To SFF or not to SFF...

C

Cire

New Member
Alrighty, I plan on going SFF. I plan on gaming with it too. First off, good idea or bad? Pro's and con's would be nice.

Secondly, I plan on using some of my old parts if I can salvage some. Quick question: Can you take an old CPU off of an old motherboard and use it for a new one?

Thirdly, I want to make one with these parts. Can you find something that will fit all of the requirements. If I need to make some small adjustments, that's alright, but I want to go relatively cheap.

500W L&C B500E PSU
nVidia GeForce 6800GT (might want to go up to PCI express with 7800)
Intel P4 3.0GHz CPU
2x 512 PC3200 RAM
Two HDD's: one 120GB, one 250GB
One optical DVD burner

Thanks for the help.
 
1. SFF is neato idea for lanparties and all only things u need to worry about are
- Smaller case = much smaller selection of GOOD power supplies
- Heat issues in cramped quarters

2. Yes you can take the OLD cpu

Can you find something that will fit all of the requirements
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Seems like you already found your solution
 
I was really trying to ask if there is a motherboard out there that will fit all of that. And then a case too. Do you know how much I'd actually have to spend for it? Does it tend to be a bit more expensive than a regular desktop? I know that most of the SFF's have to come as barebones and the only one that's pretty versitile is the Aria. Do I have very many more options other than that?
 
1. Most mATX motherboards will support those requirements. Now im going to assume that's a Socket775 processor, somehting like this will suffice

2. You can this will also work as a case
 
I love the case. If I were to make one, I would use it.

The motherboard on the other hand wouldn't work. I believe that the socket on the processor is 478. It was the Intel P4 3.0E I don't know if that little "E" makes a difference, but I'm pretty sure that was it. I don't have the box right here, I'm not at my house, but maybe there's something out there for the socket478's.
 
1. Socket478 + PCIE + mATX = damn near nothing if not, nothing
2. E is the designation for a Prescott processor
 
Alright, so if I were to upgrade to SFF, I'd have to get a new CPU. All I want to know is what I'll need to change in order to do it. I can add up the prices and whatnot, but that case looks mighty fine.

If I were to get a new CPU, I'd want to try out AMD. What's the equivilant to a 3.0GHz intel for AMD?

How's this for a motherboard? It seems to fit everything, but how about the CPU? I don't know much about AMD.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135194
 
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Well if you're gaming then I highly suggest getting a socket 939 processor as you have more upgradability options and better processors are available for it. Well, equivalent processors are hard to pick between intel and AMD. I've seen a 3DMark test where a Sempron was near an Intel 3.0e and then later in the article the 3.0E was jsut behind the FX-55 and above a 4000+ in PCMark. Look for a socket 939 motherboard.
 
I've done some research on my own and found an intel mATX board that I think will work with what I need. Can anyone tell me if it's worth the buy/reliable?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131460

I plan on using my old stuff for it. They're all named above. I was wondering though, for my hard drives, will I have to reformat all of them to have them work on the new mobo? Or will I be able to keep the precious data I have stored on there?

Thanks for the insight.
 
Literally? No. But odds are you'll have to reinstall your OS when you make that kinda platform change (requiring, for all intents and purposes, a reformat) so make backups
 
Yeah, that's the problem. I can't really make any backups because I can't access the data. Is there any way to do that? Can I simply hook my HDD's to another computer and grab all of the necessities before doing this? I don't mind reformatting otherwise.
 
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Yeah, that's the problem. I can't really make any backups because I can't access the data. Is there any way to do that? Can I simply hook my HDD's to another computer and grab all of the necessities before doing this? I don't mind reformatting otherwise.
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Yep! Find another machine, pop them in and backup away :)
 
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