Mini ITX Build

[dave87]

Right, well my sister managed to kill her rather nice AOpen EZ18, (think the motherboard is buggered) so I plan to strip it down and use the components to build a media machine

So the Components. Still got the PSU from the old one (it works fine) and Hard Disk/DVD Drive. So really looking at a Mobo/Processor/RAM. Possibly a soundcard, but I'll see what onboard is like first. Will eventually be replaced though

Mobo - http://linitx.com/product_info.php?c...oducts_id=1044 £100 inc Del.

RAM - http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/119481 (works out at £20.99 inc Google Checkout, with free delivery.)

Would this work? And is the 1.5ghz CPU going to be nippy enough to run windows/winamp or itunes/possibly a DivX movie (if I get a nice telly)? Not particularly worried about HD yet, though that would be nice too

Oh, and if anyone can find that lot any cheaper, it would be much appreciated. Cheers for any help.

[saltynay]

that computer should just manage but it won't be nippy whilst doing it

[amdavies]

I have a C7-M in a laptop with XP Home and it's fine for light things. Running at 1024x768, it can play a 608x336, 1Mbps XVID video in full-screen through WMP with around 70-80% CPU usage.

[saltynay]

what is your actual budget for this pc???

[dave87]

For the Mobo Processor & RAM I wanted to keep it under £150, got the other bits.

[saltynay]

I was hoping you were going to say double that budget I will have a look around for something which will be a little more powerful but I think you got the best possible in your price range. No chance of you going with micro-atx as you will get more bang for your buck..........

[dave87]

mATX, unfortunately not, the case was designed for ITX, ie bigger than MiniITX, but unfortunately that formfactor seems to have died out

RE Budget, Its primarily going to be used as a music server, depending on time and monetary constraints, I was planning on building a separate HTPC. Just wondered if I could kill 2 birds with one stone when I built this machine.

[acrobat]

That will be nippy enough if you keep your windows clean. So no toolbars and windows themes and stuff if possible. If windows is kept "pure" as possible it will be fine for playing mp3s and movies. You only really need more than that, if its going to play games and whatnot.

Does it have to be one of those little media type PC's by the way? Because if she wouldn't mind using a desktop or a small tower, you could buy one of those and it would give you something easier to upgrade in the future - if you ever wanted more hard disks and whatnot. There are some really cheap cases, and you are going to be building it from scratch anyway, so it might be worth thinking about. It would be much better. That motherboard for example is £100 which aint cheap.. and yet it only has a 133MHz FSB. You could get a cheaper motherboard for a normal case, which would be much faster.

But anyway, that looks like a decent set up to me.

[saltynay]

mATX, unfortunately not, the case was designed for ITX, ie bigger than MiniITX, but unfortunately that formfactor seems to have died out

RE Budget, Its primarily going to be used as a music server, depending on time and monetary constraints, I was planning on building a separate HTPC. Just wondered if I could kill 2 birds with one stone when I built this machine.

itx hasn't died out if anything it has rapidly grown they have just released an even smaller form factor called pico-itx. Itx is expensive though I was going to tell you to buy the commell lv-676 and a e4300 and 1gb of ram until I saw your budget.

You should manag with the via but I would suggest a mini linux kernel which will e easier to keep clean as you have the synaptic manager to control every little codec that a program uses and you don't get the usual trap of adware bundled into software e.g. the google toolbar

[dave87]

Ah, lol. We've already replaced her desktop with a laptop, so the media machine is for my new house

I was also considering it to be my first real go at modding something, and since we'd only be throwing away the case/psu I thought it would be a good start.

I also wanted it pretty much silent for when listening to music, no annoying fan in the background

[dave87]

itx hasn't died out if anything it has rapidly grown they have just released an even smaller form factor called pico-itx. Itx is expensive though I was going to tell you to buy the commell lv-676 and a e4300 and 1gb of ram until I saw your budget.

You should manag with the via but I would suggest a mini linux kernel which will e easier to keep clean as you have the synaptic manager to control every little codec that a program uses and you don't get the usual trap of adware bundled into software e.g. the google toolbar

Can you point me to ITX boards (not Mini, normal ITX)?

[saltynay]

Can you point me to ITX boards (not Mini, normal ITX)?

sorry I was using ITX as a general term there are only mini-itx, nano-itx, pico-itx

http://www.mini-itx.com/

[dave87]

That is my point, it started with ITX

The machine that came out of this case was a Shuttle Competitor based on a newly formed ITX standard, which then died out, as it was too close to mATX, and too expensive for the only slight decrease in footprint. Hence MiniITX (and smaller) survived, but ITX didn't.

[saltynay]

yes itx was killed by flexatx (not matx) which in turn was killed by mini-itx and the like

[dave87]

Ah, close enough, the result is the same unfortunately.