New to computer building. A few starter questions.

coopsjc21

coopsjc21

coopsjc21

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Ok, I'll be honest, I pretty much know bugger all about building computers, but I want to build one of these sff thingies so I can have a computer to take to and from work and home every 6 weeks (i live in england but work in northern ireland and go home about once every 6 weeks).

1 I have a toshiba laptop and the processor in it is a pentium 4, 2.8ghz. I dont supose I can use this in the sff computer can I? Im assuming no, coz its probably one of them mobile things.

2 Are sff computers hard to build or is it all fairly simple for a beginner?

3 Below is a list of all things I think i'll need to buy, what am I missing?

Thanks for your help!

sff case
motherboard
processor
memory
graphics card
hard drive
sound card
cd/dvd drive
peripherals (mouse, keyboard, monitor etc..)
 
coopsjc21 said:
Ok, I'll be honest, I pretty much know bugger all about building computers, but I want to build one of these sff thingies so I can have a computer to take to and from work and home every 6 weeks (i live in england but work in northern ireland and go home about once every 6 weeks).

1 I have a toshiba laptop and the processor in it is a pentium 4, 2.8ghz. I dont supose I can use this in the sff computer can I? Im assuming no, coz its probably one of them mobile things.

2 Are sff computers hard to build or is it all fairly simple for a beginner?

3 Below is a list of all things I think i'll need to buy, what am I missing?

Thanks for your help!

sff case
motherboard
processor
memory
graphics card
hard drive
sound card
cd/dvd drive
peripherals (mouse, keyboard, monitor etc..)
Click to expand...


Hi there,

Well, with the laptop, no, you cannot use it's CPU in the SFF.

When buying an SFF machine, it will come with a motherboard, so no need to buy one. You will need the rest of the stuff on your list however.

It's very easy to build, bit cramped, but worth it. I love my SFF machine. :)

Good luck with it all!
 
Ah, thats good then, save a bit of money on the motherboard then.

Theres nothing else that i need to add to the list then?

Most of it I reckon I could put together, like putting in the ram, graphics card etc.. but its the cables inside for the hard drive, not sure where they would go, then setting them up in the bios, all that primary slave stuff, not sure about that, is it hard to grasp? any tutorials anywhere?

Is there any recommended system specs anywhere too? Im not sure what works with what, like what processor I'll be able to fit in what motherboard. Ideally I want the system to be good for gaming now and for a while.
 
there are 2 ways you can go when making a sff pc

1. is a bearbone sff that comes with ( case, mother board & Psu)
2. is a custom made sff ( all parts are needed. but some come with psus)

what are you going to be using the sff pc for coopsjc21?

gaming pc? media pc? or both?
 
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Mostly gaming, I want it to be able to run the latest games and be able to do so for a little while before upgrading it. I also use it for other stuff as well like internet, work and other stuff like dvds occasionally.
 
i see, so you want best of both worlds, gaming and media. well you could buy a systems like

Shuttle XPC SFF Small Form Factor
Biostar SFF Small Form Factor
MSI Mega PC SFF Small Form Factor
Aopen SFF Small Form Factor
ABIT SFF Small Form Factor
Soltek QBIC SFF Small Form Factor

they all come with case mother board and psu

----

You can also go the custom way and buy all the parts you need, this way is more flexible as you could easily upgrade your system any time in the future, So it might save you money later on in life. as for the cases there abit bigger but not that much bigger really

here is a list of sff cases out there atm.

Aspire X-Qpack Cube
Silverstone Sugo Evolution
Antec NSK1300 ATX Cube Case
Antec Aria Micro ATX Cube Case
X-Cube with window & without
Chenming Cube Case
Hoojum Cubit Case

some of them come with psu's and some dont. im making new sff atm, im going for a custom sff pc and im going to be using a: Silverstone Sugo Evolution case, so i can upgrade it when its needed. i was going to go for the Shuttle XPC SN21G5, i do like shuttles but the only down side from them now is the massive price retailers in the uk are asking for them. so thats put me of shuttles for now.

here is the system im going be making, i have all the parts apart from the case board and psu. the sugo is a lot bigger to the shuttle but i can fit more in it like a full size psu and from what ive bin told the cooling system in it seems to be good.

http://www.tosk.dsl.pipex.com/sff/


best of luck with your build
 
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mmm

matx case £90.00
psu £50.00
mother board £55.00
cpu £117.00 ( 9 months old )
gfx £50.00 ( 2nd hand of a friend ) - ( retails @ £100.00+)
mem £60.00
dvdrw £25.00
hd £45.00
tv card £37.00

but a lot of hardware now is a lot cheaper like amd cpus r well under priced. thanks to intels new cpu :)

there are other cases that are cheaper than the sugo, like the Aspire X-Qpack Cube, X-Cube case, Chenming Cube Case. there all around 60 to 70 quid, but if you want quality the sugo is the 1 for me.

im sure you can make it a lot cheaper now.
 
the first pc i built was also a SFF

beginners tips

a new barebones SFF is the way to go, all cables will be labeleld with what they shoud connect to, i.e hard drive etc
make sure you apply therman paste to the CPU, otherwise it will over heat
other than that its really just plug it all together
 
coopsjc21 said:
but its the cables inside for the hard drive, not sure where they would go, then setting them up in the bios, all that primary slave stuff, not sure about that, is it hard to grasp? any tutorials anywhere?
Click to expand...

If you buy a SATA hard drive (which most HDs are these days) then only one drive connects to each cable so there's nothing to get wrong really! Plug one end into HD. Plug other end into mobo. Done. :)
 
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