Very Tempted to go SFF - Few Questions...

[~Divine~Wind~]

Well after seeing the LL v350 Im Very tempted to move over to SFF.

Was originally lookin at gettin a Q6600, now changed to an e8500.

will a SFF case be within decent temps to OC this type ov chip a fair way? My understanding is they run cooler than Quads anyway.

if So what cooler is the best to pop into either the v350 or possibly the Sugo.

Is there enough clearance behind the front intakes to mount a swiftech H20 120compact if the coolers that will fit wont keep up with an Overclock?

Lookin at pairing 4Gb RAM, 4870, E8500 which of the current mATX mobo is most suitable/reliable for this keeping in mind the overclock, I would like to be able to take the 8500 as high as possible.

Is there anything else I need to know about these cases?

e.g cooler x wont fit, PSUs longer than x wont fit, anything really.

I'm guessing limited space a modular PSu is a must.
Also decent onboard sound would be Ideal.

 

[JC]

Just bit the bullet and ordered my stuff today. V350

I've opted for Q6600, considered the E8500 but I'm often encoding DVDs, music, running photoshop and prefer to play MMO which involves multiple game clients open at the same time so think that suited me.

Alongside it I was hoping for the latest DFI board, shown a few threads down, but with that not on the shelves its the Gigabyte G33 DS2R which offers a good single graphics card solution. Seems to be a good clocker to, as demonstrated by a few entries featuring in the Q6600 overclocking database held in the CPU or overclocking forum. You could consider the Asus, P5K i believe? check that to be sure.

Ram I've got Patriot 4gb Cas 4 6400 on its way, although there are decent offerings from Corsair/Gskill/Geil/OCZ that you may want to consider, with an 8500 chip coming you may want something higher than 6400 perhaps.

4870 would be great, I'm only on a 19" panel and don't really have the extra funds so I've got a 4850.

Cooling wise, on air you could choose between the Mini Ninja, which will need to be installed in the case or the motherboard slid in through the side, as I'm planning, or you could try the Thermalright 128 heatsink with a low profile fan, there is also a similar sized Noctua heatsink you could check out.

On water I know that the magicool 240 rad is what a few people use and fit, Viper I think posted in another thread and has managed to fit a black ice clone.

All standard ATX PSU should fit, I'd advise and have chosen modular, the HX620 is one option there for you.

 

[Tute]

The Sugo has about 78mm of cooler clearance, and the V350 has more like 120mm. The coolers you can get in the Sugo are pretty limited - pretty much just certain Zalman models and the NT06.

The V350 will take bigger coolers, the one of choice being the Scythe Mini-Ninja. Excellent little cooler.

I went for the E8400 myself as i'm a gamer, but I know the Q6600 works well in there as well. I'd go for the G33M-DS2R personally, but the P5K-VM and even the P5E-VM are good options.

With RAM i'd go for a 2x2GB kit. Possibly GeIL Evo One? There are some good G.Skill 4GB kits as well.

As for PSU i'd consider a Corsair HX PSU, I run the 620W model and it's perfect for a SFF setup. Don't skimp in this area, and make sure whatever you do get, it's modular.

 

[~Divine~Wind~]

yeah looking at getting 4Gb or RAM, possibly the OCZ 8500C5.
5-5-5-18 on the OCZ 5-5-5-15 on the Geil Evo BD will this make a noticeable difference?
Am Ir ight in thinking Im gonna need more than 6400 RAM in order to OC the E8500 by increasing the FSB?

Also how did you find overclocking the 8400?
Does the Stock HSF perform well enough to OC?

Main use is gonna be gaming, I do play MMOs tho but IVe managed to have my current opteron running a fwe clients at a time so I assuming this wouldnt really be challenge on an 8500, reasoning for the 8500 is they will run cooler and Im not 100% sure if a quad ould balance the client across cores or just load whatever to wherever.

PSU I might be going for (many of you will shudder), maybe a Hiper purely due to their RMA service which I found fantastic, Im not willing to pay a stupid amount of postage for an RMA and I hear other PSU manu's have RMA centres abroad, PSU+Abroad = silly postage. Corsair is ND as iirc.

also was looking at the CoolerMaster SilentPro M700W, not 100% sure where CM's RMA centres are though

 

[Tute]

Stock multi on the E8500 is 10x right?

Well PC6400 RAM should be fine, as that would give you 4GHz at 400FSB, which is pretty much the limit anyway.

I could get more than 3.6GHz out of mine, but my RAM is rated at 400MHz 4-4-4-12 so I just leave it at that really, and the boost gives me more than enough power for my games.

 

[Teaf]

Stock multi on the E8500 is 10x right?

9.5x

 

[AbsenceJam]

I've started getting bits together for a v350 build as well, currently waiting for the 4870 1GB's to start going on sale and perhaps the Intel G45 board that's out shortly - otherwise it will be the P5E-VM HDMI for me.
Have a look at the Enermax Modu82+ PSU's, very quiet and efficient, I can't decide between the 425w (which would be plenty) or 525w (slight future proofing).

 

[Psypher5]

525 mate