Small Form Factor System

'Wes · 9 Jul 2009 at 12:08

Hi there,

I've grown towards acquiring a small form factor system instead of your usual desktop system, mainly to save space. I don't have much knowledge on the basis of small form factor systems, being what cases are ideal, what hardware is ideal, etc.

Any help, specifications, guidelines would be very much appreciated and my budget is £1000.

Thankyou in advance.

PS: Am i right in saying there isn't an AM3 Mini ITX as well as a Micro ATX motherboard?

'Wes · 10 Jul 2009 at 08:05

Nope, just the base. Well, to be more descriptive, i was planning on having a small form factor case, but being able to fit in AM3, possibly 1366 sockets within the system. It's probably a lot to ask for considering the cooling and the possible size of PSU's, fans etc but it would be ideal if this could be possible.

'Wes · 10 Jul 2009 at 08:45

It will be used for gaming. I'm not bothered with which company i go for, i would go for Intel over AMD because i've used them before, but getting a decent i7 system for £1000 and a GPU like a GTX 285 isn't going to happen. I don't mind going dual-core but currently the AM3 cpu's are pretty much on par with Intel's 775 cpu's which is why i was curious whether they had AM3 motherboards out for the small form factor section.

'Wes · 10 Jul 2009 at 09:48

20", but will upgrade in the future to 22" at some point, possibly 24" if i can open my wallet a bit more. I understand cards like the 285 and the 295 are recommended for people with high resolution monitors and that the 260 and the 275 would be more ideal in my case.

Yeah, i recently thought about whether there is any cases around in the small form factor category that can keep i7's and GPU's like the GTX 200 series relatively cool without encountering problems down the line.

'Wes · 10 Jul 2009 at 11:16

Developed this specification, see what you think.

Specification:

Also, can't decide between these two cases, slightly leaning towards the Silverstone though:

Antec:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-092-AN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=160

Silverstone:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-013-SV&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1092

PS: Just checked out Midi-ATX cases, would they be more ideal, but keep the small form factor to save space?

'Wes · 10 Jul 2009 at 13:42

Thanks, think i've got the gist of things.

I'll get the Midi-ATX cases, possibly the Coolermaster Storm Scout or the Lian-Li PC-P50B case.

I'll most likely get an Intel Core 2 Duo over an Intel Core 2 Quad for the fact that it saves money and Intel Core 2 Duo's won't be completely eliminated from gaming for a good year or so and still remain a good processor to use gaming wise.

Windows 7, mix thoughts on this operating system, but i'll get the best of both worlds and get the Vista Premium 64bit pack with the Windows 7 voucher.

I'll consider an SSD.