Small Form Factor The Complete SFF FAQ/Guide

Hi all!

After several members of the forums requested some information regarding Small form factor PCs, I've started writing this FAQ/Guide for anyone new to the subject. This is a work in progress, so please bear with me.

If you'd like to add anything to the FAQ, then please email me:

nchandler <at> gmail <dot> com

or you could add me to your contact list on msn messenger with nchandler@gmail.com
Enjoy!


Blue Infinity's SFF FAQ

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Part 1 - Introduction


What are SFF PC's?
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SFF PC's are PCs which are smaller than the ATX standard form factor (the most common form factor in PC's).

Shuttle began the wave of SFF PCs with it's "Shuttle" range and since then other manufacturers have hopped on the bandwagon and are producing rival PCs.


Motherboard types
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MicroATX-These boards are slightly smaller than the usual ATX motherboards and offer similar performance, which is excellent news for gamers and those who want a powerful system. However if you're looking for a really small system, this may be too bulky for you.

This leads me to Flex ATX, a form factor which shuttle uses for it's SFF PCs, and the most common in the world of Small Form Factor. Like micro-atx motherboards, these boards offer similar performance to mid-range ATX motherboards, however you won't find the range of advanced features that one might expect from boards such as the NF7 (Socket A) or IC7 (P4). For an ordinary user, doing things such as browsing the interweb or playing basic games, systems containing Flex-ATX motherboards are ideal as space-savers. Even a power-user, playing demanding games (HL2 and Doom 3 anyone?) can expect to be pleased with a flex-atx based system, as they accept most new(ish) graphics cards and nearly all new processors (including dual opterons and athlon 64).

Mini-ITX is one of the smallest form-factors available today, and normally contains an integrated CPU. These motherboards are NOT designed for gaming, so you will be disappointed if you buy one for this purpose. They are, however, ideal for HTPC or general use. The motherboards are quite expensive, around the same amount as a high-end ATX motherboard, but they are abosolutely tiny! A small amount bigger than a CD in fact...


What's the performance like?
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Depending on the components you choose (ill be expanding on this later), and whether you choose a motherboard with a socket or one with an integrated processor, an SFF PC can be every bit as good as a normal ATX PC, or even better. SFF PC's can use either Pentium processors or AMD processors so you will be able to use that top-of-the-range, electricity-guzzling monster of a processor you spent your life savings on!



The next installment will be posted very soon!

 

Part Two: Cooling

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Barebones SFF PCs use various cooling systems, including Shuttle's I.C.E heatpipe system, however some accept normal heatsinks and fans. A common misconception about these cooling systems is that they are somehow not up to the standard of a mid-range ordinary heatsink and fan, but they are often much more efficient, and often much quieter! This is because SFFs are geared towards being kept on top of the desk rather than underneath so they need to be quiet.
<Edit> I'd like to add this:
The heatpipe system in shuttles works through having a metal block on top of the CPU, with pipes leading of it, to a heatsink at the back of the case. In front of this heatsink is a quiet fan, to blow the hot air away. It's incredibly quiet and efficient! </edit>


Anyway, how could I leave watercooling out of a cooling section?

Many people have been able to successfully fit watercooling to Shuttles, and it would be even easier to fit H20 to an SFF system which has a micro atx mother board, as it's likely that they would have more room inside for pumps and radiators etc...

Here are some useful links:

http://forums.sudhian.com/messageview.cfm?catid=46&threadid=61160&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=&STARTPAGE=1
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http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=9942&goto=nextoldest
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http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=23413


That concludes the cooling part, there's really not much to add about it, but as always, if there is please email me. Next update will be coming to you soon....

PS. I'm on the case (had to use that phrase ) about getting the info for whether different graphics cards will fit in different models.

 

Part 3: Cooling continued...

(thanks to phase for this section )

More cooling:

One of the best things about the ice system is that it takes a standard 80mm, 25mm thick fan, which leaves you a lot of choice for varying the cooling/noise/price ratios.

In my experience most people want there shuttle quieter than stock, so that’s what this post will concentrate on.

Like any 80mm fan position, there are a lot of options. Most notably:

Panaflo L1A:
A quiet fan with good airflow. Quite noisy at 100% but speedfan soon sorts that out.

Noiseblocker S3: Slightly noisier than the panaflo, particularly at low voltages. Moves more air.

Vantec Stealth: Not stealthy! Generally avoid these in shuttles!

Nexus 17dB: My favourite. Almost silent, and moves a reasonable amount of air. No noticeable difference in temperatures compared to the panaflo, but definitely quieter.

Silenx 80mm: Ive heard very good things about these, but personal experience has not been great. My fan was much louder than the nexus, even at low speedfan values. It may have been a bad fan however, as my experience does not tally with the published values and other peoples results.

My personal favourite is the Nexus, but most people find the cheaper Panaflo perfectly adequate! Its all relative, one persons silent is another’s raging hurricane! The SilenX are generally the most expensive on the list, and although many people have had very good experiences with them, I found mine to be much louder than the Nexus, but I am still waiting to hear whether it was a faulty fan.

