I have an older Shuttle system, the SS51Gv2, and it's almost silent if you let the BIOS turn the main fan down when it isn't needed. It has the space for two HDs plus an optical, as well as being the size of a rather large toaster. That meets three of your requirements. The only problem is the graphics card. The model I have comes with an AGP slot and after a week or two of using a Radeon 9800 Pro, it burned out the power supply. It seems that the 9800P requires a minimum of a 300W PSU and the Shuttle came with only 200W's. The replacement I bought for the Shuttle cost me $90! One would think it would be less since it was only 300Ws, but I guess the bulk of the cost came from the fact that it was customized for the Shuttle.
The lesson I learned from this is that if you want a system with a powerful graphics card, you'll also need a power supply that can give it the juice it needs. The article says the SDXi includes a 400W PSU, which is in my opinion, the bare minimum of today's gfx cards' needs. If the 8800 GTX or something similar to it is what you meant by "big graphics card", then the 400W PSU isn't going to cut it; especially since you also want to throw in two HDs and an optical drive. And I can't even begin to imagine how hot it's going to get with all those devices packed in such a small space. While the Shuttles do perform very well, they are not really meant for hardcore/cutting-edge anything.
Not only that, but the entire 6000 series will be upgraded to 4MBs of cache.
Also shamelessly ripped from AnanadTech: Currently the E6300 and E6400 both have 2MB L2s, but both chips will be replaced by 4MB versions - the E6320 and E6420 respectively.
The best part is that they won't cost any different than the 2MB versions.
It's not that people can see the difference between 30 fps and 120 fps, it's the benefit that a higher fps brings. In Quake 3, at least, hitting that 125 fps will allow you to jump to areas that a player with a lower fps can't. For example, the mega health ledge in Q3DM13; you'll never make the jump at the default 85 fps cap, but if you set it to 125 (140 is actually better) with/com_maxfps [int], you'll be able to jump to it easily provided your graphics card can give you that frame rate of course. Not only can you jump higher, but your strafe jumps will be noticeably faster and the game will be much more fluid. So when people say they see a difference, what they really mean is that they can feel a difference.
You may think your A52/AC3 5.1 dolby digital compressed surround sound is good, but uncompressed TrueHD/DTS HD BLOWS IT AWAY.
You're probably right about that, but honestly, how can a person possibly tell the difference unless they use a measuring device? I bet 99% of people out there won't be able to hear the difference between the two. Personally, if the number of speakers are the same, I can't tell the difference between CD audio and something of higher quality. Console manufacturers are really going overboard with all this HD crap. It increases the cost of the console tremendously without providing any serious benefit at all.
The real shame about the 360 Elite is that it will NOT use the cooler running 65nm processors (no 65nm, no 65nm). Having that would have been much more preferable than a DRM ladened a/v port.
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When will I get such a system!?
Don't hold your breath.
I have an older Shuttle system, the SS51Gv2, and it's almost silent if you let the BIOS turn the main fan down when it isn't needed. It has the space for two HDs plus an optical, as well as being the size of a rather large toaster. That meets three of your requirements. The only problem is the graphics card. The model I have comes with an AGP slot and after a week or two of using a Radeon 9800 Pro, it burned out the power supply. It seems that the 9800P requires a minimum of a 300W PSU and the Shuttle came with only 200W's. The replacement I bought for the Shuttle cost me $90! One would think it would be less since it was only 300Ws, but I guess the bulk of the cost came from the fact that it was customized for the Shuttle.
The lesson I learned from this is that if you want a system with a powerful graphics card, you'll also need a power supply that can give it the juice it needs. The article says the SDXi includes a 400W PSU, which is in my opinion, the bare minimum of today's gfx cards' needs. If the 8800 GTX or something similar to it is what you meant by "big graphics card", then the 400W PSU isn't going to cut it; especially since you also want to throw in two HDs and an optical drive. And I can't even begin to imagine how hot it's going to get with all those devices packed in such a small space. While the Shuttles do perform very well, they are not really meant for hardcore/cutting-edge anything.
One thing is certain; we lose.
All you have to do is activate the reactor to melt it to release all the oxygen. Watch out for Benny, he's not who he seems.
Does he really? Maybe that's part of the problem. If you focus too hard on the future you lose your grip on what's happening right now.
Not only that, but the entire 6000 series will be upgraded to 4MBs of cache.
Also shamelessly ripped from AnanadTech: Currently the E6300 and E6400 both have 2MB L2s, but both chips will be replaced by 4MB versions - the E6320 and E6420 respectively.
The best part is that they won't cost any different than the 2MB versions.
It's not that people can see the difference between 30 fps and 120 fps, it's the benefit that a higher fps brings. In Quake 3, at least, hitting that 125 fps will allow you to jump to areas that a player with a lower fps can't. For example, the mega health ledge in Q3DM13; you'll never make the jump at the default 85 fps cap, but if you set it to 125 (140 is actually better) with /com_maxfps [int], you'll be able to jump to it easily provided your graphics card can give you that frame rate of course. Not only can you jump higher, but your strafe jumps will be noticeably faster and the game will be much more fluid. So when people say they see a difference, what they really mean is that they can feel a difference.
You may think your A52/AC3 5.1 dolby digital compressed surround sound is good, but uncompressed TrueHD/DTS HD BLOWS IT AWAY.
You're probably right about that, but honestly, how can a person possibly tell the difference unless they use a measuring device? I bet 99% of people out there won't be able to hear the difference between the two. Personally, if the number of speakers are the same, I can't tell the difference between CD audio and something of higher quality. Console manufacturers are really going overboard with all this HD crap. It increases the cost of the console tremendously without providing any serious benefit at all.
The real shame about the 360 Elite is that it will NOT use the cooler running 65nm processors (no 65nm, no 65nm). Having that would have been much more preferable than a DRM ladened a/v port.