Need suggestions on shuttle system/ overclocking a celeron D

[FreshFish]

Ok, right now I am thinking of this shuttle case:
Shuttle XPC Silver Barebone System for Socket 478 at 533/800MHz FSB Intel CPU, Model ST62KS

it's small, supposedly quite and only $170 right now!! The problems are that it apparantly might have heating issues with a prescott (I want to put in a celeron 2.4GHz and MAYBE overclock it to around 3.0GHz) and it only has a 180 watt power supply (but since I will only be using integrated graphics, I don't think that will be a big deal)

Any opinions or experiences would be great. There is more down towards the bottom of this thread if you care to help! Thanks!

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Ok, I haven't done this for about a year, but I need to ask the good people of AT about building advice:

My girlfriend has a laptop right now...i think it's toshiba and has a celeron something er other in it....the point is: it's not doing so well anymore. The mouse randomly clicks and even after a clean install of windows the poor thing crashes a lot and the STUPID BROKEN MOUSE clicks on random things and closes windows and so on.

I want to find a cheap system to buy her...but the catch is that I want it to be small also. So I am thinking SFF. She doesn't game (she's a girl) and she couldn't care less whats inside as long as it works well (she's a girl). It will mostly be used for internet surfing, homework doing, music listening and movie watching I was thinking somewhere in the sub 700 range including a monitor...flat panel if at all possible.

Here's what I came up with after a bit of looking around. I am open to any suggestions to lower cost and boost performance. Different places I can get some of these things and so on. Thankyou for any suggestions in advance!

Antec ARIA Aluminum MicroATX Cube Case with 300W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDe...-129-146&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE
$99

BenQ 16x, Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive with Software, Black Model DW1620 PRO, OEM
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDe...-101-632&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE
$50

Western Digital 80GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model WD800JD, OEM Drive Only
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDe...-135-106&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE
$58

Kingston 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDe...-141-424&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE
$56

ACER AL1715b 17" LCD Monitor, 12ms Response Time - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDe...-009-027&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE
$221

ASUS "A7V8X-MX SE" KM400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDe...-131-489&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE
$54

AMD Sempron 2300+ 1.583GHz Socket A Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDe...-104-209&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE
$65

Is there any reason to go for a standalone graphics card or a faster processor? Thanks again!

 

[nick1985]

i would look at an nforce2 chipset, they can be had for cheaper than the kt400, and are faster.

 

[Thurgo0dy]

Have you considered a Shuttle? I would look at what they have to offer. Very compact.

 

[FreshFish]

Yes I was looking at the shuttle systems and the main reason I went with Antec is the slgihtly larger PSU, and also the mobo for the shuttle box I wanted didn't have onboard video...but that would be a null argument if I can find a decent cheap AGP card...

 

[Mrvile]

Well you mentioned she watches DVDs, get a nice cheap AGP card, I'm thinking a Radeon 9200-9250ish or a Geforce MX4000-something for about 40 bucks, but don't take my word for it, I'm not too familiar with old video cards.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I wouldn't be too concerned with shuttle's lower wattage power supplies either. You can run a 9800pro, an overclocked CPU and a couple hard drives off their 200watt SFF powersupply. They're small, but pack a nice punch.

 

[Erssa]

Just buy her a mac mini.

 

[kini62]

Mac Mini

 

[FreshFish]

Apple charges so much for add ons though. Plus I am not so sure my gf would want to switch over to a Mac...there are some annoying differences.

 

[mooncancook]

Mac mini for web surfing and daily productivity. damn those spywares and trojans.

 

[kini62]

Originally posted by: mooncancook
Mac mini for web surfing and daily productivity. damn those spywares and trojans.

True, true, true. I've had to clean out my wife's Aunt's PC twice in 6 months and all she uses if for is internet and email. Spyware was rooted in the registry, had to do a manual search and delete. If she's not computer "savvy" go for the Mac

 

[Erssa]

To me Mac just seems like a perfect simple solution for the kind of usage you described. Surfing, homework, music, movies... sounds like a Mac to me. I have never owned a Mac or used a Mac mini, but from my short experience the small annoying differences won't trouble too long. Besides it fits nicely to your budget and saves you the trouble of building/installation. Mac mini just looks so damn good that it even lures me to buy one. It's just so small and cute, same goes for OS X. Yeah add ons would probably cost a bit, but would she really need any? Except maybe iPod?

 

[FreshFish]

LOL, ok, I want more than 256MB ram (because I have an ibook and I know that to multitask, you need more). I also want a keyboard and mouse....plus I want an LCD monitor which will run about 200-300. All that together with the cheaper of the two mac minis will be about 800 or a little more...

 

[DanDaMan315]

Get her a 64 2800, then she can go 64-bit later without upgrading. The price on that processor is getting sooo low.

