Considering an ITX, need suggestions

[Infineon]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Web browsing, office work, some light gaming (need at least Geforce 6600GT-class graphics)
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
I'd like for it to be under $350 shipped, but the lower the better
3) Where do you live?
NC, US
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, mobo, case, PSU
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Intel X25-V 40GB, potentially 2GB DDR2 800
6) Will you be overclocking?
Probably not, if so, minimally
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
24" 1920x1080 Asus
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Reasonably soon
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
WiFi, nothing else. An IGP would be nice
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
Win7 Pro x64, although I may use Ubuntu x64

I have a couple thoughts at this point. My leading though is the Antec ISK 300-65, a Celeron Dual Core E3300, and a Zotac GF9300-G-E. I've also thought of getting the ISK and a Zotac ION based setup, but the Celeron is only a few bucks more and far faster. I'm also considering an i3 530 and a H55, but it's far more expensive than the Celeron, and I don't really need the extra speed (as I said, the i7 is going to be for the heavy lifting)

I already have an i7 860 @ 3.8ghz w/ a GTX260 and a H50, this would be a secondary computer for more light-weight tasks, and the i7 would be for games, etc. I want something very small (I had a SG05 and it was great, but I want smaller). I also want low power, my i7 is ~200w idle & 400w+ load. Ideally sub-50w idle and sub-100w load. Very quiet is also a requirement, although it doesn't need to be silent

Thanks!

 

[bastage]

I Wouldnt invest a dime into a Celeron or 775 board at this point unless you already had all but 1 part.

You could however go AMD

80 Antec ISK 300-65
125 ASUS M4A88T-I Deluxe AM3 AMD 880G HDMI USB 3.0 Mini ITX
58AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W
46 Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066

309 Shipped Cost. & it will give you alot better performance then the Celly you suggested & a much better Mobo

 

[Infineon]

'

I Wouldnt invest a dime into a Celeron or 775 board at this point unless you already had all but 1 part.

You could however go AMD

80 Antec ISK 300-65
125 ASUS M4A88T-I Deluxe AM3 AMD 880G HDMI USB 3.0 Mini ITX
58AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W
46 Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066

309 Shipped Cost. & it will give you alot better performance then the Celly you suggested & a much better Mobo

How much faster would this setup be? As I said, for this setup I don't really need a lot of speed. Something I really like about the celly is it's only like 30w load. Is there a sub 65w AMD for a good price?

 

[fr500]

I think AMD's graphics are still better not sure though. Would not be that much faster for everyday computing.

For HTPC use the 9300ITX would be just fine, even better for driver support than AMD. There might be some features like uncompressed audio bitstreaming that the 9300 can't do though.

H55 is a fine compromise between both. Not a very powerful IGP but enough for everyday use and good HTPC capabilities.

You could also consider the CULV Zotac ION boards.

 

[bastage]

'

How much faster would this setup be? As I said, for this setup I don't really need a lot of speed. Something I really like about the celly is it's only like 30w load. Is there a sub 65w AMD for a good price?

Depends on what you call a good price. Most of AMD's current generation low TDP boards are just reaching the masses. Also as you said the Celeron is 35w. Are you referring to the Intel Celeron 430 Conroe. If so then I believe that the AMD Sempron 145 would Smoke the Celeron & at only a 10w increase, but 1ghz more clock. Not to mention that the Sempron is cheaper.

For HTPC use the 9300ITX would be just fine, even better for driver support than AMD.

As someone who has a 880 chipset board & an nforce board.. Thats just freeking wrong. I Run into way more problems with nvidia drivers then anyone else. Its been that way for the last couple years.

 

[Infineon]

I think AMD's graphics are still better not sure though. Would not be that much faster for everyday computing.

For HTPC use the 9300ITX would be just fine, even better for driver support than AMD. There might be some features like uncompressed audio bitstreaming that the 9300 can't do though.

H55 is a fine compromise between both. Not a very powerful IGP but enough for everyday use and good HTPC capabilities.

You could also consider the CULV Zotac ION boards.

