Thinking of going SFF, need some advice

B

BinaryCleric

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 25, 2005
Messages
193
Hey everyone.
I used to be a hardware geek (kept up to date on all the latest hardware releases and such) but since finishing college I've really fallen out of the loop. I've decided that it's time to upgrade my aging gaming rig (X2 4600+, 2GB RAM, Geforce 8800GT) and I'm considering going SFF now that I am going to LAN Parties again.

Many years ago I had a Shuttle XPC and I really liked it a lot. I figured I'd look at what shuttle offers these days and I was quite unimpressed overall. After a good bit of searching I found a Shuttle box that can support an i7 link here.

So my question to the SFF crowd is this. Is this a decent starting point for a SFF system? Is there something better out there (made by Shuttle or otherwise)? Also, if I went with this box how powerful of a video card (nVidia most likely) could I put in there given the 500 watt PSU?

Thanks guys. I'm glad to be back to the [H] forums. :)
 
Yeah, I had a Shuttle once as well. They're nice systems and the PSU's are insanely good. You can easily put a GTX 460 in one of them with an i7.
 
My old shuttle had some minor heat issues (was running an Athlon XP 1700+, just to give you an idea of how long ago this was). Do shuttles still have this problem or do they run pretty cool these days?
 
I think ALL SFF cases have issues with cooling. I have cooling issues with my new Silverstone SG-02F build that I'm doing even after buying an aftermarket cooler (Scythe Big Shuriken). I will be putting my i5 under water this week after I get my parts on Thursday.

I was not happy with my temps and will now sell the big shuriken.
 
aberchonbie said:
I think ALL SFF cases have issues with cooling. I have cooling issues with my new Silverstone SG-02F build that I'm doing even after buying an aftermarket cooler (Scythe Big Shuriken). I will be putting my i5 under water this week after I get my parts on Thursday.

I was not happy with my temps and will now sell the big shuriken.
Click to expand...

Lol, I fit a H50 into that same case :p

A SG05/SG06/SG07 (smallish-->Largeish) mITX/DTX cases are rather small, and all allow the H50 to work. With certain motherboards, the AXP 140.

With certain modding, the SG01/SG02 can fit nice a WC loop inside :D
 
SG05
SilverStone 450W SG05/SG06 PSU
Gigabyte H55m-USB3 mITX --OR-- Zotac H55 ITX C-E
LGA1156 Core i5 or i7

rest is up for grabs.

Of course, you can also use the ASUS AM3 mITX board and a Phenom CPU that fits in the 95W range.
 
Yea I dont think I would bother starting with a shuttle.. At this point there are plenty of oportunities to start from scratch.. If you answer the stickie at the top of the general hardware forum either here or in general hardware we can piece you together something..
 
jeremy is right. the silverstones are super nice. that shuttle is great, but it is way too expensive when you can get a sg05+H55n+PSU for less than half the cost of the shuttle case+mobo+psu. btw jeremy wrote h55m but you want h55n: the m is mATX, and the n is mini-ITX. confusing much? :) the new zotac itx board is really nice too. if you go for that one though, watch out as newegg charges $40 more than everyone else for it for some reason.
 
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