Every now and then, I remember that not everyone in the world is a PC buff; there are people, even if only two or three, that are yet clueless on certain installation procedures and unaware of problems that can occur while upgrading and/or changing a PC configuration.
This article is hardly meant to provide breakthrough methods in PC upgrades, nor does it try to achieve grand superiority in the field of explanatory articles, but it will be targeting users who want to upgrade/move their mid and full towers into a nice, compact Shuttle (or similar) Small Form Factor PC.
Why?
Small Form Factor PC’s (SFF’s from now on) are simply much smaller than normal desktop systems, so if you’re in dear need for desk space, you can start by getting rid of the big (usually ugly) box near your screen.
The second reason is a crucial one: aesthetics. To put it quite clearly, those new tiny Shuttle SFF’s are simply gorgeous, and arouse interest from observers. There are several flavors and colors to choose from, making the selection rather acceptable.
You’re probably thinking that there’s no way a small PC can be as powerful as my mid tower system. The simple answer is that you’re wrong. That’s why we’re upgrading an existing system today, a 2.8 GHz P4 with 1GB of RAM, 2 Hard Drives and a decent graphics card.
What is it?
What you’ll be buying (for an upgrade or building a new PC) is a Barebone system. Such a system includes three elements: the actual Small Form Factor case and the Small Form Factor motherboard and the SFF Power Supply.
You will need a CPU, Hard Drive, RAM, VGA Card and a CD-ROM drive (optional). Some of the systems out there include on-board VGA, so if you’re looking into a cheap workstation, make sure you get one of those.
Let us Begin
First we will present you with some important tidbits that you must follow (or else you will be evaporated and your remains sent to oblivion!)
1) Keep the SFF drivers CD there, some on-board chips will not automatically install even on Windows XP SP2, sometimes even the LAN driver, making it impossible to log on and download the latest batch. As an alternative, you could download them from the net and throw them on a Disk on Key (Wonders of USB folks…)
2) Check for compatibility – If you have a Prescott based CPU (Intel only), and planning to run, or are running Windows XP SP2, make sure you check if the BIOS on the SFF system is updated to the latest version. New SFF’s (anything you will buy today) do not have a problem, but older ones had a problem with the CPU’s microcode, making it impossible to boot Windows XP SP2 (SP1 and less are fine). This is really a side-note but it should be mentioned.
3) Be patient – the system is small, and quite cramped, after a while you get used to the tightness. Going rampage because your hand can’t reach in to get that screw that fell in will probably not solve problems.
4) Get a SFF system that suits your needs; think about what you will do with the PC, and how long you want it to do the same thing before you might want to do new things (that require more power). A less powerful, new generation CPU (such as Celeron D’s) are topnotch for a SFF system, mainly because they require less cooling thus require less cooling power (resulting in less noise from the fans)
5) Keep your Internet Connection info handy, whether it is your ADSL / Cable providers’ IP’s and hostnames, keep them around, those will most likely be re-configured.
Follow those guidelines and you should be very happy with your new system.
Disassembly
We’re assuming you followed our guideline, because you’re good boys and girls. Remember, if you don’t and screw up that not only will we be automatically increasing our “We Told You So” counter, but we will also laugh at you behind your back (with your girlfriend!)
Turn off your PC, and start unscrewing everything, the parts you primarily need are:
1) Your CPU
2) Hard Drives (More than 2 aren’t recommended)
3) RAM
4) VGA Card and Sound Card (up to you)
5) CD-ROM / DVD-ROM
Now is a good time to clean your components with some rubbing alcohol and air to remove all the dust and fingerprints you can.
Opening the SFF
Now that we have all the needed parts, we start off by opening the SFF system. Most of those come with thumbscrews.. You might as well take all of them off, as we will need to remove the PSU as well in order to install the CPU.
Removing the Hard Drive Tray
Get your phillips screwdriver and unscrew the tray, then mount your hard drives and cd/dvdrom. Make sure you align them in the right direction to avoid extra work.
Done? Put it somewhere safe, we’ll get back to it later.
SFF Fan and Heat sink
After unscrewing the thumbscrews earlier on, we now want to remove the fan from the covered heat sink, just pull it up gently and put it somewhere safe.
Next, unscrew the heat sink thumbscrews. There might be a cable for the fan connected to your motherboard - look where it is, unhook it, and make sure you remember to put it back after you install the CPU.
After that, you will notice the CPU socket, I won’t go into details, all you have to do is use your favorite search engine and find out how to lay it in if you can’t figure it out.
Halfway Through
You’re pretty much done, so you can now screw down the heat sink and put the fan back, remembering to reconnect the fan cable. Next, put in the RAM, slide back the Hard-Drive tray, tighten all the screws, and power up the system.
Note - if you have a sound card / VGA card or any device you want to add to your system, now is the time.
Software Changes
Windows XP will now take a while to get used to its new platform. It will require driver installs (mostly automatic and some from the included Drivers CDROM) as well as a couple of reboots. As many know, upgrading your motherboard is best coupled with a Windows re-install, but hey, it’s truthfully not a requirement.
A happy ending
Yes, we know, you’re now a proud owner of a SFF system, small, sexy, powerful yet elegant… boy doesn’t that feel good?
I’m looking forward to the day all my LAN party friends will bring in their SFF systems and TFT screens, hook everything up with a fast switch (preferably wireless), and enjoy a night with friends and BBQ.
Score? I give myself 7.5 / 10 for writing this guide.
Below are some pictures that I have left, take a look:
 |
