Is there any way to avoid the big box?

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Deleted member 68110

Deleted member 68110

I want a decent PC but I'm under a bit of pressure to avoid a big tower, or desktop box.

Is there any way to build a decent machine without one?

I'm wondering if it is possible to split out the SSD, HDD and Optical drive into a separate box. This might mean they could both sit on a book shelf, which might placate SWMBO.

Thanks for any pointers.
 
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What's actually being said? I find people compromise on the silliest of things around here too much. The size of your PC case just seems like a strange thing for her to get upset about and demand it's of a certain size.
 
garnett said:
Is there any way to build a decent machine without one?
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Mini ITX cases are what you're after.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-056-OG&groupid=43&catid=2475&subcat=2602

There you go! No compromises and as high spec'd as you want in a small form factor :D

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-169-CS&groupid=2362&catid=2279
Overall dimensions 290mm (H) x 277mm (W) x 351mm (D)

It's not the tiniest but if you want any smaller you'll have to go with an external optical drive (assuming you want one)


spoffle said:
The size of your PC case just seems like a strange thing for her to get upset about and demand it's of a certain size.
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I'm guessing you haven't moved in with your partner yet.........! Just you wait.... :D
 
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Thanks for the replies so far - very helpful. Disappeared down a rabbit-hole of custom case modding for an hour or so!
deano-5 said:
What will you use it for?
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Photo editing and ideally a bit of sly gaming (although I'm not after insane performance.
 
There's a good selection of mini-itx cases around. If you can get away with a low profile graphics card, then the case can be tiny.
 
garnett said:
I want a decent PC but I'm under a bit of pressure to avoid a big tower, or desktop box.
This might mean they could both sit on a book shelf, which might placate SWMBO.
Click to expand...

I loved my Shuttle when I had to have a smaller case (space limitations rather than nagging partner)

silvagti said:
I'm guessing you haven't moved in with your partner yet.........! Just you wait.... :D
Click to expand...

I don't get how somebody can get upset about the size of a PC case. I've been married for donkey's years, had multiple PCs in that time and not once as the wife ever got bothered about the case size. Just seems like such an odd thing to be bothered about.
 
The point I was making, is that if you can get away with a low profile cooler, then the mini-itx case can be extremely small.

Obviously there are mini-itx cases that fit dual-slot GPUs, but they are slightly larger.
 
Being married and having kids has meant that my surround sound has gone out of the window, my gaming has gone down to about 5-10hrs a year if I'm lucky. I think I went through 2011-2012 without playing anything. I barely get time to do my essentials.

I'm going to check out a few AV receivers this week, and while I do that I will be wondering about how the hell I'm going to get in the house and plugged in without my wife noticing it! lol
 
LordSplodge said:
I loved my Shuttle when I had to have a smaller case (space limitations rather than nagging partner)



I don't get how somebody can get upset about the size of a PC case. I've been married for donkey's years, had multiple PCs in that time and not once as the wife ever got bothered about the case size. Just seems like such an odd thing to be bothered about.
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Exactly my point, it seems a strange one to even think about.
 
Threepwood said:
All these years and your wife has.. never.. been irrational? :p
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Not really.

spoffle said:
Exactly my point, it seems a strange one to even think about.
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Yeah.

Enigma80 said:
Maybe it's in his living room and looks silly? I know my wife wouldn't want the desktop in there.
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Many a year ago I had a PC in the living room. It didn't cause the wife to even raise an eyelid. Guess I married well. I feel for you people with irrational women.
 
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