First time building a computer

Nichololas

OK, we're due for a new computer here and I've decided to build my own instead of going down the Dell road. It's my first time attempting something like this so if you could point out some obvious flaws or potential problems i'd be obliged. :>

Opted for:

• Shuttle SN45G
• AMD Athlon XP3000+
• Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 160GB 8MB 7200RPM
• Crucial PC2700 DDR-DIMM 512MB (x2)
• Sapphire Radeon 9800 Atlantis PRO 128MB
• Toshiba CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo
• Sony Floppy Drive

I've checked through and i'm reasonably certain that everythings compatible. Again please point out any problems.

Now the SN45G comes with onboard Sound, and I was wondering if I should leave that or get a different soundcard?

The Sapphire Radeon 9800Pro comes in Retail, Lite-Retail and "Ultimate Edition" Full-Retail. There's a €130 difference between the Lite-Retail and Retail versions, and I was wondering what causes the disparity in prices between versions of the same graphics card?

The Shuttle is small-form factor with no fan, and although I probably won't overclock anything (for a while, at any rate), could there be a problem with heat?

More questions will be asked when I remember them.


Thanks in advance everyone. :cool:

silverside

you could save a bit of money by going for a 2500+ which you could then overclock later if desired. 2500 mobile chip is good and will be cooler again.

Go for 3200 RAM, its almost the same price as 2700, but is faster and will allow you to run at 200 FSB if you want to. Crucial is good and they guarantee compativility.

I think the retail 9800 comes with fancier packaging and a copy of half-life 2. The lite retail or "OEM" version will do you fine. Some of them are soft moddable to 9800XT as well.

You may want to get a DVD burner, they can be got for 100 euro nowadays and will allow you to burn movies or backup 5 gigs at a time.

Seagate and Samsung are also good drives, I think they have a better reputation for reliabiltiy and quietness than the maxtor, though the maxtor is cheaper.

I think the shuttle *DOES* have one or two small fans. heat may be a problem however with the 9800pro. There are various replacement fans and blowers you can install quite easily to cool it down a bit.

The onboard sound should be OK - depends how fussy you are as to whether you want a new soundcard. If you are going for a new soundcard you should spend around the 100 euro mark to get a noticeable imporvement. look at the Terratec Aureon range along with the Soundblaster Audigy. The terratec have the advantage of working at 44.1 internally which is slightly better for playing MP3's or CD's, for games theyre both good.

Biostar and MSI also make SFF systems. Biostar have had some very good reviews - I am going for one in preference to a shuttle.

secret_squirrel

Definately consider an XP2500+ and overclocking it to a 3200 I've done a SN42G2 and a SN45 fairly easily.

Definately go for PC3200 ram. Even the cheapy stuff would be better than PC2700.

Shuttle has two fans ICE fan (heatpipe and case cooling) and PSU fan.

If you are intending on running a 9800 Pro make sure you have the rev2 SN45 with the 250W silentx psu. Earlier SN45's came with an 200w or 220w that really struggles with 9700/9800 pro's power demands. This may result in not/dodgy booting up or a distorted display.

I have the 120Gig DiamondMax and it works well.

Onboard sound works well for me. I only have 2 channel (but fantastic speakers)

Ditto on the DVD burner.

[edit] not sure if the shuttles bios will go low enough on v.core (1.45) for an XP-m [/edit]
[edit2]Maybe consider a internal memory card reader instead of a floppy. Also the shuttle Wlan module doesnt take up any slots (although it does take a usb header)[/edit2]

Col_Loki

The Sapphire Radeon 9800Pro comes in Retail, Lite-Retail and "Ultimate Edition" Full-Retail.

The lite edition is the same as the retail version except with out the "frills". This is supposed to mean it doesent come with the games which would be crappy ones like tomb raider. The HL2 coupon only comes with some of the XT versions of some cards and NOT the sapphire 9800pro retail or ultimate edition.

The "ultimate" edition is the same as the retail (has some games) with the exception that it has a huge cooler on it with no fans. This means its passivly cooled and thus creates no noise. Dont go for the ultimate as im pretty sure it wont fit in your case, and its also generally a waste of money.

Have a look here for some guidlines and explanations of come performance issues etc http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=152842

Nichololas

Originally posted by secret_squirrel
If you are intending on running a 9800 Pro make sure you have the rev2 SN45 with the 250W silentx psu. Earlier SN45's came with an 200w or 220w that really struggles with 9700/9800 pro's power demands. This may result in not/dodgy booting up or a distorted display.

