I posted this at TR, but Anandtech is my first home and usually the discussions are better here, so I thought I'd repost it (sorry if you think it's spam):
I'm sold on the Shuttle XPCs.
Shuttle's been keeping the same form factor for all off the latest ones, and they say that they're planning on keeping it for a while, so at least there's hope for a future mobo upgrade. I know it's hard to find an FS51 now, but hopefully the XPC mobos will become more available as XPC sales grow. I imagine sales will jump when the SN41 and SK41 come out, as lots of people have been waiting for AMD SFF systems with an AGP slot for a while, and the dual-channel DDR RAM doesn't hurt either.
The only thing that I'm worried about is the single 5.25" bay. I'll be getting a CD-RW/DVD combo drive, but that's obviously not as good as my Pioneer 106s/Plextor 24x10x40 combo. That's the only big sacrifice I'm making for size, which isn't too bad. I'm also dropping from a Game Theater XP to the onboard audio, so I won't be using the SB51G (I'm hoping to get one next month) for a full multimedia comp, but that's not what I have in mind for it.
Why I'm getting it: School is far from home, and I have two long breaks during the year.
Problem: Parent's comp = PII-450 (I'll leave out the details, but just assume everything's just as old).
My old solution: Box up my current box and bring it home as checked baggage. So, what's wrong with that solution? 1) I forgot to take off my heatsink once, so the clip broke and it rattled around in my computer (luckily, no damage was done). I replaced it with an Alpha PAL8045, which has four screws to attach it, so it?s really annoying to remove it for transport. 2) It's big and really heavy (I got my case just before the aluminum cases started hitting the big-time). Normal baggage + back pack + 40lb box = ugg?
New solution: SB51G. I'll spurge and buy the XPC Carrying Bag and hopefully get away with it being a "personal item" so I can carry it onboard with me along with my backpack (usually holding my PS2).
The other solution would be to ship my computer via UPS or FedEx, which is
$40 * two ways * twice a year = $160/year...
Ouchie... not doing that.
Oh, this is what I'll be throwing in my SB51G (don't laugh - I'm a college student on a college student budget):
P4 2.4B
256MB Mushkin PC3000 (got it a few days ago - just before the price increase)
GeForce4 Ti 4200 (from old comp)
80MB WD Special Edition
Plextor DVD/CDRW combo
ATI TV-Wonder PCI (from old comp)
Why SFF works for me: I don't use SCSI, and when I'm at school, I'll have my other two computers which I can use for anything my XPC can't do (or doesn't do as well, like CD copying). The XPC is a convenience for me when I go home, but when I?m at school, which is most of the year, I?ll still have my two conventional towers to bail me out. If the onboard sound isn?t as good as my GTXP, then I?ll just have to use my ?old? computer to play MP3s/Divx/DVDs. When I?m at home, my speakers aren?t good enough to notice the difference between in audio quality, so I won?t care. Also, I?m used to using two computers (one Linux box for programming ? go emacs ? and one Windows box for gaming/casual usage), so the addition of the third won?t be too big of a deal.
Basically, the Shuttle XPCs fit my needs very well, and where it doesn?t quite live up to what I want (rare occasions), I?ll have other computers waiting to take its place.
Sorry for the longwinded post, but most people seemed anti-SFF, so I wanted to explain why they could be very useful. I?m also waiting for the noise to die down from the Halloween parties, so I can sleep enough to stay awake for my 8:00 class tomorrow.
Squibby
<end repost>
So, what are your thoughts about Shuttle's XPCs/SFF in general?
I know most people interested in SFF go to Sudhian's SFF forum, but I'm not sure about Sudhian's ties with Shuttle (they seem a little too close to be unbiased), so I'm not as comfortable posting there.
I'm sold on the Shuttle XPCs.
Shuttle's been keeping the same form factor for all off the latest ones, and they say that they're planning on keeping it for a while, so at least there's hope for a future mobo upgrade. I know it's hard to find an FS51 now, but hopefully the XPC mobos will become more available as XPC sales grow. I imagine sales will jump when the SN41 and SK41 come out, as lots of people have been waiting for AMD SFF systems with an AGP slot for a while, and the dual-channel DDR RAM doesn't hurt either.
The only thing that I'm worried about is the single 5.25" bay. I'll be getting a CD-RW/DVD combo drive, but that's obviously not as good as my Pioneer 106s/Plextor 24x10x40 combo. That's the only big sacrifice I'm making for size, which isn't too bad. I'm also dropping from a Game Theater XP to the onboard audio, so I won't be using the SB51G (I'm hoping to get one next month) for a full multimedia comp, but that's not what I have in mind for it.
Why I'm getting it: School is far from home, and I have two long breaks during the year.
Problem: Parent's comp = PII-450 (I'll leave out the details, but just assume everything's just as old).
My old solution: Box up my current box and bring it home as checked baggage. So, what's wrong with that solution? 1) I forgot to take off my heatsink once, so the clip broke and it rattled around in my computer (luckily, no damage was done). I replaced it with an Alpha PAL8045, which has four screws to attach it, so it?s really annoying to remove it for transport. 2) It's big and really heavy (I got my case just before the aluminum cases started hitting the big-time). Normal baggage + back pack + 40lb box = ugg?
New solution: SB51G. I'll spurge and buy the XPC Carrying Bag and hopefully get away with it being a "personal item" so I can carry it onboard with me along with my backpack (usually holding my PS2).
The other solution would be to ship my computer via UPS or FedEx, which is
$40 * two ways * twice a year = $160/year...
Ouchie... not doing that.
Oh, this is what I'll be throwing in my SB51G (don't laugh - I'm a college student on a college student budget):
P4 2.4B
256MB Mushkin PC3000 (got it a few days ago - just before the price increase)
GeForce4 Ti 4200 (from old comp)
80MB WD Special Edition
Plextor DVD/CDRW combo
ATI TV-Wonder PCI (from old comp)
Why SFF works for me: I don't use SCSI, and when I'm at school, I'll have my other two computers which I can use for anything my XPC can't do (or doesn't do as well, like CD copying). The XPC is a convenience for me when I go home, but when I?m at school, which is most of the year, I?ll still have my two conventional towers to bail me out. If the onboard sound isn?t as good as my GTXP, then I?ll just have to use my ?old? computer to play MP3s/Divx/DVDs. When I?m at home, my speakers aren?t good enough to notice the difference between in audio quality, so I won?t care. Also, I?m used to using two computers (one Linux box for programming ? go emacs ? and one Windows box for gaming/casual usage), so the addition of the third won?t be too big of a deal.
Basically, the Shuttle XPCs fit my needs very well, and where it doesn?t quite live up to what I want (rare occasions), I?ll have other computers waiting to take its place.
Sorry for the longwinded post, but most people seemed anti-SFF, so I wanted to explain why they could be very useful. I?m also waiting for the noise to die down from the Halloween parties, so I can sleep enough to stay awake for my 8:00 class tomorrow.
Squibby
<end repost>
So, what are your thoughts about Shuttle's XPCs/SFF in general?
I know most people interested in SFF go to Sudhian's SFF forum, but I'm not sure about Sudhian's ties with Shuttle (they seem a little too close to be unbiased), so I'm not as comfortable posting there.
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