Advice for small pc

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within 1-2 weeks

BUDGET RANGE:
200-500$

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT:

Hd Movies, internet, emails, possible mid to high end games in the future. Needs to be upgradable because of this.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED:

Speakers, keyboard and mouse, DVD CD player, hard drive. Already have from old computer will reuse. Already selected LCD screen as well.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com

PARTS PREFERENCES:

She would like the smallest case she could have with parts that are upgradable. A sleek design with some or preferably no vent holes. She would also like it standing/tower. Here is a case she likes but I am unsure if I could put anything decent in it. This would give you an idea on her preferences.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811190109

OVERCLOCKING: Not needed

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Smallest black tower sleek case, very little wires, upgradable psu, limited noise, future upgradable graphics card. Possibly have intergraded graphic cards like an hd3200 or something higher end that can handle HD movies with no problems (recommendation if not included on motherboard). Wireless networking card separate or integrated. Looking at a dual core Celeron 2.4 GHz CPU, 1g-2g of ram but open to suggestions.

But you are not going to be able to do high end games on it.

As jsc said you are not going to be able to play high end games, but by that, games like Crysis on decent specs at least. The best low profile graphics card you can get is a Nvidia Galaxy 9600 GT. It's a mid performing card i had a look at the performance of it and it will play the latest not so demanding games out today at good framerates such as call of duty 4. You'd get about 50 FPS and sometimes over 60 so the game play would be enjoyable. I don't know if that's the case for the low profile card. I'll have a look and see if i can send you links of individual components that you can use to build a computer. Unfortunately they don't really offer any small gaming computers out there so you just have to build one yourself and don't worry building a computer is not to hard it's just like putting high tech lego together.

Athlon II or Phenom II on a 790GX mobo should do the trick nicely.

Not looking for a high end gaming computer.

It does not need to be powerful to start (that is why I was looking into built in graphics cards). Gaming as I have said will be most likely a future thing.

It just has to play HD videos very well and lower end games with no problems. Plus the other features I talked about above.

Thanks for the replies

He is asking for a pretty steep requirements. Small as possible but upgradable? Very difficult. The 300w PSU in the Sugo will handle an ATI 4850 or Nvidia 250, both of which will play at 19x12 res with some lowered detail. Next gen cards will use less power, and be more powerful so the upgrade path is there. The Zotac board will accept a Q9650, which is by no means a dog, but it is pricey. $200-$500 is a pretty broad range. You can build a nice M-ITX setup for $500. Cant build sh_t for $200.

If he really wants power and the ability to upgrade hes going to have to deal with at least a M-ATX mobo and a case that it will fit in, which is a good deal bigger than M-ITX, but your rapidly approaching more than $500 there.

Whats wrong with M-ITX? For a machine that will be used for a light gaming, web browsing, email checking, movie streaming/watching machine its more than adequate. Some people want something really small. M-ITX fills the bill there.

M-ATX obviously has it advantages, but that advantage comes with a price increase.

And FYI, the build I posted in the other thread, will run as fast or possibly faster than what your putting together. Bigger doesnt always mean faster.

so you'll end up being stuck at an athlon 5200+ so there is no upgrade potential because the processors higher up use more power (power over 65 watts).

Like I said, a 790GX-based system would be perfect. Here is a Biostar micro-ATX 790GX board. It's pretty darn expandable, compatible with all current AM3 cpus, and has Crossfire capability to boot. It also has the single most powerful integrated GPU, and a $15 MIR.

wooo, i've never seen that before lol. It looks good, although it would be nice and would still be classed as micro itx if it had a PCI slot on it. My HP Pavilion Slimline when i had it had a micro itx with one PCI-e x16 and one PCI as i sated before. But yeah i agree with you would be a good mobo. But concerning the case, usually itx cases don't have big enough power supplies and by that i mean 400 watts. They might not be long enough to house the galaxy 9600gt low profile graphics card. Or might not even have a low profile slot.

See this: 2009's $600 gaming pc.
also you can swap the GTX260 for something like HIS HD4770 and upgrade the processor to a C2Q.

Best Regards

Sixty bucks for a 2.8gHz Athlon II, sufficient for the OP's needs. The IGP in the 790GX should also suffice until he needs gaming capability, then he can upgrade all the way up to the top of AMD's lineup if he needs to.

o right you said the 790gx motherboard and not the previous one. Sorry i had you wrong there yeah that would be a good deal.

As a guide for the el cheapo AMD chips clock for clock we have

Callisto > Regor > Kuma > Windsor > Brisbane

That motherboard is going to be the one i'm getting with my computer to lol sometime, eventually. It's full height ATX though. It won't fit in micro ATX, lol and don't call it micro ATX just because you see boards out there with 6 ram slots and 3 PCI-e x16 slots, it's still full form factor.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131406
ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO is mATX 9.6" x 9.6" and if one goes with SG-02F

there is no need to screw oneself over with underpowered gaming GPUs or non standard ATX PSUs or difficult to find replacement parts that prolly cost ya too...

I wouldn't advise mITX or slim mATX casings though