Looking to replace Old PC. Need some Advice

[DonnyP]

The PC I have now was custom built back in 2008. Its outdated and is starting to slow down. I'm looking to upgrade to a newer style, but not sure which route to take. I will more than likely turn this old PC into an unRAID server. Seeming as it is a Antec 900 case, which seems to be a popular case for that reason.

I'm not sure if whether I want a small footprint PC, or stick with a full ATX and large case. I was heavily leaning towards picking up a Mac Mini I7, now im undecided. I would like to get into the mac scene and see what the hype about them are. I've grown up and am use to Window though.

I like the small footprint of the Mac Mini and Mini ITX, yet I like having the expand ability and the room a full size tower gives me.

I like to perform all of my tasks with quick speed. I don't like waiting for programs to load, or having long boot ups.

I was just wondering what recommendations you all might have, or what route you would take?


1. What YOUR PC will be used for. Music, Surfing the Web, Photoshop occasionally, photo editing, photo uploading, Media Collection Management, You Tube and other various activities I can't think of right now.

2. What YOUR budget is. Mac Mini I7 is 800, was going to charge it and take advantage of the no interest for 18 months. If buying from the webs, I would say $500-$700

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from. United States

4. IF you're buying parts OUTSIDE the US, Nope

5. IF YOU have a brand preference. Brand Preference isn't really a huge thing to me. I just like reliability. As long as it works and is reliable, I have no issues who makes it. Seagate makes excellent PSU's though.

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are. None

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds. Running at default speeds, not much of an overclocker, never looked into it.

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using? Mostly ran @ 1920x1080

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
As soon as I make up my mind, and find out the best specs for a system that suits my needs

10. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software? No Software needs to be purchased.

I hope I answered and did this correctly. I would just like something that is lightning fast and won't be outrageously outdated in 6 months.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Seagate makes excellent PSU's though.

Sorry, scratching my head over that one.

 

[Ken g6]

Here's a fairly average mini-itx build capable of photo editing fairly fast, improved from the AnandTech holiday build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($162.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Apex MI-008 Mini ITX Tower Case w/250W Power Supply ($49.20 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.95 @ Amazon)
Total: $617.10
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-06 19:07 EDT-0400, because I'm feeling a bit run down.

A few things to note. You won't get a PC the size of the Apple one this way, but this is fairly small. I assume you're not gaming; if you are you need a bigger case. You really do want an SSD for the snappiness it provides, but you might be able to get away with less RAM if you don't use PS for big files.

You do need software. If you build, you need an OS (Windows, or Linux). If you get a Mac, you need a new copy of PhotoShop, or an alternative to it.

@VirtualLarry, I think he means SeaSonic.

 

[Sleepingforest]

I'd say a Mac Mini is one of the worst possible purchases you can make for photo/video editing:

1. The most powerful processor available is a mobile i7 which can't be overclocked and turbos just above at the stock speed of a desktop i7.
2. Only 16GB of RAM at most, and that has to come in SO-DIMM form.
3. No way to use a scratch disk plus a primary storage disk.
4. Really pretty expensive for what you get.

If I were building for "small," I'd go with something like a Silverstone TJ08-e, which is roughly 4 shoeboxes stacked up in size. The reason, for it's comparatively large size is how much it can fit: there is room for a mATX motherboard (and thus 4 DIMMs of RAM), as well as a full graphics card and other goodies. The graphics card option is helpful for many editing applications that can take advantage of CUDA cores in an Nvidia graphics card to speed up man operations.


If I were building for very small, then a Fractal Node 304 might work. It's just barely bigger than two shoeboxes on top of each other, yet still manages to fit a smaller graphics card. On the other hand, it share many of the disadvantages of the Mac Mini, such as very limited RAM size (16GB max vs 32GB max), which is crippling for editing applications.


I think you need to make a priority call between size and power. How much does your editing speed matter to you? Are you happy with what you have right now, or would you like something faster? If you are happy, what were the specs of your old rig, so we can see what kind of power you are used to?

 

[DonnyP]

Sorry, scratching my head over that one.

Doh!!! HAHA, sorry :$

I meant to say SeaSonic, not SeaGate

 

[DonnyP]

I'm not a huge photo/video editing person. I occasionally take some of my daughters photo's and use photoshop on it to make some cool effects. That is about the extent of my video/photo editing. I've probably used Photoshop about 5 times in the past 2 years haha.

I never game on the computer, only the facebook games like Candy Crush : )

I'm just not sure which route to take. I like the idea of having something small and easily portable, that doesn't take up a ton of desktop space. Yet having a larger case gives you more expansion room.

