Do you like small ?

Cov

Cov

Gawd
Joined
Dec 3, 2007
Messages
917
I like small because I'm a minimalist.

My current PC is a mATX in a Silverstone SG01.


And now I have just figured that there's a smaller formfactor called: Mini ITX.
My plan is to carefully select the components and build one within the next 1 or 2 months.
It doesn't have to be a monster like my previous one, but it should be able to take my E8400 Wolfdale.

I would be very grateful if you could comment on my following findings please.


1. The PC case

A little video clip of this case: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFrIv9pgRr8
Don't forget to click on HD for better picture quality.


2. The Motherboard

Full sized ATX = 305 x 244 mm
Micro ATX = 244 x 244 mm
Mini ITX = 170 x 170 mm
Nano ITX = 120 x 120 mm
Pico ITX = 100 x 72 mm

Intel DG45FC

http://www.intel.com/Products/Desktop/Motherboards/DG45FC/DG45FC-overview.htm



3. The HDD (SSD)

I would love to have this one, but it's not out yet ...


http://www.sandisk.com/Corporate/PressRoom/PressReleases/PressRelease.aspx?ID=4478
  • Affordable Third-Generation SSDs Based on Multi-Level Cell (MLC) Flash Technology, Equivalent to a 40,000 rpm Hard Disk Drive (HDD).
  • The G3 SSDs are more than five times faster than the fastest 7,200 RPM HDDs and more than twice as fast as SSDs shipping in 2008.
  • The G3 SSDs provide a Longterm Data Endurance (LDE) ... sufficient for over 100 years of typical user usage.
  • An SSD upgrade improves the user experience like nothing else you can do to a computer.
For the time being I'd get the WD10EADS or WD10EACS.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=559
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=336

The RAM and the PSU.

http://www.geil.com.tw/products/list/id/28
http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_contents.php?pno=st50ef-plus-sc&area=usa


Comment away ...
 
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Looks good. What are you going to be using this itx system for? I hope Lian Li does release a silver version of this case.
 
Well, there's not much info on the net despite Lian Li having it on their website already.

Lian Li PC-Q07

Looks like there's only a black one, unfortunately.

I'd be using it for internet, word processing and miscellaneous light applications.
 
If it's only going to be for light applications, I'd skip the SSD and go with a higher capacity 2.5" 7200RPM SATA hard drive.
 
wow nice set up there ;)
did u just send away all the black paint off the LL?
cant wait to see more pic when they are done :D
 
That is a very unique miniITX case there. Never seen one that can house a fullATX PSU.
Cov said:
3. The HDD (SSD)

I would love to have this one, but it's not out yet ...

c25_3g20ssd_240gb_angle6qi.jpg


http://www.sandisk.com/Corporate/PressRoom/PressReleases/PressRelease.aspx?ID=4478
  • Affordable Third-Generation SSDs Based on Multi-Level Cell (MLC) Flash Technology, Equivalent to a 40,000 rpm Hard Disk Drive (HDD).
  • The G3 SSDs are more than five times faster than the fastest 7,200 RPM HDDs and more than twice as fast as SSDs shipping in 2008.
  • The G3 SSDs provide a Longterm Data Endurance (LDE) ... sufficient for over 100 years of typical user usage.
  • An SSD upgrade improves the user experience like nothing else you can do to a computer.
For the time being I'd get the WD10EADS or WD10EACS.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=559
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=336
Click to expand...
It's MLC. It won't last. Samsung's 2nd Gen drives are SLC and have affordable pricing on the bay.
 
... If you really like small this case might be worth a look as well ...
Click to expand...

It's got something ...


... The Lian Li measures 193mm x 280mm x 208mm. The Shuttle G2 chassis measures 300 x 200 x 185 mm. The Shuttle H7 measures 310(L) x 200(W) x 185(H) mm ...
Click to expand...

