Small Form Factor What SFF/Barebones for an XP2400+

Hey guys,

I just fried my mobo BIOS so roather than buying a new mobo, I thought I'd spend the money on taking the working parts out of my pc and making a semi-decent media pc/pvr.

Any suggestions as to what SFF/Barebones system I should get for an XP2400+ cpu? I'm not looking at spending much so rather than new kit that works with older processors I'd like to get something from the for sale forum or ebay.

Thanks.

 

From the shuttle range:

SN45G
SN41G2 - More expensive, not as fast, but has onboard graphics and looks nicer

I would go for the SN45G. But of course there are several other options besides shuttle.

 

Excellent I'll have a look at those.

I've always felt a bit unsure about shuttles I seem to recall a friend telling me his mate had one and although nice was noisy as hell..... I'm assuming that maybe he had an ealry shuttle and that this wouldn't be a problem now.

 

I have a shuttle SN41G2 and its lovely. Dunno why Tomm® would call it slower tho, the difference is not noticable!

the BioStar iDEQ seem pretty nice too.

 

I said "not as fast"

Basically, the SN45 is capable of 400MHz, due to the nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset. The SN41 can only officially support processors up to 333MHz, hence slower. I've not used one though so I can't comment on how fast it'll actually go. Although the CPU you're planning to use is in fact 333MHz anyway, so you'll be fine as long as you don't need to overclock.

I have a shuttle SN85G4 V2, and it's amazingly quiet. I think the V2 version came with an upgraded fan, which is apparently a lot quieter than the V1. With a passively cooled graphics card it was really quiet, I've practically doubled the noise by putting my 9800 in. However, I think the SN45/SN41 comes with the cheaper Sunon fan, so won't be as quiet. Although it's easily changable

 

Yeah, I dumped the Sunon from my SN41G2 as quickly as I could.

I used to run a ThermalTake SmartFan II, but it somehow died. (?!)

Now, I run a push-pull set up. 80mm on the inside, 120mm on the outside. Quiet as can be, blooooooo, and still fits in the original Shuttle box for easy LANage.

 

The SN41G2 will do 400mhz fine if you dont use the onboard GFX.

 

fortunately 400mhz isn't a requirement for me as none of the parts that will go in the box can be considered new.

For the majority of the time I'll be using the system purely to play divx/xvid and mp3s, even when I come to setting up recording and ripping I'm sure it will be more than enough.