Advice on Mini-ITX Build Please

Starky · 28 Oct 2009 at 14:09

Hey all,

I am going to build a Mini-ITX machine for my girlfriend as a Christmas present and would just like you all to confirm the spec that I have decided upon.

She is a design student in her final year of University so she will be using a little bit of photoshop and illustrator as well as some older CAD software. She does all of the modern CAD work on University workstations though since the software is so expensive. Therefore most of the use will simply be for word processing, surfing and watching movies.

Once she graduates it will probably be retired to just being used for movies, at which point we can hook it up to a HDTV and buy a bluray player for it.

So anyway, here is the spec so far, I don't need any software for it. I'll put 64-bit Windows 7 on it to make use of the RAM:

edit: price including VAT is £492, trying to keep it just under £500

Starky · 28 Oct 2009 at 15:38

Yeah I know that the case takes an ATX PSU, however that motherboard comes with a 90W PSU in the box, so no need for it!

I know that this isn't in the description but I did a bit of research on the board and it apparently does.

I was originally going to get the other zotac C2D board but it really pushes the price up and it isn't in stock.

edit: The fan is a replacement for the one that cools the heatsink for the CPU and GPU - it should fit right?

Starky · 29 Oct 2009 at 09:05

cmndr_andi said:
To be honest, unless you really need the power savings of the Atom go for this deal. Add in the zotac board (may not currently be in stock, but there will likely be some in before christmas) and you will have a killer computer for the same money as the ION. Adittedly, it isn't using the Lian Li case, but I have the InWin case right next to me and it looks great.

Also, you really only need 2GB of RAM - so this should save you some money.

Edit: Looks like that deal is over, but I would still say that getting the Zotac s775 board + a core 2 CPU is the best option. Something like an e5300 or e6300 would be a great bet.

Thanks for the advice there - I was planning to go for that board but the problem is just that it's out of stock. I think I can wait a couple weeks before buying I could get in touch and see if they think that it will be coming back soon.

Starky · 29 Oct 2009 at 13:36

Ok, how about this build then? It's a little more expensive but probably worth it for the performance gains.

One thing - do you think that the graphics card in that build will provide a noticeable difference in performance? I know that the ION is good for what it is, but surely a dedicated low profile card is going to be much better?

edit: just noticed that the motherboard isn't ION, it's a NVIDIA GeForce 9300 mGPU

Starky · 29 Oct 2009 at 17:23

Would think that it would greatly enhance the performance of illustrator/photoshop and CAD applications since there is some rendering needed.

If that's incorrect then let me know

Starky · 30 Oct 2009 at 10:03

Ok cmndr_andi I think you've won me over with your idea!! I really wanted to Lian-Li because it was such a great looking case, but going with that deal really makes the money go so much further in terms of performance.

I've respecced with that processor/case deal and put the RAM up to 4GB and removed the graphics card. Gonna put 64-bit Windows on it to make use of the RAM and if I see any performance problems then I can find a better low profile graphics card to fit into that PCI slot.

One last thing - would you recommend any cooler for the Quad core rather than just the stock one? The case looks like a tight squeeze!

Starky · 30 Oct 2009 at 11:57

Right, good stuff!

Upgraded the processor as suggested and added the fan and it comes to pretty much £500 spot on. That's gonna run pretty nice!!

I'm not planning on overclocking it at all so I guess the retail fan will be fine, it won't be under too much stress as long as the rest of the case is being cooled nicely by the Noctua.

So a nice processor, plenty RAM, a small cool case, and plenty performance to stick a BluRay drive in there in a couple years when we're not students any more and can afford to buy the discs lol!

Thanks dude, just waiting on my pay to come through today and then I'll call OCUK about the motherboard

Starky · 30 Oct 2009 at 13:20

Order placed, will get some pics up when it's done :cool:

Thanks for all the help folks

Starky · 9 Nov 2009 at 15:57

Hey folks,

Finished the build now. Ended up going for the 2.66GHz Quad Core with 4GB RAM, stock cooler and a Noctua 80mm to replace the one in the case.

The thing absolutely flies in Windows 7 64-bit, very impressed with the performance for the cost! It was a bit of a squeeze to get everything in, but this was expected, although didn't make things easy for me since it was my first build!

Unfortunately there are no pictures as I'm not so proud of the cable management since I was in a rush

Runs very quiet as well even with the stock CPU cooler.

Anyway I can really recommend this deal as it's a good wee case, and althought it isn't toolless or anything, it's not hard to figure it out even without instructions.

Only bad point I would say is that I didn't recieve a power cable with the case, just using another generic one just now.

Starky · 10 Nov 2009 at 15:22

Thanks for the comment mate, unfortunately I won't be able to get any photos any time soon as it's at my girlfriends flat now back in Scotland and I'm back down in London for work over the next few weeks!!

To give you an idea of the looks, it's very nice and sleek and sturdy when assembled. Inside, mine doesn't look amazing, but wasn't really bothered about that. The power supply isn't modular and the orientation of the optical drive and HDD mean that you can't really hide the cables very easily.

The SATA cables that come with the Zotac MB are really quite long too and tough to hide away, but look quite funky. I just made sure that all of the cables were well away from the CPU fan.

We watched some family guy on it last night and the playback was perfect. Haven't tried anything on the HDMI yet, but that wasn't really what I built it for. It boots up in under 30 seconds and is performing really well with Adobe CS3 without getting hot at all.

I would advise getting the replacement fan - the Noctua is practically silent. It got a little noisy while I was doing some installations but this was from the stock CPU fan and the fan in the PSU. There is plenty of space in there for a low profile cooler - so that would be a good investment if you want it running silent. Could also take a look at a replacement 40mm fan for the PSU 0 although I don't know how easy it would be to replace.