What are you [H]ardSFF'ers waiting for...?

G

gemini8026

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 12, 2003
Messages
340
Kinda curious, but theres lotsa cool cases out at the moment,

what are you guys waiting for in terms of mobo's or anythign else. Im guessing better mobo's but in what capacity?!? Any chipsets , etc?

Still debating if a person should go SFF or wait till there are DFI quality oc'ers out there!
 
I speak for myself when i say this but the ONLY thing that i'm waiting for in terms of SFF is ........ SLI. i WANNA sli SOO bad. i guess SLI setup would mean better ventillation for the small SFF cases.
 
I'm just wating for my case, motherboard and videocard to arrive. I have a qpack, Biostar Tforce and an eVga 7800 GT on the way. I wish Mr UPS guy would quit making me wait. :D
 
I second the vote for mATX SLI mobos, but for now I'm waiting to see what DFI comes out with for a 6150 board.

What's up with Aria v2.0?
 
Whats the DFI rumors. An Matx board with the overclocking features of it's ATX Lanparty series (which I currently own and love)?!?!?!?
 
A better quality mATX case then the Qpack (better ventilation, etc), and DFI board.
 
i'm also waiting on the DFI 6150/430 (hopefully) mobo, maybe a new case but the qpack looks fine to me.
 
Soymilk said:
i'm also waiting on the DFI 6150/430 (hopefully) mobo, maybe a new case but the qpack looks fine to me.
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I've heard January sometime, but probably Feb/March by the time it's in stock :(.
 
Ordered parts last weds. Parts arrived friday. Assembled friday. Installed saturday morning. Tweaked saturday during the day. Program installations in the evening. Gaming as the ball dropped in New York, then spent some time with the missus.

As the sig implies, I owe it all to you guys for the advice and inspiration. But to answer the OP's question/declaration, I didn't wait. I pulled the trigger, and I'm very pleased :) I think the time is ripe for those who want to take some nice steps into the genre to do so, though it certainly still is a field for those who want to break the mold a bit. The Biostar has impressed me beyond my expectations in terms of stability and o/c performance. The limitations are my own, not the hardware.

I'd be a wealthy man if I got paid for every associate or friend that had a dubious outlook on my initial success. Lots of contemporary enthusiasts still live and breathe ATX, and with SLi getting the headlines, it fosters that belief a bit (with good reason too, depending on how you play your upgrade game).

I'd be interested in what the future has to offer in terms of cases and tech, especially if lead-brand names make better mATX mobos and cases eventually follow. I echo the SLi sentiment. It'd be ineteresing to see :)
 
Mihai Lacatus said:
Maybe socket M2 ? ;)
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True enough, but if I blinked at everything, I'd never take the leap :) And new tech entry cost...oi. I'm just too damn impatient.

M2 SFF mATX will be interesting as it happens, but I worry if we'll still be segmented as a relatively niche market with this new form of technology. I mean, if Biostar reaches the finish line first for socket 939 with little contest thus far from bigger names, I shudder to consider the pace of development once a new socket is thrust into our midst.

However, I am excited to see what develops. I know that when next I build a while down the line, it will be a SFF again.
 
Not waiting. TForce is mine!
kirbyrj said:
I've heard January sometime, but probably Feb/March by the time it's in stock :(.
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Pshh, let's end speculation on that alleged DFI board. It's always a month away... It will come out, if it comes out.

CapnBiggles said:
M2 SFF mATX will be interesting as it happens, but I worry if we'll still be segmented as a relatively niche market with this new form of technology. I mean, if Biostar reaches the finish line first for socket 939 with little contest thus far from bigger names, I shudder to consider the pace of development once a new socket is thrust into our midst.
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Biostar was the winner in the last two rounds of AMD mATX boards and look how long we had to wait? Letsee, I went through five 939 boards, before I finally settled on the Biostar this round. Starting with the release of the Foxconn, it has probably been about a year. I held onto that 754 board for the longest time. Just count on the price of going with a mATX OCer is being a socket behind current tech.

