I'm looking for a sub $200 Shuttle SFF box for my wife's Grandma for christmas. I need Socket A, but want to stay away from NF2 based machines because I want to go budget on the RAM and based on my experiences with cheap RAM on my A7N8X-DX, that is something you want to stay away from with a NF2 if you want a trouble free system. I figure with the VIA single channel chipsets I can get away with some cheap Kingston DDR. Anyway, I am looking at the SK41G and the SK43G at Newegg, and both look like they will work fine for what she is doing (web browsing, office work, digital photography), even though they won't do games using the onboard graphics. The SK41G seems to have some good reviews at Newegg and looks like it should run pretty stable (which is a big concern because I want it to be a trouble free as possible). The SK43G is out, but I haven't found any reviews yet. The new features like SATA are nice, but I just don't know if it is worth it for the extra $15. Also, I worry that there might be a few bugs that haven't been worked out yet since it is such a new machine. Support for 400 MHz FSB is not an issue, since I will be throwing in my AXP 2000+ in the machine (so I can upgrade myself to a 2500+ and hopefully OC it with a faster FSB once I get some PC3200 RAM).
So should I settle for the older SK41G or spend a bit more for the new hotness? Anyone tried the new model yet?
So should I settle for the older SK41G or spend a bit more for the new hotness? Anyone tried the new model yet?
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