Small Build: halp?

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Phyltre

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 2, 2007
Messages
181
Alright, so I just got done building my midlevel enthusiast gaming rig, full tower. I'm finding that, as awesome as two 24" monitors are, playing a game in full-screen really cuts down on using that second monitor for anything I have to interact with--alt-tabbing is still messy for most games out there, and you end up out of the game for up to 30 seconds while the graphics engine re-engages. Bad for playing online. And the same thing applies to many full-screen video applications; if you click away, even on a second monitor, it pulls the content out of fullscreen.

So, I'm looking at putting $300-700 (if necessary) into a small Windows 7 box I can use for productivity stuff while I'm doing something fullscreen. (It will also be a backup if/when the gaming box is down for repairs, or if I need to physically take a computer with me somewhere [no laptops!]. Instant messaging, emailing, general multimedia video usage via DVI/HDMI (1080p & 1920x1200, FYI); I'd like blu-ray playback eventually but I can buy the drive separately later on once prices drop more. No gaming, that's what the big box is for. I'd like it to be as small as reasonable. I wouldn't mind having a tuner in there as well, but not having one wouldn't be a showstopper. I'd prefer Intel over AMD, but that's just personal preference.

I know nothing about small form factor builds (in fact my builds keep getting bigger) so I'm hoping you guys can offer some suggestions. I live in SC, budget includes tax/shipping, and let's assume I have no parts for this build. Ignore the OS, I will be installing Windows 7; ignore any peripheral cost as I already have plenty of those around. The final build will be done sometime in the next three months, possibly sooner depending on money.
 
This is an excellent deal:
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...F&cid=7420&lid=197374&acd=10466193-268435-993

Drop the monitor and the price drops down to $189. You would be very very hard pressed to be able to build a similarly specced PC of equality quality with Windows OS included in one fall swoop

This is what you get for $189:
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic, Service Pack 1
Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core E5300 (2.60GHz, 2M, L2Cache, 800FSB)
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz - 2DIMMs
Single Drive: 16X (DVD+/-RW) Burner Drive
250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
Integrated Video, Intel® GMA X4500HD
Integrated 5.1 Channel Audio
+ Case, PSU and warranty
 
Phyltre said:
How do I drop the monitor? I'm sure there's an option somewhere but I'm not seeing it. I'm feeling very dense right now. But you're right, it does look like a great deal.
Click to expand...
Son of a bitch. Dell removed the option that allowed you to remove the monitor. Damn.
 
I work for a business that orders 5-20 Dell computers eight or nine times a year, maybe I can finagle them into dropping the monitor through our business agreement. I'll call them up and see what their options are.
 
Dell doesn't want to play ball. Would I be better off paying ~$500 for one of their slim models with a beefier processor, or building my own?
 
If you don't mind refurbished, you can get the slim Dell Inspiron 530s with Intel C2D based CPU for about $350 to $425 from Dell Outlet:
http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnline...line/en/InventorySearch?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh

Still working on a SFF setup that can fit all of your requirements. But here's a prelim build:
AMD Athlon64 X2 7750 CPU - $60
Asus M3N78-VM GeForce 8200 HDMI mATX Motherboard - $73
G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM - $44
Western Digital WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $55
Samsung SH-222F 22X DVD±R SATA DVD Burner - $25
Corsair 400CX 400W PSU - $50
----
Total: $307 plus tax and shipping
 
If you want really small and are willing to pay something of a premium there's a badass little mITX board out by ZOTAC right now. It's around $150 for the board alone, unfortunately. Even has a full size 16x PCIe slot.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500022'

There are much less expensive options if you're willing to drop the HDMI port in favor of DVI, and don't need the 16x slot though; you could get one of the following two boards (WIFI integrated is the only difference between them) and a 1x PCIe tuner card, 4GB of RAM and a chip, a case, HDD, and you're set.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500020
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500012


MiniITX cases:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...escription=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

Many come with small low wattage PSUs which should honestly be enough for this sort of application, assuming you don't get the more expensive board and a full size graphics card (which would greatly limit your case options anyway, as finding a mITX case with room for a full size graphics card is near impossible).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154091

I would probably get this one were I you; it's larger than most, but that gives you room for a full height tuner, so lots more options.
 
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