The Possibility of Going SFF...

[Marky]

Hey all,

I've been thinking of grabbing a laptop to replace my current desktop setup as I require more room in my bedroom

However, after pondering it, for what seems to be like months now... I've been thinking about the possibility of building myself my very own "Small Form Factor" PC

I have a 32" LCD screen in my room, and I thought about maybe building a SFF and placing it neatly under my TV and using that TV as the monitor (As well a screen for game console and television etc.)

However, this would be my first SFF build and I've never really thought much about it until now - so I would appreciate it if some of you would answer some questions I have on building an SFF...

1. Although gaming isn't a big thing for me - I would like to be able to return to games such as Call of Duty etc. so I would need a decent graphics card I would imagine... Are there limitations to some of the hardware I can fit in an SFF?

2. I would imagine I would be using a mini-ATX motherboard as opposed to a full desktop motherboard? Are there any pros or cons in using these?

3. Apart from more space in my room, what other pros are there to using an SFF? For example, are you able to record TV straight to HDD?

4. What are the main differences between a desktop and an SFF? Or are they exactly the same just smaller in size?

Sorry to sound so vague - as you can probably tell, this is all pretty new to me... If you feel I have missed something out - let me know! More Knowledge = Better Right?

Thanks again,

Marky

 

[Marky]

BUMP!

 

[Psypher5]

i went sff for a bit, mostly the limitations on hardware is the case. Some cases you can mod to allow for big gfx cards and whatnot, some allow for it.

I had a lian li v350, with watercooled cpu and a long gfx card in it. Got toasty but it worked

Mobos now especially for matx are good, not really any downfalls compared to atx ones. saying that i only have my gfx card and soundcard to add in so. Its basically exactly the same, just smaller and hotter

im sure if you got a big enough hdd you could record tv?

only reasons i left really was due to it being cramped, but i had water in there so that didnt help. And i got a good deal on i7 stuff (atx mobo etc) so got a small atx case (lian li v600). I'd love a smaller rig again though!

 

[Marine Iguana]

I have made the move from big to small using the lian li V351 and its brilliant and still can manage it with the big boys, m-atx boards are really good nowdays just with a few slots missing but no performance drop so it's win win.