New Micro-ATX (Portable) Gaming Rig

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twalc6

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Building a New Micro-ATX (Portable) Gaming Rig

Hello! I'm planning to make a new gaming rig that I can move between college, my house, and LAN's easily, as my current case is a very heavy full tower. I'm thinking of buying a Thermaltake VF1000BWS MicroATX case with an 8800GTS 640-MB, which will apparently fit in this case, and an Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe with 4GB DDR2 800 RAM. I'm adding in the 500GB Western Digital SATA HD that I already own, and I may possibly replace the 8800GTS with an 8800GT if I'm able to get my hands on it.

Here's my public wish list link: https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersio...WishListNumber=9277347&WishListTitle=MicroATX


Any comments? The airflow in the case is apparently quite decent for such a small case, and the PSU has removable, modular cables which is useful and recommended for such a build. I plan to run the newest games including Crysis, COD4, etc. and hopefully WAR when it's released next year, but highest quality isn't a necessity for me as long as it's able to run with decent framerates.

One worry and source of confusion for me is the CPU Heatsink/Fan, as I'm not sure which ones will be able to fit the case and which choice would be the best for me.

I'd like to keep the budget under ~$1400, so nothing too extreme. If anyone has any ideas on making this system more hardware upgrade-friendly in the future, please let me know :) Also, is it true that with 4GB of RAM and 32-bit Vista, only a portion of it will be recognized and if so, is it worth it to go 64-bit?

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks for your help :)
 
minor suggestions really.

if you got that money for the CPU, go quad and oc it to 3ghz.
If you feel like you don't need quad, go a lower CPU model like e6550 or e6750, they can both oc to 3ghz easily.

32-bit will only recognize 2.8gb or ram, 64-bit OS won't cost much more and you can have your 4GB. I would get it vista 64-bit. I suggest you get 4gbs of ram as well, helps vista performance.

get another 500GB western digital harddrive for raid. speeds up the harddrive.
 
looks good but lose the e6850 and get this
ClubIT Product - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping Kentsfield 2.40GHz 8MB L2 LGA 775 Processor Retail BX80562Q6600 SLACR
2 more cores, for the same price

and seagate is known for better quality over western digital, and they just came out with a fast one.
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
2 in RAID 0 for fast speeds
and why pay $144 for home basic?
when home premium is $105
Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM
 
For gaming, isn't the dual core option a bit better? Gaming with quad-core isn't available and probably won't be for quite a while, while each core for Core 2 Duo is better. It's just a question, as I'm not *too* knowledgeable or experienced on the subject.
 
it is a bit better for the time being, "bit"
but quad is "A lot" better for multitasking, and more and more games in the coming years, it WILL last you longer
 
Can anyone help me find a heatsink that will work for this case? It has to be fairly small vertically, but I want it to be fairly effective to OC decently. Thanks :)
 
If you aren't completely sure about getting that thermaltake case, I have an Ultra Micro Fly that I'm trying to sell. It's new still in box. I was going to make a SFF pc too, but i said screw it and went with an Full ATX mobo so i could have more options.
 
ac freezer wont fit in that case

options for sff case:
thermaltake lanbox (as previously insisted)
silverstone sugo sg01evo/03
woudn't recommend the ultra or aspire/apevia due to their cheaper construction
make sure when you get a power supply keep the cables short (ie buying the short cable kit for the silverstone strider) or if you cant atleast something modular (not hiper though, because the modular plugs are a bit long)
for a cooler, use either a thermaltake blueorb, zalman 7500/8700, silverstone nitrogen, thermalright si-128 se
 
Can anyone confirm that this will fit the Zalman 8700/7500 (with a large graphics card, namely 8800GT)? I'd prefer that over the BlueOrb, but not sure as it's quite large.
 
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