I'll dig up the specs of my current computer, that way as SleepingForest mentioned, you would have something to compare it too. I mean the computer I have now, works great for everything I do. I just wish it was faster/snappier. I hate waiting around lol.

 

[DonnyP]

I was able to pull up my order history, this is what my following PC consists of now.

Case: Antec 900
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UP3P LGA 775 Intel P45
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 wolfdale 3.16Ghz 65W
PSU: Corsair Enthusiast Series CMPSU-550VX 80 Plus Certified SLI/Crossfire Ready
RAM: 8GB A-Data DDR2 (PC2 6400)
Video Card: HIS Hightech H467QT512P Radeon HD 4670 IceQ Turbo 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire
Cooler: XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler I5 775 AMD compatible
Hard Drive: OS Disk is a WD 250GB WD2500AAJS Sata Drive

4 Sata Drives Alongside:

1. 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F1
2. 2x 2TB WD Green Drives
3. 1TB Seagate Barracuda ST31000528AS

Looking to possibly use this one as a NAS, when I build/purchase one to replace it.

 

[Twotenths]

I'm not a huge photo/video editing person. I occasionally take some of my daughters photo's and use photoshop on it to make some cool effects. That is about the extent of my video/photo editing. I've probably used Photoshop about 5 times in the past 2 years haha.

I never game on the computer, only the facebook games like Candy Crush : )

I'm just not sure which route to take. I like the idea of having something small and easily portable, that doesn't take up a ton of desktop space. Yet having a larger case gives you more expansion room.

I'll dig up the specs of my current computer, that way as SleepingForest mentioned, you would have something to compare it too. I mean the computer I have now, works great for everything I do. I just wish it was faster/snappier. I hate waiting around lol.

If all your looking for is snappier/faster then all you need to do is buy a 128GB SSD and install everything you already have onto it. You must have Sata ports and not IDE ports. It will increase the speed by 4x on a Sata2 port and up to 8x on a Sata3 port. If your computer has room for more than 1 hard drive then adding the SSD is all you really need. Keep your old drive for storage and link the two so that you don't keep anything that is not part of the running programs themselves on it. There are YouTube vids that will show you how to do it. You can pick up a used Core2 Quad Extreme for 4 cores for around 80 -125 bucks depending on the speed/core. There is a big demand for these cpu's on eBay but look locally for better prices. I have over 188 programs running on my SSD and it only takes up 56GB of space including Windows. I reroute all my save folders to the normal drive and disable hiberfil.sys and resize pagefile and recyclebin folders to minimize what gets stored on my SSD and move that size to my HDD. So for a SSD and a processor you can regain your speeds to beyond what you had before.

 

[Essence_of_War]

I'll 2nd the "have you considered an SSD"?

It's 170 USD for a Samsung 840 250 GB. Make that your boot drive, put all your applications on it, and keep the rest of your build as is. I would be willing to bet you'll be FAR snappier than a mac mini with a spinning drive.

 

[DonnyP]

If all your looking for is snappier/faster then all you need to do is buy a 128GB SSD and install everything you already have onto it. You must have Sata ports and not IDE ports. It will increase the speed by 4x on a Sata2 port and up to 8x on a Sata3 port. If your computer has room for more than 1 hard drive then adding the SSD is all you really need. Keep your old drive for storage and link the two so that you don't keep anything that is not part of the running programs themselves on it. There are YouTube vids that will show you how to do it. You can pick up a used Core2 Quad Extreme for 4 cores for around 80 -125 bucks depending on the speed/core. There is a big demand for these cpu's on eBay but look locally for better prices. I have over 188 programs running on my SSD and it only takes up 56GB of space including Windows. I reroute all my save folders to the normal drive and disable hiberfil.sys and resize pagefile and recyclebin folders to minimize what gets stored on my SSD and move that size to my HDD. So for a SSD and a processor you can regain your speeds to beyond what you had before.

I'll 2nd the "have you considered an SSD"?

It's 170 USD for a Samsung 840 250 GB. Make that your boot drive, put all your applications on it, and keep the rest of your build as is. I would be willing to bet you'll be FAR snappier than a mac mini with a spinning drive.

Very nice points. I've never used an SSD drive before. Have wanted to always get one, just never have.

Most of the reason I'm looking to rebuild, is because my architecture is getting outdated. My MB has no new BIOS updates, 2010 was the last one. IT doesnt support SATA2 or SATA3, or USB3, or whatever else Im forgetting to mention.

