Acer SFF, looks cute

[bruceyg]

Athlon x2
Core2Duo
Saw my friend using one, very cute, thinner than my Quantum Mechanics book. But a littel pricy.

 

[irishScott]

Technology is "cute" now?

 

[aidanjm]

it reminds me of the asus pundit. I wonder if it is quiet. I built a little asus pundit system with a socket 478 celeron D chip for my sister and it is very quiet. I put in a notebook drive, tho.

I agree that it is sort of cute, altho I don't really like that weird diagonal grill on the front, would prefer horizontal/ vertical lines were maintained

 

[frostedflakes]

Yeah those are nice looking systems. Am also interested in noise, if anybody picks one up let us know how it is. 🙂

 

[justlnluck]

If they are quiet, they might be good for HTPCs, although I don't see an SPDIF port. For that price, I think I'd rather get a laptop.

 

[jpeyton]

I own one.

Very, very small.

I bought the Celeron D version from CompUSA (identical to the Core 2 Duo version, just with less installed memory and a smaller HD).

I removed two screws, upgraded the memory with a standard DDR2 SODIMM (there are two slots). The system uses a standard 3.5" SATA hard drive (and not a laptop drive as you'd expect). It does use a notebook optical drive, despite what the specs may indicate. PSU is an external AC/DC style power brick.

I also upgraded the CPU. Since I knew it was Core 2 Duo compatible, I dropped in a E4300 with a pin-mod. Runs at 2.4GHz (1066FSB) without a problem, fully stable.

Regarding noise, there are two sources:

1) Hard drive - they used a Hitachi drive in my model that is obnoxiously loud. They might have used another brand in other models, I'm not sure. I'm not sure if or how I can enable acoustic management, or if it's already on. I would replace this with a quieter drive (since any SATA desktop drive works, try a WD SE16 or a Samsung T166).

2) Two 40mm fans for exhaust in the rear. Average noise levels during normal tasks; gets noisy when I load both cores. CPU temps at 2 x 100% load are around 55C. To fix this, I would lower the operating voltage on both fans. I'm just going to wire in a resistor for both fans to drop the voltage to 5V.

The size and form factor of the unit makes it impossible to install a bigger fan. But it is an incredible value: I paid $270 after rebate for the unit, $30 for a 512MB SODIMM and $150 for an E4300. Total came to $450, a lot better than the $700+ Newegg is charging.

 

[frostedflakes]

The price isn't too bad IMO. If you were to build a mATX system with similar specs it would cost at least $500 (keep in mind the Acer comes with Home Premium license) and still be quite a bit larger than this SFF. If you were to build something of similar size you'd have to buy a Silverstone or something that costs like $200+ and the Acer would be a steal.

 

[bruceyg]

nice!
mATX SFF looks bulky and much bigger, I think Acer uses mini-iTX boards which are expensive, $500 for a dual core system is a steal price.
mini-iTX

Originally posted by: jpeyton
I own one.

Very, very small.

I bought the Celeron D version from CompUSA (identical to the Core 2 Duo version, just with less installed memory and a smaller HD).

I removed two screws, upgraded the memory with a standard DDR2 SODIMM (there are two slots). The system uses a standard 3.5" SATA hard drive (and not a laptop drive as you'd expect). It does use a notebook optical drive, despite what the specs may indicate. PSU is an external AC/DC style power brick.

I also upgraded the CPU. Since I knew it was Core 2 Duo compatible, I dropped in a E4300 with a pin-mod. Runs at 2.4GHz (1066FSB) without a problem, fully stable.

Regarding noise, there are two sources:

1) Hard drive - they used a Hitachi drive in my model that is obnoxiously loud. They might have used another brand in other models, I'm not sure. I'm not sure if or how I can enable acoustic management, or if it's already on. I would replace this with a quieter drive (since any SATA desktop drive works, try a WD SE16 or a Samsung T166).

2) Two 40mm fans for exhaust in the rear. Average noise levels during normal tasks; gets noisy when I load both cores. CPU temps at 2 x 100% load are around 55C. To fix this, I would lower the operating voltage on both fans. I'm just going to wire in a resistor for both fans to drop the voltage to 5V.

The size and form factor of the unit makes it impossible to install a bigger fan. But it is an incredible value: I paid $270 after rebate for the unit, $30 for a 512MB SODIMM and $150 for an E4300. Total came to $450, a lot better than the $700+ Newegg is charging.

 

[aidanjm]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Hard drive - they used a Hitachi drive in my model that is obnoxiously loud. They might have used another brand in other models, I'm not sure. I'm not sure if or how I can enable acoustic management, or if it's already on. I would replace this with a quieter drive (since any SATA desktop drive works, try a WD SE16 or a Samsung T166).

have you considered putting in a notebook drive (with an adapter kit)? they aren't quite as fast as a 3.5 inch drive, but make much less noise.

 

[aidanjm]

Originally posted by: bruceyg
nice!
mATX SFF looks bulky and much bigger, I think Acer uses mini-iTX boards which are expensive, $500 for a dual core system is a steal price.
mini-iTX

that is an amazing little motherboard. I wonder when or if it will become available