Help me build a desktop! It's a great opportunity! You cou..

[ttsgeb]

Ok, so I've pretty much accepted that my laptop is going the way of the dodo soon...
Meaning I need help building a new computer.

My requirements for power are pretty simple: It must beat my 4 year old laptop.

It's space I'm worried about. I will be modifying an old slide projector to be the case.
Pics roughly comparing it to a foot ruler:

Ok, so I know that doesn't do much to tell you how much room there is, but we're going to roll with it.


What it MUST beat:
2.66 C2D
256mb ATI Radeon 3650
4gb RAM
320gb HDD

What I'm hoping for:
Internal PSU, so it needs to be a small form factor one.
I want at least 512mb gfx memory, but the nicer the card I can shove in there, the better. Pretty positive I can fit a full height card in. Full length would be tough. Must be capable of VGA out.
i5 or i7 in a socket. I'm not a fan of BGA solder'd, but if it's significantly cheaper, I can live.
4+ gb ram If the board can use my dated laptop ram, that's coolish, but I'm certainly open to newer flax.
32-128gb SSD
2tb HDD
USB 3.0, Doesn't have to be onboard.
IDE support is a plus.
Consistently available parts. I can't afford build it all at once, so I'll be doing it in phases. This also means that onboard GFX will be needed, but they don't have a min req, but again, it will need to be VGA.

Video preference is ATI, but there's no real basis to that. If you feel Nvidia will suit me better, I'm open to try it.

I'll worry about cooling, but links to low-profile and efficient coolers are appreciated.

I'm not super concerned about pushing the boundaries of modern Consumer Electronics, but if you want to show me super cheap(not relative cheap, actual super cheap) super nice stuff, I'll appreciate it.

I'm also not super concerned about upgrades. 2 RAM slots are fine. If I wanted "future proof", I'd get a big boy case... and something other than a computer. Like dried pinto beans...

Let's call the bare-bones budget $400 MAX. That's a HARD max for the PSU+Mobo+RAM+Processor(+Heatsink).
Then lets make the gfx card in the $100-$200 range.
Drives in the same range.

Questions, comments, concerns, lolz?

 

[PalmerTech]

Re: Help me build a desktop! It's a great opportunity! You c

I would avoid building in phases. Makes way more sense to just save the money and buy what you need all at once.

Also, is there a reason it has to be in that case? To be honest, you would be a lot better off just buying a used desktop computer, considering the specs you need. Pick up a decent consumer specced rig, and put a low power draw GPU in there (So you don't have to upgrade the PSU). A GTX 650 is low power, cheap, and small enough to fit in even tiny cases.

 

[ttsgeb]

Re: Help me build a desktop! It's a great opportunity! You c

The reason it has to be in that case is because I said so. That is the goal. There is no further reason.

Also, it doesn't make sense to "just" save up and build all at once when you're pretty sure you're about to be out a working computer.
I'm on an unstable and probably pretty tight timeframe for getting *something* not flaxe up.
I'd rather waste my time and money on something I built in a silly case than on a supermarket computer. And frankly, what I could get for $400 at a supermarket today would be absolute flax.

 

[PalmerTech]

Re: Help me build a desktop! It's a great opportunity! You c

Gotcha.

Here is an example of what I am talking about. It is a small HTPC build, you can probably move it over if you want: http://www.ebay.com/itm/HTPC-SG05BB-450 ... 4d0c195713

 

[ttsgeb]

Re: Help me build a desktop! It's a great opportunity! You c

Not sure how well the PSU would transfer over...

Also, for my reference, This is what Off and I have been working on:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Ubpm
with maybe:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 38566&SID=
instead

For everyone's reference, adorable video card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130841

 

[PalmerTech]

Re: Help me build a desktop! It's a great opportunity! You c

I am sure it would be fine, it looks positively itty bitty. Here is a pic of that case+PSU combo:

 

[ttsgeb]

Re: Help me build a desktop! It's a great opportunity! You c

Ok, less skeptical now.

Also, been playing with some things.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9pS7
The reason there's no ram is because currently newegg is giving away 8gb ram with the mobo.
Of course, there's also the issue of me blatantly ignoring my price limit. If I build this one, I'll likely grab a slightly less nice processor.

 

[XCVG]

Re: Help me build a desktop! It's a great opportunity! You c

I have a lousy sense of scale, but if you can fit a mini-microATX board in that case you could save quite a bit of cash. What I'm talking about is a microATX board with only three slots and minimum depth, like the one I'm using in webPC.

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=76852&vpn ... FMicroStar

You might be able to find an Intel board in that formfactor.

What are you planning on using this for and how uncertain is your budget?

EDIT: This one looks a little smaller than normal: http://ncix.com/products/?sku=82308&vpn ... ure=ASRock

 

[ttsgeb]

Re: Help me build a desktop! It's a great opportunity! You c

This will be my day to day computer.

My budget is pretty much "I don't need to be doing this right now"... but I know how to pull money out my ass from time to time, so I'll make it happen. I can't really pull together more than $400, though... You can only fit so many rolls of dollar coins in there.

Also, neither of those links worked for me. They just shot me to the homepage. Is there a permalink you could grab?

Edit: more for scale

Edit2: I managed to find both of the boards you (tried to) link. They both seem like they'd be too wide. The money I'd save by switching to them, I'd loose when I switched to a different form factor PSU.

Edit3: The promo on ram ended, so I played with this some more...
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/UCwH
Is there anything blatantly wrong with that build?