Building a SmallForm Factor... Help!

[goldtoes]

The Core 2 Duo, IMO, is the best chip out right now. I have used it with some extreme multitasking situations and it has just blown me away.

I have had a few friends who had decided to build Small Form Factor PC's for bringing to LAN parties, etc but ran into heat issues mainly because they are just sooo small. There is no room for enough fans for optimal air flow.

Another reason I don't like Small Form Factor is because a lot of video cards won't fit because they have to be low-profile.

I just hate how small they are and how hard it is just to get in there and do some small task. For instance, if you have to remove the hard drive, you have to remove like 3 other things just to get to it.

We won't tell your parents you're tailoring this to yourself [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] haha

[BiPolar_Nut]

I agree on the core 2 duo. Supposedly AMD is releasing another chip in the near future that will blow away the Duo's...but that's just life. Intel will counter, AMD will counter-counter, etc. Right now, tho, I'm partial to the Intels. If you really want to get a performance per dollar comparison on specific systems, go to http://www.spec.org and look at the benchmarks for different systems out there (you can compare motherboard chipset/processor/RAM combinations). When I was doing more building of systems, I'd be hitting spec.org pretty much monthly, importing the results into Excel, and sorting on performance numbers...then comparing to pricewatch or my supplier price lists for comparable systems to get the most bang for the buck, flat out baller, and cheapest usable machine specs, depending on the clients' needs. I haven't done that in a while tho, cause it was a lot of work and I haven't built many systems for random people lately.

[cuserounder]

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We won't tell your parents you're tailoring this to yourself [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] haha

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It's OK, I'm a junior in college 4 hours from home.. They know lol...