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Mini ITX build advice

  • 14-07-2012 4:17pm
    #1
    Ritzcharlton
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8 ✭


    My laptop was recently badly waterlogged when I foolishly left it on my desk underneath an open skylight for a couple of days whilst away on holiday. I came back to a bit of a deluge and an extremely dead computer.

    The upshot is that I've decided on giving a mini PC build a go rather than buy a new laptop. I have never done anything more complicated than replacing RAM on a PC so I'm a complete novice. I've spent the last couple of days researching and compiled the below (draft) parts list, but first I'll give you an idea of what I'm looking for;

    Requirements
    • I want it to be compact and portable. For the moment its going to sit on my desk but eventually I envisage that it will be in the living room connected to a HDTV and sound system and act as an all purpose entertainment unit (as well as performing the functions of a PC)
    • I will mainly use it for internet brousing, office work, music and movies, some light photoshopping and quite possibly some engineering type software (matlab, AutoCad, ArcGIS etc.)
    • I'd like to be able to play some half decent games from time to time, but in a very casual sense. I don't need to be able to play the latest resource heavy ones but perhaps some slightly older 3D FPS (COD Modern Warfare perhaps?)
    • Wireless connectivity is a must
    • No need for monitor, keyboard or mouse

    Parts

    Case: http://www.dabs.ie/products/antec-isk-310-150-mini-itx-desktop-7370.html?src=3

    Motherboard: http://www.dabs.ie/products/asus-p8h77-i-intel-s1155-h77-ddr3-mitx-81X4.html?q=itx&src=16

    Processor: http://www.dabs.ie/products/intel-core-i3-2120-3-30ghz-lga1155-3mb-79Q4.html?refs=50520-4294945189&src=3

    RAM: http://www.dabs.ie/products/kingston-8gb--2-x-4gb--ddr3-1333mhz-dimm-240-pin-cl9-7FS5.html?src=3

    Hard drive: http://www.dabs.ie/products/ocz-technology-128gb-octane-series-sata-3gb-s-2-5--solid-state-drive-848C.html?refs=56350000&src=3

    Graphics: http://www.dabs.ie/products/best-value-vtx3d-ati-radeon-5450-hd-1gb-pci-express-hdmi-low-profile-7ZRS.html?src=3

    Total cost: €339.34, this is actually a good bit below my budget, I don't mind stretching to €500 if needs be.

    Questions/Thoughts
    • Are there any glaring faults with the above selection- eg compatibility etc?
    • What would I have to do to make the above system wireless? In the same way that a standard laptop is wireless (ie internally)
    • Space will obviously be an issue, am I trying to cram too much into a small box? Would over heating be something to worry about?
    • Is USB 3.0 something that would be worth trying to include?
    • Is the power supply unit (150W) adequate?
    • Is it possible to salvage parts from my defunct laptop and recycle them, like the optical drive and the HDD
    • I have plenty of external storage so a 128GB SSD should be adequate. But if I could fit an additional HDD drive in there I would
    • The compactness of the system is important to me but I would consider using a bigger case if there was a compelling case to do so

    I'd appreciate any advice and expertise you can pass onto me, thanks!


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