H55 + i3 is a bit on the expensive side IMO
Although I might get one. I priced out a Zotac ION, it was only like ~$20 less than the Celeron setup
I'm not really worried about HTPC use, I'm just planning on using this for daily use, and maybe Halo 1.

Depends on what you call a good price. Most of AMD's current generation low TDP boards are just reaching the masses. Also as you said the Celeron is 35w. Are you referring to the Intel Celeron 430 Conroe. If so then I believe that the AMD Sempron 145 would Smoke the Celeron & at only a 10w increase, but 1ghz more clock. Not to mention that the Sempron is cheaper.

As someone who has a 880 chipset board & an nforce board.. Thats just freeking wrong. I Run into way more problems with nvidia drivers then anyone else. Its been that way for the last couple years.

According to XBit, the Celeron 3300 is sub-35w load. Which sounds great. I definitely don't want a single-core.

I have an AMD 785G motherboard and have had driver issues with it, I really don't want to deal w/ an ATi GPU (especially in Linux). So if I got the 880G, I'd probably also need a low-end discrete GPU, and thus probably the 150w version of the ISK.

I've had much better luck overall with the Geforce 9300 board I had than the AMD 785G in my PhII X4 system

 

[bastage]

I have had 0 driver issues with my last several AMD boards, But nVidia on the other hand has been way flakey in windows. I do agree in linux Support is definitly better though.

To be honest at this point though Your usage is confusing me.. Linux or windows? gaming or no, if yes what games. & have you thought about a dual core atom?

Try this on for size..

80 Antec ISK 300-150 Black
150 ASUS AT3IONT-I Intel Atom 330
65 ASUS EN210 SILENT

313 Shipped. & you may consider doing it without the video card to begin with & see if the ION igp is enough for you. But this would be very easy on power & Dead Silent (just the PSU fan & the 80mm Case fan)

 

[Necere]

65 ASUS EN210 SILENT

I don't believe that will fit in the ISK, due to the heatsink height

 

[Machupo]

H55 + i3 is a bit on the expensive side IMO

newegg is doing a pretty good combo on an antec case+psu and a zotac h55 board, $50 off instant, $30 off for the combo, and a $15 MIR.

165 Antec ISK 300-150 (w/ 150w psu) + Zotac H55ITX-a-e
115 Core i3 530 w/ retail heatsink
42 Kingston 2x1GB 1333mhz DDR3

332 shipped w/ UPS 3-day, if you do the MIR then it's only 317 (and you could upgrade to 4gb of mushkin ddr3-1333 for another 28 bucks)

 

[bastage]

I don't believe that will fit in the ISK, due to the heatsink height

I'm not 110% sure it will. but studying the pictures closely on Newegg it looks like it will.

newegg is doing a pretty good combo on an antec case+psu and a zotac h55 board, $50 off instant, $30 off for the combo, and a $15 MIR.

165 Antec ISK 300-150 (w/ 150w psu) + Zotac H55ITX-a-e
115 Core i3 530 w/ retail heatsink
42 Kingston 2x1GB 1333mhz DDR3

332 shipped w/ UPS 3-day, if you do the MIR then it's only 317 (and you could upgrade to 4gb of mushkin ddr3-1333 for another 28 bucks)

Only Get a Zotac board if you have no intentions of every having to update there bios, or are ok RMAing it every time you want to update the bios. I have seen lots of reports (myself included) where the boards brick during a bios update. Seems to be zotac in general & not just a board or a series of boards..

 

[Machupo]

Only Get a Zotac board if you have no intentions of every having to update there bios, or are ok RMAing it every time you want to update the bios. I have seen lots of reports (myself included) where the boards brick during a bios update. Seems to be zotac in general & not just a board or a series of boards..

Hrmmm --- haven't had any issues personally (been using it as a HTPC for about 4 months)... 'course, I haven't tried to update my bios yet

 

[Infineon]

I have had 0 driver issues with my last several AMD boards, But nVidia on the other hand has been way flakey in windows. I do agree in linux Support is definitly better though.

