OT: Is this the smallest workstation?

Hello Kev- I recently built a Shuttle system. Works good with SolidWorks.

Shuttle SB75G2 P IV 2.8 800 FSB

1 GB 3200 RAM PNY FX 500 Video Card 2 36GB RAPTOR 10,000 RPM Hard Drives Sony 8x DVD Burner 27 seconds on the Mike J. Wilson ship in a bottle 50 rebuild test.

An AMD 64 system is available, but was not in my budget.

Best Regards, Devon T. Sowell

But what about expansion? ram, hd's, etc. And do most video cards fit or are the cut special?

Hi Devon, Your SB75G2 looks impressive and the AMD 64 version looks very interesting, a couple of questions/comments:

I guess you can only use video cards that take up 1 PCI slot though.

Do you know how the shuttle handles networking - I tend to copy data from my network to work with then save it back to the network drive.

I am concerned about the robustness of the power supply and the possibility of the system over heating.

Best regards,

Kev

Hello Kev- Examine all the spec's carefully for all the versions of the Shuttles. The SB75G2 and the AMD 64 and FX51(!) versions seem to have the more powerful standard power supply, 220 watts. Yes, single slot AGP 8x slot(FX500, plenty of room) and one PCI slot.

2 ram slots, supports 2 GB. Mine has the 10/100 network lan, I too have it installed on my local lan. Over heating has not been a problem, it has 2 fans plus the video fan. It has on-board sound, 6 channel. It's pretty quiet. I added some .004" thick insulation tape around all the drive mounting points and rubber mounted everything. Supports 2 SATA and SATA Raid. I have 2 SATA drives, one for the operating system and the other has all data and the page file. Best Regards, Devon T. Sowell

They're definitely worth looking at getting/building! I reviewed some SFF (small form factor) cases last year, they were still relatively new but the reason I went with a (Antec super mid tower, SLK2600AMB) was because I wanted to use 4 hardrives initially and two other cards (which were long) (now I only have two 80 gig drives (after backing up and sorting through old data drives) and the long cards I do not need anymore) In the San Francisco Bay Area they are pretty popular. From what I have heard from people I know, they all like them and the temperature issue is not an issue. (the early ones had power supplies which were limited but now they are pretty good!)

There quite a few small form factor cases for MicroATX being made.. (shuttle is not the only one) Personally I would look at what Antec is making, they make nice mini boxes as well.

..

Kev Park>

I use one since february without any problem on SW2004. The system is really stable, the network is a gigabite based hardware and I carry the system from clients to clients. I do my backup on a laptop hd inserted in a usb 2 case. I would not buy a regular desktop anymore since I do not need all the expansion slot for ram and cards. The system has sound and networks integrated and i use the 2 slot for modem and videocard.

there is one 5 in bay and 2 3in bay. You cannot fit double thickness videocard. I use the system on heavy rendering and continuous like cpu work wothout any problem of heat.

here's a couple of my favorites;

and the afore mentioned shuttle

I reckon I'll build one of these babies when I upgrade later this year, I've only looked at the Shuttle boxes so far - I've just taken a peek at the Antec ones and they do look cool.

At todays UK prices I could build the SN85G4 for about £800 - so may be less when I take the plunge!

SN85G4 £190 AMD 64 3200+ £160

1Gb RAM £120 QuadFX500 £150 2 X 160GB SATA £140 LG 8X DVD Burner £50

Kev

I recently built one with the following:

AMD 64 bit 3400+ CPU

2 GB 3200 ram FX1100 video card 7200 rpm SATA hard drive

The fasted ship in a bottle test was 24 seconds. Only problem was installing XP OS. THe CD does not have drivers for SATA drive. You have to download and put on a floppy. The problem is that the shuttle cube does not have a floppy drive. You have to pull the case and temporary connect floppy drive to the MB. No overheating problems even running CosmosFloworks for 24 hours straight.

Wayne

I've just taken a closer look at the Shuttle systems and there appears to be on big downfall to using these for SolidWorks.

In the UK we need to fit a dongle to run SolidWorks .... This fits into the Parallel port ..... there is NO parallel port on these machines!

Anyone have any ideas on how to get around this?

Kev

Your VAR should know, or find out for you. Perhaps a USB to parallel adapter could work.

I've emailed my VAR but no answer as yet - However, I've since found out that the Shuttle Mobo's have a parallel port header on them and a cable can be purchased - my supplier does not stock it though!

This fixes to the rear of the case and should work - I don't know if it is bi-directional or not or if it matters.

Kev

"It is not possible to supply a serial number for SWX in the UK - it must be run with a dongle. However, SolidWorks now supply by default a USB dongle to new users, existing users must buy a new dongle if they want the USB type at a cost of GBP 135"!

So, I guess that the Shuttle cable for GBP 5 wins hands down!

Kev