looking to build a cheap mini-PC

Yo M,

Why a "Mini"? You can build it just as cheap going "Full/Mid Sized". What brand CPU & how slow do you want it? Why not just go to your local swap meet/computer show, & talk some vendor down to selling you a complete Win 98SE or ME system for less than $400. Just add some extra Ram & you are set!

Well, if you post a reason for a "mini" over a ATX, I will give you a better answer.

Peace Out...................tg

I'm a man in a Box

well the main reason i'm looking at a mini is that I have serious space issues in my little dorm room. i don't see there being any easy way for me to fit another full size box in my room without having some large amount of cable strung across it. I plan on utilizing the dual inputs on my flatscreen, so ideally it would be as close to the monitor as possible.

On top of it I'm a pretty small girl. I can't pick up the tower I have now, which kind of sucks. So size and weight are very real considerations for me.

Yo M,

Okay, I will give you my limited advice.

Newegg.com has the Shuttle XPC SK41G(Flex ATX, based on the Via KM266 chipset) for $245 it has on board everything.

What you do need is a Socket A CPU(Athlon XP 1700+ for $50), 1 or 2 sticks of PC1600/PC2100 DDR(1 stick of Apacer 512mb PC2100 cas 2.0 for $55), 1 Optical Drive(I like the Samsung 48x24x48x 16xDVD/CDRW Combo drive for $90), & 1 floppy drive(all the fdd are about the same for $8 or not).

That totals to $450ish without shipping. You could go cheaper by just replacing the Combo Drive with a CD-Rom(Samsung 52x CD-Rom for $18), bringing you down to $380ish. IMHO it is not worth saving a few $ on a Duron CPU($20ish) or 256mb DDR($25ish) or another SD-Ram based system( Shuttle SV25) $35, Celeron 1.1A $9, 1 stick of Corsair 512mb of cas 2.5 PC133 sd-ram add $23 for a total savings of $21............for slower raw cpu power & ram speed.

If you choose to build your own system Asus makes a Micro ATX mobo based on the nforce chipset with onboard everything- A7N266-VM AA for $70.50, Inwin Blue Micro ATX tower(#IW-L545P.180CUF2-OEM) for $38...... it does come with a special 180 watt PSU & should work if you don't add any other devices, but I would not like to find out, all my systems use a 350 watt name brand dual fan PSU's or bigger.

This should give you a start, check out www.newegg.com, they have very good prices, fast packaging, decent website, & very good seletion. Good Luck

Peace Out..............tg

I'm a man in a Box

You might also consider an old fashioned desktop case, I use one from enlight. It comes with a fairly reliable single fan 300 watt power supply, with smart fan feature, which works fairly well with many asus motherboards. I like it as it is a little quieter and more compact, and a 17 inch monitor fits well on top. This is not a mini case, and has three 5 1/4 inch spaces, and 2 for 3.5 inch floppys or hardrives. I use the adapters and put my Ibm hardrive in the 5 1/4 slot. It uses special adapter sliders which you attach to the side of the devices with 4 screws, and slide them right in, or pinch them on the front, for easy removal. At first I didn't like them, but after using them for awhile, they work great. There is a space for an 80mm fan in front, or you can use a vertical fan in one of the open slots in the rear. The vertical fans are quieter, and only about $15, and will fit in any open space. If you decide to go this route, I recommend a mobo with only 5 pci slots, with space on the right of the agp slot for this type of fan. It will help draw hot air away from the cpu.

I have a complete mini I'll sell you for $300. It has a PIII 933, 256MB PC133 Cas2, onboard modem, an add-in SMC 10/100 PCI NIC, onboard sound, onboard video. It's smaller than a Shuttle mini.

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

Oh, I fogot to add, it also has a 30GB Western Digital hard drive, USB keyboard, and USB mouse. It has 2 PCI slots and can use Flex ATX replacement boards and some mATX boards.

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

Hehe... Crashman to the rescue as usual  

Sounds good, unless your good with your hands and want to bust open some old compaq case and fit it with a mobo... I've actually found some used 2U and 3u sever rackmounts and use those for stereo PC... easy to mount under a counter too  

To err is human... to really screw things up you need a computer!

This is actually a Gateway with MSI mATX board. But the board "height" (width in a desktop) is around 1 inch narrower than standard mATX. While MSI makes a P4 board with the same dimensions, a Flex ATX board also fits.

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>