SFF advice for work build

martian_aphid

martian_aphid

martian_aphid

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Hey guys, need a bit of advice in the SFF area as I'm only really familiar with mid/full tower configs and have only worked with one mobo with intergrated graphics [780g]

The system will be for my sister, who will be using it for work which requires the use mainly of adobe products, primarily photoshop, so a few gig of RAM and decent CPU were my first thoughts. She currently has a laptop that is not serving her that well, some guy she knows was trying to convince her to get some kind of imac, I checked the site and the base model comes in at £950 and imo a waste of money for what it is component wise.

Therefore I want to sort of match that spec, obviously for less money, and was considering something small in scale since she wont need all the extra expansion slots, etc of an atx board. I've looked at the shuttles but I'm not all that familiar with them and not sure how their parts rate, ie. mobo, psu, etc.

I've knocked together this rough spec which covers everything and drops in around £700 once I add OS.

krissashuttlespec.jpg


I've gone with the intel and 4G RAM because I think it might be a bit better for the kinds of tasks she will be doing. Will the G33 graphics be sufficient for her needs - she doesn't game but will probably use it to watch videos?

The other option I suppose is I choose an matx board and work from their maybe getting the corsair 400w and a small case.

Any advice is much appreciated :-D
 
Thanks for that Guardsmon, I've switched to the S510, which makes much more sense. Plus your spec seems a lot more well rounded with the addition of the dedicated graphics, cooler and psu.

Just noticed you didn't include a cpu ;-P Anyway I think the quad would be overkill for her uses so as you suggest I think the e5xxx might be a better choice. As far as overclocking on a matx board like that goes, what are my options? I know sometimes those types of board have limited functionality for overclocking, so any ideas what kind of prospects I might have? One last question with regards to the graphics, will she notice the addition of a dedicated card in programs such as photoshop? I realise the onboard intel graphics are pretty weak but will the G43 you specced suffice or would a 4350 be an option. I'm just seeing it as a potential saving if the dedicated graphics will be something she potentially won't make use of?

EDIT: I might be looking in the wrong place but I couldn't spot the SG02 case you suggested on ocuk [silverstone right?]
 
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Ok sounds good JonJ678 - I've switched for the e5200 on the P5QL-CM and gone for the case, psu, hsf, key/mouse, speakers and optical Guardsmon picked and decided to omit the gpu for the time being with the option of adding later and added in a netgear wireless pci card to a total of £590 [w/o OS] I think this is pretty much there now, thanks guys.

EDIT: might look into the SG05 though a bit disappointed it only has space for one 3.5" drive.
 
Just checking out that zotac board now, seems pretty decent spec and decent graphics, and the inclusion of the wireless means I don't really need a pci slot. Only question would be the overclocking potential of it I guess. Price wise it still comes in cheaper than my original spec :-) Plus it might become a nice htpc down the line. For a hsf any ideas if the acrtic cooling 7 low profile version will fit - might not be worth it over the stock mind?
 
Cheers for those links Guardsmon. Seems like it can overclock too which is surprising for a board that tiny. Those coolers look huge, espcially the geminII which looks like it would struggle with the spreaders of the ocz blades. I wasn't that keen on the sg05 when I first saw it, finding it a bit bland, but it's starting to grow on me, espcially if what's inside can be fairly decent spec. Plus also learnt I need an adapter for the slimline optical which I had no idea about!
 
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