Mini ITX build for girlfriend - office / light gaming £400

[Ciber]

Getting worried about the cost..... :-/

Please don't worry. I put £70 for a 120gb SSD in the original £400 budget and I'm not going to spend much if any more. Plus I will find the best prices on all the bits etc. Might need £10 more for a modular PSU but I will offset that so don't worry. PS. I think your new PC will knock the socks off the ones you can buy in PC World. Quad core 3.4ghz and a 120gb SSD in a small case. Should draw less than a third of the electricity and be quieter compared to my machine as well.

Sorry I'm late to this one.

As a CM elite 120 owner I can say that modular is nice, there is plenty of space in it to put non modular psu cables. esp without a graphics card.
But overall modular is easier to cope with, will depend on how many cables you actually need and use.

A couple of things I would add to the build.
1x 120mm fan filter, add it to the 120mm front fan
1x fan speed adaptor (the short adaptor with a resistor on it), use this on the 80mm slim fan on the side, also flip it over to blow air out not intake, doing this greatly reduces the noise it makes and it's the main source of noise in this case.

my review/mods of it are here http://forums.hexus.net/chassis-mods...ni-review.html
Modding it by cutting out the side vents and replacing them with some type of mesh is another way to have a major impact on the noise.

Fan filter and speed reducer are a good idea. Presumably the front fan itself is OK. I will turn the small fan around and slow it down. Or not fit the small noisy fan.

Presumably this: "Zalman FAN MATE 2 Fan controller £2.87" or I might have some in my box of spare bits! I think my CPU cooler and other fans had some I didn't use as I have a fan controller in my machine. Any should work? I think I have one that fits in an expansion slot as well, not sure if I still have that. Like this: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asete...otherboard-kit

Plus this filter? http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120mm...ium-fan-filter
or this: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/12cm-...l01-fan-filter

Bit late now you've bought it but I would of said have a look at the silverstone or be quiet! modular psu's 400-500w

Well I got an email from Scan saying they don't actually have the PSU I ordered so the options are open again. I think modular would be better in a small case.
-------------------------
Unfortunately the following item is currently out of stock:

XFX 450w P1-450S-X2B9 PSU

We are expecting our stock levels to be replenished if you are able to wait however the supplier has been unable to provide us with a secure Eta date
-------------------------
They go on to suggest the Zalman ZM500-GS as an alternative but Cat says that one is not as good!

So I'm looking at lists of PSUs not knowing which ones have the best ball bearing fans and good capacitors etc. It seems make and the info in scan is no indication unless you buy seasonic or enermax and they cost too much for this build!





Bemused by all the choices TBH!

Powercool is temptingly cheap at £30.

If you look it up, it is been made by CWT and it is not held in the same as other reputable manufacturers (Seasonic, FSP). Is modular cabling that important? Can't you just cable tie the hell out of it?

EDIT : How about a nice Antec 520W Neo Eco Modular PSU for £46.22? Been made by Seasonic.

The antec neo eco looks good for 45 but comes with no cables and scan don't even seem to have the cables for sale. http://www.scan.co.uk/products/520w-...-fan-atx-v23-p

Looks like the Sharkoon WPM500 is CWT made as well and has a sleeve bearing fan in it. Presumably sleeve bearings are more prone to becoming squeaky in old age?

Is the Corsair CXM 430w also made by CWT?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Novatech will have the XFX PSU soon:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...450s-x2b9.html

Other alternatives include the Antec Earthwatts EA380D,Seasonic G 360W,the Antec 500W PSU mentioned before and the Huntkey Jumper 300W. The Seasonic and Huntkey are gold rated PSUs.

However,that CM Silent Pro M2,might be worth considering. I can see no reviews of it but the higher wattage models use decent capacitors and an HDB fan,and it appears to be a solid range.

It is a bit long,ie,around 160MM but I suspect it will be a good PSU.

Edit!!

Some pictures of the PSU:

http://www.beareyes.com.cn/2/lib/201...0121012159.htm

[Ciber]

Novatech will have the XFX PSU soon:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...450s-x2b9.html

Other alternatives include the Antec Earthwatts EA380D,Seasonic G 360W,the Antec 500W PSU mentioned before and the Huntkey Jumper 300W. The Seasonic and Huntkey are gold rated PSUs.

