P180 or X-Qpack?

S

Smititty

[H]ard|Gawd
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Dec 14, 2002
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I made a thread a while back questioning my choice of components for my next build.

Antec P180
Opty 165
Asus A8N-Sli Deluxe
EVGA 7900GT
Antec TPII 550W PSU
2GB G.Skill DDR500 RAM
74GB WD Raptor
2x WD 250 GB SATA-II WD2500KS
Flash Card Reader in 3.5" Bay

Which totals out to be right around $1500.

But lately I've really been wanting an SFF and to build a Qpack. So I pieced out a Qpack build that gives me this:

Black X-Qpack
Biostar 6100
X2 3800+
EVGA 7900GT
2GB G.Skill DDR500 RAM
2x WD 250 GB SATA-II WD2500KS
Flash Card Reader in 3.5" Bay

Plus a 320GB HDD and external enclosure.

The SFF pieced out tallies around $1250.

I know that now is a bad time to upgrade so I plan on waiting for Conroe and AM2 to come out and hopefully drive these prices down a little bit. I just don't know which system I should build. Any insight guys?

Thanks in advance,
Smitty

Oh yea, I just bought a Dell 2007WFP to go along with the new system.
 
SFF systems are just very limiting, unless you lan a lot, don't bother. Look at that Biostar Mobo - you get one PCI-E, and only two PCI slots. So, graphics go in PCI-E, and a sound card in one of the PCI slots, you only have one for future upgrades, plus, only one PCI-E so you can't do SLI down the road if you ever decide to. Also, with only room inside for two HDs, what if you need more space later on? You can't just add on, you have to replace your drives with larger ones, which is a pain.

Full tower cases for life for me.
 
Quite the contrary Nullomodo, unless you are speaking of a Shuttle.

XQPack's can have exactly the same hardware as a midtowerr can, aside from requiring a mATX motherboard. Don't let that scare you though. There are lots of high quality, high performance mATX boards out there. Asus, Abit, they all make em.

An X-QPack can still carry 2 full size optical drives, a floppy drive (I use a floppy drive with card reader built-in), and 2 hard drives. You can get motherboards with PCI-X slots, so you can still build a high-performance machine from one. They take standard-size power supplies as well, so if yours needs upgraded, it's simple to do.

About the ONLY limiting factor I can think is that nobody makes a mATX motherboard with dual PCI-X slots.

Other than that, an X-QPack can build to the same specs as anything you'd throw in a P180.

Remember, I own both an X-QPack and a P180, so I know what I'm talking about.
 
BTW, if you go with the P180, I'd suggest spending $20 more and upgrading the A8NSLI to the Premium model. You'll thank me later because there is no noisy-ass fan on the NB.
 
SarverSystems said:
BTW, if you go with the P180, I'd suggest spending $20 more and upgrading the A8NSLI to the Premium model. You'll thank me later because there is no noisy-ass fan on the NB.
Click to expand...

Good point. I'm probably going to buy some Zalman goodies for the processor and video card. Might as well make this thing pretty silent while I'm at it.

I'm currently leaning toward the P180 side of things. I've always wanted a monsterous case that I can toss just about anything into. My current rig is in a Sonata and it's pretty cramped. :(
 
Question: Why was this moved to the SFF Gallery? I could see the main SFF section but the gallery?
 
SarverSystems said:
About the ONLY limiting factor I can think is that nobody makes a mATX motherboard with dual PCI-X slots.
Click to expand...


eVGA has put out a matx board that supports SLI

im the opposite i currently have an antec 1080amg full 21'' case and the thing is huge.. i love the room in it.. but lugging it around is a pain.. so my next build is either going to be a SS TJ08 or the SG01.. the qpacks are decent but i love the styling on the SG01... i might wait and see how the SG02 looks when it's released.. who knows though..
 
wow, did you ever pick 2 PCs from the opposite spectrums!


If you do decide on the fullsize, I would have to say, if you ever go to any LAN parties or anything like that, get a P150. Your back will thank you, unless you buy a cart for it.
 
If it's the P180B (Black Version) then you have my vote for that.... :)
 
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