New PC project

  • Thread starter Thread starter Irf
  • Start date Start date

Irf

Irf

Irf

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Joined
26 Oct 2002
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237
Hi all,

As you may be able to see from my post history, it's been aaaages since I've done any PC building. However recently my old gaming machine, now mainly used for webbing, has started to annoy me for reasons such as noise, occasional unreliability, size, etc. I've recently had a failed (AGP!) graphics card, replaced with a ceap old one I found in a house-moving box, and teh HDD is starting to display probelsm with Windows finding errors. So....

I'd like to explore the possibility of speccing a SFF PC which will be unobtrusive, quiet, and functional. Basic requirements:

  • Small, quiet and good looking (wife friendly)
  • Moderately powered (regular home usage)
  • DVI output for existing screen
  • Wireless connectivity (cable not an option)
  • Plenty of USB capacity
  • SSD HD for speed, though capacity is taken care of with a NAS
  • Enough RAM to make Win7 reasonably quick
  • Onboard graphics OK if good, but expansion capability would be nice
  • Existing peripherals to be reused (USB mouse, keyb, printer, webcam, etc)
  • Would have liked optical drive but seems slick and cheap USB ones are now available

What bits and pieces can you guys come up with to suit? To be honest I'm a bit nervous about getting involved with PC building again because I'm so out of touch with what's hot and not in terms of boards, CPUs, RAM, HDDs, etc. But the thing that's spurring me on is the recollection that I loved it!!! :)

Hope someone can spare the time to make suggestions....

Irf
 
Silly me!!!

Thanks Gav for your help. I can't believe I didn't give an indication of price... ridiculous! I was hoping to spend a fair bit less than that, though I have to say the components listed do look great. Would it be hugely out-of-balance if I were to reduce the cost of the processor, motherboard and case? I'd be looking at a total price of around £400.

As I said, I love the look of the case and the spec of the mobo sounds really cool... I'll just find it hard to justify the cost. This would be the only "desktop" in the house, supplementing 2 laptops.

Is there any merit in cost/preformance in going for AMD over Intel? Also, would the cooler fit into this case OK, and would it be OK without a fan?

I'd appreciate a little bit more input if you or anyone else can spare it.

As for the other stuff - it looks ideal. I didn't know I'd need a special cable for the slimline optical drive - see how out of touch I am!?

Cheers again,

Irf
 
By the way - I forgot to say that i don't have any plans to OC the system... if that makes any difference to the build spec.
 
Cool, thanks Gav. Useful info regarding the other mobo too - I'm happy to get a USB wifi dongle. Shame the Edimax micro ones are not available at the moment.

Thanks justalex for your spec too. I'll have a look at the bits and may come back to you with some questions.

Cheers,

irf
 
justalex - I've had a look and the case is really good looking but with that size I will have to forego the optical drive (not a massive problem). I can't find that mobo for sale though, which is a big shame because of the spec you have quoted!

The rest of the spec looks good to me - thanks for your help.

Now I just need to decide!

irf
 
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