Budget Intel SFF

The budget Intel SFF is capable of basic computing, but you aren’t going to want to play games more demanding than, say, Farmville on this system. In a similar vein, the inexpensive case, power supply, and fan are not going to be particularly quiet. If the primary use will be online shopping, checking sports scores, emailing, working on basic documents and spreadsheets, and removing red eye from pictures taken with a point and shoot camera, this system will handle those tasks easily without breaking the bank.

Intel Budget SFF
Component Description Cost Rebate
Case APEX MI-008 $50  
CPU Intel Celeron E3400 $44  
Motherboard Intel BOXDG41AN $72  
Memory Patriot 2GB PSD32G13332 $20 -$7
HDD Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS $45  
DVDRW LITE-ON iHAS124 $20  
OS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM $100  
Total Price $351 $344
Intel Basic SFF Upgrades
CPU Intel Core i3-2100 $125  
Motherboard ASUS P8H61-I $85  
Total Price with Upgrades $445 $438

While the LGA775 platform won’t see any new budget CPUs—it’s EOL, which makes sense considering

we’re now two cycles away from when it was Intel’s current platform—a more powerful (used) LGA775 chip could be a viable drop-in upgrade as prices on CPUs like the venerable E8400 continue to drop. If you’d rather go with a more up-to-date Intel setup, we’ve included a Sandy Bridge Core i3 CPU and an appropriate motherboard for reference. That combination will substantially increase the system’s computing and graphics capabilities, as well as providing more potential longevity if you want to upgrade the CPU down the road, but it will also increase the price by about $100.

We’re going with a single 2GB DIMM, since that makes it easy to upgrade to 4GB later should that be deemed necessary—you’d just drop in another 2GB DIMM. The APEX case measures 11.8” x 8.7” x 5.1” (Length x Width x Height).

Budget AMD SFF

In a rather bizarre twist, even though AMD is usually associated with budget computing, mini-ITX solutions featuring AMD platforms are not nearly so numerous as those featuring Intel CPUs. Of the mini-ITX AM3 boards that we can find, many sport very outdated chipsets (e.g. NVIDIA’s now-defunct 6100/8200 chipset). The recommended motherboard manufacturer, Giada, is a relative newcomer to the North American market, but of the dozen or so Giada boards I’ve used in builds, they’ve all been acceptable and unremarkable for budget-oriented products. (Note: some of you will undoubtedly noticed there is a less expensive AMD-based mini-ITX board available at Newegg. I cannot recommend it because it uses an ancient (six years old!) chipset that will artificially limit the performance of AM3 CPUs, uses more expensive DDR2 instead of cheaper DDR3 memory, and lacks DVI and HDMI outputs.)

Like the budget Intel SFF system, this inexpensive AMD machine is capable of basic computing, and the cheap case and power supply are not going to be as efficient or quiet as higher quality components. I’ve built multiple systems with each of these budget cases, and they’re really a wash—neither is notably superior to the other. While this AMD system’s integrated graphics are superior to the Intel system’s IGP, it’s still not a gaming computer. The Foxconn case recommended with the AMD SFF build measures 14.2” x 11” x 3.8” (LxWxH).

AMD Budget SFF
Component Description Cost Rebate
Case Foxconn RM233+FSP150-50GLT $46  
CPU AMD Athlon II X2 250 $61  
Motherboard Giada MI-R880G-01 $85  
Memory Patriot 2GB PSD32G13332 $20  
HDD Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS $45  
DVDRW LITE-ON iHAS124 $20  
OS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM $100  
Total Price $377 $377

We really don’t have any recommend upgrades for the AMD budget SFF. If you want to reduce the price, there’s a $55 Athlon II X2 245 clocked at 2.9GHz; however, that particular CPU is an OEM model so you’d need to buy a separate HSF, which would likely cost far more than the $6 you save by going with an OEM CPU. AMD also has the single-core Sempron CPUs, like the Sempron 145 for $36 (plus shipping), but we’re not willing to go that far in pursuit of cost savings. A better way to reduce cost would be to skip mini-ITX altogether and go with a mATX case and motherboard instead; pricing on mATX boards with the AMD 880G chipset starts at a far more palatable $55.

Recommended Budget SFF

The Intel SFF has two primary advantages over the AMD SFF. First, the cheaper CPU and motherboard contribute to a less expensive system. Second, the E3400 CPU loads at much lower wattage than the Athlon II X2 250 CPU, which is especially important in a cramped SFF chassis. There are “E” suffix AMD Athlon II X2 and X3 CPUs with a 45W TDP, but while these energy efficient chips erase the E3400’s thermal advantage, they are also more expensive than the regular 65W TDP Athlon II X2 250 CPU—and they’re also becoming increasingly difficult to find in retail channels. Furthermore, the average user doesn’t load their CPU very frequently, especially in budget systems like these, and the two CPUs idle at very similarly low wattage (i.e. most of the time, neither will be noticeably hotter or noisier than the other).

