Good SFF Barebones?

[Uuplaku]

Hey all, Im in the market for a new PC, and it seems like an SFF system would fit the bill quite well. I've heard that they've pretty much caught up with their desktop counterparts in terms of performance and power output. Anyway, I wanna go with an Athlon 64 system, and a beefy video (Geforce 6800, X800 etc) so Im looking for a system that can accomodate those things not only space-wise, but power-wise.


Any suggestions?

 

[cirthix]

shuttle wihth the high power psu (can i have the old one if you get it?)
make sure that 2 slot vid cards will work on your model, some do, some dont. check out the egg for a rather large list of shuttles (with pics)

 

[jevans64]

I would go with a Shuttle xPC. I have 6 of these SSFs and they are very well built. The two I would look at are the SN85G4 (socket 754) or SN95G5 (socket 939) for Athlon64. They both have heatpipe cooling and a 240w PS. The 240w might be too weak for an X800 XT or 6800GT but an X600 or 6600GT should do nicely. You might be able to get a vanilla x800 in there. I have only seen the x800 XT or 6800GT in the larger P chasis xPC. There might be a "P" chasis design for AMD later on. The "P" chasis is slightly larger ( about 1" higher ) than the current chasis but has a 350w PS and room for 3 drives.

I have 2x SB75G2, SN85G4, 2x SB61G4, SB61G4.

EDIT: Curious myself, I Googled for the SN95G5 and found a review on it. The reviewed system was configured as follows:

http://www.firingsquad.com/har...n95g5_review/page2.asp

Athlon 64 3800+, 1 GB Corsair memory, 250 GB HD, DVD drive, GeForce 6800 GT ( SINGLE SLOT ONLY!! ), so I guess it will run OK on the 240w.

I would probably consider either modifying the vent holes ( drilling more ) or maybe ordering the cover with the larger mesh grille for better airflow to the PSU and video card. I did this for the rigs that have 5900 XTs in them.

 

[StevenYoo]

wow, i had no idea u could run a monster 6800GT on a 240W PSU.

is that a kosher thing to do, regardless if firingsquad did that for their testing?

 

[Rage187]

I do it on mine