New build

[toothadash]

Hi I have been looking into building a new system SFF microATX

I mainly use my pc for:

*DVD Writing - DVDs and DL with nero, clonecd and clonedvd2.
*Windows media player
*Downloading
*No gaming, so onboard Graphics are fine
*Xbox360 (xbox live)

So far:

Intel core 2 Q6600
Gigabyte ga33m-ds2r
ocz 4gb pc-5400cs DC
Samsung spinpoint f1 640gb sata-2 16mb
*No need for GPU (Onboard is okay)
DVDrw (Pioneer?)
SFF Case? seen a few not sure which one with PSU

Any Ideas please!:)

[Monkey]

Samsung 20x Lightscribe DVD-RW SATA Black (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CD%2FDVD+Drives/Internal/SATA/Samsung+20x+Lightscribe+DVD-RW+SATA+Black+?productId=32533)- all you need and cheap, theres no more advantage of getting one more epensive, especially just goin for a pioneer
Antec Three Hundred Cool and Quiet Gaming Case (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/MIDI+Tower/Antec+Three+Hundred+Cool+and+Quiet++Gaming+Case+?p roductId=31087)- cheap and cool, and theres no need for it to be just a gaming case

Just wait to see what wonderlust says about everything else,

But the ram may be a bit excessive

[jonwoad]

Whats your budget? :) Welcome to the forums!

[wonderlust]

As Jon says, welcome to the forum.

The board you have chosen is a good choice, but you may wish to save a little and look at the Asus P5k-VM,

Comparison of both boards plus an MSI one http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3111&p=1

Remember though that the G33 GPU is not good for HD playback, it may be worth looking out for a cheap AMD graphics cards if you are looking for that feature (an HD3650 is almost silent and has built in HD decoding and HDMI Sound. can be picked up for £30)

The alternative is look for a G35 or soon to be released g45 based boards.

Avoid buying a case with a free psu as they are normally low quality, unless it is something like an ANTEC. (see mush's posts) Choose a case with (if possible 120mm or larger fans, they shift more air at lower rpm = less noise)

Spinpoint F1's are about the best HDDs around, but you may wish to look into a higher capacity one.

[toothadash]

Hi the case im looking for would need to be a small form factor one :lol: the case suggested is a full ATX.

Would I need 4Gb of memory or would 2GB be sufficent?

Many Thanks

[wonderlust]

Vista Media Centre runs fine on 2GB but if you can get a cheap 4GB kit then do so.

[Monkey]

Hi the case im looking for would need to be a small form factor one :lol: the case suggested is a full ATX.

Would I need 4Gb of memory or would 2GB be sufficent?

Many Thanks
The Antec 300 is a good cheap midi case that should suit your needs

[jonwoad]

Still not a SFF case though :P

[Monkey]

Whats an SFF case?

Oh like a media centre case... sorry

[jonwoad]

Shuttle sized

[PeterStoba]

That speed RAM doesn't allow any overclocking headroom...

[Mul.]

No one seems to have covered SFF cases but the best three at the moment are the Silverstone SG01, SG03 and Lian Li V350, all priced at around £80. The SG03 is still tower based but it's Micro ATX and very small. The other two are cubes, where the V350 is the biggest of the two. I'd personally get the V350 as it has the best airflow and has enough height to take a decent CPU cooler (you'll need one of these to keep the noise down). The only downside of the V350 is that you won't be able to put it in a cupboard due to sideways facing Optical Drives.

[wonderlust]

Peter,

It's going to be in a SFF case, I would guess that it will not be overclocked, but if it is, that ram is good enough for his suggested chip @ 3.Ghz (9x333)

I would suggest that cooling much above that may be an issue in an SFF.

[Audigex]

Do you actually want to overclock it? I'd go so far as to suggest that you don't need a Q6600 for your needs. A cheaper dual core will probably do what you want it to, and should run cooler (=quieter, naturally)

You could get away with 2gb RAM, see what the difference is between 2 and 4.

[Mul.]

I hadn't actually looked at his main uses and went straight for the specs. now that I've looked, I think you've hit the nail on the head there Audigex. My vote goes to something like a Core 2 Duo E2180 or E2200 as it'll run a lot cooler, costs a lot less, is generally more suitable but still a respectable CPU if you ever want to start using the system for more demanding things. It's also a fairly easy overclock to 3.0GHz, making it fast indeed.

[wonderlust]

unless he is planning on converting his downloads to dvd then the q6600 is better.

[Mul.]

Definitely.

Just weighing out the benefits and drawbacks of plumping for a quad really. How often will he be converting things to DVD or any other form of media encoding? The Q6600 is quite a CPU to drop in an SFF PC. Is it worth the added noise and heat? Personally when I think SFF, I think something that's not only small but will sit in a corner quietly badgering away at whatever it's doing. I've got an SFF PC downstairs that sounds like a vacuum cleaner if I put the fan on full manually and that in my opinion defeats the objective of a little discrete machine.

A compromise in the middle would be something like a Core 2 Duo E7200, that would hold it's own in media encoding and so on, while keeping power consumption down and noise levels down as well. He'd also have cash left over for something like a Zalman 8700 cooler or Scythe Ninja Mini (only fits in the V350) to keep the setup quiet

[wonderlust]

My htpc is a mid tower, running an o/c e2160, If I require to encode a dvd I use the q6600 in my main system, was also the reason to swap my switch for a gigabit one.

[toothadash]

Hi I mainly just download films and xbox*** and use winrar, clonedvd and clonecd. I just really need a good system that is small for the living room that looks good and does the job quick enough for the next few years 8)

I listen to music alot so I wanted something that can handle me being on the net, listening to music and copying etc at the same time without a slow down if possible?

Many thanks again guys :P

[Audigex]

Well it won't get slower at converting DVDs, unless you upgrade to blu-ray (As CustomPC put it this week - Blu-Ray may have beaten HD-DVD, but nobody cares).

The thing about SFF cases is that they're, well, small. They're not a lot of use for airflow (most have 2x120mm fans at the most) and would get hot if you put anything too powerful in them, at which point they're too loud.

Can I enquire as to what "normal" PC you have, if I assume you have a main box as most people do. Would it be possible for you to use that PC for ripping your DVDs (assuing it may be faster), and just throw them over a LAN to the media PC?

And at the same time, do you really NEED it to rip the DVD's fast? It takes my T5250 dual core 1.5ghz laptop 3 hours to rip a DVD and convert it. Unless I start buying 8 DVD's a day, I can just do them one at a time and not care. An E7xxx would be a fair amount faster (you wouldn't be limited to the pathetically slow DVD drive, never mind the CPU). I'd guess it would take a maximum of 2 hours for an average DVD. Can you live with that?

It wouldn't be any slower at downloading, and there's not a lot of difference with unpacking RARs. Even with files of several GB the difference is measured in minutes.

[Mul.]

That's the thing, an E7200 for example would be no slow coach for any of the uses pointed out and that includes any DVD ripping or any kind of media encoding. A Dual will be more appropriate in my opinion. If the time ever comes that the rig really needs a Quad, then he can upgrade but that shouldn't be for a long time.

[Audigex]

At which point a Q6600 will be one of the £30 budget CPUs :) Nothing lost there, then.