First SFF build

Ptikobj

Ptikobj

Ptikobj

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Joined
7 Oct 2009
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158
Location
Newcastle-Under-Lyme
I want build a small computer for general use and some possible gaming. Here is the hardware

Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz
Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Mini-ITX
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz

I'm not sure on what case to get. The Lian Li PC-Q07B and Silverstone Sugo look good. But I'm unsure of which to get. They don't leave much room for a CPU cooler either.

If I was to choose the Lian Li, I do have a spare coolermaster powersupply.

The main problem is what GPU to choose, I didn't want to go over £400, so I have around £70 for a GPU.

Maybe more if its worth it :)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
what do you want the GPU for? are you gaming?

I have a PC-Q07 and a SG05, both are great little cases. If gaming the SG05 is much easier as it fits longer cards and dual slot cards without modding.

In my PC-Q07 I managed to fit a i3 530, ati 5750 and use corsair 400w psu. It all worked with ease but I did need to cut a second slot for the gfx card with tin snips. If you dont want to mod the case then a 5670 is a good midrange card and is single slot.

With regards to the cpu cooler I used a scythe shuriken as it is low profile, quiet and only about 23 quid at OCUK. The scythe was great with the i3 at 3.6ghz but it struggled with a i5 750
 
ninja2000 said:
what do you want the GPU for? are you gaming?

I have a PC-Q07 and a SG05, both are great little cases. If gaming the SG05 is much easier as it fits longer cards and dual slot cards without modding.

In my PC-Q07 I managed to fit a i3 530, ati 5750 and use corsair 400w psu. It all worked with ease but I did need to cut a second slot for the gfx card with tin snips. If you dont want to mod the case then a 5670 is a good midrange card and is single slot.

With regards to the cpu cooler I used a scythe shuriken as it is low profile, quiet and only about 23 quid at OCUK. The scythe was great with the i3 at 3.6ghz but it struggled with a i5 750
Click to expand...

got any pics of this ? as i would love to see how you managed to squeeze a 5750 in a Q07, i take it you dont have a 3.5 hard drive in it or have the front usb's connected unless you used an extension ?
 
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chipps101 said:
got any pics of this ? as i would love to see how you managed to squeeze a 5750 in a Q07, i take it you dont have a 3.5 hard drive in it or have the front usb's connected unless you used an extension ?
Click to expand...

No pics at the mo but I can try and take some later.

I removed the 3.5" to make room for the dual slot card and had a longer USB cable from an old case.
Also has to plug the 6pin to the card before sliding it in the case and it was still a bit of a struggle.

I also have a palit GTX460 that fits but I have put that in my SG05 (the reason I have moved to a SG05 for my PC-Q07 is it was easy to fit a corsair H50 to water cool the quad, the PC-Q07 struggled to cool it on air with a level of noise I was happy with!)
 
Got the HDD. Going up get some more parts this week :)

I really want the Silverstone case come back in stock. :(
 
i just got the single slot 5770 and its fantastic, quiet and for me was the only good card i could get having only a single slot
 
I'm just getting a cheap GPU for now! I can think of upgrades later on next year :)

Got my case :) Its soo tiny.
 
i5 for sure. I would assume that an i3 would be a massive bottle neck for your 5870

As for the ram, I'll get the Dominator, I'm not bothering with a cpu cooler for now. Stock will do.
 
If you go Lian Li, watch out for the length of the PSU. I ended up going for a semi-pico one and even that was a pretty tight fit as I wanted the HDD cages still there.

If you can live with that, Lian Li got my vote (although, I would go with Q08 rather than Q11 to get a bit more space and cooling, still not a big chassis).
 
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