copasj

Last time I went I took a shuttle and it worked OK. I'm thinking I can afford to take a little bit larger one this time. Although I would like to keep the form factor as small as possible, so SLI is kind of out of the question. I'm thinking a micro-atx/fragbox sized computer or possibly building what amounts to a HTPC. Not just to pack it over there, but space is at a premium. Last time my room was 6x8 feet, so I would like the computer to cover games, watching DVD's and possibly pulling in TV if AFN is pushed into the barracks. Also, I'd like to be able to easily add a filter over all of the intake ports to minimize how often I have to blow out the inside of the case =p.

Here is the tough part, keeping the price down (hopefully under $1500, but I'm flexible). But still being able to push decent framerates for FPS's and RPG's. I probably won't be heading out there for awhile though, so it doesn't have to built overnight. And frankly, I haven't kept up with desktop stuff. I haven't played much in the way of games sense I got back last time so I really have no clue how the intel vs AMD war is going . I'm thinking intel is crushing AMD right now, but I could be wrong. I do want to go NVidia for the GPU though, due to better linux support.

Any suggestions for cases / cpu / gpu? Any new technology on the horizon I should look into? Do you think a HTPC can be built strong enough to push games like crysis / the witcher and still be quite enough to use in the living room?

oregon

Antec 900, Intel Q6600, Nvidia 8800GT. That would be the current best bet. However, Intel are coming out with new processors soon so if possible you may want to wait for January for those. PCI-2 is also approaching, so you may want to wait for a PCI-2 compatible motherboard as well.

__________________
MB: Gigabyte P35-DS3L
CPU: Core 2 Duo E6550 @3.5hz
GPU: PNY GeForce 8800 GT 512
RAM: 4GBs DDR2-800 (Ballistix and OCZ SLI) CL4
PSU: Antec NeoPower 650W
Case: Antec 900
HDD: Seagate SATA 250GB, 16MB cache
Seagate SATA 320GB, 16MB cache

oscaryu1

Very nice. Except the 8800GT is only an BIT longer for that case... An micro ATX is not an Antec 900

45nm? Then why not just get an 45nm supporting motherboard?

Budget?

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paratwa

He said he wanted to go small form factor! The antec 900 is huge!

In case you did not understand, he is in the military and needs a transportable (small) system to be shipped around the world and fit in small places!

And he said around $1500 for a budget.

diduknowthat

Get the Lanbox or a SG03. They're both very light, portable, and can fit full size cards. In fact, the SG03 can fit dual 8800GTX if you remove the front fan grill.

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copasj

SG03 looks nice even if it would require a lot of filtering. But I can't seem to find any mATX mobo's that support SLI, so what good does it do to be able to fit in 2 GPU's if you can't plug the 2nd into the motherboard...

taylormsj

I hope your joking ! its not very roomy at all

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paratwa

It's a mid tower, I am guessing that is more than he wants. When I said huge, I meant compared to a shuttle or small form factor case.

Antec 900 dim 19.4'' x 8.1'' x 18.4'' (L x W x H)

Shuttle SX38P2 Dim 12.79" x 8.26" x 8.66"

Thats a big difference in size.

When you have to carry it around in a Duffle bag, size really makes a difference.