Shuttle PC the right choice?

I was looking for a good PC and stunbled over http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1142288946533
It is small but still quite powerfull and has a good processor. Hardwareupgrading should also be no problem as well. You think thats a good choice?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

It IS a fine computer. It may be a bit unreasonably expensive, since its from Best Buy (I could probably build a very similar one for a couple hundred less), but otherwise its good.

The only drawback on shuttle PC computers that I am aware of is that there is only room for 2 expansion cards, and one is usually taken up by the graphics card.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Yeah I know and the biggest problem at the moment is that I have no idea if the motherboard has a 64bit driver otherwise I won't make much sense to have a Athlon64 without being able to use it's power.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Elrasiel

Yeah I know and the biggest problem at the moment is that I have no idea if the motherboard has a 64bit driver otherwise I won't make much sense to have a Athlon64 without being able to use it's power.

Wait... what?

Okay, uh, look... just do us all a favor and never think about bits again, okay? It doesn't matter, you don't get it, and I don't know where to begin unravelling this statement. That's a fine computer. Compact, powerful, add a nice LCD display and you'll be good to go.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I've had a Shuttle for about 2 years now and I absolutely love it. My model is a SN45G, and I bought it just when 64bit chips were starting to become popular and reasonably priced. The cost difference between a regular sized PC and mine was marginal, and I use it for gaming. Unfortunately, mine was an older model and they still put the AGP slot right beside the edge of the case so you could put a faster video card in with a large fan/heatsink.

This Shuttle you linked to(SN26P) seems like a decent price (for this model anyway.) I tried pricing it by each part separately and it came to over $1300 Canadian.

But I gotta ask, what do you plan to use this computer for? There might be a better solution than to go with this particular setup.

Originally Posted by Elrasiel

Yeah I know and the biggest problem at the moment is that I have no idea if the motherboard has a 64bit driver otherwise I won't make much sense to have a Athlon64 without being able to use it's power.

At this point in time, 64bit means nothing. It doesn't make your chip run faster, and it also means you must run Windows 64bit edition. Not much of a benefit. Windows Vista might change that next year.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by rendr

At this point in time, 64bit means nothing. It doesn't make your chip run faster, and it also means you must run Windows 64bit edition. Not much of a benefit. Windows Vista might change that next year.

Not entirely correct. I have a 64-bit processor, and I do not run a 64-bit version of Windows.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Soluzar

Not entirely correct. I have a 64-bit processor, and I do not run a 64-bit version of Windows.

Oh stupid me, I meant to say that if he wants to run his 64bit drivers. :/

Most amazing jew boots

Thanks for the answers.
Yeah I wanna run x64 on it but that means i need to find a driver for that. The problem is that P2690 is a model just made for bestbuy so it makes it difficult to find any driver at all since I have no idea which motherboard is in it. On the shuttle website they have a lot of 64bit drivers but only for the models they sell widely and not the bestbuy one:eyebrow: Maby I need to call support but have no idea if they can help me at all (or does it have a SN26P motherboard???).
I wann use it for gaming (but more games like sims2, RCT3, the movies, oblivion and less shoter) and editing on movies and sound but also to watch stuff in higher resolution (my laptop is to slow for that) and downloadable hd stuff.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Elrasiel

Thanks for the answers.
Yeah I wanna run x64 on it but that means i need to find a driver for that. The problem is that P2690 is a model just made for bestbuy so it makes it difficult to find any driver at all since I have no idea which motherboard is in it. On the shuttle website they have a lot of 64bit drivers but only for the models they sell widely and not the bestbuy one:eyebrow: Maby I need to call support but have no idea if they can help me at all (or does it have a SN26P motherboard???).
I wann use it for gaming (but more games like sims2, RCT3, the movies, oblivion and less shoter) and editing on movies and sound but also to watch stuff in higher resolution (my laptop is to slow for that) and downloadable hd stuff.

There's really no reason to run XP 64-bit edition. It has a marked lack of drivers and there's no real benefit. Applications that can take advantage of 64-bit processing (few and far between, because not many NEED it) can still run with appropriate libraries on the regular 32-bit edition of XP. So, uh... yeah. Don't. It's more trouble than it's worth and has very little, if any, benefit.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Not really. I've be to different communitys and x64 suppose to give a solid benefit in speed and stability. It's more or less like XP SP3 and based on windows server 2003 which makes it even better than the 32bit version. That's the main reason for me. I won't run older applications anyway and it gives you a little taste for windows vista. I'm also gona have dual booting for the case it makes problems after all.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I really hate to re-iterate this, but there is NO benefit to running XP64. Your chip will not process faster. And, no, there is no stablilty increase. This is due to the fact that most 64bit drivers are fairly new and untested. The OS might be stable, but that certainly gets flushed if shitty drivers are installed. The 64bit aspect isn't what makes it run faster, it allows the chip more address more memory or RAM. 32-bit has a limitation of 4GB of RAM while 64-bit is limited to (the low, low number of) 17,179,869,184 GB.

The Best Buy website even states that the motherboard has a limit of 2GB of RAM. On top of this, you ARE lucky if you can find drivers for certain things. This includes everyday items such as digital cameras and camcorders, WiFi cards and all sorts of things. If the manufacturer hasn't made 64bit drivers, you're hooped. Is that really all worth the hassle for... literally nothing?

But back on topic...

That is a reasonable price for that setup. I would pick it up if you are willing to pay a little extra for the (lack of) size of that little powerhouse.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Well I tried to calculate other SN26P with similar components but it always ends up with WAY over 1300$ so I think its definitely worth the price just the lack on pci-slots sucks but I won't use dual graphicpower anyway and probably no audio-card as well if the sound is good enough. Just a video-card for things on my digicam.
Like I said the dual-booting should keep me on the save site. Microsoft has a trial version whitch I can try out for over 100 days.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?