I'm hopeful with the number of manufacturers who jumped on the mATX bandwagon this round that the pace is picking up. A few manufacturers simultaneously designed both a 939 and 754, so M2 seems like a logical next step. I don't think it will be that easy and we'll still have to wait for that new chip from nVidia or ATI, but 4th time is the charm, right?
 
It seems that with a decent mobo you can get all you need in mATX. It seems like it's just a matter of time until mATX > ATX in sales.

I guess I'm waiting for the market to shift to mATX so that SFFer's get the lovin' instead of the ATX crowd.
 
i dont know how feasible a sli matx board would be though, there'd probably have to be a case that's designed specifically for use of one, and standardize the slot placement. sff cases are put together like puzzles, theres not that much empty space in them. i could be wrong of course, this is just an educated guess.

what i would really love, though, is for shuttle to release a 6150/430 based shuttle that oc's great, but doesnt cost $400 like the sn25p. that would be my dream come true. (i need the onboard video to hold me over for a few months before i can get a video card)
 
I'm waiting untill summer, Vista will be coming out and possibly a new AMD socket. I'm going to college so I'll need something. The biggest thing holding me back is not the current sff equipment (even though more case options would be nice, maybe a redisgned qpack?), it's the graphics card tech with directx 10 (which I guess is coming out when vista is...?) I don't wanna spend a lot on a dx9 card if it's gonna last through a few years of college.
 
I believe there is a page on nvidia.com that states that all the 6800+ cards are Vista ready.
 
gemini8026 said:
Kinda curious, but theres lotsa cool cases out at the moment,

what are you guys waiting for in terms of mobo's or anythign else. Im guessing better mobo's but in what capacity?!? Any chipsets , etc?

Still debating if a person should go SFF or wait till there are DFI quality oc'ers out there!
Click to expand...

imo, a dfi board isn't needed. the tforce has pletny of options and is easier to set up imo
 
Well, lemme see...

Cases: The 'Pack is doing just fine right now, and a little modding goes a long way. I don't think we need any more cases.

Mobos: We want SLi! We want really good OCing mobos! Are we going to get them? Probably not.

What else? More dual-GPU graphics cards maybe? That would fix our SLi problem.
 
Soymilk said:
i dont know how feasible a sli matx board would be though, there'd probably have to be a case that's designed specifically for use of one, and standardize the slot placement. sff cases are put together like puzzles, theres not that much empty space in them. i could be wrong of course, this is just an educated guess.

what i would really love, though, is for shuttle to release a 6150/430 based shuttle that oc's great, but doesnt cost $400 like the sn25p. that would be my dream come true. (i need the onboard video to hold me over for a few months before i can get a video card)
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there is plenty of space. A matx mobo has 4 slots, do outer one on left pci-e, outer on right pci-e, 1 pci and pci-e 1x in between.
 
Not to sound like a downer or anything, but im still waiting on a 955X DFI mobo!!! Those rumors never came true. Now a Crossfire mATX mobo I can see, at least on the Intel side. The 955X and the 975X chipset supports Crossfire and all the have to do is add to PCI x16 slots on the board. Im about to through down some money on a Xpack soon and a new mobo. A DFI mobo would be sweet though, but I dont have my hopes up for one actually coming out.
 
ok, but answer me this.


Lets say a person like myself is using an outboard sound and video solution.

For sound I use my audiophile 2496 PCI card, and for video a 6600GT. Does the 430 chipset offer anything I might need?!?

Im saying im going to avoid SFF because of losing features from my DFI board. Essentially all I need is 2 serial ATA ports (pref SATA 3gig) a PCI- express port, and a PCI port. From thjere I want overclockability and stability for my Opteron 165.

Would having an Nforce4 or 430 chipset be any different then my current setup on the Biostar?!?
 
Lazy_Moron said:
Not to sound like a downer or anything, but im still waiting on a 955X DFI mobo!!! Those rumors never came true. Now a Crossfire mATX mobo I can see, at least on the Intel side. The 955X and the 975X chipset supports Crossfire and all the have to do is add to PCI x16 slots on the board. Im about to through down some money on a Xpack soon and a new mobo. A DFI mobo would be sweet though, but I dont have my hopes up for one actually coming out.
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That would make me switch both of my allegiances, no easy feat! If Intel & ATI were smart, they would jump on the opportunity to grab most, if not all, of the "enthusiast" mATX market by doing this. Did you know that the Pentium M (when OCed) is a gaming freak? It beat a 4000+, at least. Wait a sec, a grand idea just hit me...

