Help with budget SFF build

[Supervexi]

Hi all,

I plan on making my first foray into the world of Small Form Factor this summer. At this point I have practically no knowledge as I've only dealt with regular sized computers before. So, let me tell you what I'm looking for, and hope you guys can give me some good advice:

-Budget: I'm looking to spend about $600 for the rig, minus monitor.

-Size: I would like something small and cubish in shape.

-Looks: I'm looking for somthing with smooth lines and a plain color (I am going to custom paint it myself - think falcon NW) so no windows, plain aluminum is best

-Needs: This is going to be an internet, music, and dvd watching computer. Little to no gaming will take place on it.

Well, that's the basic gist of it. Hopefully you all will be able to come through with advice on where to learn more, or specific suggestions.

Thanks

p.s. I'm an AMD guy.

 

[Brainonska511]

At home, I have a Q-Pack, great size case. You could have trouble fitting in a full size PSU with a full size optical drive, but there are shorter (170mm) optical drives that work with full size PSUs. I configured the following based on AMD parts, because you can build a cheaper system, and it will suffice for your needs.

I priced this out, but you may find other stuff that suits your needs more/is cheaper/etc:
Case: $70: Silver Front/Black Body or All Black (has a $10 rebate to make it $70)

Processor: $73 AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ (Brisbane (65nm) 1.9GHz)
Motherboard: $74 Asus M2A-VM - Has DVI out on the integrated graphics, 4 memory slots, AM2 board, X1250 integrated graphics
Memory: $120 for 2x1GB of DDR2 800 or you can go with $62 for 2x512MB of DDR2 800
Optical Drive: $28 LiteOn Black DVD-+RW Drive (LiteOns are 170mm long (short drives))
HDD: $70 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 - 250GB
PSU: (The QPack is fine if you choose to use that instead): $60 Antec EA380 380W PSU

OS: $89 for Windows XP Home or you can go with $120 - 64-bit Vista Home Premium or $112 - 32-bit Vista Home Premium
---If you go with Vista, people recommend going with 2GB of RAM instead of the usual 1, but 1 should be sufficient.

With Vista 64-bit and 2GB of RAM and the PSU, the total is $627 before shipping. Using XP Home, 1GB of RAM and no extra PSU, the total is $478 before shipping.

 

[geecee]

The previous post covers things extremely well but you might want to consider this case instead (link for description, not necessarily that vendor, as it can probably be found cheaper). AT reviews it here. It's a little deeper, which means you can probably squeeze the ATX PS and a regular length optical drive in.

 

[Brainonska511]

That is true, the Microfly is another good cube case option. Though, the only drives you really need to worry about (190mm - 210mm) are usually those from NEC. From my own QPack build, I originally used a LiteOn (170mm drive) with the stock PSU. When I upgraded the PSU to an Enermax ATX PSU, I had about an inch to an inch and a half between the optical drive back and the back end of the PSU, which was enough room for the cables connecting the optical drive.

 

[Supervexi]

Thanks for the detailed info guys. I'm checking it all out right now. If nothing else, I at least have a base point from which to conduct my research now. I'll post back once I'm a little more familiar with the hardware you listed. Thanks again