MSI Barebone

[HaHaUK]

Has anyone got/tried any of the MSI barebones?

im thinking of getting one but need some recommendations beforehand.

thanks

[butchcvc]

hi.

ive got a msi mega pc.

i bought it barebone from micro direct and my friend put it together with hard drive etc with ease.

the only problem ive encounted is i bought a graphics card last year, but the pc couldnt handle the wattage, so i needed a less powerful one.

sorry i dont know much about pc's so thats all i can help you with.

[butchcvc]

[SubparMario]

That's a truly bizzare looking PC, kind of cool though.

[butchcvc]

when the pc is switched off, its a midi system, but the amp is ****e and i never turn it off!

[HaHaUK]

butch, would you rather have the msi or a standard pc?

also you said that you tried installing a graphics card but the power was too much, is it possible to upgrade the psu?

thanks

[butchcvc]

butch, would you rather have the msi or a standard pc?

also you said that you tried installing a graphics card but the power was too much, is it possible to upgrade the psu?

thanks

i havnt got a clue about upgrading, i'll ask my friend who installed it and knows alot about pc's tomorrow to put some comments/advice in this thread.

i'm very happy with my pc, but the built in graphics card can only handle games like enemy territory (wolfenstein), it cant handle most games made after 2003, but i only use if for mame and e.t anyway.

i spent quite alot on a good processor, hard drive, etc.. and havnt needed to upgrade anything since its purchase in 2004.

its bloody small, stylish and all my friends comment on how quiet it is.

i'd definitly get one (very cheap aswell) and i'm sure there are better looking models now available!

sorry for being a pc noob, but its my first pc, and i've only been using pc's for a year.

[Kotatsu Neko]

Have you looked at Shuttle XPCs? (www.shuttle.com) They're the market leader in small PCs, both bare bone and ready built. Far more stylish than the MSI one too, and the top models are pretty much top of the line as far as PC tech goes.

MSI PCs look like ?100 ALBA midi systems to me... Very tacky!

[butchcvc]

and my friend's shuttle looks like a fast and the furious reject with all it's blue led lights! (and large front panel screws!)

then again, the new models look beautiful!

[SubparMario]

That's a good point about those LEDs. If they were ever cool then their time is definately over, every cheap PC has a 'case window' and loads of LEDs all over it these days, very tacky.

[capcom_suicide]

Have you looked at Shuttle XPCs? (www.shuttle.com) They're the market leader in small PCs, both bare bone and ready built. Far more stylish than the MSI one too, and the top models are pretty much top of the line as far as PC tech goes.

MSI PCs look like ?100 ALBA midi systems to me... Very tacky!

I'm thinking this could be really cool for my next upgrade, and play via the TV instead of the monitor. (I have a VGA socket on teh TV)

Am I right in saying this:

http://global.shuttle.com/Product/Barebone/SN25P.asp

Could take a 6800 Ultra PCI-E and 1GB of Ram. (With fast 64 Bit AMD)

What's the catch?

/C_S

[SubparMario]

A lot of the best Geforce and Radeon cards have double height coolers that won't fit a shuttle AFAIK. I think some brands do single slot versions of them though.

[Kotatsu Neko]

A lot of the best Geforce and Radeon cards have double height coolers that won't fit a shuttle AFAIK. I think some brands do single slot versions of them though.

I'm pretty sure the top end Shuttles can take double width cards now. Check TomsHardware just to make sure though.

My old Shuttle is single width only, but it doesn't really matter as some card makers do nice slim line cards. I have an ASUS 6800 GT 256mb and it's running great.

[jon bda]

My kids have one of these...



...an Aopen EZ65. Currently running fine with a 2.6C P4 Northwood, 120gig SATA hdd and a Leadtek 6600GT. Looks really nice i think with the stealth covers for the cd rom, floppy and front usb/firewire/etc.