Posted by Jim Guerber on November 28, 2006 at 14:11:46:
Following Willie Klein's lead, I placed the following order with Directron. The test machine really did not need the fan, the cables, the USB Drive and the PCI Express video card. That left the net price at $678.
Name Code Qty Each Options ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shuttle XPC SK22G2 AM2 BB-XPC-SK22G2 1 578.47 *Add CPU = AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Barebone, SK22G2 ADO3800CUBOX, Socket AM2(+156.00) Motherboard & Shuttle G2 *Add Optical Drive = Black Lite-On Chassis, Supports AMD IDE 18X DVD Burner Socket AM2 CPUs, w/ 240W LH-18A1P-185(+31.99) PSU Silent X Technology *Add PCI Express Video Card = XFX GeForce 6200 TC PCI Express Video Card, PV-T44P-RAM(+43.99) *Add Memory (non-ECC) = One 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 PC2 3200 400MHz(+104.00) *Add SATA Hard Drive = One Maxtor DiamondMax 10 80GB SATA HD 6V080E0(+42.50) *Assemble Components? = No Directron DDR2 1024MB PC2 DDR2-1024-400-240P 1 104.00 *Discrepancy & Shipping damage must 3200 400MHz Computer be reported within 7 days = OK Memory, 240-Pin *Physical damage by user will void your warranty = OK Apacer USB Drive, Handy HD-HT202-512 1 13.49 Steno HT202 512MB, USB2.0, w/ Docking Station 6' Video Extension CBL-VD-6 2 2.99 Cables, 15-pin Male to Female, VGA/SVGA Enermax Ultra-Cool 8cm FAN-UC-8TCFS/B 1 4.99 Ball-bearing Cooling Fan w/ Thermal Control for Computer Cases, Retail Box Free Nero Express FREE-NEROEXP 1 0.00 Limit 1 Free Stuff Per Customer, CD-Burning Software for > Per Day = OK $29.99 Orders We may substitute version without notice = OK Subtotal 706.93 Shipping 39.90 Tax 0.00 Total 746.83
The machine is a very nice small footprint box that looks somewhat like a toaster. It assembled easily.
I tried installing and running the following Platforms on this machine:
Windows Vista (x86)
Windows Vista RC2 (x64)
Windows XP (x64)
Windows Longhorn (pre-release)
Windows 2003 Server R2 (x86)
Windows 2003 Server R2 (x64)
Windows 2000 Pro
Notes:
1. (x64) above, signifies the 64 bit only version of this operating system. Windows 2000, Longhorn and the systems designated as (x86) are 32 bit versions.
2. All systems installed on this machine with little or no problem, although it took about one hour to install each one.