tomshardware.com— Shuttle's KPC is here. It offers cost-effective green computing for the masses. Power users need not apply.
Apr 10, 2008View in Crawl 4
Ok, aside from the weak (and somewhat embarrassing) come-backs, I partially agree with baalzebub. I see at least a CD burner/drive and one USB port being valuable. I don't care about the PCI slot, but to have the drive opens the world to easily installing your own software/OS.just my 2 bucks.
Why not, it would be perfect for that.Oh wait, you might be one of those who thinks it needs some overclocked quad core and sli video cards to surf the web or play back a movie.
$50 case from computergeeks.com$10 AMD 3500 64bit CPU from ebay (add $30 for dual core X2 3600 which rocks)$50 ASUS K8N-E PCI-E motherboard, which is just one click lower than a K8N deluxe$0 PCI video card lying about, or add $50 for kickass Nvidia 7800GT$0 CDROM/DVDROM lying about$0 Keyboard / Mouse /Speakers lying about$20 1600x1200 monitor from Goodwill$0 10gig harddrive lying about$35 512K stick of DDR RAM$0 cracked copy of XP/Vista or Linux----$165, or about $200, after you add cool case light effects and kickass 7800GT that will play any game under the sun.So, why would you touch this KFC chicken box of crap PC for??? when you can build a gaming rig for the same price?
I'm saying "not" too, because this box is going to end up costing me $300 once you get the necessary harware/shipping. At $99 they had me. $300, not so much.
Did you not notice the small footprint and extremely low power usage of this box?? Problems with your post: Problem #1: you site a $50 compgeeks case and an socket 754 ATX motherboard. ATX isn't small. This is very tiny. Problem #2. You site a dual core chip for an extra $30 which you cannot get in 754 socket (I ran 754 for a few years and I'm just now ebaying my spare chip) I have a gaming rig, buddy - Core 2 duo, x1900xt, etc. I'm ordering one of these KPCs. It is going to run my Magicjack VOIP phone, media streaming to the PS3/Xbox via TVersity, and maybe use it as a HTPC mame box. And probably save me a couple of dollars a month in power, not to mention saving wear and tear on my gaming box which has been running practically 24x7 to run the phone, media streaming, etc.I think you've missed the point. This isn't a gaming box. It's a low power green PC for use as a NAS, media server, or as a small system for the websurfing grandma type.
I agree with your points. My estimates were overblown because I haven't looked into buying a gaming rig since about 2002. Obviously prices have leveled out somewhat. I'll take your points one at a time.1. Yes I realize that I can connect my PC to my TV, but why would I want to when I've got a console out there? I use my Xbox for more than just gaming. It's a convenient way to bring my music and video collection to the living room (yes I realize that a PC can do this as well). Maybe I'm just old but to me, a PC belongs on a desk with a decent monitor and not on a TV. PCs always look like s**t whenever I've connected them to TVs. The living room is a more social place for gaming. My 6-year-old son and I can sit on the couch together with controllers and play games together. If I bring my PC out there, should I bring out two wireless mice and two wireless keyboards so we can both play? Do you think my 6-year-old son or my wife are going to want to play games with me where they have to sit on the couch with a mouse and keyboard, or share a mouse and keyboard?2. On the new graphics card issue, I'm not talking about buying another card as soon as you buy the system. I'm talking about in a year or two when newer and hotter games have come out and your aging PC equipment just can't cope.3. I will still be buying new Xbox 360 games in 2009 and probably 2010. Consoles seem to have a typical life-span of about 5 years. I bought an Xbox 360 in 2005 for $400. I'll buy a new console again in 2010 for another $400 (or maybe less). 2015, 2020 and so on. If I go by your math, I can buy a decent gaming PC in 2005 for $600, another one in 2010 for $600, etc. Any PC gamer who tells me that they are going to use their PC to game for 5 years with zero upgrades is full of s**t.4. Money is a factor, and consoles will save you money. If you like, I will do a breakdown of all the money I've spent on Xbox 360 gaming and you can do a breakdown of all the money you've spent on PC gaming for a given amount of time, and we'll see who spent more.5. I alluded to this in point 1 above, but I don't want to browse the web on my TV. My 2 year old laptop and my wife's 2 year old Mac are plenty for our "PC" needs. Email, browsing, authoring DVDs, etc. We'll keep those computers until they die. They were cheap.I still don't agree with your last point. Gaming on PCs is still more complicated. I haven't even touched on issues with drivers and patches. I bought a new PC game a few weeks ago. I installed in and immediately had to go download and install patches (and reboot every time). Then go to ATI to get a driver upgrade for my video card. Etc. etc. I realize that Xbox has updates too, but those are automatic and one-click simple. Why do you think services like Steam have become so popular? They have taken all the best features of console gaming (which started as the best features of PC gaming I realize) and integrated them together to make PC gaming less of a crap shoot.Like I said, maybe I'm getting old, but console gaming is better for me for all the points I list above. My initial post was in response to Dubbsacc's rather snide remarks about consoles being a waste of money. I think my points stand and obviously I'm not alone in this thinking.
baalzebubApr 11, 2008
i would save that $99 and add some more money to it and buy something better thats what i want...
