SFF Build

BinnsY · 21 May 2013 at 19:19

Hi All,

I'm shortly going to be doing a small form factor build for my mum and I'm looking for a double check on the spec. I think I'm pretty set on the components that will be going into it, and i've already purchased the RAM as it was on sale for less than £40 yesterday.

She will only be using the machine for basic day to day tasks, no gaming, but she will probably be wanting to keep it for a good 5 years or so which is the reason for going for one of the more powerful i3s. I also like the fact it's only a 55w chip so should run cool and quiet.

We will be re-using a standard 5.25" optical drive, and 3.5" desktop hard drive from her old PC so data storage and reading discs are taken care off, but this is where I come on to the trouble I'm having. I'm not 100% sure on that case, but I'm not entirely sure what else to go for that doesnt work out much more expensive. Are there any other cases I should be checking out? Obviously it needs to be able to fit a 3.5" and 2.5" hdd together. I'm willing to swap to a slimline ODD instead of moving her full fat one across though if it opens up any noticeably better choices.

Any ideas?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-3225 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (55W) - Retail **High Performance IGP** £109.99
1 x Gigabyte H77N-WIFI Intel H77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £89.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW) £83.99
1 x In-Win BP671 Mini ITX Case with 200W Power Supply - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Blue 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX) £49.99
Total : £395.35 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Monkeh · 21 May 2013 at 23:36

According to the manufacturers website the case takes a 5.25" drive and 2x 3.5" drives so you should be ok - though you'll probably need to add a 3.5" to 2.5" mount for the ssd or Velcro it to the case somewhere. Linky for case info.

Another thing to consider if you're going for low cost ITX would be Trinity:

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor **FREE SIMCITY PC GAME** (AD580KWOHJBOX) £91.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW) £83.99
1 x MSI A75IA-E53 AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £69.95
1 x In-Win BP671 Mini ITX Case with 200W Power Supply - Black £49.99
Total : £295.92 (includes shipping : FREE).

Doomedspeed · 22 May 2013 at 12:31

Monkeh said:
According to the manufacturers website the case takes a 5.25" drive and 2x 3.5" drives so you should be ok - though you'll probably need to add a 3.5" to 2.5" mount for the ssd or Velcro it to the case somewhere. Linky for case info.

Another thing to consider if you're going for low cost ITX would be Trinity:

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor **FREE SIMCITY PC GAME** (AD580KWOHJBOX) £91.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW) £83.99
1 x MSI A75IA-E53 AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £69.95
1 x In-Win BP671 Mini ITX Case with 200W Power Supply - Black £49.99
Total : £295.92 (includes shipping : FREE).

You are missing RAM, which isn't good.

Also, Trinity is only if you may be gaming or doing something graphical, the OP isn't.

BinnsY said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-3225 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (55W) - Retail **High Performance IGP** £109.99
1 x Gigabyte H77N-WIFI Intel H77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £89.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW) £83.99
1 x In-Win BP671 Mini ITX Case with 200W Power Supply - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Blue 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX) £49.99
Total : £395.35 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Looks a great spec.

Edward78 · 22 May 2013 at 14:54

This one looks great, you know how women love things that take up little space.

Guardsmon · 22 May 2013 at 15:08

Doomedspeed said:
You are missing RAM, which isn't good.
*snip*

You've missed his 2nd sentence in the first paragraph

Have you through of looking at the Akasa Kypto's? You would unfortunately lose the space for the 3.5" drive and would need a laptop optical, but having built one for here at work they are lovely.
You can get a VESA compatible on which allows you to mount it behind the screen so you never need know its there, except to turn it on/off and put a disc in. Saves on space and keeps the desk clean.

I believe there are a few other cases that do similar... I think one of Antec's ISK series does, might be worth a look.

Guardsmon · 22 May 2013 at 15:10

Doomedspeed said:
You are missing RAM, which isn't good.
*snip*

You've missed his 2nd sentence in the first paragraph

Have you through of looking at the Akasa Kypto's? You would unfortunately lose the space for the 3.5" drive and would need a laptop optical, but having built one for here at work they are lovely.
You can get a VESA compatible on which allows you to mount it behind the screen so you never need know its there, except to turn it on/off and put a disc in. Saves on space and keeps the desk clean.

I believe there are a few other cases that do similar... I think one of Antec's ISK series does, might be worth a look.

Edward78 · 22 May 2013 at 16:28

Oh man, cool for a gaming sys, the would be awesome for Lans. Not really getting the ODD reqs though, 1 ( with hinged door and eject button ) A normal ODD?

BinnsY · 23 May 2013 at 17:20

Thanks all, I've looked at the cases suggested but I'm struggling to find anywhere that actually sells them! Given how cheap the in-win case is I think i'll probably stick with that.

BinnsY · 8 Jun 2013 at 17:25

Well thought I would post a follow up showing how it went. I've just finished the PC today and I'm very pleased with the spec.

The look of the PC has changed ever so slightly since taking this photo, I moved the SSD further into the drive cage so it's easier to hide the cables running into it, and added a 500GB mechanical drive above it from the old PC. I also had to order a replacement 80mm fan as it turns out the board couldnt control the fans speed by voltage so it was running at the full 2500rpm constantly and making an insane amount of noise. I replaced it with a cheap PWM version and the problem is now solved.

Unfortunately it's not quite as quiet as I hoped as the fan in the PSU is quite nosiy, but its a constant air nosie so very easy to filter out. I'm also very pleased with the temperatures I'm getting, the two hard drives are running at about 30-35C and the CPU idles at a little over 20! To say thats with the stock cooler I'm amazed. Running intel burn test it peaks at about 54C and doesnt really get any louder than when its idle.

Overall I'm impressed, with windows 8 it also boots insanely fast so has proved a good all round spec