Mini-Itx Core i3

Got a shopping cart of parts that you want opinions on? Get advice from members on your planned or existing system (or upgrade).

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
thejamppa
Posts: 3142
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:20 am
Location: Missing in Finnish wilderness, howling to moon with wolf brethren and walking with brother bears
Contact:

Mini-Itx Core i3

Post by thejamppa » Sat Sep 03, 2011 12:01 pm

Hello guys!

My brother's wife asked me to build her sister a small yet relatively powerful computer. As small as possible but more powerful than Intel ATOM's are.

Sister chose case with her hubby based on the looks so it will go interior and small as possible so:

2x4GB DDR3 1333Mhz A-Data
Samsung Slim DVD drive.
Windows 7 home premium 64-bit
Asus P8H67-I-B3
Core i3 2100
Western Digital 500 GB Scorpio Black 7200 rpm 16MB
Antec ISK 310-150

My initial way was going AMD FM1 and Llano but Core i3 build is actually cheaper and hubby is big Intel fan and Core i3 has more power than A8 3850.

So, does this look balanced? I know ISKo 310-150 has weaklink in PSU but they're not silent freaks so I think it will do just fine. Any suggestions or comments? Should I be aware of something for this? I am doing this on quite tight budget.

HFat
Posts: 1753
Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 4:27 am
Location: Switzerland

Re: Mini-Itx Core i3

Post by HFat » Sat Sep 03, 2011 3:14 pm

There is no such thing as "balanced". Either it does what you want or not.

For many people, dual-core Atom + cheap SSD would be better than Sandy Bridge + HD. But for others, the CPU would be important.

This isn't 2009 anymore. If you're building something for an unspecified purpose and the budget more than 250$, pick an SSD.

On the other hand, 4G of RAM is more than enough for most people.

If you underclocked that 2100 or simply bought a slower CPU (they're branded Pentium and not i3), you could comfortably use the fanless and efficient Antec model instead of the one with the 150W PSU which is most likely quite poor (but I don't know actually... for all I know the new 150W PSU is an efficient fanless model).

Chris Chan
Posts: 436
Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2006 8:15 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Mini-Itx Core i3

Post by Chris Chan » Sun Sep 04, 2011 8:28 am

Why a high end h67 board instead of a more basic h61? It seems like a h67 board would have more integrated devices thus consuming more power. Also check out the i3 2100t low power processor.

(Posting from phone excuse my brevity )

thejamppa
Posts: 3142
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:20 am
Location: Missing in Finnish wilderness, howling to moon with wolf brethren and walking with brother bears
Contact:

Re: Mini-Itx Core i3

Post by thejamppa » Sun Sep 04, 2011 9:06 am

H61's have basicly no stock in here atm at least in Mini-ITX form factor and mATX is too big for them. I don't know why. SSD pumps price too much for decent size one. Those fitting in budget are too small. Computer has to include also OS. Atom is no go, when male of the family had read about Core i3's or Core i5's. No Atom. AMD Llano was most compromise he wanted to do.

Baicly they wanted as small as possible general computer that goes in decoration while word was small repeated heavily. Their current 10 year old is way too big and ugly.

Core i3's 2100t's would be nice, but also way more expensive and basicly no stock here where I am buying them. I'll buy them all from same place so I can get OEm window's 7 with them.

Cheapest SSD's here are 64 GB samsung and 64 GB Buffalo models that are basicly same price than 500 GB HDD I plan (79€ SSD vs. 74€'s for HDD) but it offers not enough space for them for now. 500 GB is fare minimum for surfboard and download machine. With bigger budget I could have got cheap SSD + 1 TB or 2 TB external.

HFat
Posts: 1753
Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 4:27 am
Location: Switzerland

Re: Mini-Itx Core i3

Post by HFat » Sun Sep 04, 2011 10:01 am

thejamppa wrote:when male of the family had read about Core i3's or Core i5's
Those are meaningless marketing designations. The ones with other branding are good as well, with performance more like a 2100T except cheaper.
thejamppa wrote:Cheapest SSD's here are 64 GB samsung and 64 GB Buffalo models that are basicly same price than 500 GB HDD I plan (79€ SSD vs. 74€'s for HDD)
It would be crazy if there wer no cheaper SSDs. Intel has cheaper models. That HDD is too expensive by the way. All of your components are probably too expensive (ASRock boards are cheaper, you have too much RAM and so on).
thejamppa wrote:500 GB is fare minimum for surfboard and download machine.
In this situation, you want a SDD alongside a HD, not an overpriced large SDD.

CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: Mini-Itx Core i3

Post by CA_Steve » Sun Sep 04, 2011 2:45 pm

How about the i3-2105? Same as the 2100 but has HD3000 graphics instead of HD2000. Pricing in the US is only $10 more.

Post Reply