I am planning out my next build, which will be my "every day" computer (email, web browsing, word processing, etc). This is to be completely separate from my "power house" machine (gaming, studio recording, DVD burning, etc). Here are the specs I had in mind:
Pentium 4 Northwood 2.26 GHz
Crucial 512MB DDR PC2100 2.5-3-3-6
Plextor 712 or 712SA DVD-RW
I have decided to use a Shuttle XPC SFF Barebones for the chassis, PS, and MB.
I had settled upon the "Zen XPC" ST62K model because of it's external "brick" style power supply and the good reviews it seems to have gotten here and elsewhere. From what I have read it is exceptionally quiet, very stable, and holds its own efficiency-wise. With it, I was originally planning on using the new Gigabyte iRAM (also see here and here) for a hard drive, which is due to be released in early August of this year. No moving parts means quiet, cool, no vibrations, and the 4GB capacity would be more than adequate. Also the seek time measured in nanoseconds is much nicer than that of a traditional HDD. I must admit that the geek-cred/bragging rights factor is right up there in my reasoning too...
The problem is that the iRAM is an SATA device, and the ATI RS300 chipset that is used by the ST62K Shuttle has only PATA headers.
*The Question: Would it be better (quieter, faster, more stable, etc) to use the Shuttle XPC ST62K with a quiet PATA hard drive or move to a Shuttle SB61G2V4 (Intel 865G) and use the iRAM? Would the internal HDD add more noise than the internal power supply? Would the performance gains of the 845G + iRAM be significant to that of the RS300 + ATA133?
Opinion question: External PS or iRAM HDD?
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Animekiksazz
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I'd say go for a Zen and a 2.5" Western Digital Scorpio 40 GB. If you can wait then go for a Pentium M Zen.
Last edited by Mats on Mon Jul 11, 2005 10:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
I don't understand why it doesn't have a AC/DC converter plugged to it, at least as an option??? Or does it?OmegaZero wrote:It has a battery which is charged via standby power on the PCI bus, so it does not go blank immediately. I never turn off my computers other than for maintenance and such anyway, so that isn't really a concern.
Please vote!
For a good discussion of the iRAM you can go here. I am really just looking for some thoughts on one config verses the other.
Mats: If I go PATA, I will definitly be using a 2.5" drive. Don't think I really need to bother with the Pentium M though, since the Northwood 2.26 is only 58.0W. Also, I already own the Northwood...
For a good discussion of the iRAM you can go here. I am really just looking for some thoughts on one config verses the other.
Mats: If I go PATA, I will definitly be using a 2.5" drive. Don't think I really need to bother with the Pentium M though, since the Northwood 2.26 is only 58.0W. Also, I already own the Northwood...
I agree with Mats. For less money than the iRAM you can get a decent sized notebook hard drive with not much noise penalty, and it'll probably be quieter than an internal PSU. You also don't need to worry about clearance issue - not sure how much space there is inside a Shuttle case, and the DIMM sticks stick out. The best part is, you can get the 2.5" now.
The iRAM will be faster. But you're not really I/O bound by your intended use anyway. Stable is anyone's guess, but I'd say you're safer with a proven product.
The iRAM will be faster. But you're not really I/O bound by your intended use anyway. Stable is anyone's guess, but I'd say you're safer with a proven product.
I'd say get the hard drive as well. My hard drive and the PSU (in signature) are sitting right next to next other on an open shelf, neither is suspended or otherwise decoupled. Even though I have a rather quiet PSU (of Breadbox PC fame), I have never heard the hard drive over it, except for the boot-up when it spins up. 2.5"s from the recommended list are as close to silent as it gets.