 

[Erssa]

Well if PC is the way you want to go I would suggest you read this article http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/print/sempron-2600.html
They overclocked that 2600+ sempron from 1.6ghz to 2.5ghz at 79$ it's pretty good value.

EPOX EP-8KDA3J NVIDIA nForce3 250 Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 754 CPU -RETAIL 69$ for motherboard and I bet you can get pretty decent overclocks from it. I think it is almost the same motherboard as the gold editor's choise, but this one lacks Sil3114 and therefore only 2 sata ports instead of the 6. Overall changing those parts would boost performance quite a bit for 29$.

 

[sirspotti]

a girlfriend rig? sounds like you wanna start dating a computer

 

[cryogenic666]

paint it pink while you're at it.

 

[MisterChief]

Hey FreshFish, would you happen to live in the SoCal area, and is your girlfriend a cheerleader? Cause your delema sounds familiar...

 

[manisero]

Originally posted by: cryogenic666
paint it pink while you're at it.

http://www.tekido.com/sample_pc6070_hot_pink.htm

 

[cryogenic666]

and it's only $600! Not bad... he should get her one of those.

Edit: that's for the case and keyboard/mouse combo only! Nevermind.

 

[l Xes l]

 

[l Xes l]

well.. first i would dust her good ole' laptop... computers without proper dusting for a long time will eventually die...

 

[jpeyton]

Not a big fan of the Aria. Also, bottom line, if she's not going to game, you don't need to worry about squeezing every bit of performance out of the machine...just get something simple and bulletproof.

Shuttle ST62KS "Zen" SFF Socket 478 $173 After MIR

Intel Celeron D 2.26GHz 256Kb L2 533FSB Retail $72

Geil Ultra Value Series 512MB (256MBx2) Dual Channel PC3200 $61.83

Acer AL1715w 17" 12ms LCD Monitor $230

Seagate 80GB 7200RPM PATA $64.99

BenQ 16X DL DVD+/-RW $55.49

Optional Stuff

Logitech Keyboard/Optical Mouse $24.99

Creative I-Trigue 2.1 Speaker System $85.99

Of course, I highly recommend you shop around for the parts. Check Pricewatch and Pricegrabber for the lowest shipped prices, and cross reference those vendors with Resellerratings.com

BTW, I chose that particular model Celeron D because it has a 17x multiplier, and it will overclock to 3.4GHz like cake. All you do is drop the chip in, strap on the Shuttle heatpipe, and set the BIOS to 800FSB and you're cruising at 3.4GHz in a very quiet, small, and capable package. The Shuttle also has Vcore adjustment should your Celeron need a slight bump in voltage (but probably not).

The Celeron Ds also run cool, which is great for SFF use. The Shuttle Zen is overall one of the quietest off-the-shelf barebones computers you can buy, and your GF will appreciate that. It also has that chic pearl white "Apple"-esque color to it.

Actually, the Shuttle Zen is the computer that SilentPCReview uses in their testing lab. Those guys are a bit nuts about silence, and they modded the thing further with a Panaflo 80mm L1A (about $3) attached to a Zalman Fanmate (about $1)...they also used a notebook hard drive instead of a desktop hard drive, which substantially lowered noise as well.

Also, if you think Celeron's are slow, you're right. But Celeron D's are very capable, especially when you're running it at 3.4GHz at 800FSB. Much faster than your Socket A Sempron...but a Socket 754 Sempron is another story...

 

[halfadder]

Get her a little Sony VAIO, chicks dig those little notebooks. Maybe get her a new cameraphone to go along with it?

Mac Mini would probably give you the least headaches, but could actually cause more if she can't find the start button!

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: Erssa
To me Mac just seems like a perfect simple solution for the kind of usage you described. Surfing, homework, music, movies... sounds like a Mac to me. I have never owned a Mac or used a Mac mini, but from my short experience the small annoying differences won't trouble too long. Besides it fits nicely to your budget and saves you the trouble of building/installation. Mac mini just looks so damn good that it even lures me to buy one. It's just so small and cute, same goes for OS X. Yeah add ons would probably cost a bit, but would she really need any? Except maybe iPod?

It's a good idea, but if she already has a Windows version of MS Office, which is pretty much the standard for "homework doing" (for emailing those last minute papers, printing at school, and so on), Office for Mac is an added cost for the Mac Mini that wouldn't be there for a Windows machine. Just something to consider.

As for the system, aren't Athlon XPs still better than Semprons? It's a larger L2 cache, and the ...+ rating on a Sempron compares to a Celeron, but the ...+ rating on an XP compares to a P4. Or am I mistaken? (AMD's product line confuses me right now.)