Mini Computer... OY!

So my last blog post was dedicated to my brother in law who wants a stand alone desktop to supplement his Sony Vaio laptop. My no-brother-good-in-law of mine doesn't have a lot of space, so he needs a space conscious system that is both powerful, scalable, yet svelte and easily movable. Hmmmm... well if you want to save space the only way to go is with a Micro ATX (mATX) system, and if you want to build a powerful mATX system then you need to start with a solid foundation and a case that can accommodate modern parts (especially a modern power supply). Now he could always just order one of those slim design systems from a major retailer such as Dell or HP. The problem with this is that these slim systems are meant for small office work stations; slim line machines are not meant for home users who have a variety of tasks they need to perform such as gaming, photo editing, video editing, and gaming!

Believe it or not there is quite a few choices when it comes to building a small form factor computer, but the best of the best is Ultra's Micro Fly series of cases...

This little case is quite robust, it comes with a 500 watt power supply and all the features most people would want for only 59.99.

Now we need a mobo... I looked at a lot cases and motherboards while I was speccing this system out. I found this little gem at TigerDirect. This is an XFX Geforce 8200 mobo bundled with a retail edition of the Athlon 64 X2 5000 BE.

First I like the layout. Second I like that it has 4 RAM slots instead of the usual 2 for a mATX board, finally I like the back panel connectors which are just crazy!

Yes my friends that is a diagnostic LED panel on the back. HDMI connections, DVI, VGA, RJ 45, ESATA, onboard sound... yep their all here. Isn't it pretty... oh and bundled with AMD proc it's only 149.99 (currently it also has a 10.00 rebate... w00t).



Ok, now for the dilemna, video cardage. We need power, yet we also need to be reasonable; both in terms of power consumption/noise, and thermal management. Let's go over our options:

1. Geforce 8800 GT - the 512meg version of this card is the sweet spot. I use one personally and I love it; however this card is now officially 2 generations old with the 9 series and the 2xx series now considered the high end. The 256meg version of this card is gimped when AA and AF effects are enabled prices range from 120 - around 200 depending on the brand name and rebates.
2. ATI - Radeon 3850 ATI has finally come around with the 4xxx series of cards and have taken to slash and burn pricing when it comes to competing with Nvidia. The 4xxx cards a touch on the pricy side if your on a budget, they are hard to find for less than $180; however, the Radeon 3850 can be had with rebates for less than $100 - check this one out ATI 3850




















My choices for for hard drive, DVD burner and CPU Cooler are noted well in my previous blog post. They remain the same for this build. For those of you who are wondering I know that we could save some money by going with an OEM DVD Burner; unfortunately, I don't feel like tutoring my brother in law on how to use freeware DVD burning and CD Burning applications. If I go with the HP retail drive you get the software thrown in as a bonus.

The total on this build is around $505.00, the cost comes from the fact that you have to buy smaller components. This build also has 40.00 in rebates which should cover the shipping. Well that's all for now... Peace... L8R