Asus Eee Box? or build my own?

[PrinceXizor]

Just some quick prices from the Egg...

60GB laptop HD ~$30
X2 4600+ ~ $60
AM2 MB ~ $60
2GB DDR2 800 ~ $30 (MIR)
Quite PSU ~ $40
OS ~ $100

Cost = $320 and I mount it in my existing case.

or an Eee Box for $299 preloaded with XP.

The object is also to be very quiet (used for audio recording).

Thoughts?

P-X

 

[ther00kie16]

XP isn't $100 anymore, more like $60-$70 so the final cost will be about the same.
And your build will be way faster than the Eee Box and with more ram, which always help when working with A/V.

 

[DaveSimmons]

The first look at the eee box at anandtech.com said the fan was noisy. You might be better off with the Shuttle KPC, it also has a PCI slot. (The next version will supposedly have a PCI-E slot instead.)

Or use your own case, it's much easier to make a big case run both cool and quiet using low-speed 120mm fans.

 

[Parasitic]

At first I thought it was just a typo, but the eee box (instead of the eeepc) does exist and looks totally awesome lol. Although the eeebox comes with 80GB standard I believe. The 4600+ X2 should be much faster though.

 

[PrinceXizor]

Where can I get XP for $60 or $70? I'd like to know.

I have a 4U rack case so I should be able to keep things very cool and quiet.

Is the MIR deal from newegg pretty sweet? I'm so out of the loop right now...*sigh*

P-X

 

[ther00kie16]

XP is $80 at newegg and a little cheaper elsewhere if you do some searching.

 

[PrinceXizor]

Really?

A quick perusal of newegg shows XP Pro for $140 and XP Home for $100. Do you have a link to this $80 price?

Edit: Ok, I found the $80 SP2 XP Home - OEM. I have searched on pricegrabber and froogle w/o much success. If you have some links to this $60 or $70 XP pm me.

P-X

 

[DaveSimmons]

You might want to pay the extra for the retail version at $100 so it isn't tied to just one motherboard, especially since MS is going to stop selling XP except in super-cheap notebooks and desktops like the Asus eee.

 

[PrinceXizor]

True, but I don't do a lot of upgrading. Is the motherboard the key component for OEM software? What happens if that dies? Probably lots of hoops to jump through. I don't have anything against Vista but the prices seem a little higher. All of this hoop jumping so I can actually use my audio interface which only has XP or Vista drivers...eh.

P-X

 

[coolVariable]

Laptop HD?
That will be problematic in a desktop ...

 

[PrinceXizor]

Not mounted on elastic ties to eliminate transmitted vibration to the chassis.

P-X

 

[Parasitic]

Originally posted by: PrinceXizor
True, but I don't do a lot of upgrading. Is the motherboard the key component for OEM software? What happens if that dies? Probably lots of hoops to jump through. I don't have anything against Vista but the prices seem a little higher. All of this hoop jumping so I can actually use my audio interface which only has XP or Vista drivers...eh.

P-X

If I remember correctly it's 3 pieces of hardware.

 

[PrinceXizor]

Are you saying that OEM software is tied to THREE pieces which must be identically replaced upon failure? I suppose peace of mind might be worth the extra $20.

P-X