Advice/thoughts/suggestions on building a CHEAP gamebox

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isiolia
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Re: Advice/thoughts/suggestions on building a CHEAP gamebox

Post by isiolia »

noiseredux wrote: Is there a similar case w/ power supply for the same price or cheaper that you'd recommend for any reason?
Personally, I would consider cases that can accommodate micro-ATX boards, unless you're particularly sold on mini-ITX. If you do elect to buy a CPU/mobo/etc, it'd give you a lot more freedom in choosing them, since mini-ITX tends to be fairly pricey for standard CPU sockets, or have very low end stuff in it.

The other angle to it is that more of those cases will come in a form-factor that fits in an AV rack better than a squat micro-tower.

Some of them have PSUs, some not, though the downside to some that do is that the PSU may not be standard size.


I'd definitely keep the overall budget in mind though, since it wouldn't take that much until you hit refurb recent-ish Mac Mini territory or something.
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Re: Advice/thoughts/suggestions on building a CHEAP gamebox

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The only reason I personally am going with a mini-ITX is strictly space. I have NO room for anything bigger and it sucks. If you have the room, I'd recommend a larger board. Going with mini-ITX limits my options in terms of graphics cards as well. I'll end up having to use the integrated graphics with the latest i5 processors for my build.

For Linux, I don't recommend using what I use. Get yourself Mint as it's like Ubuntu but a bit more polished. If you want optimum speeds you can get a lighter version of Mint like XFCE. Otherwise you can just stick with the regular Linux Mint install which should be fine.
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noiseredux
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Re: Advice/thoughts/suggestions on building a CHEAP gamebox

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jinx wrote:The only reason I personally am going with a mini-ITX is strictly space. I have NO room for anything bigger and it sucks. If you have the room, I'd recommend a larger board. Going with mini-ITX limits my options in terms of graphics cards as well. I'll end up having to use the integrated graphics with the latest i5 processors for my build.
yeah for me I'm concerned w/ space as well. I really want this to come out looking like a console and not just a computer next to a TV. If anyone can link me to a small-ish case w/ PSU that's around $50 that you'd recommend, I'm interested. Otherwise, I'm gonna plan to go w/ the mini-ITX one that I lined earlier.
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Re: Advice/thoughts/suggestions on building a CHEAP gamebox

Post by jinx »

This is the one I settled on, although I don't really recommend it. I'll be modding the hell out of it and the external power supply isn't the best.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811321016

The reason I bring this up is because of how I found it. Obviously you're looking for something similar to what I'm doing, so I'd recommend searching "Mac Mini style PC case" and see if you can find something you like. There are versions that have enough room to put in a CD drive as well, but I don't need one.
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noiseredux
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Re: Advice/thoughts/suggestions on building a CHEAP gamebox

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jinx wrote:This is the one I settled on, although I don't really recommend it. I'll be modding the hell out of it and the external power supply isn't the best.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811321016

The reason I bring this up is because of how I found it. Obviously you're looking for something similar to what I'm doing, so I'd recommend searching "Mac Mini style PC case" and see if you can find something you like. There are versions that have enough room to put in a CD drive as well, but I don't need one.
yeah for me a CD drive is absolutely essential. I might poke around doing the search you suggested. But unless I find something overwhelmingly "better," I feel like I've made my choice on the case...

EDIT2:

I've kind of got my eye on one of these:

Apex:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811154061

Rosewill:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811147098

Senty:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811322013

Xion:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811208054



They still look console-ish (especially if I lay it horizontal), they're about $50, come w/ power supply, and are also ATX and have more room for expansion cards, wire-breathing-room, and airflow.

Which one looks best to y'all?
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isiolia
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Re: Advice/thoughts/suggestions on building a CHEAP gamebox

Post by isiolia »

As I haven't had hands-on with any of them, it's hard to say too much past what can be gleaned from the Newegg comments. All four seem to have PSU issues (though some measure of DOA is to be expected), all four would require low profile cards if you actually wanted to add anything.

That said, most improvements in those regards will mean a bigger case, to support your choice of quality power supply, full height cards, and so on.

That said, while I'm not keen on the two-tone colors, I think the simple 5.25" and 3.5" external bays on the Apex would be nice. Don't need to worry about the optical drive flap button aligning right or whatnot, and have a clean space to put additional front-USB ports, card reader, or whatever else in the 3.5" bay.
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