Close Encounters of the Small Kind
by Jarred Walton on December 8, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Time Changes Everything
Things have slowed down now in terms of computer progress - at least from my perspective. It's also good to see that many of the truly bad examples of computer hardware have begun to fade away. Gone are the days (mostly) of spending hours trying to get a resource conflict resolved; or to get two machines to talk to each other over the network; or tweaking and hacking your config.sys and autoexec.bat files in the hope of optimizing memory usage so that some new program would run properly. Computers have now matured to the point where any person with a moderate level of computer knowledge and a willingness to learn would have little difficulty building a computer.The requirements for most computer applications are also slowing down. There used to be a good reason to upgrade your computer from a 286 to a 386, and then from a 386 to 486 to Pentium, Pentium to Pentium II, etc. While it was released at a time when the 486 occupied the sockets of the majority of systems, Windows 95 really needed a Pentium or faster to run well. Windows 98 pushed the requirement up to a Pentium II, and Windows XP pushed it to the Pentium III/Athlon. Today, however, there are few applications that really need a lot of processing power; anything over 1 GHz is sufficient for surfing the Internet, writing email, working in Office applications, etc. To a lesser extent, even the high-end requirements are starting to slow down. A state-of-the-art PC is not absolutely required for the latest games; even a 2 GHz machine can handle Doom 3, Half-Life 2, and Far Cry. True, it's not the best experience out there, but for many people, "good enough" is all they need.
So what does this all have to do with Small Form Factor computers? This is up for debate, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot on the horizon that will really outdate a modern system - short of a few high-end applications and games - and the amount of integration has made large cases unnecessary for all but the most die hard enthusiasts. Few people will actually fill an 80 GB hard drive, let alone a 160 GB drive, and if 1 GHz is all that's really needed for typical computing, a 3 GHz machine could easily last for many years. Other areas have "maxed out" as well: DVD-ROMs all top out at 16X, and with DVD+RW drives now supporting 16X burn speeds, we aren't likely to go beyond that for a while; only the introduction of a new optical media format is likely to cause any difficulties. Even the floppy is finally disappearing, thanks to the abundance of Flash memory devices. In short, this is a great time to buy a system and keep it until it physically breaks down, and a SFF fits in very well with that plan of action.
A growing concern for a lot of people is the noise output of their computer(s) - "I want my computer to be quiet, not rattle the windows!" A home-grown system will often have several fans to keep it cool, and the noise levels can be very annoying to say the least. More than a few people have ended up with Dell systems simply because they are engineered to reduce the noise output - performance be damned! SFF cases offer the benefits of OEM systems - systems where the designers know the exact constraints of the system and can better plan the placement of components - to the DIY community. It's not all that unusual to see a motherboard with fan speed adjustment settings in the BIOS, but you don't always know that everything will work properly if you use them. Since a SFF includes the case, CPU heatsink and fan - which can also act as the case fan - power supply, and motherboard, they have a great idea of what will actually be used in the system. Depending on the model, you might have one or two optical drives, a hard drive, the CPU and graphics card, and that's it. As computer noise has become a pet peeve of mine - odd, given that I work in a data center as a side job - taking a look at the SFF market seems like a good idea.
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archcommus87 - Friday, December 10, 2004 - link
Sounds good to me, looking forward to the review!My main issue is two expansion slots, does not allow for sound card and TV tuner.
JarredWalton - Friday, December 10, 2004 - link
You'll have to pardon a few errors and omissions on my part. As I stated in the article, this is my first time using such a system. Combo floppy/flash drives are a possibility, as are external devices. There are *numerous* add-on parts available for the Shuttle XPC line, including WiFi and LPT. The main point that you simply can't fit as much stuff in a SFF case as you can in an ATX case still stands, but you have to take that point with the general tone of my article: you don't *NEED* to have that much stuff inside your case - at least, most of us don't.The upcoming SFF roundup will try to address such concerns as the integrated audio solutions, heat output, noise output (measured with an actual dB SPL device), case temperatures, upgradeability and optional components, etc.; and of course, price will also play a role. This was a first look/first encounter article and not a formal review. This is more of a "why should *anyone* consider an SFF in the first place" article. In two words: noise, size.