Intel Core 2 Extreme's are still 300-400 depending upon where you look, so I think I would rather upgrade for that cost. Also SSD I can always transfer to a new system.

 

[Essence_of_War]

How about this then:

1) Start w/ mfenn's build of the week:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=32293457&postcount=1

5/5/2013 update:
i5 3570K + ASRock Z77 Extreme4 + Corsair DDR3 1600 8GB combo $327 AR
PowerColor 7970 3GB $380 AR
Sandisk Ultra Plus 120GB $99
WD Blue 7200RPM 1TB $75
Corsair TX650 $61 AR AP
Corsair 200R + DVD Burner $50 AR
Total: $992 AR AP

Cut the discrete gpu since you're not playing games and use the integrated graphics (-$380).

Cut the 1 TB storage drive since it sounds like you have those already? (-$72)

Add a more generous SSD (+$70 gets you the 250 GB Samsung 840)

= $ 682 ($612 if you have re-usable storage HDDs)

It's not the most efficient build...you've got a perfectly good slot for a discrete gpu that you aren't using...but it will be very snappy and fast at any productivity stuff you want to do.

 

[DonnyP]

Taking all my uses aside and not having a buget, what do you think would be the ideal system for day to day use?

Keep in mind, this isn't used one bit for gaming, so I don't need huge PSU's or Dual Video Card's.... etc. etc.

I just want something that will load as fast as I can blink... or somewhat comparable to that haha and won't take up much room.

 

[mfenn]

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($162.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Apex MI-008 Mini ITX Tower Case w/250W Power Supply ($49.20 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.95 @ Amazon)
Total: $617.10
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-06 19:07 EDT-0400, because I'm feeling a bit run down.

The only downside to this build is that the case is a little chintzy. I have one and it does what it's supposed to do, but that's about it. You could get a Silverstone SG05 and 300W FSP SFX PSU for about $30 more.

 

[Twotenths]

Very nice points. I've never used an SSD drive before. Have wanted to always get one, just never have.

Most of the reason I'm looking to rebuild, is because my architecture is getting outdated. My MB has no new BIOS updates, 2010 was the last one. IT doesnt support SATA2 or SATA3, or USB3, or whatever else Im forgetting to mention.

Intel Core 2 Extreme's are still 300-400 depending upon where you look, so I think I would rather upgrade for that cost. Also SSD I can always transfer to a new system.

I've just looked at the specs of your board R1.0 and it seems that your Sata ports are Sata2 3Gb/s which means that you can buy a cheaper Sata2 SSD or get the Sata3 version so that you can use it in a future build. Beleive me when I say 4x faster. I won't build anyone a new system without one. The speed increase is far beyond anything else you can do to your system. You will not see anything else that will come even close to what a SSD will give you. The CPU, VID card etc,.. are just small increases in comparison

 

[Twotenths]

Taking all my uses aside and not having a buget, what do you think would be the ideal system for day to day use?

Keep in mind, this isn't used one bit for gaming, so I don't need huge PSU's or Dual Video Card's.... etc. etc.

I just want something that will load as fast as I can blink... or somewhat comparable to that haha and won't take up much room.

I just built a system for my brother-in-law which is a minimal build. I always invest the most money on the M/B. It gives you upgradablilty. I bought a P8Z77-V Asus M/B and bought the lowest speed i5 that was available. Here is the build list and the total. This thing starts up in seconds. Count to 12 and it's fully loaded and ready from a cold start.

>Asus P8Z77-V LK Socket 1155 Intel Z77 Chipset
>G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL9
>Intel Core i5-3470 Quad-Core Socket 1155
>Cooler Master HAF 912 Advance Mid Tower ATX Case (RC-912A-KWN1)
>Thermaltake TR2 500W Cable Management Optimized PSU (TR500)
>Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 240GB SATA 6Gb/s 7mm Solid State Drive (SSD) , Read: 560MB/s, Write: 520MB/s (MKNSSDCR240GB-DX7)
>AVerMedia AVerTV Bravo Hybrid, TV Tuner - PCI-Express (Low Profile), NTSC/ATSC/QAM, 720p/1080i, H.264 Recording Support (H788) 62.14
>Sapphire (111202-00-20G) AMD Radeon HD 7750 Chipset (800Mhz) 1GB DDR5 (4500Mhz) Memory Dual-Link DVI/HDMI/Display Port PCI-Express 3.0 Graphics Card
>LG CH12LS28 12x Blu-ray Combo Drive, Internal SATA, Black- - Features 12x Blu-ray Read, 16x DVD Write, LightScribe 67.79
>Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
===Total=== 1,299.41 includes all taxes

