Spec me a tiny pc!

z0mbi3

z0mbi3

z0mbi3

Soldato
Joined
9 May 2005
Posts
7,400
Location
Berkshire
I've just moved into a nice new flat with the gf and I've got my computer area sorted. All is fine except for the fact that my Akasa Zen juts out a mile from the desk, meaning that my legs are basically sandwiched between it and a wall. It's a tight squeeze and it makes gaming near impossible / uncomfortable. Add to that that it's making a horrendous noise when the fans get up to speed!

Currently I have these specs:

  • 939 x2 4400
  • 2 gig DDR1
  • DFI NF4 Ultra-D
  • x1900 xt
  • 180,200 and 500 gig HDDs
  • X-fi fatality
  • Antec Trio 650 watt
  • NEC dvd burner
  • Akasa Zen

Now I'm not looking to stay with socket 939, it's not cost effective to keep puting money in to it any more, so I think it's time to go with intel. I'm happy to keep my x1900 xt, dvd burner, psu if possible, and I'm spoilt for choice with HDDs. My only requirements (aside from being intel) is that it be very small and extremley quiet. I'm happy to sacrifice 1 of my HDDs if it means a nice small case.

My budget is roughly around £200 with plenty of stretch either way. Really I want to do this as cheaply as I can. If it can't be done on the uber cheap then I'll just bite the bullet and get a mac mini.

So what do you guys reckon?
 
For a shuttle you're gonna be pushing your budget a little. You might be better off looking at a mATX setup as it might work out cheaper and you'll probably be able to keep more of your stuff. It really depends on how small you want to go, but as you'd expect as size goes down price goes up. Have a look through the gallery on the small form factor forum for some ideas.

PK!
 
Well there is a Sugo SG01 Evolution in the clearance section, as well as a Lian-Li V300. Both brilliant microATX cases. Personally i'd take the Sugo.

Silverstone Sugo SG01 Evolution Aluminium Mini PC - Silver (No PSU)
£64.61
EVGA nForce 610 Micro-ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
£52.86
Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail
£56.39
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
£37.59
Zalman CNPS8700-NT CPU Cooler
£32.89

That comes to just short of £250. If you want to get the cost down, you could drop the processor to a slower one, but the multi will drop as well, which will hurt the overclocking ability.

The rest of the parts - The PSU, HDDs, Optical drive, and Graphics card, can be taken from your current machine. I think there should also be room to move across your X-Fi.

Get that processor clocked to the high 2GHz range and you're all set. :)

Don't forget you can sell some of your current parts to bolster the budget!
 
sugo sg03 is about the best bet for a stylish matx system.
by all accounts a top notch case, had to put off buying mine due to driving lessons and the pc is holding on by its teeth as is with money being needed so more expense for it is not a good thing, soon as i pass my test though its top of my list unless silverstone out do them selfs again.
 
i would go with the matx silver stone case range

Silverstone Sugo-SG01B (black) £70 to £80
Silverstone Sugo-SG01S (silver) £70 to £80

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_contents.php?pno=sg01&area=

--

Silverstone Sugo-SG01B-W (black) £70 to £80
Silverstone Sugo-SG01S-W (silver) £70 to £80

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_contents.php?pno=sg01&area=

--

Silverstone Sugo SG02B (black) £60
Silverstone Sugo SG02W (white) £60

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_contents.php?pno=sg02&area=

--

Silverstone SUGO SG03B (black) £80
Silverstone SUGO SG03S (black) £80

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_contents.php?pno=sg03&area=

the only problem is ocuk don't seem to stock any silver stone cases now days.
they do have the odd case for sale now and then..

there are other branded matx cases you could go for with in your price range.

you could also think about going for a matx mini tower. there are some really
nice ones on the market :)
 
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