Small Case/High Performance, Possible?

[TheStryke]

I'm wondering if it would be possible to build a small pc (mini-itx ish) used for torrenting, storing, playback, and network access of media as well as ps2 emulation and a few modern steam games. If possible, I'd also like the device to be nearly silent during playback.

Budget Range: $700 Max

System Usage from Most to Least Important:
1080p playing via xbmc shell on windows 7
Automatic torrenting via ted
Read and write access to network of media files
1080p (or 720p) modern gaming on medium settings
Gaming Emulation (Ps2 if possible, otherwise ps)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts:
Newegg and Amazon

Country:
US

Parts Preferences:
Small case, maybe one suited for a mini-itx or smaller. MicroATX slim would be ideal.

Parts from Other Computers: (If these parts could be used that would be the best, but if they're too hot/big/slow/loud I understand)
Intel 510 Series (Elm Crest) SSDSC2MH120A2K5 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601920
Western Digital WD RE4-GP WD2002FYPS 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
GIGABYTE GV-N560OC-1GI GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Overclocking:
Potentially

Monitor Resolution:
1920x1080

Additional Comments:
Let me know if my demands are unreasonable and if so, which abilities would be reasonable.
In addition, please let me know if there's anything important I should consider when choosing parts for one of these set-ups

Some of the questions that have come up in my research:
Is it necessary to get a dedicated graphics card, or would one of the cpu/gpu combos work nicely?
What tends to be the loudest part and how do we minimize total sound?

 

[SNA3]

I'm wondering if it would be possible to build a small pc (mini-itx ish) used for torrenting, storing, playback, and network access of media as well as ps2 emulation and a few modern steam games. If possible, I'd also like the device to be nearly silent during playback.

Budget Range: $700 Max

System Usage from Most to Least Important:
1080p playing via xbmc shell on windows 7
Automatic torrenting via ted
Read and write access to network of media files
1080p (or 720p) modern gaming on medium settings
Gaming Emulation (Ps2 if possible, otherwise ps)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts:
Newegg and Amazon

Country:
US

Parts Preferences:
Small case, maybe one suited for a mini-itx or smaller.

Parts from Other Computers: (If these parts could be used that would be the best, but if they're too hot/big/slow/loud I understand)
Intel 510 Series (Elm Crest) SSDSC2MH120A2K5 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601920
Western Digital WD RE4-GP WD2002FYPS 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
GIGABYTE GV-N560OC-1GI GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Overclocking:
Potentially

Monitor Resolution:
1920x1080

Additional Comments:
Let me know if my demands are unreasonable and if so, which abilities would be reasonable.
In addition, please let me know if there's anything important I should consider when choosing parts for one of these set-ups

Some of the questions that have come up in my research:
Is it necessary to get a dedicated graphics card, or would one of the cpu/gpu combos work nicely?
What tends to be the loudest part and how do we minimize total sound?

you can make a very very fast gaming /storing , HTPC machine ...

and using your old items can make it high end gaming machine as well

tell me what you have in mind , and how small you want it to be !

and what stuff you want to put inside ? how many harddisks ? everything is possible ... so tell me this :

1- How many TB maximum , now and in the future .
2- How Small you want it to be ?

I made this build one day , (not for you , but this is for 800$ complete )

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/sna/saved/2115

your case however is better since we can use the harddisk , and the ram and the SSD.

here is the cases you can think of

the smallest possible for gaming :

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=413&area=en

and this

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=414&area=en

and amazingly this with micro motherboard !!

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=392&area=en

or this

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=345&area=en

if you want more storage there are other cases and other solutions...

if you want it completely silent , tell me as well.

Edit : I can make it even with better gaming with your items changing the GTX 650 ti , to GTX 760

 

[TheStryke]

If possible, I believe an ssd and hdd would be enough. I would be happy using my current parts. One potential issue though: I just ran PassMark on my desktop containing the aforementioned parts, and it seems like my hard drive is much slower than other people's computers with hdd (the hdd is in the desktop, while the ssd is in a laptop that is rarely used).

For noise, the quieter the better, but it is not vital. Besides silence during video playback, I would prefer performance over sound.

As for the size, I was hoping for a micro-ATX slim case if possible. Something like this: micro-ATX.
Of course, that brings up the issue of picking video cards that will fit (apparently depth is a major problem).

What kind of gaming potential would this rig have if I upgraded the graphics card?
Would there be significant concern about not using water cooling?

Thank you so much for the thorough response!

I'm wondering if it would be possible to build a small pc (mini-itx ish) used for torrenting, storing, playback, and network access of media as well as ps2 emulation and a few modern steam games. If possible, I'd also like the device to be nearly silent during playback.