SN45G doesn't come with SilentX psu, and the only place I can find it is www.jes-computers.de and I'd prefer somewhere closer to home/in English. The Shuttle SN41G2V2 model comes with it as standard so it'd be cheaper to buy that then SN45G plus the SilentX PSU - handier also. Only problem is that the SN45G is more easily available (komplett.ie). Can only find the SN41G2V2 at American sites (newegg.com).
Changed from Radeon 9800 Pro Ultimate Edition to Lite-Retail, Crucial 2700 to 3200 and from Maxtor to Seagate Barracuda.

Only problem I really have now is the PSU. I'll be using a CRT which uses 145w Operational. I can't find out how much watts the graphics card needs (or everything else, for that matter). Can anyone quote some numbers?


P.S thanks for the help everyone :rolleyes:

EDIT: found SilentX PSU Unit here.

secret_squirrel

Sorry thought there was a sn45v2 as well. I would deffers get the sn41g2v2 if you can find it on these or nearby shores. I had a quick look at my usual suspects and couldnt see it.

overclockers.co.uk used to be good for shuttle but they dont have any atm

Shuttle psu doesnt have out plug from the psu for your monitor anyhows... so its just the cpu, hd, and gfx plus burner.

And as for the 9800 pro it seems like its a real random chance of whether it works ok or not. check the forums on www.sudhian.com real mixed bag of working and not working. I guess its mostly down to the variations in quality of the psu.

Edit : I paid 40 sterling for my silent x from tekheads.co.uk also saw it at www.kustompcs.co.uk and aria.co.uk

aaf

Why are you going for a shuttle pc? I hear there's not too much room for future upgrades inside them. Just a thought. If you're going for the 9800 pro, you may as well splash out on a decent sound card. From reading here on boards.ie, I think the Audigy 2 is the soundcard of choice for gamers although it comes in different flavours (and prices!). Platinum edition? I've got the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 soundcard which is better for music. You might also consider a DVD RW drive as already mentioned. Dirt cheap and worth every cent. I've got the NEC ND-2500A and I'm very happy with it. The Pioneer 107 is supposed to be a nice drive aswell.

T-b0n3

My current comp is very like the one your building. I have a sn45g with 9800pro and dont have any problems mate. The only thing is its quite loud. Im planning on modding it by putting on a VGA Silencer on my 9800pro , otherwise Ive had no problems. On board sound seem good to me , definetly better than my sound on my Dell PC.
Hope that helps. If you have any more questions , post away.

Adam

{edit} Also on 200watt PSU , the on that comes with it {edit}

Nichololas

Been looking around a bit more.

Can't find the SN41G2V2 close to home, so I'm crossing that off the list. Installing the SilentX PSU is fairly simple so I'm just going to opt for SN45G and add it in.

There's a revised version of the SN45G with a revised motherboard. There's apparently a problem with VDIMM on this that can fúck it up royally, so I'm to steer clear of that if I get a Rev. 2 (which is likely as there don't seem to be any Rev. 1's in Europe anymore).

Sound from the computer doesn't really bother me (cant hear it with headphones on) and I'm not an audiophile so I'm going to keep the onboard sound. Adding SilentX PSU should quiet it down anyway but I'm mainly adding it to be on the safe side in regards to the 9800 Pro.

After all this my new comp should look something like this;

• Shuttle SN45G
• SilentX PSU 250w
• AMD Athlon XP3000+ Barton
• Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb Lite-Retail
• Seagate Barracuda 160GB 8MB cache 7200RPM
• Crucial PC3200 DDR-DIMM 512MB (x2)
• Toshiba CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Internal
• 7 in 1 Media Drive Internal

I'd be burning music CD's more than I'd be backing up stuff on DVD's so I figured I'd have the CD-RW/DVD Rom internal and an external DVD-RW if I really needed it.

The rest of my setup is going to be an Iiyama 19" CRT, Sharkoon Luminous III Keyboard, Logitech mx500 and DKT PAD mousemat. :cool:

Thanks for all the help everyone, it's helped mightily.

neokenzo

Originally posted by Enlil_Nick
I'd be burning music CD's more than I'd be backing up stuff on DVD's so I figured I'd have the CD-RW/DVD Rom internal and an external DVD-RW if I really needed it.

DVD-RW's can play DVDs and burn CD-RW as well. Might as well get just the one rather than getting 2 as the isnt a huge difference in price.

secret_squirrel

Originally posted by T-b0n3
The only thing is its quite loud. Im planning on modding it by putting on a VGA Silencer on my 9800pro

Have you seen the vga silencer mods on the sff forum on www.sudhian.com ? Its a bit of a fiddle to fit to a shuttle. But those forums have some good guides in them

Col_Loki

Pc3200 Ram isint really going to be that much of an advantage to you TBH as you would need to overclock to take any advantage of it. Given that its pretty much the same price as Pc2700 its still a wise choice as it might be hand when upgrading.

A way to take advantage of it and save a few bob would be to get an Xp2500+ and overclock it......... very popular round here and you can see why!!