Advice needed for new Mini-ITX Build

Total-Game · 5 Mar 2009 at 18:08

My brother shall be receiving my Dell Inspiron 530s (for a modest fee

); gives me an excuse to get a smaller, better spec HTPC. My intended spec is:

In-Win BM648 Case with 120W Power Supply
Intel E5200
Zotac 9300-ITX WiFi
4GB 800MHz RAM - (not sure which one yet)
1TB WD Green Power Drive
LG Blu-Ray \ HD-DVD Drive
WinFast PxDVR3200H TV Card
Running Vista Home Premium 32 Bit

I have never built an ITX machine before, neither have I ever had such a tight power budget. So, the question is, will the above setup run on the included 120W power supply? I have seen pre-built machines with this case using E8x00 processors, Intel's DG45FC MB, a standard 3.5" HD and the same Blu-Ray drive.

Anyone have any recommendations for a low profile CPU cooler that will fit on the board and within the case (case is 9cm thick and the optical drive sits over the motherboard)?

If you have any other comments, I'd love to hear them! The case is on its way, already have the TV card, but the rest is open to negotiation.

Conan257 · 5 Mar 2009 at 18:20

It should run on 120w... worth going into the bios and seeing how low you can get voltages, helps with psu and heat.

jawor121 · 7 Mar 2009 at 20:55

My mate's running e7200 with zotac 630i mobo,1gb of memory,3,5' hdd, with no dvd, tv card and it takes about 66w in full stress. Your shall take bit more and imho 120w will be ok.

The cooler coming up to my mind is Scythe Shuriken. It's 64mm high with fan.

Total-Game · 8 Mar 2009 at 21:40

Thanks for the info guys. I have gone ahead and ordered the parts, hopefully they will all turn up by next weekend. I'll make sure to post up some pics and stats of the build.

Thanks also for the cooler suggestion, I eventually went for the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Low Profile. Similar sort of design to the Scythe Shuriken (admittedly not as good), but only 42mm tall. That and it was available when I ordered.

Guardsmon · 8 Mar 2009 at 22:46

just wondering how much you spent on the zotac. I saw one go on ebay for £199, seemed like a stupid amount, but looks like a nice board.

O and I might have missed this, but what case are you using?

Total-Game · 8 Mar 2009 at 23:12

I have the Zotac pre-ordered at £127.29 with postage. Should ship on Wednesday 11th. Not a bad price considering the current exchange rate, only a few quid more than the Intel DG45FC.

It looks like a fantastic little board, has in-built wireless and a full length PCIe slot; couple it with the Silverstone SG05 and a decent graphics card and you have a great little LAN rig (I'm considering that as a future project

).

Case is an In-Win BM648 with 120W Power Supply. I have been waiting for it to come back in stock elsewhere for absolutely ages, £62.73 with postage.

Guardsmon · 9 Mar 2009 at 01:03

Cool sounds very nice. Let me know how you get on with the motherboard. Since I built my hoojum cubit over a year ago, I've been wanting to move my main computer to mini-itx, just never wanted to spend the money on a board to support a Q6600 and even then I have the problem of my 8800GTX... well I guess a few years wait yet.

pennywise · 9 Mar 2009 at 13:42

Those In-Win cases are a dream if you're looking for small and unintrusive combined with well managed internals. Mine is a different model (can't remember which) but the internals are the same, and you can get a slim-line DVD, 2x 3.5" hard drives and a 2.5" hard drive in there, which is bloody impressive given its size.

I was kind of regretting getting an Atom based mobo after seeing the awesomeness of those Zotac mobos, but for all I need the system for it would be extremely overpowered, so I'm happy enough

Total-Game · 9 Mar 2009 at 23:45

The case arrived this morning. I opened up the box and was admiring the design and build quality right up until I noticed the rather large dent along the back edge. It has deformed the motherboard backplate cutout and PCI brackets, there is no way any components are going in there. Obviously, it is going back via RMA.

Really ****ed off at the moment, the build is going to be delayed for a little while.

Guardsmon · 10 Mar 2009 at 16:55

ahhh unluck. I remember I bought a case with built in PSU for budget build for mate from ******. When it turned up the box looked a bit beaten, but once you got the case out, the frame was managelled so much that it has actually bent the PSU to this angel / and wouldn't move in anyway. Then they tried to charge me to get it returned... was not impressed.

Total-Game · 25 Mar 2009 at 18:06

All is well. Build is complete and I have posted up a build log in a new thread.