The two CPUs trade blows on benchmarks; regular desktop users will likely not be able to tell the difference between them in terms of performance. The total price difference is $30 in favor of Intel (looking at just the CPU and motherboard costs, as the cases are interchangeable), and while we don’t have either of these CPUs in Bench, you can get a reasonable idea of how they stack up by looking at the Athlon II 255 vs. Pentium E5200. (The 255 is clocked at 3.1GHz vs. 3.0GHz, and the E5200 is clocked at 2.5GHz with 2MB cache, compared to 2.6GHz with 1MB cache on the E3400.) Intel generally gets better optimizations for multimedia work, but the AMD CPU is faster in many general-use tasks (which the gaming results help to show, though those are with a discrete GPU installed).

If you have to buy right now, we give a slight edge to Intel’s old platform, but remember that the impending release of AMD’s Llano platform could shake things up at the budget end. We’ll have to wait for mini-ITX Llano boards to hit retail channels, and then we’ll see how expensive they are. That could take several months, so waiting for a budget Llano-based system is an individual decision.

Defining Small Form Factor SFF HTPCs
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  • Gigantopithecus - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link

    "Should" being the operative word - in my experience, up-plugging is hit and miss - more hit than miss, but still enough misses that I'm hesitant to recommend doing so without strong qualifications and very specific card/board pairings (none of which are appropriate for this guide).
  • medi01 - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link

    Very strange choice of components in general.
  • fujii13 - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link

    Some of us aren't looking to have a separate HTCP from our NAS and/or server and would prefer it to be all in one box. I'm currently running Windows 7 as my head, but have Remote Desktop hacked to allow multiple simultaneous logins and the second login is doing all of my downloading/renaming/organizing of my media mostly automatically without disturbing the login that's running on my KURO. Unfortunately I'm stuck with a crappy USB 2.0 enclosure and have no way to upgrade.

    What options do we have for SFF computers that also house 4 hard drives?
  • jrs77 - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link

    The statement, that an Sugo 05 is noisier because of the plastics etc is totally wrong. Additionally the new version of the case gets shipped with a 450W PSU instead of the 300W one allowing for more decent hardware.

    My current rig: Sugo 05-450, i5-760@stock, GTX 460, 4GB DDR3-1333, 120GB SSD, 500GB 2.5" HDD. The CPU-cooler is a Prolimatech Samuel 17 with an 120mm Akasa Apache PWM. The fan in the front is a Scythe S-Flex 800 and the PSU is turned upside-down and draws air from the top-grill in the cover.
    Or you can use a Corsair H60 to cool the CPU and get rid of a second 120mm fan there to reduce noise even more.

    There's nothing noisy about this case... nothing at all and it is the smallest case you'll find to house a full setup... 11 litres... and you can even put a 6850 or similar into the case with ease.

    The LianLi Q8 is overrated there!
  • Gigantopithecus - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link

    Don't get me wrong - I really like the Sugo 05 - but I simply disagree with you in regards to its noisiness and overall build quality. I think both the Sugo 05 and Q8 are excellent cases - I simply prefer the Lian Li when the budget permits.
  • floobit - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link

    This comment is one vote for encouraging Anandtech to have higher writing standards. This article has a conversational style, and generally lacks professionalism. I want to be able to forward articles like this to professional peers without fear of seeming uneducated by association. This sentence is especially cogent:

    "Second, because they are small, they are also less massive." (p. 1).

    Thank you.
  • Darknite39 - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link

    I don't necessarily view a slightly conversational article in a negative light, but that ridiculous sentence caused me to do a double-take.
  • Gigantopithecus - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link

    You're welcome.

    How often have you heard people complain about their mid and full-size towers simply weighing too much? When describing the advantages of a SFF, I think it's worth explicitly stating that smaller systems weigh less than larger systems. In my experience customers and friends, especially older individuals, often really appreciate having a computer that is physically easy to manage.

    As for the rest of your criticism, the point of the guides I've written for Anandtech is to detail a selection of components that work well together to perform a specific task. It is not to give detailed technical specifications of individual components (other articles on this site often do that). My guides are starting points for readers interested in researching different types of computers with suggestions for builds. My writing style reflects how I speak with my customers, friends, and colleagues about PCs, so I'm at a loss when you state that this article "generally lacks professionalism."
  • Mr Perfect - Thursday, May 26, 2011 - link

    It looks like Zach is using "massive" to refer to weight, with that odd sentence boiling down to "Second, because they are small, they are also less heavy.". I know AT has some international writers, so it's worth pointing out that in the States, massive is used to describe volume. The sentence reads to us as "Second, because they are small, they are also less big.". You can see the confusion.
  • cjs150 - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link

    If you want an HTPC that will allow you to rip Blu-rays at 100 fps then fine go with intel i3/i5 but if all you want in an HTPC is stream, play blu-rays, rips some music, watch TV then the suggestions from Anandtech are just plain wrong.

    A simple HTPC should be built along following lines

    1. Passive Zacate board (ASus do one)
    2. 4 Mb low voltage memory.
    3. 64g SSD
    4. 2.5" HD but in a silence box (Scythe do a nice one)
    5. Case is tricky - check out the cases from Wesana. New company to me and look rather nice - totally fanless is possible with something like Morex 3500 but it is a bit plasticky
    6. Power supply. Pico-ITX is the way to go, but they really need to produce 24 pin version in less than 150 W, this is a company that needs to refresh its product a bit

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