Cheep sff build ?s

[grunt-0341]

Budget $500.00 max. Pleases give suggestions for a cheep Small Form Factor build. I will be using computer mostly for web surfing, email, word processing, spread sheets, photo editing, social networking, and light gaming. I will be running Ubuntu Linux for OS. Thanks for your help.

 

[Outlander_04]

small form factor like mini-ITX ?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007583%20600006318&IsNodeId=1&name=Mini-ITX%20Tower

or just a smaller desk top case?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007583%20600006308&IsNodeId=1&name=MicroATX%20Slim%20Case

 

[IH8U]

My $.02

mATX
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129038
$115 Antec NSK1380 Black/ Silver Steel MicroATX Cube Computer Case 350W Power Supply
MB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131728
$60 ASUS M5A78L-M LX AM3+ AMD 760G Micro ATX
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103872
$75 AMD Athlon II X3 445 Rana 3.1GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144509
$24 GeIL Pristine 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148701
$50 Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500413AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb
DVD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
$19 ASUS 24X DVD Burner
OS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986
$100 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit

Total $443 + S&H

uITX
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129081
$80 Antec ISK 310-150 Black / Silver 0.8mm cold rolled steel Mini-ITX Desktop Computer Case 150W Power Supply
MB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186211
$55 Foxconn H67S LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s Mini ITX
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115078
$120 Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge ($10 off with code)
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152289
$55 SAMSUNG Spinpoint M8 HN-M500MBB 500GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s
DVD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151242
$21 SAMSUNG 8X Slim Internal DVD Burner
Vid: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162041
$40 Galaxy 21GFE4HX2HUN GeForce 210 512MB 64-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16
OS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986
$100 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit

Total: $471 + S&H

 

[grunt-0341]

Thanks for the reply fellas. I am used to uATX boards. What advantage/disadvantage is there to using ITX boards?

IH8U I am running Ubuntu 10.4 OS. There is no need to buy windows. Thanks

 

[IH8U]

uITX is a much smaller platform, I think the boards are ~9" square, and have some issues with HSF's that fit inside their cases. Also with an extra $100 you could get a better CPU (ie an i5 instead of the i3), or go all intel (replacing the mATX board, and CPU from the first one with intel offerings). uITX is about the smallest you can get (and be a full featured system), yes there are pico boards (not many), but they don't have the vast majority of items found on standard motherboards (USB, PCI/PCI-X, ect...).

 

[grunt-0341]

uITX is a much smaller platform, I think the boards are ~9" square, and have some issues with HSF's that fit inside their cases. Also with an extra $100 you could get a better CPU (ie an i5 instead of the i3), or go all intel (replacing the mATX board, and CPU from the first one with intel offerings). uITX is about the smallest you can get (and be a full featured system), yes there are pico boards (not many), but they don't have the vast majority of items found on standard motherboards (USB, PCI/PCI-X, ect...).

Thank you. I'll have to do some research on boards.

 

[grunt-0341]

Best answer selected by grunt-0341.