A64 SFF Question

[SynthDude2001]

I'm still chugging along on the reliable, but aging, 2.4GHz Athlon XP machine I built in August 2003. I want to do an A64 upgrade/new build soon (within the next two months probably), and an SFF would be quite nice. I would love to have a small machine to pair with my LCD (great for LAN parties ).

There are two things possibly preventing this from being as simple as I would like:

1) I currently own an AGP 6800GT
2) I just purchased a PCI HDTV tuner card

Now, you could say "just buy the Shuttle SN95G5 and be done with it", and that could work. However, lately I've been thinking - if I'm going to wait a few months to do a new build anyway, it's certainly possible that the new video cards will be out by then. And the trend seems to be going in the direction of PCI-Express. So if saving my current video card is not a concern...then the SN25P looks great. (I especially like the memory card slots, room for possibly 3 hard drives - and the nice audio solution/codecs they're putting in.)

The problem with that though, is the HDTV card I just bought. The SN25P doesn't have a PCI slot at all, which is really unfortunate. I could easily live with just one expansion slot other than the video card - but as far as I know, there are no PCI-Express HDTV tuners that are out, or have even been announced. And I wanted to get one anyway before that broadcast flag mess begins in July.

So basically...would you recommend that I just go ahead and get the SN95G5 - or is there an A64 PCI-E SFF machine that has a normal PCI slot (or alternately - a PCI-E HDTV tuner coming out soon)?

Thanks in advance.

 

[REMF]

get the 95G v2. it will do you fine.

 

[Longkid]

Shuttle is set to release the SN25P some time near the end of this month. The only thing I dont know is whether it will have a PCI slot also.

 

[imported_OrSin]

Sorry, Shuttle is way behind, in getting the SN25P out. I'm thinking late April at the best.
Biostar is in a similar position. I was hoping to get one by march too, but I figure as long as it come out around XP64 it should be ok.

PS
If anyone has some facts about it coming earlier let me know. I friend of mine is reseller, and he says he don't expect any inventory until late April.

 

[Longkid]

son of a ...

actually thats good info. too bad cause everyone has been hyping this Feb 22nd release date for the SN25P. OrSin could you PM me if you find out a more exact date for the SN25P. Thanks.

 

[imported_OrSin]

Maybe I'm wrong about dates.
They say mid march for Biostar. My friednd doesn't care Biostar so he has no clue.
Also he is small reseller so maybe somoene like newegg will get inventory before him.
We can only hope.


http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20050216PR208.html

 

[Money Shot]

I think the SN25P may actually come out next week.

Sudhian has gotten a SN25P to review...Page 2 near the bottom: (http://forums.sudhian.com/messageview.a...eadid=72534&STARTPAGE=2&enterthread=y)

Let's hope it is available next week to purchase!

 

[imported_OrSin]

Not to jump the gun, but you can't order or even pre-order the SN25P from anywhere yet.
Not even shuttles site. If I'm wrong someone post a place that have it. I know its the first day it should be out, but I was accepting to see some spots with pre-orders at least.

 

[mdahc]

The SN25P doesn't have PCI slots (link). Thus, your HDTV tuner card would be worthless with that model.

 

[imported_OrSin]

Do any of the HD cards come in PCI-e?
I would think that one would be out by now.

 

[mdahc]

There are hardly any PCIe controller cards. I've seen a few SCSI, and I know of a few gigabit ethernet controllers, but other than that, there's nothing.