Opinions/Experience w/ Small Form Factor (SFF) Desktop PCs?

I built two Shuttle XPC's for my boys (barebones off ebay). They are older socket 775's but for what they use them for it fits the bill. I plan on going with a Shuttle as I don't need a massive tower for gaming / overclocking as I've grown out of the hobby.

 

I'd have to agree with Xaks on going full size...

I got this bad boy for my gaming rig... and I love it. Lots of room for my stuff and an H100i liquid cooler as well.
http://www.corsair.com/en/vengeance-c70-mid-tower-gaming-case-military-green

 

If you're buying in bulk for an office environment where

(a) cost per machine *matters*,
(b) they aren't going to be working all that hard anyways, and/or
(c) the warranty is as important as the performance.

It makes sense to buy smaller form factor towers.

If you're not, it doesn't.

 

Ditto on Xaks.
If you want use a computer, as opposed to playing to build one, I'd go with a small tower all built.
We have a number of Dell OptiPlex small and medium towers at our company, the oldest 4 years+.
All are running fine.
My latest is a 3010, and cost under $600 with an I5 processor, 500gb disk and 8mb memory - runs great.
My wife has a high end Dell big screen laptop, with an I7 processor, max memory, good graphics card, etc. for web design, graphics, gaming, etc. It runs fine, except for occasional graphics card anomalies - but cost +/-$1900.
Big difference from simple tower to high end laptop!

 

Just build one man.
Evga Hadron air case
Evga z87 stinger mono
Evga titan video card
Socket 1150 CPUsome ram
Ps.

Your golden.
Sweet mini lan case with all the goodies. Check out the Hadron.

 

There's a lot of creative stuff you can do with a mini-ITX board. This site has a bunch of projects that people have done (links on right):
http://www.mini-itx.com/

I made a pc out of an old space heater. I mounted the fan at the grill and put in some neon bars to look like heating elements.

Here's one a guy made out of an old waffle iron:

 

While I agree with you on loving to build and mod machines, what's he specifically looking to do is using SLI'd/Crossfired multiple GPUs.

These require and use high power, high bandwidth, and generate high heat. Which are all pretty much the exact opposite of what SFF hardware does well.

That was my whole point in all this.

Don't get me wrong, I have a home-made MiniFF 4TB NAS hanging on my kitchen wall zip tied to a pegboard scrap. I'ma big fan of building goofy shit because I can.

But when you start adding in multiGPU SLI rigs, the game changes.

 

SLI? Well then...

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/technology/297752-mr-matics-gaming-pc-rig-build.html

 

Nice build mate!

Iam still running the same rig as above, although I've upgraded the video and RAM a bit

This box has lasted me a lot longer than I had anticipated when I built it. I figure at the current pace I have another year or so before I gotta start building her replacement. This box still gets me in the top 10% of any game I've run on it!

Although, seeing your flightsim video, I may need to make a few...additions...to my expected buildout...and budget...

 

Thx man.
The flight sim build is actually "airdogs". He has some touch screens as well.

I'm going to start on another build soon. Needs to be much smaller and lighter as this beast is entirely to heavy to carry with me on my trips up north.

 

...i want the ability to "accomodate" two GPUs for future-upgradeability, ...but right now, i'm just looking to build something that will last me several years of basic tasks like internet/vid streaming mainly... i hook up two or three monitors...
- ample USB 3.0 connectivity
- multiple processor cores (at least 4)
- PCIe 3.0
- two vid cards (can accomodate)
- case size no larger than my current computer...
- decent look, no frills
- keep noise low if possible (don't want a lot of fan noise)...

...looking along the lines of these:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1401102/corsair-350d-owners-club

 

well, ...made some decisions and ordered a bunch of components... the real test will be if i can assemble things in such a way as to make a functioning computer

 

It's gravy man. The hardest thing is probably connecting the tiny pins from the case to the mobo. Ie. Power, reset, etc. And the motherboard manual with have them listed clearly.
Good luck with the build. Post some pics up or if you have difficulty.

 

thanks matic! i'm not planning on installing a DVD drive in this new machine, ...but i'm wondering how i'll get the new OS on it (win 8.1) since it comes on a DVD, ...maybe able to make an .iso of the DVD before hand and put in on a bootable USB stick???

 

That's what I've done since...well, 7 with SP1 slip-streamed.

Just google for ISO to USB, and look for sourceforge entries. That's an open-source front-end with open commenting, so if anyone tries anything fishy it gets blasted pretty quickly.

You can use freeware utils from there to format and make bootable USB drives and 'burn' an ISO to them easily.

 

Exactly. I've never tried win 8 but I'm sure its the same.
Just point it in the direction of your USB. Just make sure you have "USB" enabled as your boot drive in your mobo settings.

 

i have a freeware version of ashampoo burning studio on the current computer... but, i wonder if there is copy protection built into the DVD drive that would prevent creating an .iso "rip" from the win 8.1 dvd?...

 

If there is, it isn't well written software.


An ISO is an ISO. If it doesn't meet burn standards, it isn't an ISO, regardless of its file extension. Period.

That's why I use sourceforge as a source. They're public and protective. If there's a software project there for more than a few weeks, it's been well vetted by super-geeks.

 

...well, i got her up and running... no explosions, ...yet...

...here's the specs:

CPU: Intel Core i7 4770S
Cooler: Corsair Hydro H75 (plug-n-play water cooler w/ 2 x 120mm fans push/pull)
mobo: MSI Z97m Gaming
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 1600MHz 2 x 8 GB (16 GB total)
PSU: Antec HCG 620
Intake Fans: 2 x Cougar 140mm PWM-controlled
Exhaust Fans: 1 x Cougar 120mm PWM-controlled, plusCorsair Fans/Radiator
Disk: Crucial M500 240GB SSD
OS: Win 8.1 (UEFI mode installation)

...so far i'm liking Win 8.1... if you install it in UEFI mode it boots very quickly... the familiar desktop/startmenu is also easily accessible...

 

Nice man. Glad you got it together.
What vid card did you go with?