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Overclock.net - Overclocking.net > AMD > AMD - General > AMD Build Logs | |
Full Powered Gaming mATX (Slim) : Rave
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08-12-09
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#1 (permalink) | |||||||||||||
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Luck : 10pts
 
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Full Powered Gaming mATX (Slim) : Rave
Project Name : Rave
I was asked for a cheap PC to play The Sims 3 on for my girlfriend's cousin. So i hit Newegg and started scouting parts. After a while i decided on the following.
Now the goal of the build was to pack a cheap, powerful, system all into a tiny form factor. The girl doesn't have much space in her room so it was important she could cram it somewhere. Obviously this also means i need to keep temperatures stable under poor airflow or brutal Florida summers. The first point is price. All the components listed above and two additional fans brought the total up to $350. I'm going to load Windows 7 RC on it temporarily so she can get it sooner, then buy an OS later. So that was the final cost, $350. (Includes shipping, price was reduced considerably thanks to Newegg's great deals.) Next aspect was power. I selected the AMD Athlon II X2 Regor for this job. Since the PSU only pushes 300w i was limited also by my power supply. Having only a 65w TDP, this chip was the best power/performance i could find. And at a killer price to aid in our first point. Far from the TDP of 120w found in higher end Phenom chips. Probably because this chip is only 2 cores and some L2. Instead of 4 with a massive L3 pool. Continuing this point is the 740G motherboard from Foxconn. The board shouldn't use too much power since it's a nice little mATX form factor board based on a low end chipset. I'll disable the onboard video or use it for hybrid CrossfireX pending which one uses less power. I want to stress the PSU as little as possible across it's lifetime. Next component was the 4750. Card is tiny, very tiny. (See picture.) But not sacrificing quality or power for this. The card should do near my 3870. Given my 3870 maxes nearly every game to this day (with 2x AA, AA does tear it up.) It also fits snug next to a DVD drive i put in temporarily from here in the shop. The final point was to cram it all in this case. Had to play around with how the screws mounted on the HDD but i got it in snug behind the fan. The 4670 has an inch or two between it and the DVD drive i used to test the form factor. The RAM presents no issues, although i wish now that i had gotten some low profile from Kingston, that would have raised the price. I was disappointed that it looks like it'll be a task to fit in a side panel fan (case is not designed for this.) But i'm up to it, along with my metal cutters, zip ties, and glue gun. Of course everyone skipped the above part. So lets get to what everyone will actually see. (Since i know you won't ever read this.  )Thursday :    Still waiting on the Regor and DVD drive but that won't be too much longer. UPS should drop it off about 10:45AM tomorrow and i will be finishing up the build sometime after 5PM (after work.) I discovered after checking (after it was shipped) if the board supported the CPU which is fresh off the drawing board. Unfortunately no support is listed. It is entirely possible the BIOS will support it but unlikely. May wind up sending it out with a temporary CPU. (A Sempron provided by our charitable Dylan.) Hopefully it will work out of the box, or a BIOS update will be released very soon. May tell the poor girl i need to put it on hold for the BIOS update. I will post some size comparisons after the remaining parts arrive and i piece it together. Please comment with thoughts, suggestions, etc. Wondering if i should get some paint and a brush and paint "Rave" on the side. She'd love that in silver. Update 1 : Parts are in, will commence final half of the build at 5PM or so.  
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Last edited by Licht : 08-13-09 at 01:49 PM |
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08-12-09
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Networking Nut
 
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Looks good. I am really interested in the power supply. If it seems to hold up, this will do great for the low end builds I have been filling orders for lately.
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08-13-09
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Luck : 10pts
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Final pictures. Benchmarks and such as requested in due time.
    WOW my phone lense needs cleaned.
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Last edited by Licht : 08-13-09 at 09:15 PM |
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08-13-09
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AMD Overclocker
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Nice build, but I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get to see a full-on tricked out lanbox with a case like this. You can fit a full-size graphics card and a full-size PSU in that case to make a beast of a SFF machine. Oh well, your build is still awesome for the price. Good job.
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08-13-09
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Luck : 10pts
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Quote:
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08-13-09
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AMD Overclocker
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
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benches!!!!
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08-18-09
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AMD Overclocker
Join Date: Apr 2009
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Quote:
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08-18-09
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Luck : 10pts
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Sorry guys. PC is out of the shop. Only benchmarking i got in is that is plays FEAR totally maxed with a horizontal resolution of 1150 (forgot the vertical) with power to spare.
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08-18-09
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New to Overclock.net
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Nice build. I love sff cases. Might have to check out that card for a future mATX/ITX build. +rep
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