Move to SFF advice

Ricki · 3 May 2010 at 23:07

I am looking to move to SFF but would like some advice as I know next to nothing about SFF.

I would like to reuse as much of my current PC as possible (i.e. cheap) - I don't mind if I have to go down the shuttle-esq pre-built route or whether I go down the buy case, mobo etc and build route. I'm willing to spend £300 and £400 at a stretch but would like some scope to upgrade in the future, e.g. faster RAM, chip etc.

The components that I have that I think I could potentially reuse are (component, description, age):
PSU Antec TruePower Trio 550W 2 yrs 8 mth
Motherboard Asus P5Q-E Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 1 yrs 10 mth
Processor Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 95W 2.40GHz (1066FSB) 1 yrs 10 mth
Heatsink Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler 1 yrs 10 mth
Memory G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PK PC2-6400C4 (2x2GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit 1 yrs 10 mth
HDD (c:/) Samsung SpinPoint F1 640GB SATA-II 16MB Cache 1 yrs 10 mth
HDD (d:/) Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache 1 yrs 0 mth
DVD-RW (e:/) LG 20x DVD-SM SATA Bare Drive 1 yrs 11 mth
DVD-RW (f:/) Samsung 20X DVDRW Internal SATA Drive w/ Lightscribe 1 yrs 11 mth
Bluray (g:/) Samsung SH-B083LRSBP 8x BluRay ROM 16x DVD±RW Drive 0 yrs 1 mth
Graphics Card HIS ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-OutDual DVI/HDMI 1 yrs 10 mth

I have no need for 3 optical drives so I'll go with the Bluray but I would like to have both HDD's, but if one is external (i.e. the 1tb) it makes no difference to me. Floppy and flash cards are not required. At least one front/top USB port is essential but I am indifferent to front audio connections, fire-wire etc. I am no audiophile and will most likely use a 2.1 speaker setup so onbaord sound will probably be fine. Onboard WiFi would be a bonus, but I have a N-band dongle that would suffice.

I mainly use my PC to surf the web and watch movies - very rarely do I play games on my PC, so as long as it can play a Bluray I'm happy. Again, future upgrades needs to be considered, e.g. support for higher speed RAM. Crucially I'd like to have as quiet a system as possible so playing with cooling solutions (maybe water cooling?) is possible, though I have never dabbled with it before.

Upgrade wise, the most probable upgrades I'll make in the near future are Solid State HDD, faster RAM and faster CPU.

I will be running Windows 7 64-bit (if that affects anything) and using a 28" monitor.

So, OCuk, please advise!

Lemons_Mufc · 4 May 2010 at 06:23

Im confused on this one whether its because i just woke up im not sure

I would suggest you get a microATX mobo that supports socket 775 for your Q6600 that'll cost about £40-60 i think and for storage you could use your 1tb as a external (if not enough space in case) All depends i guess on what case you want and how small you want your build to be

Ill look into something when i get from work tonight if someone hasnt helped you out already

bigsharn · 5 May 2010 at 20:27

Looking at your parts list, just swap the motherboard out for a Zotac 9300 mitx wifi and lose the two disc drives that aren't blu-ray, then get something like an SG-05 to fit it in and you're away

Not amazingly read up on SFF, but it should all work

K1LLSW1TCH · 5 May 2010 at 21:36

bigsharn said:
Looking at your parts list, just swap the motherboard out for a Zotac 9300 mitx wifi and lose the two disc drives that aren't blu-ray, then get something like an SG-05 to fit it in and you're away

Not amazingly read up on SFF, but it should all work

Need a slimline optical drive in the SG-05. Unless he gets like an external caddy or something?

bigsharn · 6 May 2010 at 13:42

My mistake, in that case look at the Lian Li Q-08. It's got 6 3.5" internal hard drive spaces and a full size 5.25" drive space

Ricki · 7 May 2010 at 18:05

Ok, thanks guys.

I like the looks of the Lian Li PC-Q08B, just have to wait for a month and a half

How good are the Zotac boards?

bigsharn · 7 May 2010 at 21:31

They're not amazing, I think you can get up to about 3.2 on a Q6600 on them, they're not amazing overclockers but they do the job

chipps101 · 7 May 2010 at 22:08

i have the 9300 zotac board in one of these - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-180-LL&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=187

its running an e2180 with 2gb ram a 5.25 dvd rw and a 3.5 hd and an ocz stealthxstream psu, its a tight fit but it all goes in.

there is room for a ssd drive under the 3.5 drive but you would need to get a good low profile heatsink for the q6600.

i haven't tried blu rays on it but it plays 1080p trailers from apples site no problems.

zotac also now do g41 an g43 intel chipset versions of their itx boards which are a bit cheaper than the 9300 nvidia one (i have a g41 one on order for a project i'm planing to do and will let you know what its like once i receive it).

there is also a guy selling a shuttle in the members market that you may be interested in