I am thinking getting a new Shuttle and am trying to decide if I should get another P4 or switch to the Athlon 64.

I want the system to be quiet so I am concerned about how hot the CPU gets. In my past experience the AMD processors have been hotter than the intel ones but I have been reading the prescott P4 is hot. I recently got a Sempron and it runs very cool so I am wondering how the Athlon 64 is.

Also is it true that it's not worth getting the Opteron over the Athlon 64 ?

I think it has indeed switched. In fact, I recently heard of the new Venice core that they're putting into their single-core processors, and I believe they're supposed to run cooler now.

I'm thinking of doing the same thing as you. If I had the money, I'd get a Shuttle SN25P, and then possibly get a 3000+ w/Venice core, while I wait for the 4800+ to come out and lower in price. I'd probably do that right now, but I don't have enough left over for a good video card. Everything else I'd probably just cannibalize from my current system.

I was looking at the ST20G5 Link which looks pretty similar.

I would prefer it had AGP so I could use my dual DVI out card but the built in video has DVI out so I guess I would only have to buy a single head card.

Get an AMD, not an Intel. All the new Athlon64's support AMD's new cool 'n quiet technology, and it's great. Sometimes the CPU fan even spins down completely! Intel made a huger error somewhere with their latest Presscott CPU core, because it's HOT! It easily runs up to 122-140 F, while an AMD runs at about 95-105°F. Intel themselves have also already acknowledged the problem and are working on a solution, but it won't be here for another year or so.

Just make sure you choose a motherboard that is running of an nVidia nForce4 chip for the best performance with an AMD 64. With this chipset, an AMD also outperforms and equally graded Intel, at much, much lesser temperatures...

(and this coming from someone who absolutely hated AMD for their low quality products in the past! But I do mean in the past, because AMD has really learned from their mistakes!)

I just got my gf a Shuttle SN95G5. I put an Athlon64 3000+ chip in it.. with the variable speed fan, and frequency scaling.. it runs at 1.0ghz most of the time.

It runs fairly cool, and quiet enough that the fridge is louder.

I wanted to use a Nvidia FX5200 card with no fan.. but I had trouble with the DVI output on her Samsung 730b.

Opterons are only usefull in dual-CPU setups, but I highly reccomend the socket 939 setup. having on-die memory controler is very nice.

Thanks for the info guys.

One more question I have is other than clock speed is there a difference between the different Athlon 64 Venice models ?

I wouldn't think so, but I'm curious as to why, on Newegg for instance, both cores of the 3000+ are going for the same price, whereas every other version there's about $15 to $20 difference...

Computer component pricing frequently doesn't make sense so I wasn't bothered by that.

The thing I am confused by is newegg says for the 3500+ FSB 1Ghz and for the 3200+ it says integrated into chip. So what the heck does that mean ?

Hmm, that is odd. It appears the the 3500+ is the only one listed with an FSB, the rest are listed as "Integrated into Chip FSB." I would imagine it's an error on Newegg's part, but I'd contact them to make sure, as the 3500+ is probably the most popular of the current line (I think the price makes the most sense).

Well I ordered the ST20G5 and the 3200+ Venice. We'll see how it works in a couple days.

Oooo, please take pretty pictures, posing with the empeg. Must have empeg pr0n

I'll definitely be interested on what your experience with it is. Let us know what kind of performance you're getting.

More questions:
-where did you order from? Newegg?
-are you going with all-new components, or cannibalizing from your current machine?
-Which OS is going on this?

I got it from zipzoomfly.com just because they had free 2 day fed ex and they charge about the same prices as newegg. (have you noticed how the most successful internet business names have nothing to do with their business)

I am planning on putting the 250GB and 120GB HDDs and the RAM from my current system in there but I will probably get new ram soon.

For the video I might just use the built in but I think I read the max res was only 1280 x 960 for it so if that's the case I will have to buy a new video card too.

I am just going to put XP pro on it I don't know if it's worth messing with the 64 bit version.

