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Micro or mid-tower?

546 Views 11 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  Halfbaked
I need some advice about a pc I want to build.
I'll be putting in an E8500 CPU, a Nvidia 9800 card, 1 Terabyte hard drive.
OS will be XP Pro for now and eventually going to Windows 7.
Using it for some gaming, music, videos and SOHO.
Can a Micro-pc with air cooling keep me cool enough or do I need to go with a mid tower?
And can a micro motherboard handle all of the above?
I'm still pretty new to pc building and need some help with this.
Thanks.
Halfbaked
1 - 12 of 12 Posts
A Micro can do it, you just need to have the proper cooling, and good cable management. Also, overclocking will be at a minimum due to heat.
What overclocking down bs my setup is cooler than most and the only reason i can oc further is becaue of my nvida mobo o well upgrade soon to an asus and Q9550
Welcome to OCN. Mid tower would be a lot better.
Antec 300 - $45 at Micro Center It is an awesome case and can fit in mostly everything.
Also look at
Cooler Master CM 590 or 690
Those 3 cases are probably the best budget mid-towers.
Agreed get a 300 good case and cooling altough my cas is fine for cooling mostly because i have cable managment down to a science and high proformance exaust fans
Micro. It will be easier to fit in the fridge.
for the price difference between a micro and mid tower, i'd go with the mid-tower. I'm using a 690 and have another build started/revamped in a mini tower (cm-330) and it's going to be more of a hassle to build in the 330.. and to get adequate cooling, etc.
You can fit a lot of power in a Micro-ATX box. I have a Silverstone Sugo 3 that will accept three harddrives, a crossfire, or SLI motherboard and any graphics cards on the market.
i had a micro case and a few micro mobos a few years back and I hated it. i didnt have any room to fit anything and could never get the chipsets or fit the gfx cards that i wanted to. i would avoid micro atx unless you are building with the intent of keeping things small.
Thanks all of you for the suggestions.
I think after looking at what you said and some of your rigs, I'm going with a small mid-tower. Possibly the Lian Li PC-60F.
I also got some good ideas for a better video card if I can afford it and my wife doesn't catch on.
Halfbaked
1 - 12 of 12 Posts
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