Page 1 of Cheap Cube PC Base Units

I`m looking to transfer down to a cube PC, by getting the guts out of my existing PC (Athlon XP2000 Processor, Memory, DVD Writer) etc and sticking them in a cube. Can anyoone point me in the direction of a dirt cheap Socket A cube PC base unit? doesn`t have to be the prettiest. Just nice and cheap :)

Kip

This item was edited on Tuesday, 20th April 2004, 16:36

a shuttle might do? on offer here http://www.aria.co.uk/

also bear in mind that if the "cube" you decide on does not come with the mobo fitted, the one you wanna use has to be micro-atx compatable (or sometimes mini-atx are used)

The Shuttle ones the poster above mentions are smart. I`ve built 6 for work, very well designed and so far very reliable. I`ve been buying the SG61G2 model which is for socket 478 chips (P4s), cost about £150 from www.microdirect.co.uk. They also do the Athlon flavours. Water cooling for the processor, no more fighting with crappy fans.

Check out the Shuttle website if you want more info - www.shuttle.com. Pretty comprehensive, lots of info about whether components are compatible or not.

Well i`ve taken the plunge and got a shuttle case, with the remote control option. Got mine from TekHeads - Cheaper than Aria.

Looking forward to getting it :)

Kip

Shuttles Rule :D I have 2 - my main games machine is an SN41G2 with Radeon 9800pro.

I built my wife an SK41G to do her surfing on.

It sounds like the SK41G is the one you want - it`s a 266mhz fsb model. Aria as mentioned above do regular offers on them - they were selling them at £99 inc VAT. Gone up to £109 now. Definately worth a look, the mobo has onboard sound, graphics etc - all you add is a processor, a harddrive, a CD ROM and some memory and off you go! I`d recommend a cheap graphics card for the AGP slot, as the onboard uses some of your system RAM.

Has anyone HAD to upgrade the PSU in theres?

Or is the supplied one okay?

Kip

Nope. The one supplied is very high quality and designed specifically for the Shuttles.

There have been some reports of Shuttles failing to boot with an All In Wonder card in - the card needs a lot of power to boot. This doesn`t seem to affect every user.

Both my Shuttles have decent gfx cards (9800pro and a 9600pro in the SK41G), 2 hard drives etc. and I`ve never had a problem.

There is a SilentX 250w PSU available if you need more power, but my advice would be to try your set up as it is before upgrading the psu. Chances are, you won`t need to upgrade. Obviously, if you`re also going to connect a load of usb devices, then connecting them through a powered hub will take the strain off the PSU. But you should really do that for a normal tower anyway.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 21st April 2004, 13:49

Aye, no problem here with the PSUs either, although as ours are work machines I`ve not bothered with flash gfx cards.

Don`t know if you`ll be carrying yours about but if so you can get a nice Shuttle bag, sized just right for about £25.