My Silverstone SG01 of course is bigger but actually tower styles are my favourites.
Nothing against Shuttle, but this time it has to be a Mini ITX tower.


For the motherboard I would go for this then you can still use a PCI-E graphics card if you like.
Click to expand...
I was just going to say the nvidia 9 series would be better than a g45
Click to expand...

Cheers mates, I was hoping for input like this one.
See, I never looked for ITX form factor before.

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=17268&vpr=yes


You know what is funny ?
I was always annoyed that motherboards still came with historic floppy & PS/2 sockets, too many extension slots and didn't follow our gadgets getting smaller and smaller anyway.
Thought step-by-step we might get there and suddenly, BOOOM ... I discovered Mini ITX !

Mini ITX comes much, much closer to what I always had in mind ... can't wait to start my new little Monster rig :)

... apart from the e8400/ a ssd slotting in do you have any other requirements?
Click to expand...

Hmmm, nope ... oh, hang on, I wished I could use 8 GB RAM instead of 4.
But that might be one of the sacrifices for getting smaller.


I assume you have heard of pico-ITX? ...
Click to expand...

You asume right, but ... how about the preformance difference between Mini- and Pico-ITX ?
Does Pico still come with Socket 775 ?

Initial searches didn't bring much in regards to Pico-ITX PC cases.
 
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The Pico ITX stuff is generally for specialized computing and point of sale type things. There are cases out there for them, check out itxdepot.com there are quite a few options for them, however Pico ITX is very weak at this point as they only have VIA C7 processors, which are slower than Atoms I think.
 
I would say not bad at all! For me i have an Antec Aria for my SFF pc. :) Only thing i don't like about it is how you can't use a ATX power supply :mad:
 
I think small form is cutting edge tech.... it's the wave of the future and we are leading the pack.... Someday all pc's will be small.... Size DOESN'T matter anymore!
 
nascarob said:
I think small form is cutting edge tech.... it's the wave of the future and we are leading the pack.... Someday all pc's will be small.... Size DOESN'T matter anymore!
Click to expand...
... Correct !
 
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Considering the small space around the CPU socket, what do you think using a VGA cooler instead of a CPU heatsink ?

For example ...


cpusocketssovb.jpg


Left: Zotac GeForce 9300 WiFi
Right: Intel DG45FC
 
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Cov said:
Considering the small space around the CPU socket, what do you think using a VGA cooler instead of a CPU heatsink ?

For example ...

Left: Zotac GeForce 9300 WiFi
Right: Intel DG45FC
Click to expand...

A heatsink that small has not been capable of cooling a CPU since before the Athlon XP days. There is simply not enough material there to soak up the heat.
 
I have build this case in paper 1:1 (original scale).

With the Zotac GeForce 9300 ITX WiFi, it could perform with a Intel Q9550 (Yorkfield) and 2 x 4GB of RAM (OCZ or GSkills).
Considering those specs in a PC case like this, I'm pretty impressed.

23-03-09_130283wr.jpg


23-03-09_130313ei.jpg
 
For the CPU HS/F look at the Silverstone NT-07 775. Mine is working great on a Zotac i630 w/ E5200. Probably not the best choice for a quad though.
 
Can't believe it took a month for someone to notice this but Cov: STOP HOTLINKING IMAGES YOU DO NOT OWN! It's against forum rules:

(14) Do not post MATERIAL where you do not have permission to distribute it electronically or otherwise. This includes posting images directly from a website (Bandwidth Theft) Images are to be hosted personally or by a third party host.
Click to expand...

So please either reupload all those pics to a photo sharing site just have them as plain links.
 
After the release day of the motherboard of my choice is getting closer (end of April / beginning of May), I have changed my mind regarding the SSD drive.
First I was all for the Intel X25-M but the prices are still insane, are they crazy ?

