Howdy everyone,

I'd like to build an ITX box for light gaming and hobby coding. In the past, I've always felt bad about getting rid of an old PC, so this time I would like to be able to turn it into a 2-HDD NAS after it has passed usefulness as a main machine. My budget is between $500 and $600.

I'm currently thinking of a llano A8-3800 machine, but I am having lots of trouble figuring out what a suitable case for my needs would be. I'd like to go with an integrated GPU and may wait for Trinity or Ivy Bridge, but I like to start my research early.

Is there any ITX case out there that:
1) Is reasonably small (the PC-Q08 is a bit too large for my taste, but something like the SG07 and smaller would be ok)
2) Can power something like an A8 with 2 HDDs
3) Has space for 2 3.5" hdds and preferably a full size DVD drive
4) Is reasonably quiet

Thanks everyone for your help!

I've been looking at the APEX MI-008:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 54091-L06B

Any opinions on that? There seems to be some issue with clearance for the CPU cooler. Would a stock Llano cooler be OK for noise, or am I going to want to replace it?

I'm not sure this is a great idea. Low-power boards costing less than 75$ would be better for a NAS. Better sell or simply give your old Llano to a poor gamer after you're done with it.

There are other mITX cases than Lian Li's which take 3.5'' drives. SPCR reviewed one sold by Apex which has apparently also been sold under other names by other vendors such as Thermaltake.
I also remember seeing a mITX NAS case on Morex's catalogue. I like Morex's desktop cases but I haven't tried that one.
I imagine there are a few others. You can probably find some by searching the forum.

Personally i would have gone the Intel route with Pentium or Celeron, since they are so cheap and eficient, and probably will need less cooling, but if you want to stick with amd should be fine also.

If you liked the looks and design of Lian Li Q08, but find it too big, then check the Lian Li Q11, it should be a little narrower and smaller, but a little taller, here are the dimensions

Q08 13.58" x 8.94" x 10.71"
Q11 10.24" x 7.87" x 12.40"

The Q11 can fit full ATX PSU, or if you use a picoPSU, you can fit a very tall heatsink like the Thermalright HR02 Macho, according to thermalright specs, it supports, Socket AM2/AM3/FM1. You might be able to run it without the fan and just the frontal fan.

Guru3d Review puts a peak of 110W for A8 3800, without optical and with an ssd, so in you case with 2x hhds i think you should be fine with something like Premium picoPSU-160-XT/16A 192W AC-DC

The Q11 can mount 2x 3.5 hdds in the bottom tray and has a top slot for the optical drive.

Here will depend on your how much heat n load the setup will be into, but get a huge cooler like Thermalright HR02 and run it passively with just the frontal fan(depending on your mobo cpu socket they might align pretty well), i would probably change the fan for a Noiseblocker NB-BlackSilentPro PK-1 140mm x 25mm Ultra Quiet Fan - 700 RPM - 9 dBA.

If you wish to see a how the Q11 works out with HR02, you can also the space for the hdds at the bottom, check mATX mobo in Lian Li Q11 mini-ITX build

One should also note that Llano's peak power consumption isn't likely to happen at the same time as the drives' peak consumption (when they spin up). Llano will never reach peak consumption in a NAS (that requires 3D software to be running).

If you really want to convert a gaming box into a NAS, another advantage of going with Intel and a dedicated gaming card is that you could remove the gaming card when you convert it to a NAS (or alternatively upgrade it if need be). A modest mainstream Intel CPU will also be upgradeable at little cost (unlike a Llano).

Thanks for the thoughtful replies everyone.

I'm not too worried about power consumption since I usually power all my equipment down if I know that it won't be used for some time (overnight, or if I leave the house, for example). The power consumption numbers at techreport look fine for my usage:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/21730/2

I also tend to stretch my machine as far as it can go before upgrading and typically find I want to replace both the CPU and GPU by then, so I thought something like Llano or Trinity or Ivy Bridge would be the way to go since I can upgrade to a "good enough" CPU/GPU in one shot for less than the cost of buying separately. I am somewhat worried about FM1's longevity and am willing to wait for Trinity or IB.

If that doesn't convince you, then for the sake of argument, let's say I've decided on Llano. I've looked at the Q11 and the Apex MI-008. I like the Q11, but it's quite pricey (no PSU) compared to the Apex. My main concern with the Apex is clearance between the cooler and PSU. Any other recommendations that might fit my requirements and cost less than $100?