[Jason Dunn]

More than a month ago, Shuttle sent me an SN95G5 XPC to review...and it's been sitting there gathering dust. I requested parts from some of my favourite companies: Kingston sent me 2 GB of RAM, and Western Digital sent me two 74 GB 10,000 RPM Raptor drives. AMD doesn't have a CPU loaner program, so I bought an AMD 3500+ CPU (the price jump to the 3800+ was brutal!).



The missing piece was the video card, and it took forever to solve: I needed the fastest video card that would work (and fit) in the Shuttle, but it also had to support dual DVI connectors. That's harder to find than you might think, at least where I live. I tried all the local vendors, but most stared at me blankly when I said I needed dual DVI. I finally decided on the card that I wanted, the XFX GeForce 6800GT: the Ultra wouldn't fit in the Shuttle, so I settled on the GT flavour of the card. I emailed XFX for a review loaner, but they didn't even have the courtesy to give me "no" for an answer - nothing but silence. A bit rude.

At any rate, I then started searching for ANYONE to sell me that card - and boy did I have a hard time! I found two places in eastern Canada that had the card, but they didn't accept credit cards - I'd have to make a trip to the bank and get a money order. :? I then widened my search to include US-based vendors that would ship the card into Canada - trust me, there aren't many of those. I found eCost, however, and managed to order the card. By the time it got off backorder, and managed to find it's way to me, it took a full two weeks. But now I have the card and can start assembling the system. In part two, I'll talk about why I chose the parts I did, and what my goals are with building this system. For now, I'm just happy I finally got my hands on that darn video card!

[Jason Dunn]

More than a month ago, Shuttle sent me an SN95G5 XPC to review...and it's been sitting there gathering dust. I requested parts from some of my favourite companies: Kingston sent me 2 GB of RAM, and Western Digital sent me two 74 GB 10,000 RPM Raptor drives. AMD doesn't have a CPU loaner program, so I bought an AMD 3500+ CPU (the price jump to the 3800+ was brutal!).



The missing piece was the video card, and it took forever to solve: I needed the fastest video card that would work (and fit) in the Shuttle, but it also had to support dual DVI connectors. That's harder to find than you might think, at least where I live. I tried all the local vendors, but most stared at me blankly when I said I needed dual DVI. I finally decided on the card that I wanted, the XFX GeForce 6800GT: the Ultra wouldn't fit in the Shuttle, so I settled on the GT flavour of the card. I emailed XFX for a review loaner, but they didn't even have the courtesy to give me "no" for an answer - nothing but silence. A bit rude.

At any rate, I then started searching for ANYONE to sell me that card - and boy did I have a hard time! I found two places in eastern Canada that had the card, but they didn't accept credit cards - I'd have to make a trip to the bank and get a money order. :? I then widened my search to include US-based vendors that would ship the card into Canada - trust me, there aren't many of those. I found eCost, however, and managed to order the card. By the time it got off backorder, and managed to find it's way to me, it took a full two weeks. But now I have the card and can start assembling the system. In part two, I'll talk about why I chose the parts I did, and what my goals are with building this system. For now, I'm just happy I finally got my hands on that darn video card!

[Fitch]

Just the box is gorgeous
How come dual DVI, just for two DVI monitors, or are you planning one monitor, and one to an HDTV?

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Fitch

How come dual DVI, just for two DVI monitors, or are you planning one monitor, and one to an HDTV?

Yes, dual Delll 2001FP monitors. Right now I run one in analog and one in digital, and my goal was to go fully digital.

[the_rapture]

Now that you have all the parts what has the cost or what would it cost me?

Thanks

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by the_rapture

Now that you have all the parts what has the cost or what would it cost me?

Well, I'm in Canada so my costs will be different from yours if you're in the US. I'l have a breakdown of the costs later, but if you go to Pricegrabber you can probably put together the pieces you want.

[the_rapture]

Sorry I was reading the post on my PDA and I see now that you have links to all the items. Thanks!

I've got a dual AMD MP system that is starting to lag on me so I've been thinking of putting together something new. When I saw your post I was thinking that this sounds like what I want to do. I find myself doing more with the home entertainment things.

Thanks for a great site too...