garfonzoApr 11, 2008
Ok, aside from the weak (and somewhat embarrassing) come-backs, I partially agree with baalzebub. I see at least a CD burner/drive and one USB port being valuable. I don't care about the PCI slot, but to have the drive opens the world to easily installing your own software/OS.just my 2 bucks.
hacmanApr 11, 2008
So... baby seal walks into a club...
brennanApr 12, 2008
Why not, it would be perfect for that.Oh wait, you might be one of those who thinks it needs some overclocked quad core and sli video cards to surf the web or play back a movie.
anarchytvApr 14, 2008
$50 case from computergeeks.com$10 AMD 3500 64bit CPU from ebay (add $30 for dual core X2 3600 which rocks)$50 ASUS K8N-E PCI-E motherboard, which is just one click lower than a K8N deluxe$0 PCI video card lying about, or add $50 for kickass Nvidia 7800GT$0 CDROM/DVDROM lying about$0 Keyboard / Mouse /Speakers lying about$20 1600x1200 monitor from Goodwill$0 10gig harddrive lying about$35 512K stick of DDR RAM$0 cracked copy of XP/Vista or Linux----$165, or about $200, after you add cool case light effects and kickass 7800GT that will play any game under the sun.So, why would you touch this KFC chicken box of crap PC for??? when you can build a gaming rig for the same price?
wendelgee2Apr 14, 2008
I'm saying "not" too, because this box is going to end up costing me $300 once you get the necessary harware/shipping. At $99 they had me. $300, not so much.
greenmkyApr 15, 2008
Did you not notice the small footprint and extremely low power usage of this box?? Problems with your post: Problem #1: you site a $50 compgeeks case and an socket 754 ATX motherboard. ATX isn't small. This is very tiny. Problem #2. You site a dual core chip for an extra $30 which you cannot get in 754 socket (I ran 754 for a few years and I'm just now ebaying my spare chip) I have a gaming rig, buddy - Core 2 duo, x1900xt, etc. I'm ordering one of these KPCs. It is going to run my Magicjack VOIP phone, media streaming to the PS3/Xbox via TVersity, and maybe use it as a HTPC mame box. And probably save me a couple of dollars a month in power, not to mention saving wear and tear on my gaming box which has been running practically 24x7 to run the phone, media streaming, etc.I think you've missed the point. This isn't a gaming box. It's a low power green PC for use as a NAS, media server, or as a small system for the websurfing grandma type.
pweltzApr 16, 2008
because you won't loose time building it and installing it. and possibly you don t care about games.
nickj6282Apr 30, 2008
I agree with your points. My estimates were overblown because I haven't looked into buying a gaming rig since about 2002. Obviously prices have leveled out somewhat. I'll take your points one at a time.1. Yes I realize that I can connect my PC to my TV, but why would I want to when I've got a console out there? I use my Xbox for more than just gaming. It's a convenient way to bring my music and video collection to the living room (yes I realize that a PC can do this as well). Maybe I'm just old but to me, a PC belongs on a desk with a decent monitor and not on a TV. PCs always look like s**t whenever I've connected them to TVs. The living room is a more social place for gaming. My 6-year-old son and I can sit on the couch together with controllers and play games together. If I bring my PC out there, should I bring out two wireless mice and two wireless keyboards so we can both play? Do you think my 6-year-old son or my wife are going to want to play games with me where they have to sit on the couch with a mouse and keyboard, or share a mouse and keyboard?2. On the new graphics card issue, I'm not talking about buying another card as soon as you buy the system. I'm talking about in a year or two when newer and hotter games have come out and your aging PC equipment just can't cope.3. I will still be buying new Xbox 360 games in 2009 and probably 2010. Consoles seem to have a typical life-span of about 5 years. I bought an Xbox 360 in 2005 for $400. I'll buy a new console again in 2010 for another $400 (or maybe less). 2015, 2020 and so on. If I go by your math, I can buy a decent gaming PC in 2005 for $600, another one in 2010 for $600, etc. Any PC gamer who tells me that they are going to use their PC to game for 5 years with zero upgrades is full of s**t.4. Money is a factor, and consoles will save you money. If you like, I will do a breakdown of all the money I've spent on Xbox 360 gaming and you can do a breakdown of all the money you've spent on PC gaming for a given amount of time, and we'll see who spent more.5. I alluded to this in point 1 above, but I don't want to browse the web on my TV. My 2 year old laptop and my wife's 2 year old Mac are plenty for our "PC" needs. Email, browsing, authoring DVDs, etc. We'll keep those computers until they die. They were cheap.I still don't agree with your last point. Gaming on PCs is still more complicated. I haven't even touched on issues with drivers and patches. I bought a new PC game a few weeks ago. I installed in and immediately had to go download and install patches (and reboot every time). Then go to ATI to get a driver upgrade for my video card. Etc. etc. I realize that Xbox has updates too, but those are automatic and one-click simple. Why do you think services like Steam have become so popular? They have taken all the best features of console gaming (which started as the best features of PC gaming I realize) and integrated them together to make PC gaming less of a crap shoot.Like I said, maybe I'm getting old, but console gaming is better for me for all the points I list above. My initial post was in response to Dubbsacc's rather snide remarks about consoles being a waste of money. I think my points stand and obviously I'm not alone in this thinking.