Now it's gonna be the OCZ Vertex (60GB) for me. That one is far cheaper and is been said to deliver absolutely sufficient real-world performance.
Someone said, on the paper the Intel drivet might beat anything, but you would not notice much difference while using it.
As I said before ... yes, Intel has developed a nice thing there, but not for that price.

So, who has an SSD in operation and could tell me something about everyday usability and has the boot up time improved too ?
 
I have searched the WWWW = Whole World Wide Web ... but not a single dust particle of a sign yet ... :mad:

Have posted my last request regarding availibility on Lian Li's Forum.

If everything works according to plan, I will receive one raw model soon.

Expect some nice pictures, otherwise it never happened ... :D
 
The PSile is nice, but costs way too much. I was looking at picking up a white one.
 
What I want to know is if the PC-Q07 can support a GTX 285, anyone know?


Looks a bit too small imo, but I could be wrong.

After posting I looked it up the PC-Q07 measures in at 193mm x 280mm x 208mm (W,H,D).
The GTX 285 measures in at 266.7 Long, plenty of room, in theory, to drop one in.
 
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It will fit, but you still can't put it in since the PC-Q07 has only one expansion slot. You could cut a slot out if there's space for one.
 
Hi, I was surfing around and stumbled over a YouTube video clip of a so called Mini ITX PC in a suitcase.
That looks interesting I think, for those who want to be mobile like on LANs and stuff, haha ....

Things inside: Mini iTX motherboard, HDD, PSU, DVD-R ....
 
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Cov said:
Hi, I was surfing around and stumbled over a YouTube video clip of a so called Mini ITX PC in a suitcase.
That looks interesting I think, for those who want to be mobile like on LANs and stuff, haha ....

http://www.abload.de/img/miniitxsuitcasey4cy.png

http://www.abload.de/img/miniitxsuitcasedvd36do.png

http://www.abload.de/img/miniitxsuitcaseinout76es.png

http://www.abload.de/img/miniitxsuitcaseopen901p.png

Everything's inside: Mini iTX motherboard, HDD, PSU, DVD-R ....
Click to expand...


Not really that impressive, considering the older ones of us had done this before this kid was born ;) Still :cool: though.
 
That's my dilemma, I've always built small, w/gaming as a primary focus, but with the newer cards, and always wanting to push the envelope the "stock" PSU's just don't cut it anymore (Silverstone/Shuttle), which in turn means I'll have to cut up a case to fit an ATX PSU or design my own case.

The PC-Q07 is the first case I have seen that allows for the full ATX PSU which is nice, and cutting out a dual slot would be less detrimental to a case than cutting out a bigger slot for a PSU.

So, newegg doesn't offer the PC-Q07 and I can't seem to find anyone selling it doing the regular Google searches, anyone have a link for one for sale?
 
Has anyone noticed that the depth of this case is only 8.3" ?? That means that all powerful cards like GTX 250 and 4850 (9 inches) and GTX 260+ (10.5 inches) cannot be used in this case.

What is the point of a mini-ITX case that can take full sized PSUs and not accept full sized GPUs? To me this is an ultimate fail.

I think NVidia and ATI need to catch on that we need dual-slot 6 inch GPUs instead of single slot 9 - 10.5 inch video cards. A stubby GPU would fit so much nicer in this case than a long one (which will not fit)

Besides this GPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187061&Tpk=low profile 9800gt is there any other card out there that aims to be short and fat instead of long and skinny?
 
There is a new case from Morex.
Looks pretty similar to the PC-Q(0)7 ... the internals are arranged differently.

morex-1-1t0mr.png


morex-2-127ua.png


morex-2-2605u.jpg


source


Questions ...


1. Why the hell is there still a 3.5 inch bay ?

2. Is the whole world painted black now ? What's wrong with silver ?

3. Why can't the I/O be hidden behind a lid ?

4. The front looks like plastic, why no aluminium ? Where has quality gone ?

5. No LED for HDD / SSD and power ?


Yeah ... why, oh why ?
 
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