So which SFF pc would you get? The Shuttle?

[KDOG]

The Shuttle seems to very popular. But they are a few model that weren't in the Anandtech round up. I just would like to see VIA jump into the fray with a SFF KT400A board. One thing that bugs me is that you can't get the lil mobo's seperate from the case...

 

[ElFenix]

they're just flex atx boards...

 

[stultus]

I'm really close to getting the SN41G2. There's decent community support for it at the SFFTech forums, and it seems the best that's out there. The SB51G is the same price, and has worse on-board vid, vid-out, and sound than the nforce offering. Plus, there's lots of threads on modding the SN41G2 to be quiet, and other assorted stuff. I might just buy tomorrow...

 

[bluemax]

I just wish they weren't so bloomin' expensive!! $400 for a case, motherboard and cooling system? Even if the onboard video and sound IS good, that's $400 BEFORE CPU/RAM/HDD!

You could build a microATX tiny/micro-tower and have a standard uATX mobo for just over HALF that!
But then, I suppose, you wouldn't have the bragging rights of a "Shuttle" cube.

 

[vetteguy]

The new AMS GBox Blue is a really good offering. It supports the 533MHz fsb P4's with HT, has a side window with air vents, USB2.0, FireWire, integrated handle, etc. Check it out here. I have the original Gbox with 400MHzz fsb and it's been a great system. There are quite a few people over at sudhian who are giving this high praise. Couple that with the fact that the board admin (who either works for Shuttle or is a paid promoter, not exactly sure) has been ripping on it, it must be a contender!

 

[stultus]

If we were just to compare raw hardware features/upgradability, doesn't an Nforce system always win?

I'd say eye-candy is eye-candy, and they both look pretty comperable. But the SN41G2 has better sound and video. And socket A chips are usually more affordable. (That said, I've been running Intel for about a year and have loved it.) It just seems to me that if I'm paying $300+ for a mini-system, I'd better be darned sure I'm getting the most for my money.

Unless you can definitively add in other aspects, like noise, heat, then they're pretty even.

Where is the gBox getting high priase?
EDIT: You must be talking about this thread. I don't know... if I could get it for $250 then maybe I'd go for it, but... the nforce is looking technically superior, and for only about $25 more, it's not a big deal. If I were a diehard Intel fanboy, then the gbox would probably be great, but I'm just looking for the best (it turns out I end up swapping between intel and AMD at every upgrade ). Feel free to convince me of the error of my ways

For the SB51G, you can only OC up to about 140FSB (which isn't bad if you do the pin mod on a 400 MHz chip like my 1.6a). For the gbox blue, it looks the same - about 140 MHz. For the SB41G2, I see people pushing their chips to 166+ FSBs. I'm thinking the SN41G2 and a 2100+ is a good place to be.

 

[bluemax]

I love the fact the new nForce2 shuttle has twinview right out of the box...... mmmm *slurp*

 

[SUOrangeman]

If MSI releases an nForce2 version of this beauty, we may have a true winner.

-SUO

 

[thorin]

Originally posted by: KDOG
The Shuttle seems to very popular. But they are a few model that weren't in the Anandtech round up. I just would like to see VIA jump into the fray with a SFF KT400A board. One thing that bugs me is that you can't get the lil mobo's seperate from the case...

MSIs new Mega400 is based on the Via KM400+ Chipset. And you can buy Mini-iTX board and FlexATX boards seperate from cases.

See here (CAN), here (EU), and here (USA/CAN) .

Thorin