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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.
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.