From what I've seen they put different ones in regularly. So who knows what you'll get. Also, I'm not sure if that MSI board has a 24-pin or 20-pin ATX connector. My Tagan only has a 20-pin connector. I'm pretty sure the Qpack PSU will be 24-pin (but who knows what they are shipping in Sweden :confused: ).
 
kirbyrj said:
Depends on the model. From what I've seen they put different ones in regularly. So who knows what you'll get. Also, I'm not sure if that MSI board has a 24-pin or 20-pin ATX connector. My Tagan only has a 20-pin connector. I'm pretty sure the Qpack PSU will be 24-pin (but who knows what they are shipping in Sweden :confused: ).

Really? My tagan has got like 24pins and can remove 4 pins so it becomes 20pins... But I will ofc. check pins and stuff before I order :)
 
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