£450 Matlab and Sony Vegas pc for brother

[Stylis10]

right so ive ordered my build, managed to get some of the parts of ebay at lower prices, and a family friend had some of the parts i needed (HDD and win 7).

now for my brothers build, he decided he ias adamant on gettign the Lian-Li Q08 case, for which i told him, he has to pay a min of £100 more to do this, he accepts, and so this is the final build for him.
I know there are many builds on this thread, but i am dealing with a very fussy person, thank you all for your patience and help.



do i need to add any coolign to this or are the stock fans okay?
and is all of it compatible?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Out of interest what parts did you order??

One thing - do realise that the Core i5 2500K will be at the limits of what the Gigabyte mini-ITX board can handle(I have that motherboard myself). Hence,stick with the stock cooler as it does blow some air over the VRMs which should keep them cool and the top mounted fan on the Q08 should help with air flow unlike the cheaper cases.

[Stylis10]

Out of interest what parts did you order??

One thing - do realise that the Core i5 2500K will be at the limits of what the Gigabyte mini-ITX board can handle(I have that motherboard myself). Hence,stick with the stock cooler as it does blow some air over the VRMs which should keep them cool and the top mounted fan on the Q08 should help with air flow unlike the cheaper cases.

hmm this may pose a problem, is there a different motherboard i could go for with out too much more expense or should i get a slightly less powerful processor. Im thinking maybe AMD for my brother might be better price wise, but i no next to nothign about AMD processors and motherboards.
all in all aslogn as the system doesnt fry or blow up and does what he needs, he will be happy.

For myself i went with the top build out of the 3 i suggested, but i found out a family friend of ours builds computers like this, so he gave me a hdd and win 7 at a cheaper price (only 1 spare win 7). he also ordered me a different dvd rw that he said would go fine with the sytem.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

hmm this may pose a problem, is there a different motherboard i could go for with out too much more expense or should i get a slightly less powerful processor. Im thinking maybe AMD for my brother might be better price wise, but i no next to nothign about AMD processors and motherboards.
all in all aslogn as the system doesnt fry or blow up and does what he needs, he will be happy.

An Intel Core i5 system will be the best for his purposes. The AMD Phenom II X6 processors are good but AMD mini ITX motherboards are very expensive and the higher performance processors tend to have a higher wattage and yet the motherboards are limited to 95W CPUs. Lower wattage 95 Phenom II X6 processors also cost more. This is why for my back up build I got the Gigabyte mini ITX motherboard and a Core i3 2100.

The Core i5 2500K will probably work fine and maybe I am worrying too much about things. OTH,I generally don't like pushing hardware too much as I like keeping my computers for years. My Shuttle SD37P2 is around four and a half years old for example and still works.

The Core i5 2400S I mentioned earlier only has a 65W TDP and there is an OEM Core i5 2500S on sale on Ebay which I linked to also although you will need to get a cooler with the latter.

For myself i went with the top build out of the 3 i suggested, but i found out a family friend of ours builds computers like this, so he gave me a hdd and win 7 at a cheaper price (only 1 spare win 7). he also ordered me a different dvd rw that he said would go fine with the sytem.

Once,your builds are up it would be nice if you posted some pictures!

[Stylis10]

An Intel Core i5 system will be the best for his purposes. The AMD Phenom II X6 processors are good but AMD mini ITX motherboards are very expensive and the higher performance processors tend to have a higher wattage and yet the motherboards are limited to 95W CPUs. Lower wattage 95 Phenom II X6 processors also cost more. This is why for my back up build I got the Gigabyte mini ITX motherboard and a Core i3 2100.

The Core i5 2500K will probably work fine and maybe I am worrying too much about things. OTH,I generally don't like pushing hardware too much as I like keeping my computers for years. My Shuttle SD37P2 is around four and a half years old for example and still works.

The Core i5 2400S I mentioned earlier only has a 65W TDP and there is an OEM Core i5 2500S on sale on Ebay which I linked to also although you will need to get a cooler with the latter.


Once,your builds are up it would be nice if you posted some pictures!

i think it shall just have to be the Core i5 2400S, does that mean i can get a cheaper less powerfull PSU or is the one im goign to get fine?

[CooperXS]

i think it shall just have to be the Core i5 2400S, does that mean i can get a cheaper less powerfull PSU or is the one im goign to get fine?

Don't fall for Intel's low wattage overpriced stuff. They name the chip as a way faster part with addition of S suffix but in fact it's simply a lower clock part using same voltage (variable btw). And clock is more responsible for heat/power then volts. You could easily get yrself regular 2400 which runs at 3.1GHz max Vs 2.5 for the "S" part and simply limit the multiplier and save some cash for a pint or two.

[Stylis10]

Don't fall for Intel's low wattage overpriced stuff. They name the chip as a way faster part with addition of S suffix but in fact it's simply a lower clock part using same voltage (variable btw). And clock is more responsible for heat/power then volts. You could easily get yrself regular 2400 which runs at 3.1GHz max Vs 2.5 for the "S" part and simply limit the multiplier and save some cash for a pint or two.

so should i just go for a Core i5 2400 95W processor? and i have no idea how to go about limiting the multiplier

[CooperXS]

I have i7 860 (95W chip) running in Lian-Li PC-Q07 and cooled with Scythe Big Shuriken. Never had a single issue with stability in the 1.5 years and that case has way more restricted airflow then the one you opted for. Besides Sandys do run cooler then Lynfields.
Multiplier setting can be changed in BIOS or via some Windows tool. But this may not be even necessary if you want to get the max out of the chip.

[Stylis10]

I have i7 860 (95W chip) running in Lian-Li PC-Q07 and cooled with Scythe Big Shuriken. Never had a single issue with stability in the 1.5 years and that case has way more restricted airflow then the one you opted for. Besides Sandys do run cooler then Lynfields.
Multiplier setting can be changed in BIOS or via some Windows tool. But this may not be even necessary if you want to get the max out of the chip.

well as this is a budget build and its already £100 over budget adding in a cooler will just increase costs. the only other option would be to scrap the case and make one myself, for which i could easily do if i had a tutorial (im handy with plexiglass, wood work, not extremly great with metal sheeting. (we have a mini workshop in otu garage so building a case could be done i would just need dimentsionas and a tutorial on how to lay one out ansd stuff) but thats goign a bit far i would assume

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Stylis10 check your inbox.

[CooperXS]

well as this is a budget build and its already £100 over budget adding in a cooler will just increase costs. the only other option would be to scrap the case and make one myself, for which i could easily do if i had a tutorial (im handy with plexiglass, wood work, not extremly great with metal sheeting. (we have a mini workshop in otu garage so building a case could be done i would just need dimentsionas and a tutorial on how to lay one out ansd stuff) but thats goign a bit far i would assume

Doubt you'd need to change the cooler. Also you would save a lot of cash by going standard ATX/mATX case/mboard anyway

[Stylis10]

Okay its done, managed to come up with abuild my brother likes, he even likes the case (i never thought it would happen), the case also has ample room for GPU if he wants to install one later on and its quite spacious i would assume due to its size for a matx case.

If anyone can spot any problems with the setup, please let me know asap, i shall order this within the next 2 hours