To be honest at this point though Your usage is confusing me.. Linux or windows? gaming or no, if yes what games. & have you thought about a dual core atom?

Try this on for size..

80 Antec ISK 300-150 Black
150 ASUS AT3IONT-I Intel Atom 330
65 ASUS EN210 SILENT

313 Shipped. & you may consider doing it without the video card to begin with & see if the ION igp is enough for you. But this would be very easy on power & Dead Silent (just the PSU fan & the 80mm Case fan)

Sorry about the confusion. I'm probably going to run Ubuntu x64 (either 10.04 or 10.10) and then Win7 Pro x64. Ubuntu for most things and the Win if I want to game a bit.
I have considered an ION, but as I said, the Celeron setup I had was only a few bucks more, and would definitely be far faster (not sure that I need the extra speed, but for $20 more, it seems worth it)

I don't believe that will fit in the ISK, due to the heatsink height

It looks like this one would fit fine. But is it even appreciably faster than an ION IGP or a Geforce 9300?

newegg is doing a pretty good combo on an antec case+psu and a zotac h55 board, $50 off instant, $30 off for the combo, and a $15 MIR.

165 Antec ISK 300-150 (w/ 150w psu) + Zotac H55ITX-a-e
115 Core i3 530 w/ retail heatsink
42 Kingston 2x1GB 1333mhz DDR3

332 shipped w/ UPS 3-day, if you do the MIR then it's only 317 (and you could upgrade to 4gb of mushkin ddr3-1333 for another 28 bucks)

Wow, that's quite a nice deal!

I'm not 110% sure it will. but studying the pictures closely on Newegg it looks like it will.


Only Get a Zotac board if you have no intentions of every having to update there bios, or are ok RMAing it every time you want to update the bios. I have seen lots of reports (myself included) where the boards brick during a bios update. Seems to be zotac in general & not just a board or a series of boards..

I was pretty happy overall with my last Zotac (GF9300-D-E). I ran it and a Q9400 and the only issue I had is it wouldn't OC, BIOS updating gave me no trouble. But I'll read around and see what I can find about BIOS issues with Zotac boards

 

[Infineon]

bump

 

[bastage]

So after reading this again & again & knowing how Ubuntu support is for AMD stuff (pretty good) I would go back to something closer to my 1st recommendation. & use the IGM on the Asus 880 board as it will probably be enough (rivals the lynnfield IGP as the best currently ont he market) & up it to a 45w quad core. Then you certainly have the processing power, Low heat & noise. It would put it at about 387 shipped (w/ ram & the 150w antec case). & then later if you really decided that there wasnt enough video power there upgrade to something after the amd 6k series drops as it looks like there will be some killer low profile cards in that lineup.

 

[Infineon]

I really don't want to spend that much. Yes, it would be nicer than the Celeron, but it's over $100 more, and I'm not convinced I need the extra speed. I'll look around and see how I can get the price down, but the $350 figure was really the absolute max, and I'd like it to be less than that.

If I don't end up going for that setup w/ a 45w X4 (due to cost) do you have any other suggestions? That board and a 45w X2, or an i3? I can probably get a 1GB stick of DDR3 for free (desktop version, not laptop) which would probably be enough for now

 

[bastage]

I would do that board with the 45w x2 then & that drops 60 bucks right there off the cost. As for an i3. You could do it for about the same cost by getting ram for free as you said. But then you end up with less ram. I Can also tell you that if your area is like mine I would do craigslist for the ram. 1gb ddr3 Sodimms are way easy to find from people buying new laptops & immediately maxing the ram Alot easier to find then any desktop ram anyhow.

 

[Infineon]

I'll look on CL and see what I can find

If I do go for a 45w X2 and that Asus board, would I be OK with the 65w ISK or would I want the 150w version?

And wouldn't an i3 potentially make more sense than an X2 @ the same price? I'd assume it would be a decent bit faster

 

[Infineon]

So what do you guys think? i3 or X2? Or just downsize my i7 to one of the Lian Li ITX cases? It would certainly be faster than an i3, but also far bigger (not really sure if this is too much of a con)