Help me build a Shuttle/Windows 7 PC please.

milltown

There's two aging PCs on the desk at home, one of which even predates SATA and PCI-e. One hardly gets used at all (the newer one, ironically) and the other is mainly concerned with web, email, bit-torrent, converting and burning movies, and the occasional bit of office work.

With Windows 7 on the way, and hopefully a freebie at the launch later this week, I might use it as an excuse to freshen up the hardware. I had a nice little Shuttle XPC a few years ago and would like to go back to something similar. Would like something reasonably powerful and semi-futureproof but doesn't need massive GFX grunt as any gaming I get to do these days is on the PS3.

My finger has been off the pulse for a bit too long now so I need advice on what works best these days. Should I be arsed with 64bit for example. Will a budget gfx solution be redundant once Direct X 11 is the norm, and should I care? I notice that quoted processor speeds haven't kept increasing but focus is on cores now. Do I need 4 cores?

One of the afforementioned desktops has 820gb of sata hard drives in it. Without going solid state, sata should be fine for the near future yes?

While the Shuttle was nice and reliable, if a little noisy, I'm open to other SFF or HTPC type layouts too. Just need a change from the big towers on the desk.

Any and all advice gratefully received, thanks.

Deano12345

Whats your budget and I'll get you a list of parts off Komplett.Check out adverts.ie,I seen someone selling a computer that should suit you (NZXT Rouge,4xxx Series card)

To answer a few of your questions...

64 bit is good,allows your system to use more than 3.25 Gb of total system memory.Go with it !

DX11 isn't nessicary at the moment and if your not gaming I wouldn't bother with it at all.

SATA HDD's are fine for the moment.

Quad Cores are awsome,but most dual cores will suit most people fine.

Any other questions just ask

Effluo

milltown wrote: »

There's two aging PCs on the desk at home, one of which even predates SATA and PCI-e. One hardly gets used at all (the newer one, ironically) and the other is mainly concerned with web, email, bit-torrent, converting and burning movies, and the occasional bit of office work.

Here's a pc for you!

http://www1.euro.dell.com/ie/en/home/Desktops/ct.aspx?refid=desktops&s=dhs&cs=iedhs1&~ck=mn

Get an inspiron with the minimum specs.. A dual core would be preferable with at least 2g's of ram!

You really don't need any more for what you do with your pc...
And you'll struggle to find better value!

However Those Dell's do come with an operating system.
So you could get one of these instead?
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/174022
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173624

Both would do you great!

You could get for a similar price a self build with the same kind of specs, you would have the options of what case you wanted and such... Although it would prob come out a bit more expensive!

Solitaire

NZXT Rogue =! Shuttle

The Rogue is about fifty times bigger than the average SFX rig...

SFX rigs are all proprietary; you have to get the case/mobo/PSU in one go and anything in the SFX form factor has a hefty price premium :rolleyes: A compact mATX system would be more the way to go if you fancy "small" over "cuboid"

Deano12345

Solitaire wrote: »

NZXT Rogue =! Shuttle

The Rogue is about fifty times bigger than the average SFX rig...

SFX rigs are all proprietary; you have to get the case/mobo/PSU in one go and anything in the SFX form factor has a hefty price premium :rolleyes: A compact mATX system would be more the way to go if you fancy "small" over "cuboid"

Technically the Rouge is an SFF

Solitaire

Its not Small Form Factor, let alone Shuttle Form Factor! Yeah, it can only take an mATX mobo but its also the size of a rhinocerous! :eek: