Conundrum

[ZeroG]

To build a lan box or not...

I've been toying around with this idea for a while now and since some others have had good success with theirs. The laptop hasn't worked out as well as I thought it would, I'm just not getting the sort of performance I would have expected out of it. I don't know why that is, I've tried so many different drivers and settings, it could be down to the OS, I could wipe that and start from scratch, I would just need to get hold of another 64-bit OS.

So I've got some options, build a dedicated lanbox and keep the laptop as a general purpose laptop (which seems a bit of a waste) or sell the laptop and build the ultimate lanbox of win.

[Negator]

lanbox of win. plenty of p55 based mATX boards out now and you could go down the i3/i5 route if it is purely for gaming, far cheaper than an i7 pc.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-311-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1671
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-369-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1495
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-013-SV&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1092
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-222-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1515 x2

etc. Should breeze through 1920x1080 gaming without totally breaking the bank. And with p55 likely to last a good while yet (going by p45) using a cheap cpu means you can just buy a newer one when you need for the same sort of £100-150 range. £200+ cpu's just aren't value for money imo. The crossfired 5770's mean you will need a less insanely expensive PSU, have dx11 support and not have as much heat issues in the small case. Worth a look at. Obviously if budget allows you could go for the more fancy i5 chips but from everything i've seen the i3 530 can easily go up around 4ghz and will cope with everything you need from it to date.

[ZeroG]

The budget I am going to throw at this will be fairly high as I want it to last a while with the possibility of some future upgrades.

Those parts do look good. I don't really know much about the ichips at the moment, will need to read up on them to know what differences there are between them (apart from price) and see what RAM they are compatible with.

Surely with 2 graphics cards though you would need more power not less ?

[gemini]

If dreamhack is on the cards I personally am going to go for a laptop. I go to so many lans nowadays that taking my PC with me, particularly when my monitors are now wallmounted is a REAL pain in the ass.

I'd go new laptop mate. But you mention selling the old one.

If you do decide to do this, can you post the specs of your machine and a rough asking price. I might have it off you :)

[ZeroG]

I can take it along to BL#13 with me if you want so you can have a look at it and play around with it a little.

I'm a bit dubious about getting another laptop again as I might have the same trouble.

[MadmaN]

my lan box o win has worked out well for me :) tho my laptop has some right heating issues that i need to look into.

[ZeroG]

Spec as requested.

Base: XPS M1730 CORE 2 DUO T7700 2.40GHz
CD/ RW: Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive
Hard Disk Drive: 160GB (7.200rpm) SATA Hard Drive
Hard Disk Drive: 160GB (7200rpm) SATA Hard Drive
MISC: MS Vista Premium Logo Label NB
MISC: Primary 9-cell 85WHr Li-Ion Battery
MISC: Bone White
MISC: Image Restore - Vista
MISC: Uk/Irish Internal Keyboard (QWERTY)
MISC: Integrated Stereo Sound
MISC: Mini Express Card Remote
MISC: Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-PCI Card EUR
MISC: 8 in 1 Multicard Reader, PC Express Card Slot
I/O Port:

4 USB 2.0 port, Firewire1394 port, DVI, S-Video, RJ45 Ethernet port,

Headphone and Microphone connector
MISC: Integrated 2.0MP Webcam
MISC: Ageia PhysX Processing Unit Card
Memory: 4.0GB 667MHz DDR2 Memory (2 x 2048MB)
Network Card: European Dell TrueMobile 355 Bluetooth
NoteBook Screen: 17" Ultrasharp Widescreen WUXGA TFT Display (1920x1200) Truelife
Video: Dual 256MB Go 8700M GT graphics NVIDIA SLI Technology
Operating System: Windows Vista Business SP1

[Deep Blue]

Build a PC!

Shuttle + single graphics card = win

Don't bother with the 5770 or CrossfireX unless you are going for overkill, get the 5850 and run every game on the market at max eye candy, plus it tops out at around 170 watts and will overclock so easily. Currently running mine at 900/1201 furmark stable ;)

But my opinion of building a pc might not be valid if you wish to travel great distances for a LAN! I LOVE having a local LAN party, and i'm sure ya'll are far better off money wise / holidays from work wise by going to Breach than spending £LOL ;)

[ZeroG]

The problem is I have a decent pc already but taking it to places like iSeries and anywhere not in Aberdeen is a real pain when you don't have your own transport. Therefore I was looking for something more mobile :)

[Deep Blue]

You could shuttle it with an oboard GPU then swap over your graphics card from your big rig to your littler rig? :)

[ZeroG]

Too much hassle taking the card out each time really. A shuttle would be nice to have just to pickup and go out with - just making sure I have the games updated each time that is :)

[Deep Blue]

Aye a shuttle and some external hard drives if you need oodles of space :)

[ZeroG]

Aye a shuttle and some external hard drives if you need oodles of space :)

So spec me a decent shuttle that doesn't cost £2k ya lazy bum :P

[Bloodnok]

I found 1 in a tip, shame it only takes pci gfx cards :P (off topic, sry)

[MadmaN]

my shuttle set me back 1.5k but you dont need to go the specs i did lol... plus the parts are abit cheaper these days anyway.

[Deep Blue]

You could go Micro ATX and build it in a mini tower PC?

[Skull]

OK, a DIY Shuttle Style Mini-ITX machine

Motherboard - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Zotac-GF9300-I-E-NVIDIA-GeForce-9300-775-DDR2-667-800-SATA-3Gb-s-RAID-ITX-VGA £112.39
CPU - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel-Core-2-Duo-E7500-S775-293-GHz-1066MHz-3MB-Cache-11x-Multiplier-Retail £85.93
Graphics - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-Sapphire-HD-5850-PCI-E-20-4000MHz-GDDR5-GPU-725MHz-DisplayPort-2x-DL-DVI-I-HDMI-plus-Dirt2 £218.96
RAM - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-%282x2GB%29-Corsair-TwinX-XMS2-DDR2-PC2-6400-%28800%29-240-Pins-Non-ECC-Unbuffered-CAS-5-5-5-18-DHX £85.35
Internal HDD - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500GB-Seagate-ST3500418AS-Barracuda-720012-SATA-3Gb-s-7200rpm-16MB-Cache-11-ms £37.40
PSU - http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=664337&source=corsairpsu (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/750W-Blue-Antec-Truepower-New-PSU-Modular-120mm-PWM-Fan-80plus-Bronze) £65.76 (Could possibly get away with a VX450W @ £54.58 if price was that much of an issue)

Case - http://www.nzxt.com/new/product_detail.php?series_name=Aluminum+Chassis&series=10&id=23 (http://www.nzxt.com/products/rogue/) I can't find this on scan or OCUK at the moment, but there'll be somewhere where you could get it.

Total price without case - £605.79

[ZeroG]

Hmm that looks not too bad Skull. Price isn't bad either.

Anyone make any suggestions as to additions/uprades? I don't mind the price being a bit higher if it was a good spec. For a start I would probably change the 500gb HDD to a 1TB at least :)