Slim/min PC

lostforever

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I am going to build a slim/mini/small forma factor PC for my wife. The budget is around £500 and also she has a requirement that the width of the case has to be less than 12cm. In other words case like this is out

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phanteks-enthoo-evolv-itx-mini-itx-chassis-black-ca-025-pt.html

but she wants case like this,

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/fractal-design-node-202-mini-itx-htpc-case-black-ca-061-fd.html

Its mainly for her work. Also she does lot of video encoding and she does some WoW gaming.

Anyone like to take punt at the spec? :)
 
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If she does video encoding and is also using HEVC (H265) encoding, you probably end-up with a Kaby Lake Intel CPU (an i5 will suffice) or a Ryzen CPU. However in both cases you need Windows 10, as support on Windows 7 is not guaranteed. Alternatively you can also use a graphics card that supports HEVC, but that will not work in the casing you will be using.
Next to that I would propose to take a hard disk that is big enough to store the videos and an SSD disk as your boot drive.

With a Kaby Lake processor, you can use a motherboard based on Z170 chipset. Probably a H170 version also suffices, but you need to take care that it offers support for Kaby Lake processors out of the box (older ones don't do that and need a BIOS update, which is difficult to accomplish if you cannot install a non Kaby Lake processor first).

That combined with 16GB of memory (2400MHz), a Hard disk and an SSD, will however set you off for more than 500 GBP, especially as your casing needs a Power supply as well (250-300W should be enough).

So, for that amount of money, you will need to make a number of compromises for video editing and encoding, like no SSD, memory with a lower speed, or even only 8 GB (which will impact video editing negatively).
 
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Thanks for your reply Myrthos. She does not do any video editing. What she wants to do is rip all her dvd and blu rays and encode them. She simply uses handbrake and thats it. Also she already has 4TB HD so we only need to buy a SSD and not both. I also think she only needs 8GB RAM.

This is what I have come up with so far,

Intel Core i5-7500 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor - £190
ASRock H110M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard - £50
Kingston FURY 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory - £60
Kingston SSDNow UV400 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive - £75
Rosewill R379-M MicroATX Slim Case w/300W Power Supply - £40
Gigabyte Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 D5 2GB - £110


its coming to £525 however I am not happy with the case and power supply. I think they not good. Also I did not include price Windows… :p

Also we already have monitor so not part of the budget :)
 
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How critical is the video encoding and gaming. You could go super small with something like a nuc (4x4 square) but they do not have room for gpu and have laptop processors. You could also go with something like zotac en1070. Not sure if the processor is skylake or kaby - i think there is a kaby version on the way. It might be outside your budget but has a 1070 gpu and is fast.
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You are better off with 2x4GB than 1x8GB but personally i would go for 2x8GB. Dual channel is fairly important.
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I'm not in favor of your case or psu but your budget limits your options. There are some nice cases out there but they are more expensive. I'm reluctant to mention them given your budget. To be honest while you are pricing your build you should price a dell pizza box system. They have room for a gpu and usually buying hte gpu through dell is expensive but the base system is usually cost competitive with building it yourself and the case is probably nicer than the rosewill (can't comment on the psu but the psu dell uses have proven reliable). I can't look up the price for you since i'm in USA and not sure of your options in that area. Also if you can spring for it the 1060 might be a better option for gpu.
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Sort of repeating what i said before but if she could skip the GPU then a nuc from msi or gigabyte might be the way to go - not sure if the intel hdxxx is fast enough for wow as i've never played the game.
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Also I think if you drop the requirement for a dvd drive in the case your case options are significantly better. You can use an external dvd drive. In usa they are under $20 so only $2 or $3 more than an internal drive but more flexible. You might also consider itx form factor if you go this route. Mind the PSU if you go with a GPU.
 
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For now video encoding is > gaming so if push comes to shove, we will skip the graphics card but want the option of adding one later.

Good point about 2 x 4GB I will go for that options.

Can you please give link to dell pizza box system even if its US site? So I have an idea what you mean and will look them up in the Eu site. Also pls give link to the cases and psu you have in mind. I think a good PSU is important. I have some flexibility with the budget so we will see :)
 
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I don't think that case is high enough to hold that graphics card. It looks like you need a low profile graphics card, like this one: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC Low Profile
 
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two dell links:
This is a new model i've not seen in person - it is smaller than the pizza box and cannot hold a gpu:
http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/optiplex-5050-micro/pd?ref=PD_Family
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the case is 7x7x1.5 - bit smaller than a mac-mini
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This one is the small form factor 11x11x4 and can hold a low profile gpu
http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/o...s013o3050sffus&model_id=optiplex-3050-desktop
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The case you selected was
17x12x4
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so both of these dells are smaller.
Be sure that you check the psu wattage if you are going to buy a gpu later. You might also price the dell with the gpu just in case they changed their ways with regards to pricing. The specific model I linked doesn't have the option at purchase time.

At work we added low end nvida gpu without issues.
 
Joined
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Messages
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two dell links:
This is a new model i've not seen in person - it is smaller than the pizza box and cannot hold a gpu:
http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/optiplex-5050-micro/pd?ref=PD_Family
-
the case is 7x7x1.5 - bit smaller than a mac-mini
-
This one is the small form factor 11x11x4 and can hold a low profile gpu
http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/o...s013o3050sffus&model_id=optiplex-3050-desktop
-
The case you selected was
17x12x4
-
so both of these dells are smaller.
Be sure that you check the psu wattage if you are going to buy a gpu later. You might also price the dell with the gpu just in case they changed their ways with regards to pricing. The specific model I linked doesn't have the option at purchase time.

At work we added low end nvida gpu without issues.

Thanks for the links, I found them on the UK site. They are nice but pretty expensive... for the spec I want, I am looking to pay £700 but it does include win 10 pro.
 
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These are opex which are generally sold to companies. There are similar insp(sp) models which are a little less expensive but 700 lb seem a bit expensive. However, one thing to consider (do a search) dell frequently have $100 and $200 coupons or deals; can't give precise amount of timing but usually at least once every 2 months so at 500 it might be cost effective.

Thanks for the links, I found them on the UK site. They are nice but pretty expensive… for the spec I want, I am looking to pay £700 but it does include win 10 pro.
 
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If you are on a limited budget go for AMD/ATI.
 
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That isn't always true. If you want to use Ryzen then you need a graphics card as they don't have integrated video. in that case it is cheaper to go Intel.
 
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I still don't trust AMD since I had lot of issues with them in the past. Mostly, high temps etc so I am worried to put them in slim PC where things are going to run hot anyway.
 
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