Tempted by SFF, but need advise from the experts here :)

[autopilot]

Right, I am looking to build a new system a mate. It will be maily a gaming system and as he is not very PC savvy (it's his first PC infact) overclocking is not an issue. I don't have any experience with SFF but would like to go down that route if posible. So I have a few questions if I may;

1) I'm thinking of going down the P4 based route due to the fact that PCI-E is fairly limited in AMD systems. We want at least a 6600GT and future updrade potential. Is that a fair asumption to make, or am I missing something?

2) NOISE - how much of an issue is it? (bearing in mind that we plan to put a 6600GT in it). We don't want to mess around modding it too much, it's going to be a fairly 'out of the box' type build.

3) Upgrading - I know there is not much room in there, but what about future motherboard updrades? Are the motherboards replacable and do they release new mobo's?

4) Optical drives - are they a pain to fit? I hear some are incompatable.

This is what we are thinking of going for - Shuttle SB81P P4 'Grantsdale' Gaming Barebone system - Is it any good? What else would you suggest? Maybe something cheaper but just as good?

Finaly, is there anything else we need to think about?

Cheers chaps, if anyone can help, you guy's can

[RDL]

1) I'm thinking of going down the P4 based route due to the fact that PCI-E is fairly limited in AMD systems. We want at least a 6600GT and future updrade potential. Is that a fair asumption to make, or am I missing something?

2) NOISE - how much of an issue is it? (bearing in mind that we plan to put a 6600GT in it). We don't want to mess around modding it too much, it's going to be a fairly 'out of the box' type build.

1.PCI-E isn't limited at all in AMD systems. There are plenty of AMD motherboards out there that support it. AMD is actually better for gaming.

2.Well 6600gt's aren't too noisy, although Radeon X800s and 700s are quieter. As long as it isn't a 6800 it shouldn't be too bad though.

[aidanjt]

you really aren't going to notice noise while gaming anyway, unless you have a Delta fan or something in the case.

and i agree, AMD64 cpu's are superiour for gaming. I would only bother with a P4 if I was doing serious number crunching.

[autopilot]

Can you link me a Athlon64 SFF unit that takes PCI-E cards then please? I can't see to find one Thanks.

[aidanjt]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...ocket_939.html theres a few to choose from.

[Lu-tze]

unless you really need the space saving of a sff, you'd be a lot better with a tower. something like the antec lanboy is cheap and quite compact.

i'm not familiar with any pci-e amd64 shuttles at the moment, but i'm sure it wont be long til someone puts and nforce4 in there.

no, you cant replace shuttle boards, you'll have to buy a whole new shuttle. and if you would want to upgrade both the mobo and gpu around the same time, then you might as well just get an agp system now and move to pci-e when its available.

you can build a tower quieter than a shuttle. so if noise is important, buy a tower. if you don't plan on using the pci slot then you can put a quiet artic-cooling fan on the gpu. apparently these will be available for the 6600 series this month. if you do need the pci slot, then you'll be stuck with a relatively noisey gpu fan.

you'll only be able to have one optical drive, so you wont be able to rip on the fly. you can and have 2 x 3.5inch devices, so one hard drive and a floppy, or 2 hdd max.

you only get 2 dimm slots, so make sure you buy enough ram now, because otherwise you'll have to replace the ones you'll have if you want more later.

oh, and amd for gaming will be better than intel.