_________________________
I later added a 1TB WD Cav/blk for a link drive and I optimized his SSD so nothing but the running programs are on it. It Starts even faster after I did that

 

[Twotenths]

FYI Sata3 6Gb/s will be replaced within 2 years with ? I don't remember the correct name of it but part of the arguments were about dealing with HDCP requirements. the difference is that Sata3 throughput maxs out at 768MB/s while the new fiber optic based interface will be able to achieve theoretically 50Gb/s or 6.25GB/s. It will be another game changer. They have already started building boards with this interface but at a reduced speed. It will still be much faster than Sata ports. I knew this was in the works over a year ago but I didn't think it would hit the market for another 3 years or so. The bottleneck for this interface is finding cables that can transfer data at those speeds. The theory was that it had to be fiber optic to keep up. That is most likely why they have released it now because they just don't have the proper connector design to handle the bandwidth. It would need to be connected to a dedicated PCIE x16 lane for the full effect. That is not yet feasible with today's motherboard technology. It will come in time and will be at rated speed in around 4 years or so.

 

[Torn Mind]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($183.56 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Wintec One 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($48.45 @ Newegg)
Storage: Plextor M5S Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($43.13 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 300W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.95 @ Amazon)
Total: $670.05
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-07 00:01 EDT-0400)

Or you can get an i3 and 16GBs RAM. But the most important thing in getting rid of "lag" for you is an SSD. I pay attention to noise made by the hard drive, and web browsing always accesses the disk when you visit a new site, so even a SATA II SSD boosts speeds immensely.


Alternatively, you could try a SLACR Q6600 overclocked+SSD.

The Mac Mini's processor is clocked at 2.3 Ghz, so its performance is nowhere near a desktop i7. And with no SSD, you still get a lag. I hsve a X25-M SSD currently pair with an i7 at 2.6 Ghz and with two cores disabled, and web browsing is "snappy".

 

[Twotenths]

The only downside to this build is that the case is a little chintzy. I have one and it does what it's supposed to do, but that's about it. You could get a Silverstone SG05 and 300W FSP SFX PSU for about $30 more.

>Asus P8Z77-V LK Socket 1155 Intel Z77 Chipset
This board comes with a fairly good video card onboard so you don't need to buy a video card for the time being. It is also a full ATX board. Mini's usually have 2 ram slots instead of 4

>G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL9
This is a basic set of Ram but I would change it to 2x8GB sticks for a little more money. It gives you two extra slots to add more at a later date

>Intel Core i5-3470 Quad-Core Socket 1155
This is a very good processor for the price and the board listed above will handle the 3770K if you wanted to go high end

>Cooler Master HAF 912 Advance Mid Tower ATX Case (RC-912A-KWN1)
This is a Mid tower case and has plenty of room for your HDD's as well.

>Thermaltake TR2 500W Cable Management Optimized PSU (TR500)
This is a very basic PSU and Cable management optimized is still a big mess of wires that are not detatchable

>Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 240GB SATA 6Gb/s 7mm Solid State Drive (SSD) , Read: 560MB/s, Write: 520MB/s (MKNSSDCR240GB-DX7)
I was very pleasantly surprised at the speed of this drive. The original one I was looking for was out of stock at the time

>AVerMedia AVerTV Bravo Hybrid, TV Tuner - PCI-Express (Low Profile), NTSC/ATSC/QAM, 720p/1080i, H.264 Recording Support (H788) 62.14
>Sapphire (111202-00-20G) AMD Radeon HD 7750 Chipset (800Mhz) 1GB DDR5 (4500Mhz) Memory Dual-Link DVI/HDMI/Display Port PCI-Express 3.0 Graphics Card
You can forego these items seeing as the first one is a TV tuner card that was specific to what he wanted. You can always upgrade to a video card at a later date and just use the onboard one for now and see if it's good enough for what you are doing.

>LG CH12LS28 12x Blu-ray Combo Drive, Internal SATA, Black- - Features 12x Blu-ray Read, 16x DVD Write, LightScribe
This specific model was also specified because he wanted a BluRay drive for movies. You can downgrade to a regular DVD burner for $20 or so.

>Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
You need an OS and this is the one I usually recommend. It has some better features than the Home Premium Version. You might not need this if you have one you would rather use for now.
===Total=== 1,299.41 includes all taxes
subtract the video card, TVtuner card and downgrade the Optical drive to a DVD burner. You'll be under $1000.00 for the whole thing including taxes.

