Shuttle PC needed

[KempStar]

Hello

I need some help buying a PC, as I know nothing about PCs really >_<;

These are my requirements-

MUST be a small form PC (limited space you see)
Primarily for web browsing, downloading and listening to music, emulation (i.e. no games)
I need a wireless card
I need a wireless mouse and keyboard
TFT screen (15 inches probably unless you can persuade me otherwise)

So you see I dont need a lot of ram, hard drive space, processor etc, im just looking for the cheapest possible PC.

My friends have told me that it is very easy to build a PC yourself these days, even for a n00b :P So my question is, is it?

Thanks a lot in advance for your help.

[yashiro]

Yeah dead easy, but you knew I'd say that.

If it's a small form factor PC you're after look up the Shuttle, AOpen and Biostar models on overclockers.co.uk.

For best value you should probably get an amd cpu which almost certainly means an nforce2 mobo in your SFF PC.

[KempStar]

Could you suggest a sample spec for me please Stephen? I forgot to add, I may be doing a bit of Visual Studio on the PC as well but I doubt that requires much power.

Any suggestion on a good, cheap 15 inch tft monitor?

Thanks for your help mate

[csuzw]

Try www.ebuyer.co.uk - there prices are often the best and they'll almost always be competitive.

Have you any kinda price in mind?

spec I would suggest is at least an

Processor: at least an Athlon 2500+
Memory: 1GB RAM
Mobo: nforce2 mobo just so you don't have to worry about graphics, maybe a soundcard but you can probably wait until you hear the on board sound before deciding.

I've seen a barebones SFF PC on Komplett (probably on ebuyer as well) by MSI that is nForce2 and has WiFi on board - ?219.

For a TFT monitor check out the response time - if you are going to be doing anything where the screen will change rapidly (movies,games etc) then try to ensure the response time is 16ms or less (it won't be cheap if its less than 16 though).

Hope you can make sense out of my incoherent ramblings

[superkully]

Get a Shuttle SN41G2v2, 512 or 1024 RAM, 160Gb Samsung Spinpoint HDD, 2500+ Barton AMD Athlon, good thermal compound (arctic silver 5) and perhaps a cheap 9200 graphics card with DVI out for your TFT screen. BTW 17" screens have tumbled down in price, so I'd consider one of those (with DVI in).

And that's it!

Add a DVD/CD reader/writer and FDD as needed and your away. Good thing with the shuttle is you get instructions which do not assume anything as to your computer knowhow.

[SonicMarmite]

Kempy. I`ve built one in this exact spec.

Shuttle SN41G2
AMD Athlon 2500 Barton
1GB (2x512mb) Ram - Samsung - A few sellers make a point of specifying samsung ram for some reason

The SN41G2 has onboard GF4, which although it might sound pants, was actually extremely impressive for games. It was awesome at mame as well. It had absolutely everything kitchen-sink builtin as well - USB2, firewire, decent sound etcetcetc. I built it for a good friend who wanted something just for web-browsing, although I knew he`d discover emulations hook so built it as an all-rounder. It plays through his tv and stereo, and is basically the perfect little system. Huge power but really tiny size.

Heres some pics, next to a standard sized tower:

http://sonic.animebots.co.uk/DUSTBIN/Shuttle_SN41G2_DSC00825.JPG

http://sonic.animebots.co.uk/DUSTBIN/Shuttle_SN41G2_DSC00827.JPG

http://sonic.animebots.co.uk/DUSTBIN/Shuttle_SN41G2_DSC00834.JPG

Should also point out its been remarkably reliable thus far, with no problems of any magnitude. It has now been upgraded with a GF FX5600. It was also a piece of cake to build - almost everything that needs to be, is already plugged in. You simply fit ram and cpu to motherboard, screw in the heatsink (bit fiddly), and then fit all the drives. Thats the only bit thats a tiny bit fiddly because they can only really go in in one order from waht I can remember. Once its done though its bulletproof.

Put it this way. When I took it into work, to fit the GF FX, one of the lads ordered one within a week, and the rest of us all want one when they`re a tiny bit cheaper. Get an A4 magazine, and hold it open at 90 degrees, and thats how big they are. A semi-decent cheap shuttle is going to set you back minimum ?300-350.

NOW THEN: SONICO PC ADVICE PHASE 2

Why not get something like the f00j? Shes halfway down this page - http://sonic.animebots.co.uk/SONICWORLD/GEAR/Gear.html

The f00j is similar, if not smaller than a shuttle, but also a generation older. I`d estimate her to be 12x12x4 inches as opposed to a shuttles 12x8x8. We are getting a load at work today (80 machines), and I can get them from our supplier while stocks last. Decent ones would be compaq P3 machines, with P3 800-1ghz, 256mb ram, and 10-20gb hard drives. They`ve got onboard video, sound, lan etc. which won`t set the world on fire, but you could add a pci gfx card if its not up to scratch. As you can see on the pics, the f00j has a game or 2 loaded for lunchtime entertainment at work, and runs (reasonably demanding) CPS2 games 95% speed, so its not exactly slow.

