[dba-Tech] Desktop recommendation

Speaking of cases...does anyone have any experience with the small form
factor cases...specifically, Shuttle?  I've grown weary over the past few
years of having this huge tower on my desk.  Space isn't the issue, my desk
is huge, I'm just looking at clean-looking alternatives. Here is my current
(achievable) wish-list.  The processor is the least expensive option
available in that performance line, giving me plenty of room for future
upgrades.  I should mention that this would be primarily a gaming machine,
hence the small, screamingly fast hard drive.  Any comments?


$319  Shuttle XPC Black Barebone System
      for Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64 CPU,
      Model SN95G5, nVidia nForce 3.

$179  AMD 3000 90nm 939pin

$170  1GB PC-4200 DDR533 RAM

$180  Western Digital Raptor 740GD
      74GB SATA 10K rpm 8MB Hard Drive
____
$848  Total






-----Original Message-----
From: Steven W. Erbach [mailto:serbach at new.rr.com] 
Sent: Sunday, October 24, 2004 8:29 AM
To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
Subject: RE: [dba-Tech] Desktop recommendation


John,

I bought a bunch of stuff from NewEgg recently to build a new machine and
upgrade an existing one. I've been buying pairs of drives for the past
several years to allow for a Ghosted backup. A pair of 160 GB drives from
NewEgg was $192.

One caveat: if there's something flaky with your motherboard you've got to
do the RMA yourself. I bought a Gigabyte board for my wife's workstation.
Everything works fine EXCEPT that when the machine is started cold it
doesn't recognize the 2nd hard disk. My wife is now used to going into Setup
and having the motherboard detect the 2nd drive automagically. I didn't want
to hassle with sending the board back to Gigabyte -- NewEgg doesn't do any
product support; thus their low prices.

It might be the drive; but all I'm saying is that if you assemble these
things yourself then you don't have the luxury of pulling another
motherboard or hard disk off the shelf to replace a bad one.

Steve

P.S., Steer clear of Enermax cases.

> ------------Original Message------------
> From: "John W. Colby" <jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com>
> To: "'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues'"
<dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
> Date: Tue, Oct-19-2004 6:07 PM
> Subject: RE: [dba-Tech] Desktop recommendation
> 
> Building is always a good idea.  You might not be able to put a new mb 
> in
> that chassis (HP used to design their stuff to prevent that) but if you 
> buy
> an inexpensive case you can use the drives and stuff from the old 
> machine in
> your new machine.  You already have a monitor / keyboard.  The new
> motherboards have almost everything else.  You can even find 
> motherboards
> with a video chip on the mb.  Good enough to get you by, perhaps 
> forever.


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