Budget Range: $700 Max

System Usage from Most to Least Important:
1080p playing via xbmc shell on windows 7
Automatic torrenting via ted
Read and write access to network of media files
1080p (or 720p) modern gaming on medium settings
Gaming Emulation (Ps2 if possible, otherwise ps)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts:
Newegg and Amazon

Country:
US

Parts Preferences:
Small case, maybe one suited for a mini-itx or smaller.

Parts from Other Computers: (If these parts could be used that would be the best, but if they're too hot/big/slow/loud I understand)
Intel 510 Series (Elm Crest) SSDSC2MH120A2K5 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601920
Western Digital WD RE4-GP WD2002FYPS 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
GIGABYTE GV-N560OC-1GI GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Overclocking:
Potentially

Monitor Resolution:
1920x1080

Additional Comments:
Let me know if my demands are unreasonable and if so, which abilities would be reasonable.
In addition, please let me know if there's anything important I should consider when choosing parts for one of these set-ups

Some of the questions that have come up in my research:
Is it necessary to get a dedicated graphics card, or would one of the cpu/gpu combos work nicely?
What tends to be the loudest part and how do we minimize total sound?

you can make a very very fast gaming /storing , HTPC machine ...

and using your old items can make it high end gaming machine as well

tell me what you have in mind , and how small you want it to be !

and what stuff you want to put inside ? how many harddisks ? everything is possible ... so tell me this :

1- How many TB maximum , now and in the future .
2- How Small you want it to be ?

I made this build one day , (not for you , but this is for 800$ complete )

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/sna/saved/2115

your case however is better since we can use the harddisk , and the ram and the SSD.

here is the cases you can think of

the smallest possible for gaming :

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=413&area=en

and this

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=414&area=en

and amazingly this with micro motherboard !!

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=392&area=en

or this

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=345&area=en

if you want more storage there are other cases and other solutions...

if you want it completely silent , tell me as well.

Edit : I can make it even with better gaming with your items changing the GTX 650 ti , to GTX 760

 

[SNA3]

the case you showed me is 17.0" x 12.8" x 3.9"

the matx I showedyou is 13.94 x11.61 "x 8.66" " , so as you see is smaller, the trick here however is that it takes full cards . which needs 8.66 inch

If you need faster harddisk , then how many TB ? 1?2?3? and do you want it 2.5 or 3.5 ? you know every 3.5 bay can take 2x2.5 harddisks .

as for gaming well it depends what parts I take from your old system.

and , do you want to change the CPU ? or not ?

 

[TheStryke]

Honestly, I would not mind using any of the parts from my old system. However, any part that is used (besides the ssd), will be replaced by a modern part. As a result, if I decide to use this new rig as my main gaming pc (pc gaming on the tv might be weird, we'll see), then I guess it makes sense to buy all of the parts new. For storage, I will probably need at least 2TB, but obviously it would be inefficient to buy that as ssd. Let me know what you've thought about this.

Lastly, the shape of the slim model is much more appealing to me (aesthetically, can be placed next to any game console); however, I guess the micro-atx cases are shaped like subwoofers, so it would symmetrize my setup.

the case you showed me is 17.0" x 12.8" x 3.9"

the matx I showedyou is 13.94 x11.61 "x 8.66" " , so as you see is smaller, the trick here however is that it takes full cards . which needs 8.66 inch

If you need faster harddisk , then how many TB ? 1?2?3? and do you want it 2.5 or 3.5 ? you know every 3.5 bay can take 2x2.5 harddisks .

as for gaming well it depends what parts I take from your old system.

and , do you want to change the CPU ? or not ?

 

[SNA3]

Honestly, I would not mind using any of the parts from my old system. However, any part that is used (besides the ssd), will be replaced by a modern part. As a result, if I decide to use this new rig as my main gaming pc (pc gaming on the tv might be weird, we'll see), then I guess it makes sense to buy all of the parts new. For storage, I will probably need at least 2TB, but obviously it would be inefficient to buy that as ssd. Let me know what you've thought about this.

Lastly, the shape of the slim model is much more appealing to me (aesthetically, can be placed next to any game console); however, I guess the micro-atx cases are shaped like subwoofers, so it would symmetrize my setup.

the case you showed me is 17.0" x 12.8" x 3.9"

the matx I showedyou is 13.94 x11.61 "x 8.66" " , so as you see is smaller, the trick here however is that it takes full cards . which needs 8.66 inch

If you need faster harddisk , then how many TB ? 1?2?3? and do you want it 2.5 or 3.5 ? you know every 3.5 bay can take 2x2.5 harddisks .

as for gaming well it depends what parts I take from your old system.

and , do you want to change the CPU ? or not ?

lol , well the i7 alone (the new one) is 300-350$ if you used your old CPU i7 you can put thise 300$ some where else .. lol and your 700 cant buy you anything with i7 , so using old cpu is better. the graphic card will give you the gamin experience ... here.

the Gaming card that is worth 250$ , you will loose that if you decide on buying new cpu , I will make different machines for you tomorrow , now I need to go.

