ITX based New build spec

[sorrera]

Hi,
Looking at putting together the following small PC.
Is there anything I should be aware of or other alternatives I'm missing out on?
Or indeed any suggestions, i've not built a pc for about 5 years and looking forward to it.
The PC will be for general pc use, v. light gaming, video encoding / editing & photos.

Inwim bm639 (7 litre case) £35
asus m4a88t-I £93
Sempron 140 £24
500gb western digital blue caviar £29
Samsung SH-B083L BLURAY DRIVE £45
2GB so dim 1333 £32

I'm also needing an 20 inch LCD panel which I will pick up from ebay for about £50.
Total cost is currently £307, I'd love to get it cheaper if you have any suggestions.

[simonw]

For video encoding, the more cores the better so the Sempron 140 might be considered under-powered for some users. If you don't mind waiting longer for the encoding to complete, then that's fine. It would be a bonus if you are able to unlock the Sempron's 2nd core, and that would make for a great value cpu.

[scaryjim]

if you're doing video encoding and editing you definitely want more cores. I'd go for an Athlon II X4 'e' edition in a mini-itx case to help keep the temperatures down to a minimum. It's going to put your build cost up noticably, but it will be a *lot* quicker for the video work you want to do.

tbh though, if you want to go cheap than mini-itx is completely the wrong direction. You can save around £35 just by building mATX instead of mITX - it won't be *as* small, but you can still get some nice small mATX cases and you *will* save money.

[sorrera]

Scary Jim , You make a really valid point, I kinda get that ITX isn't the cheap way to go but it is an itch I just need to scratch. If I could find an mATX case that was around 10 litres I'd tempted but I dont think there is such a thing.


I am really hoping the sempron will overclock/unlock. The energy efficient X4's look nice but they are about x4 the cost of the sempron.
Whilst faster is always better, I'm coming from a pentium M1.6 so even a standard sempron will feel fast.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What is the maximum budget for the build BTW?

[sorrera]

Max cost for build is £350

[sorrera]

Changed the case from the Inwim to a Thermaltake Element Q, which is a better looker in my opinion but does present some cooling difficulties.
In essence the PSU has a fan that acts as the exhaust for the case. The fan sits very close to the CPU.
I am going to have to fit a low profile cpu cooler, thinking of the nitrogon nt-07 and then also fitting a 120mm case fan (Noctua NF-S12 120mm) to get cool air in the case and still keep it quiet.
I intend to do some mild overclocking/unlocking on the sempron.

Will I be better off reversing the cpu fan to suck instead of blow thereby directing the airflow towards the exhaust fan rather than competing against it?

[peterb]

Some mini-itx cases at

www.itxwarehouse.co.uk
www.linitx.com
www.x-case.co.uk

I have used all three companes, all good CS. I understand the itx itch- there is smething very satisfying about a small build! One day I'm ging to look at nano-itx!

[c.ruel]

I did a mini-itx build recently and it was alot of fun, also tricky with the space lol.

I used a SG06, with an i3 530 and the mini itx gigabyte board plus 4gb of crucial ddr3.


you might be able to do something similar for under £350

Sugo 6 £77.51

Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 H55 motherboard £78.69

Pentium G6950 (very good cut down i3) £64.99

Mushkin 2x1GB DDR3 £27.81

Hard drive use the one you found £29 (although with my mini-itx build i thought about a note book drive and wish I had got one )

Slimline samsung optical drive £20.54

Total is £298.54 pounds

If you want to save on shipping all of the stuff is available on scan.

I reckon that would perform much better than a sempron. Also if you wanted a performance boost in the future you could buy a h50 and overclock the nuts of that cpu.