I was looking at this forum a week ago for info on building such a computer, but kinda had to figure it out on my own. We've been using my 8 year old Pentium 4 machine for the family computer for too long so I decided to build a new one. I thought putting together a mini ITX system in a tiny case would be fun and different so I set to work on it. Here's what I ended up getting:
CPU - Intel Core i3-2100MoBo - ASRock H77M-ITXSSD - Crucial M4 128GBRAM - CORSAIR XMS 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 Ultra Stable Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A1333C8DVD - ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEMCase - IN WIN BP655.200BL Black Steel Mini-ITX Desktop Computer Case 200W Power SupplyOS - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM
Got everything on Thursday and had it up and running after a couple hours. It's so nice when things go together easily.
I went with the Sandy Bridge because the Ivy's are priced a bit high, and the batch that's out now is overkill for my dad's Youtube marathons. I did go with the new H77 motherboard though because the 6 series boards were lackluster at the $100 mark. The SSD is awesome haha. Cold boot to ready in about 12 seconds. If the computer is asleep, wake it up, and it's up and connected to the wireless network half a second after the monitor wakes up which takes maybe 5 seconds! I wanted to get the version Newegg had as the shellshocker for $99 but that sold out in 2 minutes.
I ended up getting this slim, 7mm thick version for $120.
The case is pretty neat. It's a touch taller and longer than an original Xbox 360. Holds a full-sized optical drive making the build cheaper, but not quite as small as you could go. It will hold 1 regular 3.5" HDD and a thin one. I've got the SSD in the thin slot and will put a mechanical disk in the other eventually. Everything is crammed in there, but I guess that goes for any tiny case.
As I learned from the article DPete27 linked, the 200w power supply is more than enough. Ventilation isn't bad with a large grate over the CPU and along the back of the case. There's also an 80mm fan on the side. It's pretty well blocked by the hdd rack and cables, but should still move enough air. I might unplug it and see how the temps do since it's not the quietest.
The only problem I've had so far is a weird thing with the keyboard and booting... The keyboard we're using now is from our first computer we got in 1998 and must be one of the original USB ones. I guess for some reason the UEFI bios(
shh! it sounds weird) doesn't like it, so it takes like a minute to boot up. Using my PS/2 keyboard, the times are 15 seconds like I said earlier. Doesn't affect the startup times from sleep though. I'll try it with my brothers new USB keyboard and see if a usb 2.0 works better.