I build a nice mint box with j1900 and now i use it s webserver radioserver,but i wanted a new low cost linux box for replace the amazing old and elecricity consumption dinosaur (750W consumption).Must be relative cheap good for everyday use (browsing ,media player and some light gaming-probably not so good for Rise of the Tomb Raider but who knows)
The goal is to stay under 300€ using as possible middle range hardware not the best but no the worst either.
I am fan of Asrock i have buy many motherboards and the quality is good enough and the price is affortable.
My option was N3700M Q2900M and N3150TM(all Intel but i use Intel the last 25 years without problems so... )
I bought the N3700M from Asrock.
I choose this one can overclocked if i want is not Atom and i can use full size Dram(the one with laptop memories caused me some issues in the past)
CPU
- Intel® Quad-Core Pentium® Processor N3700 (up to 2.4 GHz)
Memory
- Dual Channel DDR3/DDR3L Memory Technology
- 2 x DDR3/DDR3L DIMM Slots
- Supports DDR3/DDR3L 1600/1066 non-ECC, un-buffered memory
- Max. capacity of system memory: 16GB*
Slots
- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 Slot (PCIE2 @ x1 mode)
- 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slots
Storage
- 2 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors, support NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug
Connector
- 1 x Print Port Header
- 2 x COM Port Headers
- 1 x TPM Header
- 1 x Chassis Intrusion Header
- 1 x CPU Fan Connector (3-pin)
- 1 x Chassis Fan Connector (3-pin)
- 1 x 24 pin ATX Power Connector
- 1 x Front Panel Audio Connector
- 2 x USB 2.0 Headers (Support 4 USB 2.0 ports) (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection))
- 1 x USB 3.0 Header (Supports 2 USB 3.0 ports) (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection))*
Ok motherboard is good low consuption quiet since is fanless and cost me 101€-115€
Memory i could buy from ebay chaep ones but i prefered some middle class and since my motherboard is
fansless i liked some with heatsink so choose Corsair vengeance 4Gb 2x2Gb(i use linux mint so i dont need more than
4Gb ,if you want for light gaming it would be better go for 8Gb or if you dont want to spend so many all together you can buy a Dimm of 4Gb and then later an another 4Gb )
Key Features
-Maximize your system memory capacity for ultimate performance
-Specially selected RAMs for overclocked performance
-1.5V VDIMM spec ensures compatibility with 2nd generation (Sandy Bridge) Intel Core processor family
-Includes XMP performance profile
-Guaranteed to work on all dual channel Intel platforms
-Aggressive Look you want
-Attractively low price
-World famous Corsair reliability and performance
The memory i bought a combo 2x2Gb so cost me 33€
I have a samsung ssd 780 evo 120Gb (cost around 75€) but i could buy also
-Kingston SSDNow UV400 120Gb (read:500MB/s-write:500MB/s)49€
-OCZ TL100 120Gb (read:550MB/s-write:550MB/s)44€
-Kingston HyperX Fury SSD 120Gb (read:550MB/s-write:350MB/s)45€
but i would prefer OCZ better value plus more MTBF around 1.500.000u(in theory 170 years are more than enough)
Now we need a box for all that nice hardware,i need something with a small PSU but no less than 400W because i want to
add a GPU old nvidia that i have (everybody have around an GPU that dont use in my case was a GeForce GT 320 )
not fan of Intel GPU but if you want to keep the cost under 200€ you can choose to work with the internal GPU and
another box with less PSU 200W for example is more than enough.
My choise was PowerCube 715 and really slick looking box with 420W PSU that cost me around 40€-60€(only downside is that you can have cd/dvd player you can use a usb external one)
Front Panel Connections Audio HD & AC 97 2x usb
PSU Standard (non modular) power supply unit
Connectors 20+4pin 1PCS, 12V 4pin 1PCS,SATA 3PCS, IDE (Molex) 4pin 1PCS, Floppy 4pin 1PCS
Main Board Support mATX / Micro ATX / Mini ITX and more...
And we are ready just install the OS and of course is Linux Mint.
Depends on what you need can cost you from 200€ up to 280€ (including ssd and GPU)
Source:
Asrock : n3700m
Corsair : Vengeance®
Spire :PowerCube 715®
....to be continued