Barebones Systems advice please

[]SK[]

Im looking at upgrading my current Athlon 2000 to a P4 machine. Im pretty sick of the noise and heat my current machine kicks out.

Ive been looking at the nice compact barebones systems that are around. My only consern with these are the upgradeability options I have in the future. Can these things be upgraded? How hard is it to get a new mobo for them? Whats the fan noise output like?

I quite like the looks of this P4 box (bottom one)

Would I be better looking at one of these?

 

[Jonty]

Hi ]SK[

Just a quickie.

Heat: Small form factor systems tend to run slightly hotter than other ATX/BTX desktop systems, but I've never had any problems with overheating myself (40°c ambient). Shuttle systems come with 'ICE' heatpipe cooling with helps a lot, and they are now introducing a BTX small form factor design which is intended to increase airflow even more.

Noise: This is really quite subjective, but I wouldn't think a small form factor system is any more noisey than a regular system. With regards Shuttle, they now have a 'SilentX' power supply units with low noise fans, and some of the newer cases are steel rather than aluminium which helps to reduce noise (N.B. some shuttle designs have perforated mesh casing, which obviously improves airflow at the cost of noise).

Upgradability: If you can find yourself a small form factor system which takes micro-ATX motherboards, then there will be some upgradability there. Shuttle motherboards are harder to come buy, but the designs roughly stay the same (admittedly they're starting to change with these new BTX small form factor designs) so eBay or other third party sellers may be able to help you out.

To be honest, though, if you saved up and purchased a system which utlilised an nForce4/5 or Intel 9xx motherboard, supported DDR2 RAM and PCI-Express graphics, then I doubt you'd have to worry about upgrading for a fair while. I know Shuttle are already designing such systems (e.g. SB86i and others) as well as systems with dual PCI-Express for SLI graphics, so I'm sure others will be updating their product lines soon (MSI, though, tend to focus more on the all-round media features of their systems, rather than cutting edge technology).

Kind Regards

Jonty

P.S. If you're really after a silent PC, check out Zalman's offering.

 

[]SK[]

I think maybe I might have to invest in a normal tower then

It started when I was looking at OCUK's bundle packages to quickly upgrade this machine. But thinking about noise meant a new case which brought me onto shuttles.

If im on a low budget to upgrade just these components (£300) what would you pick out to be quite ideal? I willing to buy a new case as long as its not too expensive, which indeed renders that silent case out of the picture
Im trying to avoid PCI-Express as it would render this 9800 Pro useless. Im already strapped for cash.

Sorry to be a pain im just not with it when it comes to hardware

Thanks.

 

[Clown]

Jonty made a funny! Screenshotted for proof.