Hey you crazy kids

[Murray_H]

Not posted in here in a loooooooooong (funnily enough, would have been about this time last year....woo for birthdays!)

Now, I thought about taking up the guitar and so I've been looking at stuff, but then I had a flash of inspiration - why buy something that will take up more room, when I can free up some space (which will be vital in my house next year).

So I think it comes down to two options for me.

1) Get a TFT (or is it LCD? Not been using the lingo much) monitor - my 17" CRT is begining to get annoying, having to take it to and from uni (a fair few miles).

What do I need to know about TFTs? I figure response time is very important (I've found a reasonably priced (£160) 17" TFT with a 12ms response time) but what about other things?

Please feel free to post examples (£s would be preferred, but if you do link to international sites then that's fine as it gives me names of products to search for).

2) A shuttle/barebones pc - I looked at these a while ago, when I was first in the market for a new pc. At the moment, I've got a massive full tower dragon case. It is a complete bitch to take anywhere.

What put me off the shuttle range is that I still needed all the other gubbins after paying a fair bit for a case + mobo. But I have that now, and I am willing to sacrifice my mobo and other bits and bobs for space!

I have found what I think could be the perfect one

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?id=1252

I have an athlon XP 2800+, 9800 pro and a gig of 2700 RAM. It is within my price range, it will accomodate both my optical drives, has onboard sound (but can accomodate my sound card if I want it).

I have issues though - will the PSU cope with all that? It's 250W. What about heat? I always associated these pcs with a lot of heat problems, but I have a pci extractor fan I could bang in.

ROFL - first time I have ever wrote about heat problems, my alarm flashes up *warning, case at 98 degrees C!* that has never happened before :/

If you have experience with these shuttle things, please share your knowledge.

Sorry for the comprehensive posting, just wanted to know a bit about the things in question

Cheery cheers!

 

[oldagerocker]

I had a full tower dragon case... well, my cpu went. So i thought f*ck it, and spent all my student loan on a shuttle.

I got this one, http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=7802&GroupID=87 and its amazing.... easiest pc i've put together for ages... well, getting the heatsink on was a piece of cake.

if you dont want to replace your old optical drive, then the bay door does conceal its colour.

The shuttle is running cooler than my old pc, which is fantastic, the heatsink/fan is amazingly good.
The 250w psu in the shuttle is enough for an ATI card, 64bit processor etc. My friend is running x800XT and 3500+ on his, so its got enough power for ATI.. nvidia wont work.

You'll be upgrading in much the same way i have (64bit 3000+, gig pc3200 ram and bought a new optical drive)... anyway, i've had no problems and for getting home on the train (and lans), i highly recommend shuttles.

In idle, my cpu is 40 odd degree's.. as cool as a cucumber and its not too noisy either.

Get the shuttle, you wont regret it.

The shuttle takes S-ATA and an ide drive, although having 2 hdd's means no floppy drive as it takes up that slot... not that anyone uses floppys anyway, just thought i'd let you know.
You'll have an optical drive, mobo etc left over.

If you dont want to upgrade to 64bit, then there are cheaper, equaly as good (in terms of features, onboard 5.1 surround etc) Socket A's which are far cheaper.

sorry i've just seen your link, i dont know about the brand soltek.. if i was you, i would go for the shuttle, they are quality. Although i havent heard bad things about the other manufactuers.

 

[Murray_H]

Sorry to drag this up again

Thanks for that monsieur rocker, but I didn't really want to upgrade, just looking for a tiny case. And now I've decided to get a tft (sorry for making you type all that up)

Response times - is 16ms adequate for gaming? I can find one with a 12ms response time, but is 4ms worth about £25?

Merci for any help