If you`re running emulators anyway, you don`t really need 3d power, as almost all roms are 2d anyway. And as it says on my page, the f00j WAS BUILT for the same uses you are talking about - I take it to the computer fairs we do at work, primarily for playing music cd`s, or videos to display our stock well. And in the workshop its used for films, music, and games.

If you want one of these let me know. Depending on where I get it, and how much for, it would be ?80 maximum including postage. You won`t beat that anywhere else - these machines are ?120 usually even on ebay. Any questions lemme know. ^_^

Best thing to do if you want a shuttle is chuck a ? value, and I or someone else will work out a spec for you - they`re easy to get carried away on and end up spending ?600. If you can afford more than ?400, get a Shuttle SN45G, but with an AGP8X graphics card. If you get an SN41G2, make sure you get a ton of ram for the shared onboard GF4. Drives are whatever floats your boat - DVD-ROM and 80GB could be done for ?60, whereas DVD-RW and 200GB are more like ?120.

Depends what you`re perspective of "cheap" is I suppose.

[yashiro]

Aside from the Shuttles. These are just quick examples.
Sound and Graphics are built in. Most parts from ocuk.

AOpen EZ18-PW XC Cube - Pearl White (FS-002-AO) ?151.57
AMD Athlon "Barton" XP2500+ 333FSB (Socket A) CPU - OEM (CP-039-AM) ?64.63
2x 256MB ? CT367798 DDR PC2700 CL=2.5 Non-parity 2x?31.71 (crucial.com/uk)
Asus Wireless WL-138G PCI Adapter (NW-004-AS) ?23.44
Samsung SpinPoint P SP1614N 160GB ATA-133 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-009-SA)v ?66.97

?370.03



Biostar IDEQ 200N Barebones System (FS-002-BS) ?129.19
AMD Athlon "Barton" XP2500+ 333FSB (Socket A) CPU - OEM (CP-039-AM) ?64.63
2x 256MB ? CT367798 DDR PC2700 CL=2.5 Non-parity 2x?31.71 (crucial.com/uk)
Asus Wireless WL-138G PCI Adapter (NW-004-AS) ?23.44
Samsung SpinPoint P SP1614N 160GB ATA-133 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-009-SA)v ?66.97

?347.65


As far as TFT's go you want 20ms response or under and DVI support.

Buying one from SONICOS_CHEAP_PCS.COM is also a good cheap option.

[SonicMarmite]

Buying one from SONICOS_CHEAP_PCS.COM is also a good cheap option.

\o/

[KempStar]

Thanks for help, everyone tbh. ^_^

Sonic could I put a wireless card in that PC?

[Freddo]

Might be worth considering the via-epia/nemiah whatever they're calling them these days, they have utterly **** all power compared to modern machines but they are very very quiet, small, and consume little to no power.

they are good enough to watch dvd's and divx on though thanks to built in hardware decoding or possibly magic, whichever takes your fancy.

edit

also they are cheap

and also here's a link

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_5463.html

edit again

and here's a better one even

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_5479.html

[Ginger Tosser]

Sonic, i thought it was only me with that many pc's. Nice ML350 - bloody heavy though.

[csuzw]

Might be worth considering the via-epia/nemiah whatever they're calling them these days, they have utterly **** all power compared to modern machines but they are very very quiet, small, and consume little to no power.

they are good enough to watch dvd's and divx on though thanks to built in hardware decoding or possibly magic, whichever takes your fancy.

edit

also they are cheap

and also here's a link

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_5463.html

edit again

and here's a better one even

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_5479.html

Second this - I would have got one of these (and I almost certainly will in the future if I can scrape the money together) but for the fact that I use my PC for gaming a lot. Check out http://www.mini-itx.com for the latest news and deals regarding the mini-itx format.

[SonicMarmite]

Wait till u see the PowerEdge 2600. O_O;;

Kempy very quick very rough specs:

Shuttle SN41G2, AMD Athlon 2500 Barton, 2x256mb crucial pc2700 ram, wifi card, DVD-ROM, 80GB Excelstor (ignore the them laughing at the back - they`re rebranded IBM/Hitachis, and are only modern normal drive with 3yr warranty instead of 1yr, which is easily worth a cheaper brand stigma) - ?360 all in - I`d personally go for 1gb ram though which is gonna be like ?55 more.

Shuttle SN45G, AMD Athlon 2500 Barton, 2x512mb crucial pc3200 ram, wifi card, DVD-RW, 200GB hd, nice sensible mid-range agp8x card (Radeon 9600 or GF 5700fx) - ?520 all in.

Those are ebuyer prices - cba to ring trade suppliers. ^_^

As for the P3 SFF`s. Don`t see why there would be any problems using a wifi card - they`ve all got pci slots, so should be fine in theory. Never tried it myself though. The compaq ones won`t have DVI by the way like the f00j has.

[yashiro]

Sonic, what's with all the sensible posts!?

[SonicMarmite]

I`m a very sensible person.