Ritchie888

Hey guys,

Just a quick question in regards to small form factor computers and just general computer building.

I am looking at getting one of these computers off ebay for rather cheap (as you can see):
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/IBM-THINKCENTR...item4a9bb8caa2

I'm a big fan of Lenovo/IBM (I own a Thinkpad) and wish to follow the Lenovo/IBM trend for building a PC.

You'll notice that the link is to a 'blank shell' in that it has a motherboard and an optical drive but not much else.
I was hoping to be able to put in my own processor and graphics card, RAM, HDD, sound card, etc, and build up my own high spec PC for a smaller price than building completely from scratch, however, I have the following questions:

1) I wish to put in a dual or quad core Intel processor. Having a look online I can see that they should fit the 775 socket which was previously used for a pentium 4 processor. Would this work as easy as matching the socket and fitting a new processor and heat sink?

2) Will the graphics card and sound card fit the small form factor chassis? From the pictures provided I can see that there are 2 expansion slots which would take a graphic and sound card but what should I take into consideration when choosing them i.e. size?

3) The motherboard has integrated graphics. If I was to put in a graphics card (dedicated) would it take over from the integrated graphics, add to the integrated graphics, or simply not work at all due to integrated graphics already being installed?

Any other things I should take into consideration would be much appreciated

Regards,
Ritchie

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BSc Cybernetics and Control Engineering - Graduate