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SFF Build

W

wolveen

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
223
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
***FPS, MMORPG, Virtual Machines,
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
***~$1000
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

***MT, USA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
***CPU, Mobo, RAM, PSU, SATA6 HDD, DVD Drive, Case
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
***LCD Monitor, GeForce 560Ti
6) Will you be overclocking?
***No
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
***24"
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
***Soon
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
***SFF, USB3.0, SATA6
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
***Win 7 Pro 64bit


Well I suppose its that time of year again. Need advice and ideas ;)

What I am thinking is:
Intel i5 2500k (not overlclocking but the price difference is moot between the 2500/2500k $10)

Asus Maximus IV Gene

G-Skill Ripjaw 8GB DDR3-1600

Corsair TX950 950Watt PSU

WD Black 500GB 7200 SATA6

Asus DVD Burner

Fractal Design R3 Titanium Grey


Combo deal CPU & Mobo......$370.00
RipJaws.................................$44.00
Corsair 950W PSU................$170.00
WD 500GB HDD SATA6........$150.00
DVD Burner............................$19.00
Fractal Case.........................$110.00

Total....................................$863.00


Concerns:
SFF
My first gaming SFF
PSU
Is 950Watt a good choice? Should I use a 750Watt or go with 1k? My thinking is, with the new video cards will 750W be enough to power them? I am not planning on adding else except a SSD when they become more reliable and less expensive.
Case
I like the look of the P180 and fractal seems to imitate it well. Mid tower allows plenty of room for a SFF
RAM
Why is it so cheap?!
 
To address your concerns:
1) THat case isn't SFF. It's a normal ATX case. So if you actually want a SFF case, look for a different one. Otherwise, you might as well go for an ATX build as that mobo isn't really worth it IMO unless you're going for an actual SFF case. So what are you going to go with?

2) Any good 650W PSU will be enough for current single GPUs. So yes that 950W PSU is completely overkill. For a typical SFF style case, I'd recommend a modular PSU due to space constraints. Something like this:
$100 - SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W Modular PSU

Though for a normal ATX case, you should be fine with the following:
$73 - Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W PSU
$80 - Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-620 620W PSU

3) As noted earlier, that Fractal case isn't SFF.

4) Actually that RAM is a tad pricey considering that you can get a similar set for less:
$30 - G.Skill Ripjaws Series F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL 2 x 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM

RAM is cheap, simple as that. Buy as much as you can before prices go up.

As for the other parts you chose:
- That WD hard drive isn't worth it as this Hitachi drive is signifcantly faster and larger for less money:
$136 - Hitachi Desktar 7K1000.D HDS721010DLE630 1TB SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive

- If you want an actual SFF case, I recommend the following:
$70 - NZXT Vulcan mATX Case
$80 - Lian Li PC-A04B Black mATX Case
$100 - Silverstone TJ08B-E mATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-V351A Silver mATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-A04A Silver mATX Case
$110 - Fractal Design Arc Mini mATX Case
$140 - Lian Li PC-V354B Black mATX Case
$150 - Lian Li PC-V354A Silver mATX Case

- If you're sticking with that Fractal Design case, I recommend these other mobos instead:
$130 - MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard
$150 - MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard
$178 - MSI Z68A-GD55 (G3) Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard
$178 - Asus P8Z68-V Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard
$185 - MSI Z68A-GD65 (G3) Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard
$190 - Asus P8Z68-V/GEN3 Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard
$210 - Asus P8Z68-V Pro/GEN3 Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard
 
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Great points as usual Danny!
Has me thinking of why I wanted a SFF in the first place.

One of the reasons was that once it is time for the build to retire and be repuroposed as another appliance it seems easier to do it with a smaller Form Factor.
Second reason is I dont use many PCI slots,I use one for discreet video and thats about it.
Third reason is that I have been using a TJ-09 for the last few years and it is so massive that even a mid-tower would be an improvement :D - (Would love to trade/sell this thing if anyone is interested ;))

So now I may change gears here and use a small or mid tower for the current rig until its time to retire the board then pick up a SFF case for the 'old' and keep the matx/mid size for next Upgrade build. I dont want the "crampiness" of some of the SFF Cases (SUGO, Armor, etc)

I picked up a P180mini awhile ago, really like that case, however there is no USB3.0 front ports and Antec does not seem to offer the upgraded plates with 3.0. However someone suggested on another thread to use a 3.5 inch bay adapter to bring the USB3.0 to front, as it would suck always walking to the rear of the desk to use the USB3.0 ports.
I like slient PCs I like the P180/280 or Fractal Design's simplicity.

