Cheaper (but not quality cheaper..) SFF?

[Zallek]

Hi, I was just wondering if any of you could suggest a nice 'starter' SFF, or so it goes, for a new person to the SFF community? Im leaning towards an AMD box (I've built a lot of intel boxes, and I want to try something different now that I have the cash.) with a 2500+ XP-M. My only problem is finding the right SFF for me. Money is an issue, as I do not want to be sinking more into this than my gaming rig. This box is more of a fun change for me, it wont be a gaming rig, so onboard video would work fine. www.ncix.com is where I shop (Im Canadian eh..) and they have SFFs that range from $200-500 or so... This is what I've been looking at so far. Any help would be appreciated.

-Edit-
To be a little more descriptive as to what I want this to be, if all goes well it will probably just be turned into either my HTPC for when I move out, or a storage/music box.

-Edit again-
I've also been checking this out.. Its small, not as small, but it would get the job done, yay, nay?
Antec Aria

 

[dirty_dan]

ive been looking at SFFs for a while, but im having a hard time trying to find something that will give me the kind of OCing abilities that my mid tower does. i have a xp-m 2500+ as well. good luck and let us know what you decide.

 

[Zallek]

Im leaning towards the Aria so far.. Its cheaper for what I want to do, and I can find replacement mATX boards easier and cheaper than I can get the shuttle boards.. if you can even buy replacement boards from the manufactures.

 

[dirty_dan]

yeah i agree. the only thing that is keeping me is im having a hard time finding a mATX board that i know OCs WELL.

 

[flippantremark]

I always thought the iDEQ 200N seemed pretty good value.
I just gagged at the daggy sliding door.

 

[Col_Hogan]

Dirty Dan.....If your looking for Athlon XP MB for Overclocking...Look at the Biostar M7NCG 400..its Micro-ATX...and Overclocks Great!!

It fits in the Aria..No Problem...

Personally I use the Shuttle MN31N..But I dont Overclock...just By Preference..

But anyways..Here is the MB...

 

[alcoa]

Just a heads up, NewEgg has Aopen athlon SFF's with $40.00 rebates, they actually look really nice and have gotten good reviews on the net.

 

[Subliminal]

Aopen SFF rocks. I'm using the Intel variety, but with no fan speed up under normal usage, I've upped my FSB from 200 to 250 on stock voltage.

Plus, it looks better than my old shuttle.

 

[dderidex]

yeah i agree. the only thing that is keeping me is im having a hard time finding a mATX board that i know OCs WELL.

Well, the limitation on an SFF PC's overclock is rarely the motherboard. It's two other factors that you really aren't going to get away from:

1) Power supply already stretched to the limit (generally, SFF PCs ship with a 200w PSU, you can special-order 250w PSUs, there just *aren't* 350w or higher SFF PSUs. And I had a 550w in my desktop tower to get the 2.8ghz overclock in my sigs!)

2) Cooling. SFFs are *small*. That's the entire point of them. And you have a LOT of VERY HOT components VERY CLOSE TOGETHER.

Ergo, SFF overclocks are just going to be lower than desktop overclocks. Period, end of story.

Which doesn't mean they will be BAD.

The same chip in my sig (AthlonXP @ ~2ghz) that ran at 2.8ghz in an evaporative tower setup can handle 2.4ghz just fine in my Shuttle SN45G. Currently running 218fsb * 11. Same ram and everything - which means the Shuttle's SN45G motherboard is actually a 'better overclocker' than the Abit AN7 from my old desktop PC! OTOH, my overall overclock is a lot lower simply due to the vastly increased heat. (And even though it's rock-solid stable at Prime95...after an hour or so of that, my CPU is pushing 60c!!)