Comments in this thread are certainly noted and I will do my best to take them into account in the formal reviews. Thanks!
darkrequiem - Friday, December 10, 2004 - link
Contrary to the author's statement, you CAN have a flash card reader, floppy, LPT, wireless, etc. in the Shuttle system. I have an SN45GV2, and I bought Shuttle's 802.11G module, which uses a USB header on the motherboard, and I got a Mitsumi floppy drive, flash card reader combo drive that uses the external 3.5" bay, and the card reader connects to the motherboard's other USB header. The motherboard has a header for an LPT port, and Shuttle sells a ribbon cable to connect it to a punch-out on the back of the case. This leaves me room for my NEC 2510A DVD burner, a 120GB ATA133 Maxtor drive, a Radeon 9800Pro 256MB AGP card, and a currently free PCI slot that will eventually be home to an ATI HDTV Wonder. For the curious, I'm running an Athlon XP 3200+ and 1GB of Corsair TwinX DDR400 with 2-2-2-5 timings.Phantronius - Friday, December 10, 2004 - link
#31Depends on peoples need. In my case, I use my Audigy 2 as onboard sound for the Shuttles still takes up to many CPU cycles.
You cannot use any other PSU except Shuttles mini PSU and no other party makes PSU's that will fit inside shuttles case. You COULD hook up an ATX PSU to the outside, but then its gonna look like hell. Shuttles do not need large PSU's as you can only put in so much into them.
Floppies are only really needed for BIOS flashing , RAID installations and other applications, again, it boils down to users needs.
If you need pics of the inside of the SN95G go here and look at the pictures to the left
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?desc...
archcommus87 - Friday, December 10, 2004 - link
Thing is with Shuttles, since there are only two slots in the back, and since we'd all have AGP or PCI-E video cards, we can only have one PCI card. Many of us have a TV tuner. So...what to do with sound? Must you use an onboard solution?How cramped is it inside exactly? I'm sure some pics will help with that when the review comes around.
Can you use any PSU? Of course not. Can you buy ones individually that are the right size?
And, back to the floppy drive issue, you can use a jump drive for transferring small files from place to place, and a bootable CD for Memtest. What about flashing BIOSes? Can that be done without a floppy? And, if so, do we need our floppies at all?
nostriluu - Friday, December 10, 2004 - link
Jarred, thanks for your comment. Anandtech is a pretty influential site, perhaps they could pick up a serious green edge before we are drowning in all the hardware you made us buy. ;) Lessee.. performance in games, databases, heat, noise, and company environmental committment, yes I think that works. Difficult at first but leading edge.
JarredWalton - Thursday, December 9, 2004 - link
My personal take is that most people that buy a SFF are going to get rid of the entire system when they're ready to upgrade rather than just replacing components. In fact, I think a lot more people do that with ATX systems than most frequent upgraders think. About the only time I swap motherboards within a case is when a motherboard dies an early death; otherwise, I'm more likely to just buy a new case and sell the existing system. Granted, SFF cases cost a lot more than an ATX case, but when you really look at what's included it isn't such a terrible price to pay.As far as heat is concerned, we will be attempting to address that in our SFF roundup by including a more modern graphics card and running some system stress tests. I've played quite a few games and have not noticed any heat issues yet, but when paired with a 6800 GT or X800 Pro (or faster) graphics card, it may cause the fans to run at a higher RPM.
Nostriluu, the environment certainly can use some protection. I can assure you, however, that my introduction had nothing to do with clearing a guilty conscience. It was just an itroductory paragraph - when you're experiencing writer's block and trying to get an article written, you never know what will come out. :)
Andyvan - Thursday, December 9, 2004 - link
Note that micro-ATX based SFF have 1 AGP and 3 PCI slots.-- Andyvan
archcommus87 - Thursday, December 9, 2004 - link
Also, with an SFF, how likely are you to be able to buy a new mainboard but keep the current case if you ever want to upgrade?And how much of an issue is heat really when gaming?
archcommus87 - Thursday, December 9, 2004 - link
Bootable ISO CD images. Sounds good, but is it as convenient as a floppy? What about flashing a BIOS?Who here doesn't have one?