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 Of the mini-ITX AM3 boards that we can find, many sport very outdated chipsets (e.g. NVIDIA’s now-defunct 6100/8200 chipset).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

    I completely agree, which is why I clearly stated "AMD’s Zacate platform (discussed in our last guide) is far less powerful than an i3-2100T system, but keep in mind that it is sufficient for most HTPC tasks."

    That is, already covered.
  • MrTeal - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link

    As of yesterday Intel released the new Sandy Bridge Pentium chips, and Newegg has stock on at least the G620. The 620 might not be that appealing, but the G620T looks identical to the i3-2100T other than the 300MHz drop in CPU clock. For $50 less, it might be a pretty good downgrade.
  • beginner99 - Thursday, May 26, 2011 - link

    Yeah just saw them too. The G620T looks really nice for a NAS or HTPC. Extra CPU power compared to zacate can be useful in a NAS (RAID). Also Zacate MBs are pretty expensive where I live especially the ones with a usable amount of SATA ports (more than 4) meaning price wise a G620T won't cost much more.
    For a NAS the main problem is a decent case. This mean small but space for at least 4 hdds. Chenbro ES34169 looks cool but very expensive...
  • max40watt - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link

    I suppose this is more in line with the Nettop article, but I built a delightful mini itx AMD Fusion e-350 based desktop in an old NES console a little while back. I've been using it mostly for htpc use (netflix and hulu over boxee software controlled via an iphone) but it's also proven to be fine for light gaming.

    I was worried about the heat inside of the Nintendo, but so far it doesn't seem to be a problem.

    http://bit.ly/ithm17
  • Drag0nFire - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link

    http://www.silentpcreview.com/intel-2100t-2400s
  • Avlor - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link

    Another great case for small form factor PCs in CoolerMaster Elite 100. It looks ok-ish, provides reasonable options for storage and will accommodate mATX boards despite being similar in size to that by Foxconn.
  • Aikouka - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link

    Zach, I recently rebuilt my server with a Core i3-2100t in an ASRock P67 Extreme6 motherboard. I actually used the stock heatsink/fan (HSF), which I normally don't do. I figured that it couldn't be too bad, right? I knew it'd probably be a little warmer. However, what I was very surprised about is how noisy that stock HSF is. I can literally hear my server from a room away, but my HTPC (Core i3 540) using a Thermaltake SlimX3 is fairly quiet (still audible within a few feet).

    To be fair... I'm not 100% certain that it's only the stock HSF's fault and not the motherboard doing a poor power management job. I told the motherboard to allow the CPU to go up to 50C, but it seems to never get that high, which makes me think it's not reducing the power properly.
  • Gigantopithecus - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link

    Bizarre! I wouldn't call the stock i3 HSF silent, but the one I have in my music box up in my loft is inaudible ~10ft away with music at lower volume settings. Something is up with either your particular HSF or your board's regulation of its juice. Also, remember to check basics like having the HSF plugged into the HSF header and not having the HSF plugged into the chassis fan header (with the case fan plugged into the HSF header). I've done that before. :p
  • Onus - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link

    I built a gamer in a PC-Q08R last year (slide show of build on YouTube under user "jtt283"). I also used a 550W Truepower New. The CPU is an i5-650, on an ECS H55H-I. Initially I used a HD4850, which exhausted its heat. I switched that for a GTX460, and noticed a definite (though not hazardous) increase in temps, that also increased CPU cooler noise but not intolerably. I would be perfectly willing to use an even more powerful GPU, but it would have to be another that exhausts its heat. The fact that it will mount more drives than the mobo has ports means I may very well repurpose this machine as a backup server for the other PCs in the house.
  • Bobsy - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link

    Hi, just wanted to say this is a great article. For people who do not work in the field (building computers all day long), it's a great starting point for more research if desired, or a great shortcut for someone who just wants to get the job done. Very professional and well written. Thanks.

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