Yonah and Crossfire mATX board! :eek:
 
Tiny said:
I believe there is a page on nvidia.com that states that all the 6800+ cards are Vista ready.
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Yeah, but they aren't directx 10. Microsoft has stated that on new cards they are dropping hardware support for dx9 and below (using software somehow to play dx9 and below), so dx10 will be the way to go. I'm sure the geforce 5 and radeon 9x00 series are vista ready too, lol.
 
M4rk said:
That would make me switch both of my allegiances, no easy feat! If Intel & ATI were smart, they would jump on the opportunity to grab most, if not all, of the "enthusiast" mATX market by doing this. Did you know that the Pentium M (when OCed) is a gaming freak? It beat a 4000+, at least. Wait a sec, a grand idea just hit me...

Yonah and Crossfire mATX board! :eek:
Click to expand...

Oh I do know this fact!!!. If there were decent Pentium M mobo's out there I would be all over them in a heart beat. The Pentium M processors are expensive though, that is the downside :(
 
How about a Shuttle M1000 chassis barebones with a 6150 board? ...and for under $300?
 
[LYL]Homer said:
How about a Shuttle M1000 chassis barebones with a 6150 board? ...and for under $300?
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no idea which chassis the m1000 is, but i'd definitely like a 6150 board shuttle barebones for under $300 :p i'd be willing to go a little over $300, too. if you take into account all the parts, its worth it (case ~$100, psu ~$100, mobo ~$100, heatsink ~$50, give or take on any of the parts, if ur buying all the stuff separately). plus shuttles are dead sexy.

*edit* ok screw the m1000 chassis, me no likey. i want it for a computer, not a htpc :p i want something like either the g5 or the p chassis :)
 
Sure Soymilk, the 6150 could be put in a cube as well. But for others - with the integrated video and a cool running AMD cpu the m1000 could really shine as an HTPC. I fear a $500 price tag, but I'd bite if they were $300 or less with a remote.
 
I'm waiting for ANY pci-e cards to be released, otherwise that slot is USELESS !
 
actually i am just waiting for a 76mm hole saw to come in at my hardware store so i can put holes for fans on the side panels near the front of my qpack. my tforce-939 came back from rma, my coolermaster 550watt realpower back from rma, swapped out the 3800x2 from my game box to the qpack, my 7800gt came from newegg. this will be much better than my old qpack build of ecs rs480, 6600gt, 3500 winny, stock aspire psu.
aside from that, i am waiting for a nf4 sli board to come out in matx, or for a better alternative to the qpack, or a good oc'ing 6100/50 board to come out with enough space for a vid card and 2 pci cards (tuner and sound card) i know my tforce has 2 pci slots, but couldnt even use the top one with the 6600gt, much less the 7800gt.
 
Lazy_Moron said:
Oh I do know this fact!!!. If there were decent Pentium M mobo's out there I would be all over them in a heart beat. The Pentium M processors are expensive though, that is the downside :(
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AOpen made one, but it's really pricey! A British magazine used it to OC a Pentium M to crazy speeds. I still have the issue if you want specifics. Here's the link to Newegg anyhow: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813137061

The board has custom mounting for the HSF, so most aftermarket cooling soultions for better overclocking won't fit. AOpen did make a bigger, better HSF that fits the board, so you should be able to push the board farther than the Brits did. Anything else you want to know?
 
M4rk said:
AOpen made one, but it's really pricey! A British magazine used it to OC a Pentium M to crazy speeds. I still have the issue if you want specifics. Here's the link to Newegg anyhow: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813137061

The board has custom mounting for the HSF, so most aftermarket cooling soultions for better overclocking won't fit. AOpen did make a bigger, better HSF that fits the board, so you should be able to push the board farther than the Brits did. Anything else you want to know?
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the 915 sucks for fsb...
 
Waiting until next Christmas to build a new rig...M2 socket, 8 series Nvidia, SLI maybe, DDR2, mmmm can't wait. :D
 
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