Based on Mini-sys 197H-80 case, which I cnsider to be "proper" small form factor. Not a fan of micrp itx at all, cannot see the point in renaming a mini-tower. Anyway, just my opinion and each to their own.
I kept an eye open for bargains in a shortlist of hardware, first item being an ASRockH97m-ac which I picked up at half price new stock.
Been very impressed, never having used ASR before, generally built with Asus Gigabyte or MSI, but the ASR offered so much more in its itx package had to give it a go.
Then a Pentium G3258k on a good deal.
New Samsung 840 EVO 120GB initially with a view to another SSD or 2.5" HDD later for storage...........Waste of time putting a 3.5 in a case like this, like a hippopotamus in a phone box.
Then some more generic kit.
Pico style 150w with 120w power brick.............Brick a bit small but enough for initial build.
For RAM I had 2 x 2GBDDR3 1333 AMD Gaming ram from my AMD builds.Low profile and just enough to do things with. Very decent ram actually, Patriot made.
I get win7 oems from Germany v cheap, usually ex Dell and never a prob. Tend to get Win7 64 bit pro.
CPU cooler is a little heard of unit, PC-Cooler S85, 27mm high. up to 35CFM and 23 ish decibel. Rated up to 65 watt with 80 watt bursts. works wel enough. and at £15 not expensive.
MB came with mini pci wifi card, dual band 2.4 and 5 with twin holes ready in case for masts.
No optical drive in this, even though it has a slot. Not needed one for ages so removed mounting tray to get better airflow and mounted SSD under remaing chassis plate which spans case side to side. No discreet GPU, nowhere to mount and the Itel HD on the CPU is enough for me.........plenty good enough for movies.
Booted, ran it fine for six months plus..........just some overheating at one stage but a Gelid silent 5 at each side in front of the vents exhausting sorted that. It stays on long term, 6 to 10 weeks at a time..........Either run state or sleep....No overnight upload sessions.....
Got the urge to either build another, based on AMD this time, or fiddle with this one more. Went for the fiddle option, convincing myself that any bits I pull from this can go towards the future AMD build..... How we paint ourselves into corners..........................
I will pause for a breath and post this, then continue with the "upgrade" its not world shattering, but should be a marked improvement, and still very budget. Maybe with pics as well if anyone cannot visualise anything I refer to
I kept an eye open for bargains in a shortlist of hardware, first item being an ASRockH97m-ac which I picked up at half price new stock.
Been very impressed, never having used ASR before, generally built with Asus Gigabyte or MSI, but the ASR offered so much more in its itx package had to give it a go.
Then a Pentium G3258k on a good deal.
New Samsung 840 EVO 120GB initially with a view to another SSD or 2.5" HDD later for storage...........Waste of time putting a 3.5 in a case like this, like a hippopotamus in a phone box.
Then some more generic kit.
Pico style 150w with 120w power brick.............Brick a bit small but enough for initial build.
For RAM I had 2 x 2GBDDR3 1333 AMD Gaming ram from my AMD builds.Low profile and just enough to do things with. Very decent ram actually, Patriot made.
I get win7 oems from Germany v cheap, usually ex Dell and never a prob. Tend to get Win7 64 bit pro.
CPU cooler is a little heard of unit, PC-Cooler S85, 27mm high. up to 35CFM and 23 ish decibel. Rated up to 65 watt with 80 watt bursts. works wel enough. and at £15 not expensive.
MB came with mini pci wifi card, dual band 2.4 and 5 with twin holes ready in case for masts.
No optical drive in this, even though it has a slot. Not needed one for ages so removed mounting tray to get better airflow and mounted SSD under remaing chassis plate which spans case side to side. No discreet GPU, nowhere to mount and the Itel HD on the CPU is enough for me.........plenty good enough for movies.
Booted, ran it fine for six months plus..........just some overheating at one stage but a Gelid silent 5 at each side in front of the vents exhausting sorted that. It stays on long term, 6 to 10 weeks at a time..........Either run state or sleep....No overnight upload sessions.....
Got the urge to either build another, based on AMD this time, or fiddle with this one more. Went for the fiddle option, convincing myself that any bits I pull from this can go towards the future AMD build..... How we paint ourselves into corners..........................
I will pause for a breath and post this, then continue with the "upgrade" its not world shattering, but should be a marked improvement, and still very budget. Maybe with pics as well if anyone cannot visualise anything I refer to