Hi all i have chosen 2 small form factors pc's im interested in but don't know which one is the best technically so that's why im posted here. I'm not to bright when it comes to chipsets and stuff.

Choice 1
http://global.shuttle.com/Product/B...

Choice 2

http://www.biostar.com.tw/products/...

I will be using some old components like old sata 11 160gig hard drive & AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Socket AM2.

I like the shuttle because you can have 2 cd rom drives but it does not have the satta 11 standard but not sure if that makes any difference.

Also other suggestions welcome but must be in same price range and the depth be under 33cm
Regards
Tim

I would advise you to stay away from SFF PCs altogether. They are very limited as to what you can do with them upgrade-wise & the main components (i.e. motherboard & power supply) are proprietary...that generally means that you can NOT use "off the shelf" parts. Replacements would have to be purchased thru Shuttle or Biostar.

Neither system listed will be good for gaming "out of the box". They both have a PCI-E slot for a video card upgrade but unfortunately, the power supplies are weak (250W for the Shuttle, 220W for the Biostar) so a high end gaming card is out of the question. And as I stated above, upgrading the proprietary PSU would be difficult.

The specs on the Shuttle suck...horrible SiS based board with horrible integrated graphics. Don't even consider it.

The Biostar system has a much better nVidia based board with much better onboard video...but only a 220W PSU.

Unfortunately I live in a terrace and room is really tight so I have always had small form factor pc. I don't want major top spec but I do play the occasionally game. So the Biostar is probably the best bet then. Does it matter what speed ddr 2 I put in it? As price varies allot with this in comparison to speed but I have no idea what will go well with my Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Socket AM2. I was thinking about PC2-5300. But would I benefit from paying a few £'s more for PC2-6400

"I don't want major top spec but I do play the occasionally game"

It's not so much about "top spec" as it is about future upgrading. As for gaming...it would depend on the game. Older games should play OK on the Biostar, but newer titles will run poorly, if at all. Avoid that particular Shuttle system like the plague. Maybe they have other systems based on better motherboards?

I think you're making a mistake, but it's your money.

"I was thinking about PC2-5300"

Spend the extra & get PC2-6400 (DDR2-800) RAM.

"Also other suggestions welcome but must be in same price range and the depth be under 33cm" That equates to just under 13". If this is critical, it sounds like you may be resticting airflow. That is a bad idea.
I can't believe the extra space a midtower takes could be that critical. If the small form factor case is large enough for TWO optical drives it can't be much smaller than a mid tower. Go with a midtower and an mATX MBoard. The only thing you sacrifice is a few PCI slots, which most folks don't need anyway.

Well thanks othehill, thats given me another direction to look in, as i have discovered from your suggestion that you can get micro atx case with a depth of 35cm i can getaway with this (Very small bedroom & pc has to go inside chimney) But does any one recommend a good micro atx motherboard for aprox £50 as the case is £50. Bearing in mind i need to use old components am2 athlon.

I realise you can't order from this vendor as they don't ship outside the USA but this will give you an idea what is available. Don't be turned of by the onboard graphics. Just be sure that there is a PCIe16x slot available. I recommend the MBoards with nVidia chipsets. There is a DFI listed with the GForce 6150 graphics and 430 chipset. This is high defination TV. I am currently using a board with that graphics chip and it is quite good. Not good for state of the art games but probably the best onboard graphics chip available at the moment. Can use up to 256MB of system RAM. The sound on the 430 is quite good also (HD 6.1). There are many choices. Look them over and click on the specs tab at Newegg. If you decide to go with a ATX board just be sure you get a case that can handle a decent PSU. Wider cases can use standard PSUs. Here is the link. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...

"I will be using some old components like old sata 11 160gig hard drive & AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Socket AM2"

Where did these components come from? And what happened to your last SFF system? OtheHill brought up a very good point about airflow. If you're putting this tower into a very confined space, it will most likely run hot. Could it be that's what happened to your old system?

Lol, there’s lots of airflow in my drafty little room in this terraced house. It is simply the depth of the chimney, other wise the pc would over hang the shelf which is not good the computer can not go anywhere else, the room only measures 2.3 x 3.4 metres . My old pc was a Soltek Qbic, which just died, well the PSU went bang. But it was quite old.

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/H...

The AM2 CPU & hard drive is donated by my brother. Though my old hard drive may still work, who knows?

And thanks for all help so far, I am going to be buying a micro atx case, did not even know they existed until it was mention on here.