ATX to ITX Conversion

[invader84]

OK, based on the guidelines, please find below my criteria.

Basically, I have a CM Storm Scout Case, 1 x SSD, 2 x HDD and an i7 2600K in there currently.

I am expecting a child in the next few months and my PC room is to be the nursery, a worthy sacrifice, but only just.

As such, I need to move everything into a more... living room friendly container that is discrete and quiet and can still house the stupidly sized graphics cards of today.

Your help selecting the components would be appreciated as I'm not really sure what to look for in this miniature world.

1. What will you be doing with this PC? 1. Gaming 2. Web Browsing 3. Graphic Design 4. Blu-Ray Movies

2. Will you be overclocking? No/Basic BIOS OC

3. What's your budget? £300

4. Where do you live? UK

5. What exact parts do you need for that budget? ITX Case, ITX Motherboard, suitable PSU

6. If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? i7-2600K LGA1155 Processor, 8GB Corsair DDR3 RAM, XFX ATi HD7950 PCI-E Graphics Card, 256gb Crucial G4 SSD, WD 2TB 7200RPM HDD.

7. What specific features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? SATA 6Gb/s SATA x 4 minimum.

8. What resolution output do you need? 1080p, single monitor. (47" LG Smart TV)

9. Does this system need to fit into a particular space and do you need an optical drive? ITX sized case to fit next to TV in living room. Optical Drive required.

10. How comfortable are you with custom case design/modification and electrical wiring? Fine, everything but the plasma cutter.

11. How important is the noise/silence of this system? Quiet, not silent. Up to 360 db levels.

12. How mobile does this system need to be? Not mobile.

13. Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? Yes, Win 8 Pro.

14. When do you plan on building/buying the PC? 6 months til baby arrives.

 

[SithSolo1]

Case: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fractal-Des...1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1363984753&sr=1-1

If you aren't OCing this board should be fine: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-P8H77-...1_4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1363984836&sr=1-4 Contrary to what the page says, this is a H77 board and not a Z77 board. Also only 2x 6GB SATA ports but unless you are running 3 or more SSDs, you don't need more than that.

Depending on your current PSU length and the length of your current video card they may both fit. If not: http://www.amazon.co.uk/SILVERSTONE...1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1363985026&sr=1-2

As for an optical drive, get an external USB unit such as: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-SE-...1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1363985209&sr=1-2

Total: ~£300

 

[XcPNehVYlE4A3C]

imo, for using full-size parts, nothing beats CoolerMaster Elite 120. cheap, looks good, versatile, and a good size/shape for fitting in small places or carrying.

full size psu, full 5.25 bay, 3x 3.5" hd, any length graphics card. the one big disadvantage is cooler height when using a full size psu, so either super low profile cooler or something like an h60 is needed.

so my vote would be, using rough USD:

• elite120: ~40-50$
• any sandy/ivy h/z 67/77 (the one SithSolo1 linked is the only one with 6 sata ports) ~100$ish
• h60 or super low profile air cooler like noctua nh-l9i: ~50-80$

around 250$ us total

 

[invader84]

Many thanks for your advice, looked into this and receiving it all on Monday. Ditching the optical though as to be fair, I will be moving the PC next to my PS3 which does a good enough job for me, I'll just pick up a cheap slimline DVD-RW drive for the older games.

I hope to recoup some of the costs of this by selling my other stuff barebones. It must be done! Kids have hidden costs it would seem!!