Building a PC advice - Micro ATX

marco_polo

Hi,

I used to do a fair bit of building of my own PC in my teens but having gone to college and then work I have hardly even seen the inside of a PC in years. (To put the time nto context I have never seen a SATA drive up close, it was IDE all the way back then baby:) ).

Anyways I would like to build my own system, I would like to build a monster sized system but in the intrests of keeping the missus happy I am considering building a smaller one (say with a microATX board or something like that). As I have never opened up one of these smaller cases before I was wondering what are the consequences of of using a smaller case and a micro board with regard to the number of drives, pci card slots, usb etc?

Also if anyone has any suggestions with regard to nice cases, good boards as a starting point that would be great. Usage would be fairly normal in the main, I would generally play quite a few games but I would not need the power to play the latest top of the range FPS games or anything like that (Lots of FM2007, AOE etc mainly)

uberpixie

Read l31mords build log of his media m-atx rig.
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055106513

Will give an idea about some of the potential pitfalls. Def ask l31mord about it.

Noise will be the big issue.

M-atx cases are thin and don't dampen noise very well.

You will also want to get a modular power supply, corsair 620W is a great choice http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=327672.

case wise: some ideas

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-076-LL&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=187

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-052-TT&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=715

m-atx will typically have 4 add in card slots and mix between pci express and pci.
This is enough for a gfx card and a sound card if you need it.

You will need also need to pay attention to the cpu cooler: i.e. get a low profile one that will fit in the case.

For example:http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=322416

You could also go for an SFF/shuttle box

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=340367

You do have less options on parts but everything comes prewired and they are much smaller in size vs an m-atx rig if space is a big issue.

marco_polo

Cheers for the advice. Havingvread that thread I have decided to go down the midi tower route instead, as I think there is much less risk risk of buying components that don't fit etc, I think a slightly larger rig is preferable to a noiser smaller one as well. Will talk the missus around somehow .

Haven't shopped around as of yet but I have put together a initial list of the kind of kit I am looking at from komplett.ie.

Case /Power supply
Gigabyte Triton 180 Black Aluminium Front - 69.01
Corsair Powersupply 520W Black, ATX/EPS, 120mm Fan, 4xSATA, SLI, WxHxL 150x86x150 122.00

Board / RAM /CPU
Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe, nForce 570 SLI, Socket-AM2, DDR2,2xGbLAN,ATX, PCI-Ex16 109.00
Crucial DDR2 BallistiX PC6400 2048MB CL4 ,Kit w/two BallistiX 1024MB's, E.P.P 96.00
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ 2.6GHz Socket AM2 2MB, BOXED w/fan 119.00

Graphics /Sound
Gainward GeForce 8600GT 256MB GDDR3, PCI-Express, 1.0ns, 625+/1800Mhz+, GLH 142.01
Creative SB X-FI Xtreme Gamer 89.00

Drives:
Samsung SpinPoint T166 320GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM
NEC DVD±RW burner AD-7173 IDE Black OEM, Dual, LabelFlash, Multirecorder(Ram) 32.50
Sony Floppy Drive, 3,5" 1,44MB Black, Internal 9.99

Fairly happy with choice of cpu ,case, ram and hdd (But open to any suggestions ).

My main areas of concern would be as follows
1) Is the motherboard the best choice for the given price range (100 ish)?
2) Will that graphics card be able to play most of the latest games?
3) Board has 7.1 surround already do I really even need the sound card?
4) Is corsair a good PSU brand and is 520 W enough?

Appreciate for any advice.

zonEEE

DONT go AMD the new intels (core 2 duo) are much much better

http://www.komplett.ie/k/kl.aspx?bn=10491

Shiny

marco_polo wrote: »

My main areas of concern would be as follows
1) Is the motherboard the best choice for the given price range (100 ish)?
2) Will that graphics card be able to play most of the latest games?
3) Boards has 7.1 surround already do I really even need the sound card?
4) Is corsair a good PSU brand and is 520 W enough?

You will probably be better off in the long run with the onboard
sound as you wont have to get involved with ****ty creative
sound drivers.

An 8600 wont run the latest games very well.
Even the 8800's are having trouble running Crysis well.
Keep an eye out for the new 8800GT.
Use the money you saved from sticking with the onboard
sound to get you the GT.

Corsair is a good brand and 520 should be enough with midrange
graphics cards and a limited number of hardrives.

Is there any point in a floppy drive if you are running vista?

L31mr0d

good choice on the midi tower. Don't get me wrong, I love my little HTPC, but it was a headache to build, although I was trying to fit in components that wheren't meant for that case mATX cases are typically cramped and awkward to work in. The lian li I used is actually bigger than most of your typical mATX cases.

marco_polo

L31mr0d wrote: »

good choice on the midi tower. Don't get me wrong, I love my little HTPC, but it was a headache to build, although I was trying to fit in components that wheren't meant for that case mATX cases are typically cramped and awkward to work in. The lian li I used is actually bigger than most of your typical mATX cases.

This post has convinced me that midi is the way to go. I wouldn't exactly have what you might call dainty fingers for working in confined spaces

Shiny wrote: »

You will probably be better off in the long run with the onboard
sound as you wont have to get involved with ****ty creative
sound drivers.

An 8600 wont run the latest games very well.
Even the 8800's are having trouble running Crysis well.
Keep an eye out for the new 8800GT.
Use the money you saved from sticking with the onboard
sound to get you the GT.

Corsair is a good brand and 520 should be enough with midrange
graphics cards and a limited number of hardrives.

Is there any point in a floppy drive if you are running vista?

Will definately stick with the onboard sound for the time being and go for the 8800GT. If it is crap can always buy a soundcard in the near future.

strongr wrote: »

DONT go AMD the new intels (core 2 duo) are much much better

http://www.komplett.ie/k/kl.aspx?bn=10491

My main priority was to get a good board that would remain upgradable for a few years and to save a bit on the CPU for now. I did a bit of research after you post and I was suprised how much better the new Intel chip have improved, however some of the higher end duos/quads seem a bit out of my current budget range.

It got me thinking, the Athlon chip seem to coming to the end of its life span as far as I can see, so is there a good chance that to upgrade to the next gen of AMD CPUs in the future I would quite possibly also require a mobo upgrade anyway?

If this is the case then I would certainly be inclined to go down the intel route. Now given my budget of about 250 euros for mobo and CPU combined I would effectivley be limited to either of these options at the moment.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.67GHz with €70-80ihs to spend on a board
or
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 with about €100ish to spend on a board.

I put the question back to the floor gentlemen

uberpixie

marco_polo wrote: »

Will definately stick with the onboard sound for the time being and go for the 8800GT. If it is crap can always buy a soundcard in the near future.

If this is the case then I would certainly be inclined to go down the intel route. Now given my budget of about 250 euros for mobo and CPU combined I would effectivley be limited to either of these options at the moment.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.67GHz with €70-80ihs to spend on a board
or
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 with about €100ish to spend on a board.

I found my onboard sound was ok, but I fitted back in my old audigy 1 and got much better volume and sound quality. You could always pick up a cheap audigy 2 or 4 .

Deffo go the E6550 with the better mobo. Don't skimp on the motherboard.

daveharnett

marco_polo wrote: »

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.67GHz with €70-80ihs to spend on a board
or
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 with about €100ish to spend on a board.

Ok, forget about the board being really updateable. Current Intel sockets will replaced in about a year's time (Nehelem precessors).

I'd say, get the 6750 and a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R for about 80 notes on dabs.