Cheap ITX System

jm240

jm240

jm240

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Hi all, Looking to build a cheap mini-ITX system.

So far I have the following components:

Intel Pentium G620 2.6GHz Socket 1155 3MB L3 Cache Retail - £48.00

Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz HyperX Memory - £18.00

Asrock H61M-ITX H61 Socket 1155 onboard graphics mITX Motherboard - £54.00


All I need now is the HDD, ODD and the case.

Questions:

I was looking to get the Perspex case by lcdmodkit on the bay, would that be ok?

I assume the on-board graphics suck but it don't matter too much unless I want to game. In which case I could throw in a nvidia 430GT, would this fit ok in the case?

Can this motherboard handle a Solid State Drive ok?

I think this perspex case can't handle an internal optical drive, in which case I'll just get an external one so no problem.

Does this look ok guys?

Any other suggestions or advice? Thanks!
 
beejjacobs said:
I'd get this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-070-SV&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1092

Or similar, unfortunately small cases are expensive but this has a 300W PSU with it and will fit a GPU upto 9" so even a GTX460 or something (length wise, not sure if the PSU could handle it). Also, it'll fit a slim/laptop ODD and 1 3.5" and 1 2.5" drive.

Don't know much about that perspex case but it looks tiny, so you'd have to mess around with non-standard PSUs and have it separately etc... which then stops it being so small :P

That motherboard will handle an SSD okay yes, but it does not have SATA III, so recent SATA III SSD will be limited to SATA II speeds, but it will still be faster than a normal drive.

SSD I'd get one of the following depending on budget:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-009-CR
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-021-CS&groupid=701&catid=2104&subcat=1427
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-025-CS&groupid=701&catid=2104&subcat=910
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-008-CR&groupid=701&catid=2104&subcat=910

or if you want an HDD:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-081-SA&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=940
Click to expand...

Thanks for such a great reply!

I hear what you're saying totally. The dilemma you have with building ITX machines is that graphics capability has to be sacrificed because of the small space that's available and the second downside is the power supplies.

ITX cons: (1) Space Issues (expansion cards etc) (2) Power supplies

With that case you suggested above, it appears to provide much more power and more space, effectively allowing a half decent GPU. However, that case looks ugly and it doesn't look small and compact which kind of eliminates the whole point.

I want a desktop pc that is compact. And I do mean compact. Not asking for something Micro, but something that could almost fit behind the monitor attached.

I'd like to see a photographic comparison of the case you suggested next to something else, perhaps a ATX desktop so I can see the difference in a photo...if you have this ITX computer yourself, reckon you could take that snap for me?

Thank you though I'll definitely consider an alternative.

Just one more thing regarding that perspex case I showed you. It does require something called a pico PSU which basically involves an attachment to the 24 pin main power ATX connector, with a wire the feeds out of the back into a brick style AC adapter. You know like the ones laptops use.

So it isn't actually that big or cumbersome for a power supply. Thee only downside of course is the maximum power available with these. I think 120w is the max.
 
Some really cool replies in this thread from some people, thank you so much for all your help.

I found out recently that the PicoPSU's do hit the 150watt zone, the problem I had was finding them stocked.

Jacobs, I take it back, calling it ugly. It's not bad at all actually.... quite smart and trim. It looks tempting, because you could fit full size components in it without worry but I need a small PC, one that's comparable to a nettop pc. Thanks for those excellent comparison photos though, really helpful.
 
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