 

[TheStryke]

Wouldn't there be some concern about the high heat of the new Haswell bridges? I know that when building a very small desktop that is one of the main concerns. Also, I've never maxed out my cpu that's running at default speeds except when I was transcoding 1080p video. Thus, I assume a cheap cpu would work perfectly, since I would only be playing video, not transcoding it. Perhaps we could even look for one that is famous for being lower energy (another apparent conern; it's hard to find a strong, small psu that'll fit) and/or low heat - even better if it is well known for media use.

Honestly, I would not mind using any of the parts from my old system. However, any part that is used (besides the ssd), will be replaced by a modern part. As a result, if I decide to use this new rig as my main gaming pc (pc gaming on the tv might be weird, we'll see), then I guess it makes sense to buy all of the parts new. For storage, I will probably need at least 2TB, but obviously it would be inefficient to buy that as ssd. Let me know what you've thought about this.

Lastly, the shape of the slim model is much more appealing to me (aesthetically, can be placed next to any game console); however, I guess the micro-atx cases are shaped like subwoofers, so it would symmetrize my setup.

the case you showed me is 17.0" x 12.8" x 3.9"

the matx I showedyou is 13.94 x11.61 "x 8.66" " , so as you see is smaller, the trick here however is that it takes full cards . which needs 8.66 inch

If you need faster harddisk , then how many TB ? 1?2?3? and do you want it 2.5 or 3.5 ? you know every 3.5 bay can take 2x2.5 harddisks .

as for gaming well it depends what parts I take from your old system.

and , do you want to change the CPU ? or not ?

lol , well the i7 alone (the new one) is 300-350$ if you used your old CPU i7 you can put thise 300$ some where else .. lol and your 700 cant buy you anything with i7 , so using old cpu is better. the graphic card will give you the gamin experience ... here.

the Gaming card that is worth 250$ , you will loose that if you decide on buying new cpu , I will make different machines for you tomorrow , now I need to go.

 

[SNA3]

Wouldn't there be some concern about the high heat of the new Haswell bridges? I know that when building a very small desktop that is one of the main concerns. Also, I've never maxed out my cpu that's running at default speeds except when I was transcoding 1080p video. Thus, I assume a cheap cpu would work perfectly, since I would only be playing video, not transcoding it. Perhaps we could even look for one that is famous for being lower energy (another apparent conern; it's hard to find a strong, small psu that'll fit) and/or low heat - even better if it is well known for media use.

Honestly, I would not mind using any of the parts from my old system. However, any part that is used (besides the ssd), will be replaced by a modern part. As a result, if I decide to use this new rig as my main gaming pc (pc gaming on the tv might be weird, we'll see), then I guess it makes sense to buy all of the parts new. For storage, I will probably need at least 2TB, but obviously it would be inefficient to buy that as ssd. Let me know what you've thought about this.

Lastly, the shape of the slim model is much more appealing to me (aesthetically, can be placed next to any game console); however, I guess the micro-atx cases are shaped like subwoofers, so it would symmetrize my setup.

the case you showed me is 17.0" x 12.8" x 3.9"

the matx I showedyou is 13.94 x11.61 "x 8.66" " , so as you see is smaller, the trick here however is that it takes full cards . which needs 8.66 inch

If you need faster harddisk , then how many TB ? 1?2?3? and do you want it 2.5 or 3.5 ? you know every 3.5 bay can take 2x2.5 harddisks .

as for gaming well it depends what parts I take from your old system.

and , do you want to change the CPU ? or not ?

lol , well the i7 alone (the new one) is 300-350$ if you used your old CPU i7 you can put thise 300$ some where else .. lol and your 700 cant buy you anything with i7 , so using old cpu is better. the graphic card will give you the gamin experience ... here.

the Gaming card that is worth 250$ , you will loose that if you decide on buying new cpu , I will make different machines for you tomorrow , now I need to go.

if you use closed water cooling , there is no problem about the case overheating. you just need 1 or 2 intake fans , and one 120 rear or top fan you attatch the radiator to it ... the best solution for tiny cases is cloosed loops ready made water cooling.

I can give you some very nice looking cases . but your 700$ is very Tight to accept expensive cases .

how about this case ?

http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&category=2&prod=94

Available in white

it is a cheap case and has 2x90 fans and 1x140 fan is good for cooling...

the draw back is no place for DVD or Blue ray