Looking for advice on buying a SFF PC
Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 9:17 pm
I'd like to buy a SFF PC in Canada that is reasonably quiet, small, light, and cool (as in temperature).
I heard that the AMD XP-M 2500+ CPU is cool (35W), not too expensive, and it fits in regular MB's. That sounds great, but the SFF systems that I've heard of seem to be for Intel CPU's. For example, here are 2 that sound good but are for Intel:
AOpen XC Cube
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article140-page1.html
Shuttle Zen XPC
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article139-page1.html
Hetis 865GV
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_sp ... &class=npc
Some other things that would be nice, but aren't necessary:
- minimal graphics power (I'm not playing any games)
- holds up to 2 SATA HD's
- DVI for video out
- available in Toronto
- CardBus slot?
- no software (I'll install Linux myself)
I guess I could build a system myself, but I prefer not to. If I do, here's a small case that sounds good:
Antec Aria SFF case
http://silentpcreview.com/article146-page1.html
Also, I'd rather not get into under or over clocking. And I'm willing to pay for reliability, but I don't want to spend a ton (ie. the Hush is too $).
If I do end up buying an Intel machine, which CPU should I buy? Here's what I know so far:
- prescott cpu's are too hot.
- celeron 1.7 & 1.8 are hot (relative to their speed).
- P4 1.6A, 1.8A, and 2.0A are very good, but it's hard to get the right ones.
One last point. What's the best place to buy stuff like this in Toronto? The only place I know of is EPROM (http://www.eprom.ca).
I heard that the AMD XP-M 2500+ CPU is cool (35W), not too expensive, and it fits in regular MB's. That sounds great, but the SFF systems that I've heard of seem to be for Intel CPU's. For example, here are 2 that sound good but are for Intel:
AOpen XC Cube
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article140-page1.html
Shuttle Zen XPC
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article139-page1.html
Hetis 865GV
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_sp ... &class=npc
Some other things that would be nice, but aren't necessary:
- minimal graphics power (I'm not playing any games)
- holds up to 2 SATA HD's
- DVI for video out
- available in Toronto
- CardBus slot?
- no software (I'll install Linux myself)
I guess I could build a system myself, but I prefer not to. If I do, here's a small case that sounds good:
Antec Aria SFF case
http://silentpcreview.com/article146-page1.html
Also, I'd rather not get into under or over clocking. And I'm willing to pay for reliability, but I don't want to spend a ton (ie. the Hush is too $).
If I do end up buying an Intel machine, which CPU should I buy? Here's what I know so far:
- prescott cpu's are too hot.
- celeron 1.7 & 1.8 are hot (relative to their speed).
- P4 1.6A, 1.8A, and 2.0A are very good, but it's hard to get the right ones.
One last point. What's the best place to buy stuff like this in Toronto? The only place I know of is EPROM (http://www.eprom.ca).