Thinking of going SFF

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BossTweed

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Apr 19, 2002
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I'm going to college in the fall and am thinking of going SFF to save space and to have better mobility. I also want the box to be quiet enough not to be a bother if it's on overnight and I'm trying to sleep. Is that possible or would extensive modding be required? I mostly use the computer for light gaming, watching movies, the internet, and school stuff.

I want to use all the hardware that I currently have in my tower:

Athlon XP 2500+ Barton
2x256 ddr400 corsair
160 gb maxtor hd
cdrw drive
saphire ati radeon 9600 pro

I would have to go with the SN45G or the SN41G2V2, but I don't know which one. Any suggestions? The SN45G is the nf2 400 ultra version but is cheaper than the SN41G2V2 (333 fsb)... but it doesn't have the 250w silent X PSU that the SN41 has. I don't know which would be better suited for me.
 
Is buying a separate power supply more expensive or less? if its less, i'd go sn45g. Just remember not to change vdimm if you are OCing.

For quiet replace stock sunon with silenx, noiseblocker, or sharkoon. Panaflo L1A's, Coolermaster LED fan and Vantec Stealth's aren't as good, but also okay.

I'm not too sure about sticking a maxtor in a shuttle, they run hot and there've been a few instances where they've burned out. If you cut out the bottom of the cage and stick a 60mm fan, you should be fine.

Other than that, it seems decent to me. Have fun :D
 
200W should be enough for anyone. My 1gig ram 9800 Pro two 7200RPM HDs and CD/DVD combo drive with [email protected] 1.85V should be enough proof of that. I had it in that config in my SN41G2 for several months running folding@home with no troubles from either power or heat... although I did replace the fan and remove the fan grills, but that was about the only mod.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I guess there isn't much of a difference between the 200w psu and the 250w silent X psu? I heard that the silent X was much quieter?
 
Look into Seagate or Hitachi for a good harddrive. Hitachi has impressed me by very much surpassing WD on all fronts; Seagate makes a less expensive alternative.
 
i got the sn41g2v2... isn't it still $145 at newegg? it was $170,... i only got it because i thought it looked better, and it has intergrated video.. which keeps me from buying a video card right away... don't touch the vdimm on either model.. mine only runs loud when the fans are running max speed... but there is a "smart fan" thing in the bios that runs the vans really slow.. and makes the shuttle pretty quiet..

if you want the nvidia ultra, get the sn45, either power supply should be fine

i think the silentx psu costs $65...

and my maxtor runs perfectly fine in my shuttle.. i had it in the front of the last computer it was in and i could touch it and it was never as hot as other hard drives i have had in the past..
 
If you want quiet, go for Seagate or Samsung hard drivees. Samsung Spinpoints are probably the quietest hard drives out there.
 
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