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.

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.

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.

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.

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.