Photoshop PC Upgrade - Small Form Factor

[RacerTees]

My Acer laptop has finally bit the bullet after 2 years of use and abuse. Had to downgrade laptops for the time being. I am a graphic designer that works mostly in Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop CC. Never do any video editing.

The Acer Laptop was an Aspire 7750, i5-2430M, 8GB RAM, Integrated Graphics, 1TB WD Blue Drive hooked to a 27" Samsung P2770 and a Acer 23" P236H. It did the job very well for me and only seemed to get bottlenecked when I would try to deal with vector graphics with entirely too many points such as very grungy effects.

My plan is to build a small form factor machine to bolt to the vesa mount on my 23" Acer Screen and build a quick custom carry handle. 80% of the time I work at my desk, but about one week a month or a little less we spend in the motorhome on the road, so I would like to be able to take it on the road, but have a larger screen than the 17" laptop screen. Also, working on a laptop keyboard constantly with my desired mouse placement is just less than desirable, so I really would rather have a larger screen and a separate keyboard to use on the motorhome table.

This machine doesn't need to be much more powerful than what I previously had. I would like to keep this around $500 as the budget is pretty tight at the moment and I have another use for this machine when I do build another machine down the road.

Here is what I have put togehter. Give me your thoughts.


PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2G6vK
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2G6vK/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2G6vK/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD A8-6600K 3.9GHz Quad-Core Processor ($103.24 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI FM2-A75IA-E53 Mini ITX FM2 Motherboard ($74.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($156.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Scorpio Black 500GB 2.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($65.68 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Antec ISK 110 VESA Mini ITX Desktop Case w/90W Power Supply ($75.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $476.88
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-23 05:33 EST-0500)

I greatly appreciate your time!

 

[Finidi]

That 90W psu wont cut it.

 

[RacerTees]

That 90W psu wont cut it.

Is there another small case that you recommend. If I have to get a PSU separately that is fine, but I really want this one to bolt on the back of a monitor via the VESA mount.

 

[Finidi]

If you look at pc partpicker your pc will use approximately 170W so id say getting a 200 orr even a 250W psu is what you will be looking at. Now ive been searching dor 20 to 30 mins and cant find any cases with a psu that strong that have the mounting connection on them.

A good alternative would be to get a seperate screen and leave it in your motorhome, then go with a small case and you only got to cary that from your house to your motorhome. Ofcourse you could play around with the case and somehow connect a bracket to it yourself so you can mount it anyway!

 

[RacerTees]

So it looks like I may have to custom build a case to get what I want, no big deal. I have thought about building something similiar to what Crate Computers is doing anyhow.

Alright, beyond the case. How is the A10 actually going to compare to the i5-2430M in my laptop?

 

[Finidi]

What a10? You wrote you were getting an a8...

 

[RacerTees]

I've looked at all of the AMD APU's. Seems to be the best bang for the buck APU but I would be open to any of them.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Other options are the Intel NUC or Gigabyte BRIX systems. I put together a BRIX system with an i5, but it blew your budget out of the water.

GIGABYTE BRIX GB-XM11-3337 Intel HM77 Core i5-3337U 2.7GHz Integrated HD Graphics 4000 $379.49

G.SKILL 16GB (2 x 8G) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model F3-1333C9D-16GSL $144.99

SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-MTE250BW 250GB mSATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $199.99

Total - $724.47

 

[Finidi]

Im jot sure how an a10 would do vs that i5. Probably better I guess, but im not sure since ive never had a laptop with an intel cpu. I have one with an amd cpu which kinda oberheats cuz its all dusty inside and freakin HP build it in a way where you cant get the entire bottom of without breaking it

 

[RacerTees]

Other options are the Intel NUC or Gigabyte BRIX systems. I put together a BRIX system with an i5, but it blew your budget out of the water.

GIGABYTE BRIX GB-XM11-3337 Intel HM77 Core i5-3337U 2.7GHz Integrated HD Graphics 4000 $379.49

G.SKILL 16GB (2 x 8G) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model F3-1333C9D-16GSL $144.99

SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-MTE250BW 250GB mSATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $199.99

Total - $724.47

It's looking ore and more like I should just up the budget to $800 and build a tower and then follow it up with a comparable 17" laptop down the road. Was really hoping I wouldn't have to compromise too much and more easily have a larger screen on the road.

 

[Finidi]

You could. Just have 2 monitors like I said and make your pc in a small case. Might not stick tothe monitor but if you have 1 in the motorhome all the time you only get to cary the pc mouse and keyboard. Or mod a case or beg at crate computers to see if they will sell you just the case and stand and maybe monitor if you need a new one

 

[RacerTees]

You could. Just have 2 monitors like I said and make your pc in a small case. Might not stick tothe monitor but if you have 1 in the motorhome all the time you only get to cary the pc mouse and keyboard. Or mod a case or beg at crate computers to see if they will sell you just the case and stand and maybe monitor if you need a new one

I've already asked crate about the case and they say they are going to sell it as a DIY unit in the future. I may just have to drag out the metal break and get to work.

I really don't want to do this as 2 separate units that I have to constantly move around. My workspace is the dinette and there are 3-4 of us in there when we travel. So the machine has to be completely removed from the table 3 times a day.

 

[RacerTees]

Well. It looks like the best option really is to build a custom case. I can always take these components and put them in another case to use/test while I build the case. Already got the case somewhat mapped out, but I can't wait to start getting components and mocking things up to see if they will work how i envision.

So, tell me what you think of this as an alternative build. Going ahead with the future budget that will take me some extra time to save for.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2GInd
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2GInd/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2GInd/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.97 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i 57.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($46.72 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI Z87I Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($119.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($134.95 @ B&H)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.67 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 650 1GB Video Card ($105.66 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Silverstone 450W 80+ Bronze Certified SFX Power Supply ($69.36 @ Amazon)
Total: $836.30
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-24 08:27 EST-0500)

 

[Finidi]

Looking good, but dont forget you will need to buy your own casefans if you make a custom case,