Sometimes I have the sneaking suspicion that there is a guy at Zip Zoom Fly (terrible name) who's sole job it is to keep track of Newegg prices, and charge anywhere from one to four dollars less If their site were good enough to inspire some confidence from me, I'd give them a try. Newegg has treated me right in the past, so I don't mind the tiny bit extra.

I always thought googlegear was actually part of Google until they changed to Zip Zoom Fly.

It came today and I just got it all together. Here are some pictures let me know if you want to see something specific.

So far it is really quiet much more so than I expected. I was expecting the 40mm fan on the chipset to be loud but it turns so slow I can't hear that one at all. I can hear the main 96mm fan a little but I have to try pretty hard to hear it over the celing fan.

I ended up buying RAM too so I have a 1GB Corsair XMS matched pair (2x512).

I am not installing a cd or floppy so if I open the doors I can see the HDDs

Excellent! And you got the empeg in there too

I've heard that with most people's shuttles, the fan is very loud when first booting up, then slowly lowers to a fairly low volume for normal operation. Is that so with yours, too?

And by the way, this is torture right now. I am so ready to build a Shuttle system. I'm getting tired of reaching way under my desk to get to the power buttons and CD trays, and I'd love to get one of those Shuttle bags to carry to a friend's house or to work on my late weeks.

Looks nice. Gotta wait till the dual cores come down in price.

Yes when you first turn it on the fans go full blast for about two seconds my old one did the same thing before modifications were done.

The old one I had (SB51G) was really loud out of the box due to the PSU fan and the 80mm main fan they included was pretty bad.

Believe it or not, my father (who always goes for the latest and greatest when he's upgrading), actually bought the Athlon 4800+.

I'll post what it's like when I have the system put together. Does anyone have any tests they want me to do?

Got a link i'm not sure which one that is ?

The most expensive dual core CPU they've got. Aka the $1000 CPU.

I figured it was the most expensive one but I didn't see anything with 4800 on it on newegg it must be too new.

I had no idea it was even released. Not a single review I've read has given a release date. But apparently a few stores have it, like this one.

I had heard someone talking about the X2 on the TWiTcast but they didn't say a number so I was wondering if that was the processor you were talking about.

What motherboard did he get ?

Just wanted to post a few pics, mostly because this monitor is so freaking nice:




(sorry they're so out of focus. I'm not doing well with the camera tonight)

Looks cool is it the 2405 ?

Yup! Haven't plugged it into anything yet, but I'm sure it'll be beautiful. It's simply massive in person.

Looks sweet, I was really impressed with the 1905 size and image quality. I bet that looks all the bigger with a few more inches and 16x9 aspect.

The one disappointment with the monitor is that, suprisingly, it does not come with a DVI cable. When you remove the screen from the box, they have a VGA cable pre-attached (does it need to be attached already?). Who would be buying a monitor like this, and not have a video card with DVI...and not use it? If there is anyone, it has to be in the minority. And I know DVI cables are not cheap, but considering this monitor retails for around $150 less than it's next-cheapest compettitor, couldn't they have put a DVI cable in instead of VGA?

I will say that we got this monitor for cheap. My employee purchase program dropped it to $779 w/$1 for shipping. And that $1 shipping cost got the monitor to my door in two days. Nice.

By the way, I'm impressed with that Cooler Master case. It's actually pretty attractive, and the Plextor optical SATA drive I ordered matches it perfectly with the black faceplate.

Mmm nice monitor! If it's not too rude a question, how much was it? Dell UK has it listed at well over 1000 UKP.

If anyone in the UK is thinking of buying one of the other Dell LCDs at the moment they have the 1905FP, 2005FPW and 2001FP at 25% off.

Give it a year or so and the 2405 will be down to the current price of the 2005FPW, hopefully...

That's so tempting, the 2005FPW is only £360. Just can't bring myself to buy it especially when my old crt is still going strong.

I can't believe there was not DVI cable. My roommate just got the 2001 and it had DVI and VGA cables.