A Desicion, Perhaps...
Get ready for this quite a bit from me... I have found something that may unseat the venerable Shuttle from the top of the list of what I want for a case/mobo/psu. So here it is...
Biostar Ideq 210P
So what is the big deal? I'll give you the run down of the two systems...
Processors - They both support AMD 64 processors... check!
Chipsets - Shuttle: VIA K8M800 / VT8237
Biostar: Nvidia nFORCE3 250 Gb
This one seems to go with Biostar. It comes with Gigabit LAN and Nvidia's hardware firewall.
Memory - Basically the same, although on Newegg, it lists only DDR400 on the Biostar... Thats what I want to get anyway, so its not a big deal.
Graphics - Shuttle: Onboard, which will work for a while, but I will be getting an AGP video card.
Biostar: None, but I will be getting an AGP video card... only sooner.
Expansion slots - Shuttle: x1 PCI x1 AGP
Biostar: x1 PCI x1 AGP x1 MiniPCI
The MiniPCI enables me to put in a wireless card inside the case, instead of in the PCI slot, which frees that up for whatever I want.
IDE (Disk Drive Connections) - x2 ATA100, x2 SATA on both of them... self explanatory.
Audio - Shuttle: Realtek ALC650 6 channels audio
Biostar: Realtek ALC655 6 channels audio
I don't know what the difference is, and if there is one, it would be minimal... so who cares?
Expansion Bays - Shuttle: x1 3.5, x1 5.25
Biostar: x2 3.5, x1 5.25
Biostar allows 2 hard drives, plus a card reader. Shuttle would need one of those 3.5 inch slots for a card slot if you wanted one.
Power Supply - Shuttle: 240 (PFC)
Biostar: true 250
If anyone knows any difference between PFC and what Biostar calls "True 250", then please tell me! So for now, I won't say which might be better.
Aesthetics - Shuttle: Slightly smaller, but very pretty.
Biostar: Slightly larger, and also very pretty. Adds in drives covers (stealth drives.. ooooh). I don't know, I don't know which one is better looking at the moment, they are both good looking to me.
From what it looks like, they are both very viable options for the Small Form Factor builder. The reviews on Newegg both seem very positive for each of these SFFs. They are also both roughly the same price ($255 vs. $253 on Newegg). So which one should I get? Give me input if you want! I'm leaning towards the Biostar though.
Link of the Post: The Thomas Insight <--One of the homeys in our little group o' friends



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