My new build. A second Opinion?

wow.... that's an....interesting...thing.... there is no way in hell i would ever build using that case... just building in a normal mid case can be hard enough at times... that's going to get awfully hot, its gonna need a lot of cooling, still, it looks like a decent system performance wise, CPUs are a tough one, of course limited to Intel right now, but you could go as far down as E8200 and not notice too much of a difference, my newest build had a E8400 and it runs really well and it saves $20-30 for an extra 0.16Ghz... then for the little extra money... It goes up and up, just for the extra couple of dollars, however i would say a E8600 is overkill. I would say the Q6600 would be a good choice for this build. The RAM... I cant remember if it was Patriot that had a few problems, either way i would suggest Corsair over anything, best quality by far.

how much experience have you had building computers? i would say that would be a tough one, i know i certainly wouldn't want to be using a case/mobo like that

Yeah, but that still doesnt solve the problem of having to lug around a tower.

Well, maybe you could give me a better Idea.

Im wanting this thing mostly for Media. I have over 3TB of Movies (Im deployed and in the military So i have to keep it all on HDD's as I move around) and usually just watch movies on my laptop. However, Soon im going home and want to setup a little Media computer. Something I can hook to a TV or Projector and use as a Monitor to watch my movies or play PC games.

Before you start saying, "Windows Media blah blah" most of my movies are .AVI's that dont tend to like windows media player. If you get my drift.

So, im stuck using something FDD show or VLC player as the primary viewing source. Ipso Facto, a pre build media machine wont really help me.

At some point I would like to start getting a Blur ray DvD collection going, and will want HD viewing as an option (Hence the need for a video Card that could handle it), also why I put the blue-ray player in the case.

*whew that was a lot*

Hopefully that will give you some more insight and you might be able to suggest something.

In a perfect world, I would just get a Mozart TX and go with the big guns, but as I don't know what my Life situation will be. I still need something semi Portable.

I would prefer to keep whatever I get/make in the under a $1000 range. However, I understand that Im also wanting to do alot.

-Ark

Well. One of the Shuttle reviews says this: Setup:
Q9450 modestly overclocked to 3.2Ghz at 1.2v -- haven't tried anything higher yet, 2 ATI 4850 Radeons, 4GB DDR2 memory, 2x1TB Seagate HD in RAID, LG Blu-ray BD-RE HD DVD
I really don't know how long this setup stayed alive because of the just enough power and the extreme heat, but I'd reckon that with one gfx card you'd be fine.. Still, that seems like a shady setup...

Another option, not necessarily any better in any way, but I just searched the parts for fun...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133044 + a new 60 mm fan
MB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128053 or some else equivalent
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006 (more power than any device usable in that box can use) or if you want modular, as would be maybe better in a small case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139001
295 - 20 rebates with the bigger PSU, 285 - 25 rebates with less powerful modular. +max 10 $ for the extra fan.

I will check CPU and RAM compatibility as soon as the gigabyte site comes alive. -.-*

Okay, at least this mem kit is compatible with the mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145194
Most CPUs need BIOS version 8j, Q6600 needs version 3. Anyways, it's a long list: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/CPUSupport_Model.aspx?ProductID=2534