MSI MEGA PC Barebone PC

[nicK]

buying one over the weekend from komplett at around 340euros

i have an extra 600-750yoyo's to blow on hardware for inside it

i have a moniter for now (until i get a small tft, when i get the money) .. so don't need one yet

i think ill be sticking with the onboard gfx for a while anyway. i have a geforce 2 ultra anyways to stick in, if it's better.. so again, don't need one yet
also, the onboard sound should suffice for a few months anyways

need cpu.. i think it can only take anything under p4 2.8ghz so should i go for the 2.8 or would a cheaper, 2.0 / 2.4 or so?

need ram 256 or 512 ddr .. prob 512, what sort should i go for?

need hard drive.. silent, fast, fairly big. i don't have a clue about hard drives so i wouldn't know what i was buying, apart from the amount of gig's.

also getting a dvd burner which should set me back 200-250 maybe, which model should i go for?

the onboard modem should do me fine

i'm ok for the accessories.. mouse, keyboard speakers..

the pc will be mostly used for listening to music and watching dvds and also a little video editing so ill be upgrading the onboard sound and gfx as soon as some more cash comes my way
also, a fairly silent pc would be nice, and i here this system gets very hot, so what coolers/fans should i get?

i think that covers everything..

all advice/help appreciated, thx.

Raz

With the Mega PC it's not so easy to just add extras unfortunately. Things have to be taken into account like there are only two expansion slots, an AGP and a PCI. The system can't take the new GeForce FX cards, they're too bulky and long.
If you put in a modem then you won't have room for a sound card and vice versa, but as you said the on-board modem should do you fine.

The heating is one of the major factors in the system. According to this mini PC guide on Toms Hardware the Mega PC runs somewhere around 45 to 50 degrees, that's with the processor, RAM, HDD, CD drive and GFX card installed. It also has an internal power source.

With all these things packed in closely there is going to be a lot of heat build up and the way the cooling works, it blows (Not 100% but drawing air out doesn't really make sense to me) air across the heatsink into the case which means air that's already heated is circulating in the case and the CPU isn't the only thing that gets hot. The GFX produces enough heat itself and with the CD and HDD sandwiched together as they are means you have a build up there.
Also you may find it awkward to put in a new heatsink and fan because it comes with its own specially designed one. That doesn't mean it's impossible but it may be problematic.

If you're getting a DVD writer you could go for an MSI model if possible. With an MSI optical drive you can play CD's and MP3 CDs without having to switch the PC on which is a nice feature.

Basically the heat circulation is quite bad and you'd want to be careful of over packing the system with high spec components. Other than that it's the nicest mini PC I've seen.

You may want to look at the shuttle PCs if you havn't already. You could go down the AMD route with shuttle which may end up cheaper.

[nicK]

thx for the info.

i was thinking of getting a shuttle but the msi mega pc is so much sexier..

that whole "heating" business worries me.. does anybody know exactly what i would need to keep it cool?

also, if im getting a dvd rw.. i will also need to stick in a dvd player to copy the dvds from.. - is there enough room for the two drives in the pc?

if so.. could i stick in a normal (nec/pioneer, cheaper dvdrw drive) and then buy an msi dvd drive and use that one as the optical drive to play audio cd's while the pc is powered off?

zAbbo

I`d advise you to research some more, it seems you dont really know that much about pc`s, no harm in that.

You can copy a dvd >> image >> dvd

Raz

There's only enough space for one CD/DVD drive in the Mega PC.
But as bazH said, you can copy the DVD to the hard drive first. I think all burning software allows you to do that.
(I'm not sure MSI do a DVD RW you'd have to check it out)

As to the heating solution, if you're mad enough you could cut an extra hole in the casing somewhere and stick an extra fan in.
Lots of folks around here would be willing to help talk you through it.
Other than cutting up your new PC you could get a new Heatsink and fan that had better cooling properties and also a better fan for the case. You would want to measure the space available and then check the dimentions of any HSF you buy.

As for RAM (from your first post) the 512 would be a definite. Some makes to look for would be Crucial, Twinmos and Mushkin. Try and get RAM that matches the specs of the motherboard.

For a processor I'd recommend either the 2.4Ghz or the 2.6Ghz chips with a 533Mhz bus. They are about E100 cheaper than the 2.8Ghz chip.

The Mega PC uses the Sis651 chipset which determines what hardware it can support. Visit http://www.sis.com/ and look for info on the Sis651, it'll give you an idea of what type of components you should be looking for.

[edit] I forgot about the harddrive. Apart from the GB size you should look for the rpm of the drive. 7200rpm is the standard pretty much. There's also cache size. It's either 2MB or 8MB. 8MB ones are, of course, dearer and they tend to be called special edition or something like that.
Last thing about a hard drive the DMA speed, these range from 33 to 133. I'd advise getting either a 100 or 133 DMA HDD. (you may see it as eg. 133 UDMA or ATA100)
There are 2 main standards for consumers atm. ATA and S-ATA. The Mega PC only supports ATA I think.
I hope I didn't confuse you more.
[/edit]

zAbbo

Would a shuttle sn41g make more sense, it will work out cheaper, it hs tv out on board gfx, sound etc.

Team it up with dual ram and a cheaper amd CPU, or get a shuttle sn45g which is more of a performance SFF.

I was looking at the MSI but it seems to get bad reviews from places when compaired to shuttles.

http://www.hexus.net/review.php?review=575

[nicK]

thx Raz.. that cleared up most of my hard drive questions.. and thx bazH, that review helped

as i said, i've been out of the "computer geek" thing for almost a year now so my knowledge or dvd-rw's and how they work is very slight..

i've been looking for an msi dvd rw and they don't seem to do them, so listening to audio while having the pc off is going to be a problem, which will be annoying.. an external dvd writer is too expensive.. maybe an msi cd-rw will have to do for now (although they are the same price as pioneer dvd rw's) *annoying*

ill get going for the 512 ram + p4 2.66ghz probably, no hard drive chosen yet and still have to make a decision on the dvd/cd drive..should be ordering everything sunday night

conZ

The MSI will take any optical drive, not just MSI branded ones. DVD-RW... hmmm.. I'd nearly go for the Pioneer 106A. The NEC 1300A is meant to be shiite. From what I hear, dont get it.

Ram... PC2700 that MSI board can take... Recommend Twinmos or Mushkin. Try get your ram with heatspreaders (looks like the ram is plated with gold or silver etc - Maplins sell them for about €15 per stick of ram cause your cheap). They cool the ram and look good.

CPU... P4 2.4ghz I'd recommend. Nice and cheap (compared to the 2.6 and 2.66).

Nick, you can just get an external USB2/firewire DVD ROM drive (50 -> 90 bucks - archos sell them), and stick the dvd into it and burn directly onto dvd-rw.

But since your a cheap bast (send my cd's back tbh!) you could just download the programs to rip dvd's to divx/mpeg and burn them onto DVD.

The MSI looks good, can play MP3 cd's and regular cd's without booting up and has radio. Thats about the only things going for it.

Goe for the shuttl3 imo scrappy, but since your into the whole music lark now, i'll get my coat.

Few reviews on RAM, shuttles, graphics cards etc here..
http://www.techseekers.net/modules.php?name=NSN_Reviews

It's an irish site too.