Jump to content

Which barebones PC?


Hashimoto
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi,

 

Thought about setting up a barebones PC, mainly to get a small footprint and a more silent system to replace my current hair dryer. The main use would be as a media system (DVD, MP3/Ogg, a DVB card a bit later) as well as surfing, email and some light office work. However, the selection seems quite wide so I need some help.

 

Which brands are known to work without hick-ups with MDK10? Some Shuttle models seem OK, but are they all?

What other brands could be considered (Asus, Soltek, Epox, MSI...)?

What should I check when buying one: chip sets? integrated video cards? igp (BTW, what's that?) card readers?

Any special brand/model/etc to avoid?

Any special brand/model/etc recommended?

Your experince with a barebones?

 

BR

Hashimoto

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hashimoto

 

With the exception of the office work thats what I use my XBOX for.

I have 2xshuttles... but neither work properly with mandrake...the sound suffers some strange popping....

 

Given I have this hooked up through a few thousand $ worth of speakers i am not keen on wrecking them... and its annoying anyway...

 

The AMD64 shuttle is currently running debian unstable and no problems on the nforce3 chipset and the sound...whereas the nforce2 is running MDK10 CE and is unusable for media.

 

My friend put MDK 10CE on the ASUS pundit and its running fine as a base install for mythtv...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Check the sig, mine works perfectly, with or without the nVIdia card installed (although the integrated video has no 3d acceleration whatsoever, justa VESA driver and it does suck down memory bandwidth by 10-20%). My SK41G is my primary workstation, from creating documentation for clients to listening to music, DVD playback and some gaming. Sound works perfectly on mine, but that said the SK41G is older and has had quite a while longer to be tweaked for Linux. The ST62K is also on the Mandrake certified list, for a brief period you could order the ST62K with Mandrake pre-installed. And finally, some linkage that should prove useful.

 

 

Type: Desktop Manufacturer: Shuttle

 

SHUTTLE XPC SB51G

Known as working Mandrakelinux 10.0

 

SHUTTLE XPC SB52G2

Certified by MandrakeSoft Mandrakelinux 10.0

 

SHUTTLE XPC SB62G2

Known as working Mandrakelinux 10.0

 

SHUTTLE XPC SB75G2

Certified by MandrakeSoft Mandrakelinux 10.0

 

SHUTTLE XPC SK41G

Known as working Mandrakelinux 10.0

 

SHUTTLE XPC SK43G

Certified by MandrakeSoft Mandrakelinux 10.0

 

SHUTTLE XPC SN85G4

Certified by MandrakeSoft Mandrakelinux 10.0

 

SHUTTLE XPC SS51G

Certified by MandrakeSoft Mandrakelinux 10.0

 

SHUTTLE XPC ST62K

Certified by MandrakeSoft Mandrakelinux 10.0

 

Keep in mind other models may work, but the won't be certified by Mandrake unless the manufacturer submits a model for testing, so if it says "known as working" it's been informally tested or submitted as working by a Mandrake Club member.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought a EPIA M10000N (1GHz VIA Nehemiah CPU) motherboard (mini ITX=17cmx17cm!), inside a GA610 case.

It is now working, but only after a couple of months of hard work, and I'm no newbie... And 5.1 sound is not working (that's because VIA's special Xine is too old, but that will soon change, and 5.1 sound will work).

Besides, it is not so silent.

 

So: this config *is* a good config if you want something good-looking (almost smaller than my VCR!) for a small price. But the GA610 case is not silent enough (that's probably why it is so cheap). And be sure it will not be easy to set-up.

The good thing with EPIA is its low power-consuption.

 

On the other hand, I can advise you for the hard disk (Baraccuda 120GB 7200rpm), DVD burner (NEC ND2510), and TV card (PVR250).

 

Yves.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks so far,

 

Gowator, got to take a look at the Asus Pundit.

 

Xbob, I've already visited the Mandrake hardware page so I know that Shuttle is well supported. The other makes are of interest, too.

 

YinYeti, I've considered the mini-itx too, but I remember reading the comments (maybe they were yours, YinYeti) about difficult installation. As I have no interest (not to mention skills) in spending months tweaking the system I prefer something a bit easier. And it's got to be dvb card, not analog tv.

 

BR

Hashimoto

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought a EPIA M10000N (1GHz VIA Nehemiah CPU) motherboard (mini ITX=17cmx17cm!), inside a GA610 case.

It is now working, but only after a couple of months of hard work, and I'm no newbie... And 5.1 sound is not working (that's because VIA's special Xine is too old, but that will soon change, and 5.1 sound will work).

Besides, it is not so silent.

 

So: this config *is* a good config if you want something good-looking (almost smaller than my VCR!) for a small price. But the GA610 case is not silent enough (that's probably why it is so cheap). And be sure it will not be easy to set-up.

The good thing with EPIA is its low power-consuption.

 

On the other hand, I can advise you for the hard disk (Baraccuda 120GB 7200rpm), DVD burner (NEC ND2510), and TV card (PVR250).

 

Yves.

I had the same model and sold it, never could silence that thing without bumping in to heat issues, or course it was the very first M1000 so maybe it has improved with later revs, but I was disappointed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks so far,

 

Gowator, got to take a look at the Asus Pundit.

 

Xbob, I've already visited the Mandrake hardware page so I know that Shuttle is well supported. The other makes are of interest, too.

 

YinYeti, I've considered the mini-itx too, but I remember reading the comments (maybe they were yours, YinYeti) about difficult installation. As I have no interest (not to mention skills) in spending months tweaking the system I prefer something a bit easier. And it's got to be dvb card, not analog tv.

 

BR

Hashimoto

 

I've heard a lot of good comments regarding the Soltek's as far as perfromance, but not so good regarding Linux compatability. I have personally lost faith in MSI products having received 2 poorly built motherboards ina row from them (nForce 1 and KT400, both with bad caps), but I don't know much about the other SFFs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course it might be possble for Yves to make a partition backup of his working one...

 

I actually went out to buy an Asus the day I bought my AMD64.... somehow???

 

the shuttles are reasonably quiet... not silent but not bad :D

 

the xbox is a doddle....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...