2) You think I should step the PSU down to 750/850?

4) I am just amazed how cheap RAM is. I bought my DDR2's for twice that easily! Your right, at these prices I will look into upping the RAM!

I am currenly using a VelicoRapter SATA II 300GB, however with Thailand trying to recover from the rains, it may be awhile before the new Raptors go down in price, if it all, normally once something sells at a higher price for awhile it just stays there since customers just accept it.(gas, food, etc).

The Hitachi you suggested could be a good drive to start with then when SSD's or Raptors come down in price I could move the Hitachi over as a 'Data Store'...or maybe put the old Raptor in the new system?
 
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wolveen said:
So now I may change gears here and use a small or mid tower for the current rig until its time to retire the board then pick up a SFF case for the 'old' and keep the matx/mid size for next Upgrade build. I dont want the "crampiness" of some of the SFF Cases (SUGO, Armor, etc)

I picked up a P180mini awhile ago, really like that case, however there is no USB3.0 front ports and Antec does not seem to offer the upgraded plates with 3.0. However someone suggested on another thread to use a 3.5 inch bay adapter to bring the USB3.0 to front, as it would suck always walking to the rear of the desk to use the USB3.0 ports.
I like slient PCs I like the P180/280 or Fractal Design's simplicity.
Click to expand...
Oooookaaaay, what are you planning on doing then? You're a bit all over the place there.
wolveen said:
2) You think I should step the PSU down to 750/850?
Click to expand...
Dude, I recommended 620W PSUs to you. Shouldn't that tell you something? Only reason to go with a 750W or 850W PSU now is if you're going for SLI or Crossfire. Besides that, most single GPU configs will be fine with a 620W PSU.

wolveen said:
I am currenly using a VelicoRapter SATA II 300GB, however with Thailand trying to recover from the rains, it may be awhile before the new Raptors go down in price, if it all, normally once something sells at a higher price for awhile it just stays there since customers just accept it.(gas, food, etc).

The Hitachi you suggested could be a good drive to start with then when SSD's or Raptors come down in price I could move the Hitachi over as a 'Data Store'...or maybe put the old Raptor in the new system?
Click to expand...
If you already have the Raptor, reuse it with this new PC.

However, even before the floods, I still would not recommend buying a new VRaptor drive as it's more cost-effective and more performance increasing to grab a small SSD for the OS and games and a fast hard drive (i.e like the Hitachi). A tad more complicated but you'll gain significantly higher performance than with a single VRaptor drive
 
OK here we go, thanks to some feedback from Danny I think I have everything figured out :p:


$665 with shipping!

Any last ideas/advice?
I will re-use 2 VelicoRaptors 300GB

Silverstone PS07 $78.99
LOVE this case, I may end up making some modifications (cable sleeves and Window)

Scythe F-Flex $16.99
For the rear of the PS07

Corsair 750W $149.99 - 15% off Corsair PSU's today ($126)
I used the Newegg Power Calculator an added future upgrades.

G-Skill Ripjaws 8GB (2 x4GB) $43.99
Tempting to double this, but that can be upgrade at a later time.

i5 2500K
Bang for Buck

Asus Maximus IV Gene Combo Deal with CPU: $370
 
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The only real big issue I see with that setup is that you're getting a bit overcharged on the PS07 case.

Besides that, looks ok to me. Though out of curiosity, what future upgrades were you planning?
 
I may upgrade my video card to something a bit beefier.
Going to add another 8GB (or 16GB) DDR3 and possibly another HDD (total of 3, going to re-use those 10k Raptors, then maybe add a 7200 'Storage' drive.) :D

The cheapest I can find that case was on newegg, thanks for linking that TJ08-E, thats how I found the PS07 since they are basically the same design ( different bezels and 1 180mm fan vs 2 120s)

The Lian Li Lancool PC-K9WX was a close second as it had free shipping and reminds me of my TJ-09 just alot smaller, but went with going all in mATX =D
 
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Considering the low price of RAM, I recommend just going for the full 16GB now. RAM is pretty cheap right now.
 
LOL killing me...I am so on the fence on the RAM, ... ok I as of now it is upped to 16GB
Trying to find a way for Newegg to accept a AMEX Gift Card now...:mad:
Trying to create a Gift Card for myself using the AMEX Gift card amount...its still processing...*crosses fingers*
 
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