 

[Torn Mind]

The IGP is integrated onto the CPU. The chipset does not control it. In the past, the northbridge, which was part of the chipset, controlled it. Some Ivy Bridge CPUs have HD4000 graphics while others have HD2500 laptops graphics.

B75 can also handle a 3770K. Lower end chipsets just mean different features. Quality of the board depends on the manufacturing process.

 

[Sleepingforest]

Twotenths: mfenn wasn't talking about your build when he said "a little chintzy". Plus, your build's motherboard is a bit rich for a non-overclocking, no SLI/CFX build (and WiFi is only like $10 for a USB dongle). The TR2 also isn't that great of a PSU.

On the other hand, that SSD and CPU aren't awful choices, and I think 16GB of RAM is helpful for the ocassional photo/video edit.

 

[Twotenths]

Twotenths: mfenn wasn't talking about your build when he said "a little chintzy". Plus, your build's motherboard is a bit rich for a non-overclocking, no SLI/CFX build (and WiFi is only like $10 for a USB dongle). The TR2 also isn't that great of a PSU.

On the other hand, that SSD and CPU aren't awful choices, and I think 16GB of RAM is helpful for the ocassional photo/video edit.

The PSU is what I consider cheap but the person buying it wanted a cheaper PSU to bring the price down. He wanted a video capture card so I assumed that he would be both recording and editing videos. That is why I put in a discrete video card rather than using the onboard version. He will have better shaders and other features that the onboard card is lacking. I kept it down to a minimal card and told him that if it wasn't good enough the beauty of buying this kind of system is that he can buy a better card at a future date. He can upgrade anything in his system if and when he needs to. He told me that this would probably be the last system he will buy. I in turn made sure it had a variety of added features that would make moving into a retirement home more non-problematic for him. He is 67 ATM and he enjoys using his system and is quite pleased with it. It does everything he wants it to and is fast as well. it will probably out-live him the way it is.

 

[DonnyP]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($183.56 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Wintec One 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($48.45 @ Newegg)
Storage: Plextor M5S Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($43.13 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 300W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.95 @ Amazon)
Total: $670.05
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-07 00:01 EDT-0400)

Or you can get an i3 and 16GBs RAM. But the most important thing in getting rid of "lag" for you is an SSD. I pay attention to noise made by the hard drive, and web browsing always accesses the disk when you visit a new site, so even a SATA II SSD boosts speeds immensely.


Alternatively, you could try a SLACR Q6600 overclocked+SSD.

The Mac Mini's processor is clocked at 2.3 Ghz, so its performance is nowhere near a desktop i7. And with no SSD, you still get a lag. I hsve a X25-M SSD currently pair with an i7 at 2.6 Ghz and with two cores disabled, and web browsing is "snappy".

Thanks for all the great information. To be fully honest , I was going to add a SSD to the mac mini, alongside the stock drive. Then I was going to put in 16gb of RAM.

I just don't know what I want to do at this point. I love building computers and getting new toys haha. Then again I like something I can have "now!" without waiting.

I would also like to turn this one into a NAS, hence why pushing forward to get something new. If I upgraded this one, how much would a NAS cost to build seperately?

I have an Antec 300 case, brand new, just collecting dust in my basement. Not sure if its version 1, 2 or 3 though.

 

[DonnyP]

I also thank everyone here for the great wealth of information! This is truly an awesome site full of great knowledge. Plus you all make it easy for anyone, to ask any question, no matter how crazy they might get at times.

Thank you everyone.

 

[Twotenths]

Thanks for all the great information. To be fully honest , I was going to add a SSD to the mac mini, alongside the stock drive. Then I was going to put in 16gb of RAM.

I just don't know what I want to do at this point. I love building computers and getting new toys haha. Then again I like something I can have "now!" without waiting.

I would also like to turn this one into a NAS, hence why pushing forward to get something new. If I upgraded this one, how much would a NAS cost to build seperately?

I have an Antec 300 case, brand new, just collecting dust in my basement. Not sure if its version 1, 2 or 3 though.

How long have you had it? The latest is the Antec 302 which incoporates 2 USB3 ports. If I look at the case you now have there are no USB3 ports on the front or top panel. If that is a feature you are looking for you might be able to buy a front 5-1/4 bay mesh finish connector for it. Put it right on top of the mesh air filter section and it will blend in much better. As for a NAS system I'm no expert there so I'm sure someone else can guide you through it.

 

[DonnyP]

The Antec 300 I have sitting downstairs is the first version. It doesn't have the USB 3.0 ports on it.