Shuttle PC; What's the deal

I'm a novice in buiding PCs, usually I buy a Dell package and that's the end of it. But now I'm having to consider buying a box to act as a server for my Hi-fi. Shuttle keeps being recommended so I've looked at the site and at Dabs. Unfortunately I need things spelled out to me simply. The PCs look cheap but is that because they are or is it that I have to buy other bits as well.

Am I right in thinking I buy a

• Shuttle - I'm tempted by SN45GV3
• CPU (AMD Sempron 2500+ Box 1.75GHz SocketA 256Kb 333MHz - will that be enough?)
• HDD
• Screen
• Operating software

It starts out exceedingly cheap but by the time you add on all the missing bits it adds up a tad. Mighten I be better of just buying a cheap bundle of Dell again?

I hasten to add that for the time being I'll just buy a HDD for my existing PC just as soon as I can tell whether it's ATA or SATA.

 

From a Dell a hard drive is more than likely to going to be ATA unless its a top spec PC.

You will need to buy the CPU seperatly but i think you know that, they are supposed to be easier to build than normal desktop PCs. You will need an optical drive as well to install the operation system, a CD-ROM costs £10, DVD rom £20, CDRW £20 or a DVD-RW £40 depending on what you need.

You will also need RAM, 512MB RAM will cost you around £40.

The video, sound and network card should already be built into the Shuttles motherboard.

I reckon for the same money you will get a better quality system from the shuttle, Dells are fine until you need upgade them.

 

Shuttles are just very small PCs, usually sold as kits, so you need a case, motherboard, processor, RAM, HD, CD/DVD drive, etc. There are many suppliers, and a search on ebay will probably find cheap deals. They're very easy to build, but so is any PC. The drawback is that the motherboards generally have onboard sound/video/LAN/USB/etc, so if any component fails you have to replace the whole motherboard. The advantage of the machines is that they're very small, and tend to be quieter than all-singing all-dancing top-spec desktop PCs which contain a multitude of fans. I use one as my main Linux box at home.

-- Ian

 

Dell just told me that I can't add a 400gb HDD to my existing PC. but would I like to buy something new .

So it looks like a dedicated Shuttle is on the cards. Bugger, less to spend on the DAC.

 

Can't you get a firewire card and a firewire harddrive, at least it can transfer easily?

 

I might be wrong, but if you add a SATA controller card then that should let you use any size drive you want. That's what I needed to do, as without it, I'd only be able to add a much smaller drive.

 

tom,
STOP. open up your pc and see if there is the following....
a spare card slot - this is usually at the back of the machine.
a spare power connector - this is a little white block from the mess of wires comming off the big lump of a power supply with the fan venting to the outside.
if you have these 2 things then you can add a sata card and a big sata drive.
alternatively you could add a usb2 / firewire card and then use an external drive.

perhaps the big question is - are you running windoze xp or some lesser variant - if not xp then upgrade immediately.

dell are really good at fit and forget packages but if you want to fiddle their stock answer is 'buy a new pc' how else do you think they make their money?

cheers


julian

 

tom, i can spec u a shuttle if u like
sn45g is a good choice (not sata though, if u wanted that)
a shuttle is basically the box + motherboard - just add ram, drives, graphics card if necessary (sn45g needs one as it has nothing onboard), 6.1 surround cards are onboard.
u'll have usb2 and firewire, and lan as standard, there are only 2 slots inside, one agp for a graphics card, and 1 pci for a modem (for example)

whatever u do, avoid the sk43g like the plague (i speak from personal experience).

 

Robert - Thanks for the offer. I might well take you up on it.

Julian - Yes I 've XP SP2

Meanwhile the story is I want a 400gb HDD. Dabs sell a Seagate jobbie for £250 so call my budget £300. Problem is I'm getting a lot of advice to treble that budget and get a new PC. Money I'd rather spend on the DAC. Well until later on in the game.

Gary & Julian both have suggested getting a firewire & external HDD. I quite like the idea of a moveable HDD. Maxtor & LaCie seem to cover that side of things comfortably with in budget. LaCie do the size thing upto 1.6tb & Maxtor go for build quality etc. Except I'm clueless as to how that side of things work. Is it really plug and play?

