Wifey is letting me get a new toy!

[RedRed]

OK

I have convinced 'her indoors' that I/We need a home theatre/tv room surfing PC (brings the household total to 5 (AGGH!))

She has picked the case

its to be a shuttle....

It comes in a range of formats (and prices)

SB61G2 Intel 865G @ @215
SN45G nVidia nForce2 Ultra 400 @ n/a - yet
SB51G Intel 845GE @ £205.00
SB52G2 Intel 845GV @ £241.00
SN41G2 nVidia nForce2 @ £ 185.00


I think I can get most of them - does anyone have any experience of them?

Which chipset would be best (it might take the odd turn at games)
I was going to add a P650 or 750, and a 15' FST monitor.
I am not a full on audiophile, but would connect it to an external surround amp I have (its a sony with an spdif IN). If it I have NICs galore spare in the house

it will be runnings windows XP probably.

I am not precious about Athlons or Intel - however would the intel be cooler in that box (and hence less fans?)

Really appreciate it, folks.... I dont know how long my 'window' will last

edit put in prices - best bang for buck, of course!

[Guru]

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/slim_pc/slm/pro_slm_detail.php?UID=431&MODEL=MEGA651

It also has a optional TV tuner!

[Novdid]

I'm not so sure Higher clocked intel cpu's are cooler than Athlons(0.13).

But one thing is sure, the AMD cpu's are cheaper, and the nforce2 chipset is a very good solution.

[knirfie]

shuttle's arent quiet, so you'll need to replace the fans if you want to use it as a home theatre/tv room surfing PC.

[az]

IF you have space for a soundcard, get the Terratec 6fire LT! It's the same as the 6Fire 24/96 without the drive bay rack (for which you have no space) for half the price (still not exactly cheap though). Since you'll be connecting it to something of higher quality than the average Pc speakers, the signal you get out of that box should be as high quality as possible. Garbage in - garbage out.

As knirfie said, shittles aren't quiet. But I know that at least one of them can be fitted with a heatpipe, which should help cooling, thus making slower fans possible. The quietest (and BY FAR most expensive) fans are Verax. Remember: Bigger fans=less RPM per air moved = more quiet (and a more pleasing noise anyway, not as high-pitched). But sadly, those shuttle boxes are full of small 60mm shriekers - not exactly the best choice for a living room PC

AZ

[Guru]

The Heatpipemodle is actualy not that quiet!

Any one tried the msi model I posted?

[CHHAS]

I'm interested in the msi model too, it looks really neat.

EDIT: found a preview http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles...cid=11&aid=726

[Rimfaxe]

Re: Wifey is letting me get a new toy!

Originally posted by RedRed
OK

I have convinced 'her indoors' that I/We need a home theatre/tv room surfing PC (brings the household total to 5 (AGGH!))

She has picked the case

its to be a shuttle....

It comes in a range of formats (and prices)

SB61G2 Intel 865G @ @215
SN45G nVidia nForce2 Ultra 400 @ n/a - yet
SB51G Intel 845GE @ £205.00
SB52G2 Intel 845GV @ £241.00
SN41G2 nVidia nForce2 @ £ 185.00


I think I can get most of them - does anyone have any experience of them?

Which chipset would be best (it might take the odd turn at games)
I was going to add a P650 or 750, and a 15' FST monitor.
I am not a full on audiophile, but would connect it to an external surround amp I have (its a sony with an spdif IN). If it I have NICs galore spare in the house

it will be runnings windows XP probably.

I am not precious about Athlons or Intel - however would the intel be cooler in that box (and hence less fans?)

Really appreciate it, folks.... I dont know how long my 'window' will last

edit put in prices - best bang for buck, of course!

For fun, show her this case...

NO load fans at all! http://www.mini-itx.com/store/hush.asp Works great for home theatre/tv room surfing PC...

[az]

While we're on the subject of overly expensive fanless systems, check this. Doesn't have that pathetic VIA CPU, too.

But this is really not what RR is looking for.

AZ

[RedRed]

I have been warned of the Via cpu's


I thaught that the Shuttle was a quiet option.... I have a couple of Hermes boxes out with clients in their home (not TOO bad, but not quiet enough)

are there effective quietening mods available for the shuttle cases (more to the point, has anyone tried them?)


I know that there isnt much space in the box for bugger off fans....

I would like to get an AGP8 slot, if possible (hell its a new box, I want it to be current) - that will take up a significant amout of space....

I have a couple of spare alpha coolers - would it be safe enough to stick the HS on - and a single large, ducted fan running accross both the PSU and CPU? (perhaps a 120 mounted externally?) I understand the Heat pipes on the Shuttle only have a 60 MM surface area on the vanes - not having seen one 'in the flesh', I am not sure......

RedRed

[az]

RR, what are you going to use that box for, and what are your further requirements (must be quiet pretty, small, glowing, levitating...?)

AZ

[RedRed]

Pretty, thats a must

preferably with some nice modern equipment (I rarely get a chance to try new stuff these days I have the window - I want to go for it

I want it to be an MP3 station, and pump out DVD's to my TV. (the kids tried to post a crayon into my last player ... I would like it to play some AVI's of movies that i might 'borrow' from DC++

I might like to play the odd game (decent - not blistering performance - I am a g400 & a Nforce user and)

use it to surf.

I will have a 15' TFT mounted beside the sofa (cant surf on a tv -ug)

I will be useing Wireless Trackball and kbd

[az]

OK, this kinda rules out VIA CPUs and - sorry for your wife - Shuttle boxes.

Shuttles are notoriously loud and upgrade-unfriendly. I'd go for something like the Coolermaster ATC-600 range, so you can fit standard components and still have a pretty case. Or just take some dead HiFi equipment, rip the guts out, and use that as a case

AZ

[GT98]

My Shuttle box is pretty damn quite....alot quiter then my main box and would work fine as a HTPC IMO

[DukeP]

Why not go for a system completely without fans, but with all the modern equipment inside?

http://www.calmsystems.com/

And for looks Why not just by a really pretty wodden cabinet?
Looks way better than anything computerindustry can throw at you...

Good luck!
~~DukeP~~

PS: i bought a Kiss Dvd player. It connects to my 100mbit network, and plays .mp3, .ogg, .avi (divx 3.11 - 5.05) directly off the harddisk of whatever computer runing at the time - oh, and play streaming internet radio, if on a dhcp router.
Oh. It also plays Dvd's and cd's.