In addition to changing the ICE fan, those without SilenX PSUs often change their PSU fan as well. There are no where near as many 40mm options, and www.ultim8pc.co.uk seem to sell the quietest and most often used replacement.

Finally, for those who don’t mind modding their case a bit, cutting the stamped grill from the back of the case tends to decrease air resistance, so improves both temperatures and the amount of ‘wind noise’ made.

 

Yea everyone's welcome to post questions or requests here, but later if it gets too much then i might consolidate all the q's into one post and ask one of the less evil mods to clean the thread up a bit.

Part 4 (I think...)

Seeing as people have asked about the places that you can buy shuttles/other sff goodies...

UK
http://www.microdirect.co.uk - Good value, easy to use site, they stock all types of shuttle and other barebones systems.
http://www.savastore.com - Not a great range of SFFs, but still alright.
http://www.gemma.co.uk/ - Probably the best place for shuttles in the UK, but I found the site a bit tricky to navigate.
http://www.shoeboxcomputers.com/index.php - Stocks the products of many different manufacturers. Definately a place to check out.

US
http://www.newegg.com - I've not dealt with them personally, but they've got an excellent line-up of various barebones systems. A good place if you're in the US.
http://www.ebay.com - Yes it's second-hand but you'll get some real bargains on ebay.
www.zipzoomfly.com - Added on request from Silent death...

Just motherboards
UK: http://www.gemma.co.uk or direct from shuttle.
US: Direct from shuttle.

That's it for now, but tomorrow I'll be putting together a modding/tweaking section. Enjoy!

Edit: Whoa that was close, I typed all this out, and then copied it just to be safe, then i clicked "preview post" and it crashed! lol that was seriously lucky...

Edit2: Just realised I linked to ebay.co.uk in the US section...

 

Having sat on my ass for a week, I thought it was time to finish off this part of the guide that I promised for last week.

Part 5: Modding (I'm going to add another bit to this when I can borrow my grandma's camera)

OK, well the first thing I'm going to cover is adding a sidepanel window to your shuttle. Since I don't have a camera at the moment, and it's getting a bit dim as well, I've just scrounged some pics for elsewhere, however you get the idea, and i'll change it when I get access to a camera.

Right so you've got your shuttle:


Step 1: Take the cover off your shuttle.

Step 2: Mask off the sidepanel with masking tape and mark the design of your window on in pencil.



Step 3: Use your dremel or other cutting tool to carefully cut out the shape you marked in pencil. Try to cut just inside the lines so you can de-burr them afterwards with a file or sandpaper to make it look schweet!



Step 4: Either use window molding to attach a piece of plexiglass/mesh to your sidepanel or simply attach it on the inside of the panel using strong double-sided tape.

Coming next..a proper guide (with my own proper pics as opposed to ones i've just searched quickly around for) on how to replace your ICE fan and light your SFF case effectively.

 

Thanks Xen0phobiak, I'll let you know...

Alright well I'm going to post the latest installment in the guide, fan replacement. We've had a great section written by phase about which fan to choose for the ICE cooling system in Shuttles, but you may still be unaware how to replace the fan.

This process took about 15 minutes for me, and it was my first time doing this, plus I was taking pictures at regular intervals so it's by no means a long job. As I said, I have taken a lot of pictures so hopefully this will be easy to follow!

Part 6: Fan replacement

Step 1: Unplug everything from the back of your shuttle, it'll make it much easier to get at various screws etc.



Step 2: Remove all of the screws that are holding the cover onto the main frame of the shuttle.



Step 3: Remove the drive cage, and unplug any molex connectors or IDE cables.



Step 4: The ICE cooling unit will then be exposed. You don't need to remove the actual cooling block from the CPU, so don't waste time with it.



Step 5: You can then proceed with unscrewing the fan grill and the fan from the heatsink housing, but don't forget to unscrew the screws on the back of the shuttle, as shown in the second picture for this step.







Step 6: You'll need to then lift the main heatsink housing upwards to slide it out of the shuttle. The fan has to be removed through the rear of the housing so you will have to unplug the fan before removing it. The first picture for this step shows the top of the housing. You should pull the housing upwards (towards the camera in this case). In the second picture you can see the housing without a fan grill, removed from it's mountings.



Step 6: Well this isn't really a step but here you can see how the fan is supposed to be removed, through the back of the housing, and the second picture is of the fan wire which needs to be unplugged.





So now all you need to do is connect your cables back up, screw everything back in (after you've replaced the fan) and listen to the silence!

If any of the pics here are a bit messed up then please let me know! ferox65@gmail.com (my new addy).

//edit: forgot to mention first time round that I'll do some sort of lighting section on how to get the best lighting with a case window in an SFF PC. Or something else if no-one wants to hear the lighting thingy....

 

It's really the same to do these mods to a shuttle or SFF PC as it is to a tower. Also the 120mm fan can be added using an 80mm to 120mm fan adapter, which can be found easily on the interweb.

I'm going to get Xen0 to make this into a sticky like he kindly offered a few months ago. I think I've covered everything that is SFF specific, but if you think something should be added, then email me (nchandler@gmail.com) or tell me on MSN at the same address.