M-ITX upgrade newbie

[Doosh]

Before you all laugh and throw stones at me, I don't need an uber spec gaming PC and I also don't have much room, so...

I use an m-itx based SFF as my main PC, it's main use is web browsing, music and films. Currently I'm struggling along with an 230 Atom based board that, in all honesty, is barely fit for purpose.

I ordered one of the MSI AMD Fusion boards from OC yesterday with the view to a decent upgrade, the plan is to get it as quiet as possible as I sit about 18 inches away, so I've decided on a SSD for the OS as all my music and stuff is on external drives already.

I'm after some advice on the other bits I'll need like RAM and PSU? I am planning on using the case I already have as I like it, but I'm not sure whether to keep the 150w FSP PSU and change it's fan for a quieter one (40mm) or stretch the budget to a PicoPSU, which when you factor in the correct AC adapter isn't that cheap.

I suppose in the short term I could put the SSD on hold and go for a quiet 5400rpm notebook drive and put the money to the Pico, are these the drives that they fit in external USB units? as I have a Toshiba external that is silent (as far as I can tell)

Sorry for the long post!

 

[Doosh]

Thanks, but I like the case I have so I think I'll keep it.

I'm a bit confused with the multiple varieties of RAM, what is compatible with this board? it says on the MSI site DDR3 DIMM 800/1066/1333* (OC), am I right in thinking there is no DDR3 1066 listed on OC?

 

[Doosh]

Thanks for the detailed reply, exactly the sort of advice I was hoping for.

RE: the external drives, I have two pocket sized one as you mention, the Seagate one is quite clearly audible, but the Toshiba must be of better quality because I can't hear it even when using it elsewhere liked plugged into the WD TV Live box.

Will the 1333mhz RAM be ok in this board? it's just that next to the 1333mhz figure on the spec sheet it has 'OC', does this mean it will only run this RAM with some tweaking or am I misunderstanding it?

As for the SSD, I was hoping to utilize the SATA 3/6Gbps capability, are all SSDs 6gbs?

Thanks again, I think I'm gradually getting there!