Small PC for 200-300 quid?

Doogle · 14 Apr 2010 at 19:20

Is it possible? I've been very tempted for a long time now to throw my enormous Lian Li PC7 +II in the loft and forget about it.

It is too big, and too noisy. However, i am completely ignorant when it comes to small pc's. I literally know nothing about them.

I would only want to get rid of this pc if i can make a small pc for around £200-£300.

I assume i will be able to continue using my ATI HD4850, keyboard, mouse, hard drives and tv screen. Everything else will be new unless there is a way i can use and keep cool a c2d e6300 in a small case?

Any advice on what sort of kit i should be looking at will be great!

Also to summarise, I want a pc case that looks so good you want to release some energy

but maintain the same amount of computing power, or more as my current pc in a reasonable cost boundary.

Cycrow · 14 Apr 2010 at 19:43

it depends how small you want it really.

and e6300 should be fine in most cases really

what about something like, http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-154-LL

Biz.Kid09 · 14 Apr 2010 at 19:48

Well im assuming you have some ddr2 ram so just grab this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-221-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1490 and stick your gfx,hdd,cpu etc in

Doogle · 14 Apr 2010 at 20:02

Biz.Kid09 said:
Well im assuming you have some ddr2 ram so just grab this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-221-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1490 and stick your gfx,hdd,cpu etc in

yup that looks good however ....

Cycrow said:
it depends how small you want it really.

and e6300 should be fine in most cases really

what about something like, http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-154-LL

This case loks still quite big.

I'm after a skybox look, quite wide and long, but not very high. Only problem is, i have no idea if these cases will fit the height of a HD4850?

I have a feeling the case i want just wont fit the performance i want with it.

Cycrow · 14 Apr 2010 at 20:17

most of those styles cases are used in HTPC's, and usually only have low profile expansion slots.

which means you can only fit a low profile graphics card in them, this can really limit your choise

the cube cases really arn't that big.
roughly the size of 3 cd/dvd drives stacked on top of each other, althou slightly deeper, but tiny compared to tower cases.

it also depends y you want a small case, and where u actually plan to put it

Doogle · 14 Apr 2010 at 20:55

what are the best low profile graphics cards then? OCUK don't seem to have a sub section for those.

Doogle · 14 Apr 2010 at 21:05

Got the tape measure out and the lian li box is actually pretty small. Thats given me something to think about thanks.

Cycrow · 14 Apr 2010 at 23:06

there isn't a seperate section, u just have to find then mixed with the rest

heres an example

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-226-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1699

in general, the top range cards most likly wont have any low profile versions, as they are too big

Doogle · 15 Apr 2010 at 12:59

That graphics card sounds quite good though? Is it better than my HD4850?

Cycrow · 15 Apr 2010 at 16:23

that'll be for someone else to answer, unfortuatlly my knowledge on Radeons is limited.

i tend to use nvidia

Redmint · 15 Apr 2010 at 17:14

The 5570 has maybe 2/3 of the power of your current card (or possibly a bit less), but it does have DX11 support.

Doogle · 15 Apr 2010 at 17:16

my HD4850 is the 512 version not the 1024. Does that make any difference?

Am i right in thinking these sorts of graphics cards will fit in those htpc boxes as well?

Cycrow · 19 Apr 2010 at 14:36

as long as its a low profile card, then it'll fit.

the 5570 was the fastest i could find that was low profile