However,that CM Silent Pro M2,might be worth considering. I can see no reviews of it but the higher wattage models use decent capacitors and an HDB fan,and it appears to be a solid range.

It is a bit long,ie,around 160MM but I suspect it will be a good PSU.

Edit!!

Some pictures of the PSU:

http://www.beareyes.com.cn/2/lib/201...0121012159.htm

All I can find out about the Cooler Master RS420-SPM2E3 make is that it might be seventeam. Good or bad? Hydraulic bearings? Interesting! 5 year warranty is good as well. 163 mm long

I will google the other PSUs you suggest as well.

According to this thread I should avoid the huntkey: http://forums.hexus.net/pc-hardware/...-300w-psu.html

The be quiet! BN180 Pure Power L8 430W also looks good. £48 and 160mm long.

That XFX does compensate for it's non modular cables by being 20mm shorter. I can see why you like it.

[DanceswithUnix]

The Zalman is not modular though.

I use SFF PCs though. Sleeve bearing fans and cheaper capacitors,in a SFF PC,no way.

My Novatech PSU hasn't been told it is in a SFF PC, am I mean to not tell it?

Default config is to draw air through the top of the case to vent out the back, so the PSU only sees outside air. Hopefully not coffee
Will have to make sure no-one puts paper on top of it as that would force the PSU to draw air from inside the case. I think it would be fine like that, but might get noisy.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

My Novatech PSU hasn't been told it is in a SFF PC, am I mean to not tell it?

Default config is to draw air through the top of the case to vent out the back, so the PSU only sees outside air. Hopefully not coffee
Will have to make sure no-one puts paper on top of it as that would force the PSU to draw air from inside the case. I think it would be fine like that, but might get noisy.

It depends on the Novatech PSU model. Some of them were actually reasonably quality,ie,not that cheaply made.

However,I have been using SFF PCs as my main rigs since late 2005.

At least for cases,like the Elite 120 there might be advantages to using the PSU as an exhaust too,due to its layout.

I have had to replace PSUs with sleeve bearing fans in the past in systems,which use them as a major exhaust path. The fans tend to have to ramp up higher than if you used them in a normal full sized system. At a higher speed,the sleeve bearing fans wear out quicker ,and the sleeve bearing fans I have used at constant speed in any of my SFF systems, including decent ones have either worn out or started to get increasingly noisy over time.

The worst one was the Akasa Vortex Neo coolers I used and the first one wore out within 18 months.

Sleeve bearing fans are used because they are cheap,and are quieter when first used.

Then going onto the capacitors,cheap PSUs use ones which tend to be low rated in terms of temperature, and especially lower grade capacitors which tend to need better cooling in the first place. Considering an SFF PSU is running hotter,they are under more strain than normal systems.

If you are just using a CPU with a basic IGP you might be OK,but if you intend plonking a decent discrete card at some point,then I would go for something decent instead,especially with the sort of power consumption modern cards have.

Full sized systems tend to be more forgiving though,due to better cooling.

Now,looking at all the decent industrial and good consumer SFF PSUs I have looked at internally,they do tend use decent capacitors and also tend to use non-sleeve bearing fans.

In that case,considering that I tend to keep my PSUs for as long as possible,I would rather spend a bit more now,than spend twice in the longterm!

[Ciber]

My Novatech PSU hasn't been told it is in a SFF PC, am I mean to not tell it?

Default config is to draw air through the top of the case to vent out the back, so the PSU only sees outside air. Hopefully not coffee
Will have to make sure no-one puts paper on top of it as that would force the PSU to draw air from inside the case. I think it would be fine like that, but might get noisy.

I have had cheap and not so cheap PSUs die on me. I have also had very noisy cheap PSUs and fans. I don't want to skimp on that part too much!

[DanceswithUnix]

Yep, about 10 years ago I had an expensive Enermax PSU die on me and take out a few components when it died.

My point Cat was that the PSU is not by default the main exhaust. I like that, the Silverstone cases I have point the PSU into the case and the PSU fan fights the CPU fan with the result that neither wins and it can all get a bit loud

The Elite 120 gives you the option to mount the PSU either way up, but default on mine was for the cage to point the intake fan skywards (hence my comment about being careful about coffee possibly getting spilled in it).

