Small Form - Cheap as chips

[markg1981]

Basically I'm looking to put together/buy a cheap mini pc. Its basically will be for Football manager,maybe Rome/Settlers etc. Nothing too high spec. Its gonna go below a 42" TV so just needs an HDMI out. Any recommendations on a prebuilt or a few bits to throw together?! Thanks!

[Rawrz0r]

Not entirely sure what you want but I remember seeing this and thought maybe it might be right for you?

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-w...fi-lan-usb-30-

Not high spec but may do... Not sure if youd want something better in terms of CPU and RAM etc

[Mullet]

markg1981 - what is your budget?

[Bonebreaker777]

How about Intel NUCs?

Also the budget would be a help

[Rawrz0r]

How about Intel NUCs?

Also the budget would be a help

I must say... They look intriguing! Haven't come across them before

[Bonebreaker777]

They are pretty small and can be mounted on VESA equipped monitors or TVs so no visible box. With a mSATA SSD they can be surprisingly swift.

[scaryjim]

If cheap's your main concern than you'll want to look at AMD's AM1 platform - mobo and processor will set you back between ~ £45 and £70 depending on the features/spec you go for. Chuck in a single 4GB stick of DDR3-1600, a 500GB (or less) hard drive and whap it in a case like this: http://www.ebuyer.com/566896-in-win-...case-csiwbm648 and you're looking at < £200 for the whole build.

[shaithis]

"Rome".....is that thee original or the new Rome 2?

That will make a big difference to what is acceptable.

[Bonebreaker777]

If cheap's your main concern than you'll want to look at AMD's AM1 platform - mobo and processor will set you back between ~ £45 and £70 depending on the features/spec you go for. Chuck in a single 4GB stick of DDR3-1600, a 500GB (or less) hard drive and whap it in a case like this: http://www.ebuyer.com/566896-in-win-...case-csiwbm648 and you're looking at < £200 for the whole build.

Those prices are close to a 1155/1150 ITX board (via Flubit £35-40) plus a dual core Celeron (Flubit or not £25-30) either new or second hand. If you watch out for good memory deals (CeX 8GB DDR3 DIMM £32) can very well get a nice system under £200 (something I have right now as a NAS).

[Harnser]

Depending on the answer to the Rome question above, I'd say a NUC too - the Gigabyte BRIX or Zotac ZBOX generally get good reviews.

It looks like Broadwell NUCs will be out next year (leaked pictures: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computi...-new-mini-pcs/) but if you need a computer now, you need a computer now :-)