 

tom,
i must admit i've not had huge amounts of good luck with external hdd's, although i've only used a very heath robinson device which caused random crashes on my laptop. it was pretty old and usb 1 only. generally the accepted wisdom is firewire is slightly better than usb2 although usb2 is more portable as it's pretty much ubiquitous.
iirc you have a pretty ok spec pc (2ghz etc.) if so i wouldn;t change it unless you are wanting to play halflife 2 or doom3 etc.
cheers


julian

 

At the earliest opportunity go SATA - look for systems with SATA 150 and NCQ support (usually motherboards with an Intel 925 chipset). Then in the future when you do buy external drives you can go external SATA - makes usb2 and firewire look old hat.

Future proofing should be a consideration.

 

If you are happy putting together the parts, have a look at www.mini-itx.com, I built one of these as my media server and after changing the fans it now runs silently, a fair bit cheaper than the Shuttle systems as well.

Andrew

 

Tom,
a few links to give you an idea as to what goes into a Shuttle box.

As you will discover their is a machine for most tasks; could be Intel or AMD; could be a big fast gaming machine or a rather cool and quiet HTPC. Have a browse and PT me if you need further thoughts or information.


Shuttle official retail site.
http://eu.shuttle.com/en/Desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-3/

An example of a small dealer selling complete systems plus all the bits needed to build your own.
http://www.theglowlounge.com/catalog/

The world of Small Form Factor kit.
The fora are populated by a few hardcore tweakers asking hardcore technical questions but you will also see lots of the "I want a system to do XX so what do I need?" type questions from people dipping a toe in the water just like you.

http://forums.sudhian.com/default.aspx?nocookies=yes

Sites that sell the boxes and and sometimes all the bits to go in them.
http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductsList.asp?Category=&SubCat=&Name=shuttle&Page=1&SortBy=2
http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/search?action=search&phrase=shuttle&department=&sortBy=3
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/kl.asp?bn=10499
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductLister.aspx?GroupID=37

For everything except the Shuttle box.
http://www.scan.co.uk/

Price list UK http://eu.shuttle.com/en/resourceimage.aspx?raid=3958

 

It seems I have these two things so I can order the Seagate SATA 400gb and a card.

 

go for it. make sure you get a sata lead with the card or the drive (if not get one they're about a tenner) you may also need a power lead adapter if the drive only has a sata power connector - usually they have both though but again it's not ruinously expensive if you need to get an adaptor and it may even be in the box.
cheers


julian

 

I've got my HDD & SATA card but due to Dabs inefficiency I haven't got them working yet but I will thanks to Lamboy.

But I've decided to treat myself to a new PC. It has to be a PC because it needs to net work to my wife's. So what are the suggestions. My needs are simple. I don'tplay games or edit video. Mainly it's internet, WP and small spreadsheets and large photos (20-30mb). Ideally I would like a 19" TFT screen & 1gb RAM. I'm competent enough to build my own is need be. So who's good and cheap. I've looked at Dell who are great until you start changing the packages then the prices quickly rise. Shuttle, but again who & where?

 

aria and microdirect both sell shuttle barebones. takes 45 mins to build them. avoid the sk43g.
i would suggest the sn45gv3, a sempron 2600 (they've replaced the amd athlon's), radeon 9200se graphics card, 512 mb ram should be enough instead of 1 gig, go for dual channel 3200. whichever sata hard drive u fancy.
(u'll need to check the bios is the latest version that will be compatible with the sempron's, it's fn45us0j.bin for the sn45gv3, u just download and flash, pretty simple. switch on and check the top of the screen during the POST power on self test. the bios that appears, and check vs the shuttle website. if the bios is the correct one, it will say "sempron" for the processor, otherwise it will need to be flashed).
i dont do mail order, and prefer to cover my local area, otherwise i'd give u a quote. but let me know if u have any more q's about shuttle.

 

So far so good but having gone back to the original idea that I use the new PC for the music is there a lesser graphics card I can use or can I get away without one?

 

either pick a shuttle with onboard graphics, or go for the radeon 7000. £20 + vat. the 9200 is a better card, and £7 + vat more.