Whilst I don't fancy opening up the Novatech PSU, I did just have a look inside with a torch. The primary capacitor is placed such that I can't see who made it. The space on the PCB seems to be for a much larger cap, but perhaps the same PCB is used for higher powered models. Overall the quality of construction looked OK though, it looked like there was transient surpression on the input, the heatsinking looked as I would expect for the price and the soldering didn't look like I had done it

[Ciber]

On further reflection after getting all excited about modular PSUs I think we should stick with the non modular PSU. If the XFX one does not come into stock soon we will have to find another. Possibly back to the £55 bundle with the case.

[Homeking]

Seems a popular power supply the XFX - never seems to stay in stock very long.

Still showing as low stock at Scan but I guess they haven't updated the page.

Depending where you are it is showing up as in stock for store collection at some Maplin stores at £34.99:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/450w-xfx-pro...hnology-587552

No model number so I can't tell if it's the older version but if there's one in stock nearby you could call and check.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The older version had more cables it seems. The newer version reduced the number of cables AFAIK.

[Ciber]

Seems a popular power supply the XFX - never seems to stay in stock very long.

Still showing as low stock at Scan but I guess they haven't updated the page.

Depending where you are it is showing up as in stock for store collection at some Maplin stores at £34.99:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/450w-xfx-pro...hnology-587552

No model number so I can't tell if it's the older version but if there's one in stock nearby you could call and check.

Scans website seems pretty poor in that respect. There is a big green tick and it says 'low stock' and not 'no stock' and yet they have none and don't seem to know when there will be more.

No stock in my local Maplins

[Homeking]

Now showing as "In Stock" (not Low Stock) at Scan so looks like they could have had a delivery:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/450w-...n-atx-v231-psu

Was showing as out of stock this morning.

If it's a mistake there's apparently 18 due in tomorrow at Novatech:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...paign=products

[Ciber]

Now showing as "In Stock" (not Low Stock) at Scan so looks like they could have had a delivery:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/450w-...n-atx-v231-psu

Was showing as out of stock this morning.

If it's a mistake there's apparently 18 due in tomorrow at Novatech:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...paign=products

Yes! I have had an email from scan saying that the case, PSU and HDD have been depatched.

The motherboard says 'stock due today' on scan so still waiting to order that.

[Ciber]

For the SSD the SanDisk SDSSDX-120G-G25 120GB Extreme seems like a good choice. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...s&tag=rnwap-20
up to 550MB/s read speeds and 510MB/s write speeds
3 year warranty
but it is sandforce?

Or Samsung 840 Series 120GB http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Seri...m_cr_pr_sims_t

Or this Sandisk 128GB SDSSDP-128G- G25 http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-128G...m_cr_pr_sims_t
read speeds of up to 490MB/si andsequential write speeds of up to 350MB/s

[Homeking]

Yes! I have had an email from scan saying that the case, PSU and HDD have been depatched.

Great news!

The motherboard says 'stock due today' on scan so still waiting to order that.

That's a shame - still saying the same today. It is on special offer at Aria for £59.94 but the price of postage pushes it higher than the price at Scan:

https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials...roductId=54010

Out of the 3 SSDs I like the look of the Samsung 840 - it also has a 3 year warranty. Only thing that seems to let it down is the much slower write speed but I guess this is less of an issue if it's being used as a boot drive.

It's the same price at Ebuyer as it is at Amazon and you can get cashback there through Quidco or TCB so would save a little bit more.

[scaryjim]

For the SSD the SanDisk SDSSDX-120G-G25 120GB Extreme seems like a good choice.
but it is sandforce?

AFAIK, yes, it is. http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/storag...eme-ssd-120gb/ Hexus review, it's SF-2281 with Sandisk's own 24nm toggle mode NAND. Sandforce issues seem to be very hit and miss. I suspect a sandforce drive immediately updated to the latest firmware before installation would be OK (my Kingston rocks since updating the fw), but it's a difficult call given the number of "sandforce bad" threads you get on every techy forum.