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Shuttle SDXi Water-Cooled SFF PC
MojoKid writes "Shuttle Computer single-handedly invented the SFF PC or Small Form-Factor PC a few years back. Their line of XPC mini-PC systems, no bigger than a toaster oven, has evolved nicely over the years. This article takes a look at the features and performance of a new XPC from Shuttle that is built on a i975X/Core 2 Duo platform and is designed with the PC enthusiast in mind. The SDXi features a number of unique features like a built-in water-cooler for Radeon GPU-based graphics cards and a slick, flamed-out paint job that you've just got to see." Update: 07/08 23:53 GMT by KD : Here is a link to the version split over 12 pages, in which the images are clickable thumbnails.
I'm still waiting for the very small form factor - uATX, picoATX and smaller FF's to come way down in price. The premiums they get for a small machine are obscene. And the units that don't need a fan like Via C3s are so absurdly underpowered you have to wonder why they don't embed the whole system in a network appliance.
I think you're at cross-purposes here. You want a quiet system, but you also want a big graphics card. Most gfx cards today have their own cooling fans (meaning one more noise source in the system). Plus, you want a PCIe x16 card, which means more bandwidth, which implied higher CPU requirements (hey, something's gotta supply those polygon requirements), faster RAM, faster HD (unless you wanna cut your frame rate waiting for textures to load), all of which mean more power, which equals more cooling, which equals more noise. Unless you can come up with some way to cool your system with dry ice or some other high-thermal-differential substance, you're going to have to move larger quantities of a less-efficient medium around.
Just junk food for thought...
From the picture that thing looks half as big as a mid-tower. That's not what I'd call a "small PC".
When I think small computer, I think Apple Mac mini and AOpen miniPC.
I have a "Small Form Factor" toaster box that is from BioStar. It's the same sort of thing as the Shuttle. It is a little noisier than I prefer.
The truly SFF, quiet computer that I have also been using for over a year is a Mac Mini. If you don't need one of those high-wattage video cards, the Mini is fast and about 1/6th the size of any of these "toaster" boxen. (I have the Mini sitting ~on top~ of the SFF PC, along with a USB 2.0 external hub.)
You can also drop a Core 2 Duo CPU into the Mini. (The current models are Core Duo.) The upgrade path for my SFF PC isn't as good.
For those of us who don't want "gaming" graphics and want a quiet computer to run OS X, Linux, or Windows, I don't see many options better than the Mac Mini.
Please note: I am not Steve Jobs. If I were, I surely would have said, "Boom. There it is," at least once in this post.
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
Maybe if it's crammed full of heatpipes and the whole case is a heatsink. Even then, there's a limit to how small it can get without overheating. Otherwise, your choices are:
small and powerful, but noisy
silent and powerful, but big
small and silent, but slow