Thoughts about an ultraslim build: is it a better option?

[Am Yisrael Chai]

I know most hackers go with the bigger is better approach to the whole build your own Mac thing. I am not from this school of thought. I am after all a cube owner, so needless to say I like small and powerful. This brings me to the idea with which I have been torturing myself. What would make a good slimline build that would not be too restrictive as far as expandability yet offer ample power and functionality. I have done a bit of research and here are my thoughts:

Chassis:
What do I really need? Do I really need space for two internal 5.25" optical drives? I do not think that to be the case. One 5.25" optical drive is enough for almost all purposes and if another one is required for some reason an external one can be used. Would space for three HDs be enough? I believe so, especially if two were hot swappable and accessible externally. So here is what I found.

Athena Power mATX slimline PC chassis
http://athenapower.us/products/chassis/ ... 015cr.html
3.5" to 2x2.5" external SATA hot swap bay
http://athenapower.us/products/backplan ... a2221b.htm

Power supply:
Now, this is a bit tricky. There are not many microSFX sized power supplies out there that meet power or feature requirements. Luckily, this has improved recently. Here is a 550w 80plus certified active PFC microSFX PS that does seem to fit.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817338037

All of the other components are standard. That includes the video card.

This would be an extremely slim PC with one 3.5"HD and two hot swap 2.5"HDs. Yes, this case has ample cooling while also being compact.

So, is this too insanity? It seems to be a better and smaller option than cube designs while still offering excellent future expandability choices.

 

[fr3z3rburn]

Looks to me like you will be saving just a little bit of room, using less efficient HDDs and spending a ton more money. My thought process is "If you aren't going to move it, why does it matter how big it is?"

fr3z3rburn

 

[Am Yisrael Chai]

Well, it is true that you might spend a little more money; although it wouldn't be that much more. The case is priced at ~$40 without the PS. The amount you pay for the nice mATX PS is about what you would pay for a nice ATX PS. The 2.5" HDD might be slightly more pricey, but not prohibitively so. I have seen 500gb 2.5" drives for ~$80. The rest of the build would be the same price as any other hackintosh. And as far as the reason to go smaller, well that should be obvious. You never suddenly find yourself with too much space on your desktop or in your house. Smaller is better in most cases unless you are trying to build some massive multi-drive server or some sort of ripping-burning jukebox. The convenience and utility of a smaller device is really nice; otherwise people would still be carrying around boom boxes instead of an ipod and earbuds. The ability to hot swap out new sata 2.5" HDDs externally is a feature that would put me at ease for a variety of reasons.

 

[VectorZ]

I built a gigabyte UD2 system in this case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112221

Tons of space inside it. nice form factor for sitting on my desk. Sweet looking - no one will ever question your taste.

If I did it all over again, I might get this one instead:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112220

$20 cheaper... not tiny, but small considering what it will hold.

Smaller but el cheapo:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811204030&cm_re=micro_atx_case_aluminum-_-11-204-030-_-Product