Hello, I used to be a regular member here about 15 years ago under the name GVX and so I knew a fair bit about hardware and I have built quite a few computers in my past, unfortunately my knowledge is now very out of date. I am not an enthusiast anymore and my last build was 12 years ago and was a Shuttle SH55J2 which has been an amazing entry-level computer. I am still using it to this day with practically no issues.
Given my positive experiences with Shuttle, I would like to build another Shuttle system. Like I did 12 years ago, I am looking to build a decent mid-range SFF computer that has enough horsepower to still be usable in 10 years. I plan to do some light gaming and I would like it to be able to at least run most games that are out today at a decent res. I also plan to run some AI applications, do some dvd encoding, as well as run CAD software such as AutoCAD. I want to get the maximum life out of my components and so I am not planning to overclock.
The prices below are all in Canadian. I am trying to keep the total cost of the build at around $1700 CAD (~$1,300 USD). I think that I can save about $100 on the Shuttle SH510R4 from the Newegg.ca price below if I go with an Ebay seller.
Here is what I am thinking:
I am curious if you see any compatibility issues with what I am proposing above that I haven't considered. Some assumptions in particular that I would like your thoughts on:
- I cannot find any images of the motherboard layout for this particular Shuttle box but I am assuming that GTX 1650 Super video card will rule out me using a M.2 M key SSD here as I assume that the spare PCI-E port is going be blocked by the GPU dual slot cooling. As a result, I am going with a SATA-connected SSD.
- I was originally going to go with a GTX 1660 Super as it is almost the same price as the GTX 1650 Super but I found out that it has an 8-pin connector while the Shuttle 80+ Bronze PSU only has a 6-pin VGA power dongle. I assume that the GTX 1650 Super is the best that I can do for a GPU with a 6-pin power connector? I guess that the other option would be the Radeon 6500 XT which is definitely cheaper than the GTX 1650 Super. It's just that I haven't used a Radeon since the ATI days and my experiences weren't as good as with Nvidia, especially around driver compatibility. What is the general opinion of the 6500 XT vs the GTX 1650 Super?
- I tried to keep the power consumption of each component inline with what is in my current Shuttle system as it also uses the 80+ Bronze PSU and so I think that I should hopefully be OK with not exceeding the limits of the 300W Shuttle PSU. At least 12 years ago, it was the case that the Shuttle PSU's were way better than their wattage ratings led one to believe. I am hoping that this is still the case today and that the quality has not gone down, I certainly do not think that a standard off the shelf 300W PSU would be enough for what I am building.
- I am trying to future-proof as much as possible here by going with Windows 11 but I am also a bit concerned about compatibility issues with a new OS. Has the general reception for Windows 11 been positive or are people waiting for 12 to come out before upgrading?
I know that there are lots of questions here. I have been out of the loop for quite a while now when it comes to PC hardware and so I appreciate any help that you might be able to provide.
Given my positive experiences with Shuttle, I would like to build another Shuttle system. Like I did 12 years ago, I am looking to build a decent mid-range SFF computer that has enough horsepower to still be usable in 10 years. I plan to do some light gaming and I would like it to be able to at least run most games that are out today at a decent res. I also plan to run some AI applications, do some dvd encoding, as well as run CAD software such as AutoCAD. I want to get the maximum life out of my components and so I am not planning to overclock.
The prices below are all in Canadian. I am trying to keep the total cost of the build at around $1700 CAD (~$1,300 USD). I think that I can save about $100 on the Shuttle SH510R4 from the Newegg.ca price below if I go with an Ebay seller.
Here is what I am thinking:
Shuttle XPC Cube SH510R4 Mini Barebone PC Intel H510 Supports LGA1200 125W 11th/10th Gen Rocket Lake/Comet Lake CPU No RAM No HDD/SSD No CPU No OS 300W 80+ Bronze Flex PSU ($796.50 CAD, $622.31 USD)
https://www.newegg.ca/p/37E-0008-000C7CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Intel XMP 2.0 Desktop Memory ($134.99 CAD, $105.47 USD)
https://www.newegg.ca/corsair-32gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820236541Intel Core i5-11400 - Core i5 11th Gen Rocket Lake 6-Core 2.6 GHz LGA 1200 65W ($189.99 CAD, $148.44 USD)
https://www.newegg.ca/intel-core-i5-11400f-core-i5-11th-gen/p/N82E16819118264WD Blue 1TB SA510 2.5" Internal Solid State Drive SSD ($129.99 CAD, $101.56 USD)
https://www.newegg.ca/western-digital-1tb-blue-sa510/p/N82E16820250229?Item=N82E16820250229EVGA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER SC ULTRA GAMING Video Card, 04G-P4-1357-KR, 4GB GDDR6, Dual Fan, Metal Backplate ($365.51 CAD, $285.57 USD)
https://www.newegg.ca/evga-geforce-gtx-1650-super-04g-p4-1357-kr/p/N82E16814487482?Description=eVGA 04G-P4-1357-KR Video Card GeForce GTX 1650&cm_re=eVGA_04G-P4-1357-KR Video Card GeForce GTX 1650-_-14-487-482-_-ProductPioneer Black 16X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 12X BD-ROM 4MB Cache Serial ATA Revision 3.0 Blu-ray Burner ($118.99 CAD, $92.97 USD)
https://www.newegg.ca/pioneer-bdr-212dbk-internal-blu-ray-burner/p/N82E16827129091Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit, DVD ($149.99 CAD, $117.19 USD)
https://www.newegg.ca/microsoft-windows-11-pro/p/N82E16832350882I am curious if you see any compatibility issues with what I am proposing above that I haven't considered. Some assumptions in particular that I would like your thoughts on:
- I cannot find any images of the motherboard layout for this particular Shuttle box but I am assuming that GTX 1650 Super video card will rule out me using a M.2 M key SSD here as I assume that the spare PCI-E port is going be blocked by the GPU dual slot cooling. As a result, I am going with a SATA-connected SSD.
- I was originally going to go with a GTX 1660 Super as it is almost the same price as the GTX 1650 Super but I found out that it has an 8-pin connector while the Shuttle 80+ Bronze PSU only has a 6-pin VGA power dongle. I assume that the GTX 1650 Super is the best that I can do for a GPU with a 6-pin power connector? I guess that the other option would be the Radeon 6500 XT which is definitely cheaper than the GTX 1650 Super. It's just that I haven't used a Radeon since the ATI days and my experiences weren't as good as with Nvidia, especially around driver compatibility. What is the general opinion of the 6500 XT vs the GTX 1650 Super?
- I tried to keep the power consumption of each component inline with what is in my current Shuttle system as it also uses the 80+ Bronze PSU and so I think that I should hopefully be OK with not exceeding the limits of the 300W Shuttle PSU. At least 12 years ago, it was the case that the Shuttle PSU's were way better than their wattage ratings led one to believe. I am hoping that this is still the case today and that the quality has not gone down, I certainly do not think that a standard off the shelf 300W PSU would be enough for what I am building.
- I am trying to future-proof as much as possible here by going with Windows 11 but I am also a bit concerned about compatibility issues with a new OS. Has the general reception for Windows 11 been positive or are people waiting for 12 to come out before upgrading?
I know that there are lots of questions here. I have been out of the loop for quite a while now when it comes to PC hardware and so I appreciate any help that you might be able to provide.
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