Sick of huge M-ATX case

[Lou3]

I'm sick of this monstrosity M-ATX case that has been sitting on my desk for the past eight years.  It's time to modernize and downsize.  I'm thinking of getting another Shuttle (had one many years ago and liked it) or building an M-ITX system.  I'd appreciate your advice.  

These days, I use my PC mostly for Web browsing, listening to music, watching DVDs, and an occasional low-horsepower game on standard settings.  I'm currently running a GS8400S, which meets my video needs just fine.  I'm guessing that the current generation of onboard video would suffice for my new system, but I need more info.  Audio quality is more important to me, so I do want a sound card.  I'd like to go with SSD, or at least hybrid.  I'd like the smaller dimensions of a slim optical drive, but I burn DVDs and am unsure if a slim drive is suited to that purpose.

Back to games.  These days I play Chessmaster and the first Starcraft, and I'll probably play the new Thief when it comes out (standard settings, I don't OC).  Again, modest.  Am I correct that good onboard video will take care of me, or is a video card still the way to go?  If so, I'll want a motherboard that will support both a video card and an audio card.

[tino]

I would say that the majority of onboard sound offerings on modern motherboards are up there with what a separate sound card could offer.

Is the 8400gs an pci e or agp one?

[Lou3]

I have a Xonar D1 and hear the difference from the Realtec ALC888B on my Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2.  Onboard audio is certainly high quality, but I'd rather go with a sound card if I can hear an appreciable improvement.

My ASUS EN8400GS Silent is PCI Express x16.

I did some more research after starting this thread.  I'm leaning toward a Shuttle, but am not sure which barehones system I'd want.  The Shuttle SA76G2 V2 would take all of my current components, but I think I'd see a better value in spending a little more on a new APU.

[hnyman]

I updated my Shuttle last year by moving to a micro-ITX chassis, and I am still happy.
See the pics here: http://www.sudhian.com/forums/index.php/topic,107431.0.html

I selected an Intel motherboard that can take one add-on card, but so far I have survived just fine with on-board components both regarding sound and video.

[Lou3]

I was looking at the SG-06 this morning and think it would be an excellent alternative to a Shuttle.  I also looked at Lian Li's M-ITX cases, but I don't need a full-sized PSU and space for multiple HDDs.

I'm now confident that something like an AMD A6-3500 would handle my video needs.  Definitely a step in the right direction.

[bodger]

Think carefully before you go with an SG-06 case and realize that Silverstone seriously compromised the cooling performance to achieve the 'pretty face'. I didn't think it through and after installing a Zotac Z68 motherboard in it with an Intel i7-2600K found that it could not keep the CPU to usable temperatures under any circumstances. I tried three different coolers, stock Intel, Thermaltake, and Silverstone (choices are very limited in this sort of case) and even with the last one which looks like the Intel but works much better running even for a minute with eight threads at 100% would push the chip to emergency conditions. I discovered that simply peeling the SG-06 panel back and allowing air to flow would make things work better. Dumping the dust filter was a no-brainer. Then replacing the stock fan helped a bit. The final admission of defeat was that the front panel was never going to work. I bit the bullet and talked to Silverstone tech support and got them to sell me an SG-05 front panel which is interchangeable with the SG-06 and that finally got me a system which would support 100% CPU loading albeit at a temperature of 80-85C. If you are going to build a system with a low-horsepower CPU and graphics then you just might be able to get away with a stock SG-06 but even then I'd be doubtful.

BTW: installing a Cooler Master Excalibur 120mm PWM fan instead of the stock Silverstone helped the cooling without compromising the noise level but the final step of reversing it so that it sucked air out of the case instead of blowing it in dropped the CPU temperature by a further several degrees. Having a PWM fan didn't hurt either and the stock Silverstone fan was an old-style three-pin affair. I can now run the Excalibur at 60% speed and keep sane temperatures.

[hnyman]

Think carefully before you go with an SG-06 case and realize that Silverstone seriously compromised the cooling performance to achieve the 'pretty face'.

I have been happy with my SG-06. I replaced the front fan with a PWM-controlled 120mm fan and I am using Speefan to control fans. System temp remains at about 40'C in normal use with both CPU and front fan rotating at about 50% speed making them rather quiet. In heavy use the fan ramps up to 80-90% and the CPU temp remains around 60'C.

The chassis might not be the best for really hot CPU/GPU-intensive tasks, but for everyday usage it is just fine.

[bodger]

My machines don't have 'heavy usage' if that means there is ever such a thing as 'light usage'. They operate at 100% CPU loading on every core/thread 24X7 running the BOINC distributed processing application. That means that I have to think more than most folks about cooling. This new machine was meant to be a replacement for my i7-920 Shuttle but it appears that it isn't going to make the grade as it is since there appears no way to quiet it much more. I guess I could make the compromise I made with the Shuttle and run only 6 threads of BOINC but I was looking to have more CPU power rather than less. I guess I might have to move to a slightly larger MB and case so that an efficient CPU cooler will fit. Having a heatpipe cooler with loads of fin area and a 120mm fan would give me what I need but there is scarcely room in the SG-05/06 cases for the stock Intel cooler. Live and learn I guess...

[Lou3]

Like my current system, the new one will be designed for low power consumption and low noise.  If the SG-06 can't handle this system and the way I'll use it, it wouldn't look very good for Silverstone.  I'll give it a shot.  If it runs hot, I'll exchange it.