Putting together a microATX cube PC! Advice Needed.

[jondy]

I've got a friend who has 600 quid to spend on a gaming PC, and has asked me to help him put together a machine inside a cube case, ie

http://www.xcase.co.uk/p/293416/x-cube-black-with-side-top-window-650-watt-psu.html

He's already got optical drives and a monitor.

The problem is, while I've got some experience building regular PCs, I don't know a lot about microATX boards, and I've got no idea whether big gaming cards (hopefully a 8800GT or equiv.) will fit inside those kind of cases.

I'd be going for an intel dual core setup. Decent onboard sound and wifi would be ideal.

So, to summarise -

- Does anyone know of a good, reliable microATX motherboard that fits the bill? (cheapish, on board audio, wifi if possible)

- Which intel dual core processors are worth buying right now, bearing my budget of ~600 quid? Overclocking is definitely an option if the mobo is happy doing it.

- Is it possible to get a 8800GT, or equivalent, into a cube case like the one linked?

Cheers, Jon

 

[ricera10]

I think there are only 4 lga 775 microatx mobos that can overclock, and every other board that can't is pretty much the same in features. So, I'll list my recommendations here:

ABit F-I90HD - This one is a bit older than the other ones, but it has two pci-e x1 slots. It also is the only intel board to use the amd 690g chipset. I'd go for the p5e-vm instead if you can, though.

Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2L - This is the second best overclocker right now for microatx boards, but its onboard features are lacking. It's the cheapest out of the three, though.

ASUS P5E-VM - This one is the best out of all of these, but it is the most expensive D:

I guess pretty much any decent microATX case can fit any size graphics card.

 

[jondy]

Thanks, perfect. I've kept looking at cube cases, and they can apparently settle 8800GT's no problem, so that's sorted, too.

I was thinking about an 8400 - would it be worth going for, or should I stick to the older 6550, 6750 route for now? I don't know much about the current Intel procs, I'm still using an overclocked AMD64 ;(

 

[stintage]

Wait I have that same case i have that same motherboard,they work fine the problem is on my 8600gt it overheats like a bitch.That case has very bad cooling for a great video card.Not even to speak of overclocking.I would go for this one.
http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/prod...AFEED->PRODUCTS&cm_ite=1 PRODUCT&cm_keycode=4