6800GT in a Shuttle SN45GV3?

[da.Guvna]

My dad recently ordered a 6800GT (made by 'Point Of View'.....never heard of them, but the reviews seem good) which he has said I can have in place of my current gfx card (Leadtek 6600GT).
Linky: http://komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=312761&cks=SPK

He plays games, but isn't particularly bothered about them looking amazing, so he'd be perfectly happy to use my current card, and let me have the upgrade.

The thing is, I recently migrated all of my components from a nice roomy midi tower, into an uber-compact shuttle barebones case (which I LOVE).
It's currently very stable, and I've only taken a very minor performance hit (gone from just under 8000 points in 3DMark03, to about 7100, but it's hardly noticeable in actual games).

Anyway, the shuttle comes with a 250W psu, which is also coping very well considering I've got the 6600GT, 2x 150GB hard drives, and a DVDRW in there.

So, 3 questions:

#1 - I know that the 6800GT is listed as needing a minimum recommended psu of 350W, but what I'm wondering is whether this is also true for Shuttle cases, as I have been told that the PSU's they run are highly efficient. Will my 250w cope?
You can now buy 300w psu's for them.....that's still below the recommended output, and people use the latest shuttles for gaming, so I'm assuming I could be right?

#2 - Even if my psu was capable of running the 6800GT (and remain stable), would I be wasting a good card by running it on a 2GHz Athlon XP with a 266MHz FSB? Is my CPU gonna cause such a bottleneck that I won't actually notice the difference btween a 6600GT and a 6800GT?
My dad is running an Athlon64 3000+ (or similar)....would he get more benefit from it?

#3 - Am I wasting my time worrying about this? I know that the 6800 Ultra takes up two expansion slots due to the large heatsink.....is the GT the same? If so, I won't have space for it anyway!

Cheers guys!

[alexander]

I had the 6800GT running in my old Shuttle SN45G and it worked fine, one slot.

Is the 2ghz AMD Chip 2ghz or 2000+? I had my 6800GT with a 3200+ Barton and it worked fine.

Since then I have decided that it was too small and noisy so I have moved over to a full size tower with a 3800+ Venice.

[da.Guvna]

Hello mate, quick response!

The chip is a 2400+, but it's from the generation before they changed the naming convention. It runs at 2GHz stock speed.

Also, how hot did it run? I'm considering drilling some extra ventilation holes in my case to let the gfx card breath. I currently have my 6600 overclocked to 562/1000 (500/900 is stock speed), and it's touching on 80 degrees celcius.

[nev_payne]

I know the shuttles can take surprisingly large video cards. What you must take care of is the limitations on the PSU. Shuttle do have a 250/300W upgrade PSU that you can puurchase form them direct (I think). The 6800GT is a power sucker so keep a sharp eye. As your system is only a 2400 you shouldn't have too much draw from the CPU. Good Luck

[alexander]

I think in idle it was around 65 degrees and when in use properly it must have got to 80-85 degrees. Nothing unusable though.

It now idles in my case with a VF-700Cu which is silent at 50 degrees and never goes above 62.

On an off note, my 3800 Venice is idling at the moment at 22 degrees with cool n quiet. I can't beleive that this is right as the last time I looked and for the past few months it has been at 36-40 idling. Is this something to be worried about?

[nev_payne]

Err I wouldnt say that was anything to worry about lol - the cooler the better! You could if your really concerned just run CPU-Z through it to make sure the CPU is what its meant to be, or a quick shot of Prime95?

[da.Guvna]

I know the shuttles can take surprisingly large video cards. What you must take care of is the limitations on the PSU. Shuttle do have a 250/300W upgrade PSU that you can puurchase form them direct (I think). The 6800GT is a power sucker so keep a sharp eye. As your system is only a 2400 you shouldn't have too much draw from the CPU. Good Luck

Ok, coolio

Ok, so the other question....do you think I'll notice enough of an improvement over my 6600GT to make it worthwhile?

Cheers guys