{"id":649,"date":"2009-01-04T12:57:53","date_gmt":"2009-01-04T01:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seawind-network.com\/20090104\/xpc"},"modified":"2009-01-04T12:57:53","modified_gmt":"2009-01-04T01:57:53","slug":"xpc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rommelpascual.com\/index.php\/20090104\/xpc\/","title":{"rendered":"XPC"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t\t\tTweet<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>

A good friend of mine asked my help to advice him on what PC to buy. He had the unfortunate experience of a triple hard disk failure this weekend. One disk is a new WD 500GB SATAII on a portable case, but the 2 are old IDEs which are probably just waiting to fail. But for it to fail all in the same week is quite some luck – if you believe in that.<\/p>\n

I’m torn between advising him to get a Dell off an online catalogue and be done with it – or put myself out there and build him a Shuttle XPC system.<\/p>\n

\"Shuttle

Shuttle XPC SG33G5<\/p><\/div>I use an SD30G2B XPC<\/a> myself, running an Ubuntu 8.10. It is very quiet and cool (as in operates on a relatively low temperature). It is switched on 24 hours a day and I’m very happy with it. I promised myself that if I ever have a need for another PC that I’ll pay for myself, it will definitely be this small form factor beauty. Because, not only are these very reliable – they are beautiful.<\/p>\n

Of course budget and purpose will have to dictate the final choices, after all, the range can be from a practical K40 without any PCIe slots to SX48 which would take 8GB. Some models even have HDMI outputs if you wish to use it as a Multimedia PC.<\/p>\n

But my friend is a business man, practical, but needs the occasional grunt. I will stay away from the K40 – although I know it will probably address all his needs. But you’ll never know if one day he’ll want a dual monitor and would actually want a graphic card added.<\/p>\n

I choose the SG33G5, just a few models up my SD30 which allows for 1 PCIe and 1 PCI slot. I also decided against getting a more expensive E7400 Intel CPU in favour of the E2200. I was also tempted to fit it with a fast Seagate HDD designed for Video Editting – but once again, I know that the prime use is business. I also held back in adding a graphic accelarator and would use the on-board for now. I’m hoping that it will be good enough to drive the 24″ LCD monitor he requested to put on.<\/p>\n

Hmmm. I know that when I’m finished with this PC – I will be salivating – for really – I’ve set out to build a PC I would like to have … but just can’t justify the expense \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n

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Final Configuration<\/h2>\n