Complete SFF newbie question!

[jmp_78]

I have self-built a couple of full-size gaming machines in the last year and really enjoyed it, and am now really keen to have a go at the small form factor. Please forgive my ignorance, but:

Are there many SFF cases that accept Micro-ATX boards, or will I have to go Mini-ITX? These sizes confuse me! Ideally I don't wanna spend more than about £50-60 on a motherboard, and these Mini-ITX ones seem to be around the £100 mark.

Or... is this me just being simple. Please advise - but not on the simple comment

 

[jmp_78]

Hi Guardsmon, thanks for you reply!

I'd like a small machine to sit downstairs beside my HDTV, and be able to stream HD movie clips, audio and photos from my main desktop upstairs. I would also like to be able to play a few (very!) basic games. I was thinking about an AM3 motherboard, Athlon II X2 processor, and 2GB DDR3 for now.

My main concern at this stage is whether a built-in GPU would manage to playback HD video smoothly (taken with 1080i HD camcorder), or if I would need a discrete graphics solution from the start?

My other BIG 'want' is upgrade potential. I want to make sure that once major components from my main desktop machine are replaced, then they can be passed down to the SFF machine - a soon to be replaced Radeon HD4870 for example. This is another reason for not wanting to buy a discrete video card at this stage for the SFF machine.

All thoughts welcome!

 

[jmp_78]

I think I have may have confused matters above with my mention of what I wanted to spend - I tend to be quite strict on myself on what to spend on each component!!

- Case (small if possible but able to accomodate an HD4870, with a budget of upto £100 ideally including PSU)

- Processor (thinking cheap Socket AM3 for now such as an Athlon II X2, so can upgrade in future, budget of around £50)

- Motherboard (obviously Socket AM3 ideally Asus or Gigabyte Micro-ATX, budget of around £60)

As for the other components, I'm fairly happy - it's just the ones above I need thoughts on