Them little systems

[mrtristan]

So I've been itching to build a new computer for a while now. I need to get a box up and running for my office sometime soon, and I've been considering a mini-itx based system.

The computer will pretty much be a web access machine, so I don't need much expandability. So far, I can't think of any disadvantages to building a mini-itx, but then again, I've never had one.

To the mini system owners out there, anything that you don't like about your set up?

[LighthouseJ]

I don't own a mini-itx box, but I want to say that you shouldn't use mini-itx if you can help it. Mini-ITX to me seems like it was made for people that need a PC in a tight place (inside of a car for instance).

[The village idiot]

I'm surfing on an ITX system right now! M9000 main board which has a 933Mhz processor. It's just fine for most surfing and office type applications. You may want to use a 5400 RPM to keep the power draw down, and if you get the DC powersupply, get the 72 watt supply. The model 2699 case is built like a tank, but the fans may not be the best (including the processor fan). If it is for a web terminal, get a USB CDrom to boot from for loading the OS (in bios change first boot option to boot from USB CDrom) or use good old floppy disk (internal or external USB which is bootable too). You can also boot from LS120 type devices connected to USB. That way you can cut down the number of devices that need to be installed inside. Buy the low profile memory where you buy the mainboard, that stuff is hard to track down, and you really do need low profile. 512MB should be enough for almost anything. Make sure you get one with onboard firewire!!!!! (I use firewire for everything except boot options).

And yes, it will do more complex things like Photoshop, and some ripping and burning. Plays movies OK from most formats, though if the format needs a lot of horsepower, the playback will suffer. MP3 is no problem.

http://www.idotpc.com is a suggested place to purchase

[The village idiot]

I don't own a mini-itx box, but I want to say that you shouldn't use mini-itx if you can help it. Mini-ITX to me seems like it was made for people that need a PC in a tight place (inside of a car for instance).

Oh yes, complete crap! Didn't want to forget that posting. You haven't used one, why the comments?

[The village idiot]

To the mini system owners out there, anything that you don't like about your set up?

Oopps, forgot one. I wish they had had the 72 watt supply when I built mine last year. Sometimes when I power it up, there is too much inrush current to let everything start. This happened more often when I put a 7200 RPM drive in the box, even worse when I had a Maxtor 7200 RPM drive inside. A quick look at the drive specs showed the Maxtor used more power. The extra 10 watts from the bigger supply would come in handy!

[LighthouseJ]

I thought I'd speak up, use the space if you have it. And who knows down the road that you would want to upgrade the system. I know I've built computers for one purpose but they evolved to serve a different purpose. I'm just saying it might be wise if you kept it flexible. If you don't have the space for a desktop or really want a PC with a small footprint, then by all means get one.

[gmatov]

Village,

It's silly to dump on a guy because he says get a full size unit unless you absolutely need a sub-compact. You want to play with one, fine.

Then to say don't use anything too power hungry, with 72 watt PS, sillier yet.

USB everything to cut down on PS draw? Buy a mini-tower and be done with it.

Hell, play with anything you want, just don't suggest that everybody should go your route.

One thread says get 500 watt PS, you tell 'em to try a mini ITX and 72 watts.

Inconsistent.

Cheers,

George

[The village idiot]

What the F**K ever! If he wanted to build a damn tower, he wouldn't have been asking about a mini system would he?

[flaninacupboard]

mrtristan,
power concerns don't always apply. i'm running a mini-itx board, with 256 megs of ram, a PCI firewire card, 60gb 7200RPM drive, 2X DVD burner, USB wifi dongle and a canopus ADVC-100. that's all crammed into a sereniti 2000, about halfway down the page here http://www.ultim8pc.co.uk/index.asp?section=products&idd=2

It was inititally a little noisy, so i changed the power supply fan down to 5 volts, and replaced the CPU fan with a 5volt 80mm fan, so it cools the northbridge as well. now the only noise from it is the hard drive (annoying whine!) so i shall be getting a 5400RPM drive in the near future. as for functionality, well, games are a no-no due to the lack of an AGP slot. stuff like the original unreal tournamnet are justr about playable, anything more modern won't happen. but i can indeed playback just about any media file you chuck at it. mine lives under my tv and captures video from my digital decoder, then my XP2000 encodes it over the network. i also control the machine over the network using RealVNC, hence no keyboard or mouse! all in all it's very handy to have about - the quitness means i don't mind it being on 24/7, which means i alays have instant access to a PC. lovely.

It's been very reliable too - the only fault is that the machine will not shut itself down, it restarts every time instead - but i think that is the firewire cards' fault.

[rallynavvie]

Those mini-PCs are made for a finite purpose. Some build them as internet machines, some for HTPCs, and some have built them to be portable gaming systems. Unfortunately with so few options for internal expansion they aren't very upgradeable or multipurpose. With how much that is now onboard the system board instead of having to buy a PCI card for it there is less need for those slots so fortunately these systems benefit from this. If a board has onboard LAN, USB 2.0, FireWire, audio, and video then what else do most people need in their PCI slots? However you have to justify to yourself the lack of upgrades or expansion with it for the convenience of its small size.

[808smokey]

Play nice kids...

[Tool Man]

I've been considering one of those myself. I would love one of the low power 'fanless' models, mainly so I can hook it up to my router and use it for Kazaa, seti@home, downloads and so on. So my main PC is free for others things, like games.
Does anyone know if they are completly FANLESS? i.e PSU and so on, cuz my setup is in the bedroom, and would like it to run 24/7. and still be able to sleep

[flaninacupboard]

as i said in my post, only noise i can hear from mine is the HDD, when that powers down i can't hear the PC, with 2x80mm 5volt fans.