Need critique on SFF build

K

KillerPotato

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 14, 2005
Messages
167
I'm planning on putting together a computer before the end of the month, and because I fly to school, I need a SFF machine that I can tenderly pack into my carryon. I've got a lian li pc-v351 in my cart right now, but I have a feeling it'll be too much of a pain in the ass to fly with compared to something like the sugo sg01, so I'll probably swap it out. Here's my cart as of now:

vHXYB.png


I have a couple questions that I was hoping someone could help me with.

I'm probably going to switch the lianli out for the sg01 for space reasons (the lian li will fit as a carryon when I fly to school, but just barely. A shame too since I think the lian li is one of the better looking rectangular objects I've seen). Is the cooling significantly worse in the silverstone? I'm assuming that cpu cooler wont fit either, so which one would be better?

My other main concern is going with intel over AMD. Is there an affordable and equally fast route for intel? I was looking at the Q9550, but its a decent amount more pricey, and I couldn't find a decent motherboard of comparable cost. Is the AMD route a safe bet these days? All I remember reading in articles is that they are always falling behind these days.

And finally, does someone make silver front bezels for dvd drives? I searched and didn't find anything didn't look as gaudy as the drive itself. I have an older silver dvd burner that I can swap out for the one that I buy, but in case I can't can someone point me in the right direction?

If you guys have any other suggestions on the choices of hardware I'd really appreciate them!
 
MSI 785GM-E65 AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $90

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-4GBNQ - Retail $78

Layout of the sata ports on the gigabyte is horrible.

Danny Bui said:
Also I concur with lt_shiro's parts recommendations: An Intel C2D/C2Q based setup isn't that viable from a cost-performance perspective. In addition, the HD4890 is a tad faster than the GTX 275 but it's cheaper and XFX offers a lifetime warranty with their cards. Combined with the savings from the combo, the XFX HD4890 is a significantly better choice from a price-performance perspective.
Click to expand...
http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1034469534&postcount=6
 
Anytime I travel, my Micro Fly comes with me. It fits without a problem on everything but commuter flights, where it will just barely fit under the seat. There is no way you're going to get that Lian Li to fit. Pick another case like the Micro Fly or the Sugo as you mentioned.

A mini-tower should fit into standard carry-on luggage and allow you to use a beefier tower heat sink to boot.
 
lt_shiro said:
MSI 785GM-E65 AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $90

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-4GBNQ - Retail $78

Layout of the sata ports on the gigabyte is horrible.


http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1034469534&postcount=6
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions. Should I be worried about those two one star ratings on newegg?

Also, I did see that previous post which is in part which pushed me to get what I have now vs trying to squeeze in a Q9550 and gtx275.

MassiveOverkill said:
Anytime I travel, my Micro Fly comes with me. It fits without a problem on everything but commuter flights, where it will just barely fit under the seat. There is no way you're going to get that Lian Li to fit. Pick another case like the Micro Fly or the Sugo as you mentioned.

A mini-tower should fit into standard carry-on luggage and allow you to use a beefier tower heat sink to boot.
Click to expand...

I was afraid that would be true. Do you think it might fit in the overhead bin instead of under the seat?

Focusing on the SG01 though, I'm assuming that GeminII cooler wont fit. Is the NT06 the best option for quad cores with a fan blowing into the PSU? Are there other similarly sized cases to the SG01 that have much better cooling options? I'm somewhat wary of the NT06 solution. Thanks again for the replies
 
It looks like the CM GeminII would fit in the SG01, with 78mm of clearance and the GeminII being 62mm in height. Would the NT06 route cool better with a fan fitted on the bottom blowing up vs the GeminII competing for air with the PSU? If they have comparable performance I'd probably lean towards the geminII for cost reasons.

Edit: Nvm, I assumed by height in the newegg specifications page for the GeminII it was adding both the heatsink and the fan rather than just the heatsink, and together they are too large for the SG01. Now I'm looking at either the NT06 lite or the Scythe Shuriken
 
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I've come to terms with getting the sg01, and I'll probably be ordering somewhere in the region of next week. This is my build so far:

BobMy.png


Are there any places I could squeeze out better price/performance? The cost has gone a bit over what I originally wanted to spend, but I feel like it's not too bad for what I'm getting. And is there a better cooler available at a comparable price to the Scythe Shuriken? I heard about people fitting the GeminII heatsink in with a slimmer fan in the SG03, but it sounds like that has a bit more clearance between the processor and PSU due to the PSU being smaller. Thanks again for any advice, or if anyone can confirm that the parts I selected are about as decent as I can get, I'd appreciate that too.
 
Thanks for everyone's help. I went ahead and ordered the same system as what I listed above except I replaced the Phenom II 945 with the 955 BE. Thankfully I found most of the expensive parts on ZipZoomFly and took advantage of their 20% cashback, so I felt a small upgrade was in order, and even afterwards it came out to be around $680 altogether.

Just one last question though, will the OCZ 600W be enough to power all of that reliably? Thanks again!
 
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