Tony Rich

B.S. Computer Science
Network Engineer at Thompson Coburn

SFF Computer

Originally, I was planning on building this computer in a regular case. However, once I noticed the lack of room under my desk I opted for a SFF case. I looked around a bit and found some really nice ones. The problem was that most were quite expensive. I just couldn't bring myself to spend $200 for a case just because it was small. Also, it would require special hardware (in many cases) and I didn't want to be limited in what I could use. At this point I dug around in my closet to see what I could find.

I found a motherboard that I had laying around. It is a Via A7V-VE MicroATX motherboard and supports Athlon and Duron processors. I am using the Duron 1.6GHz processor that came in the "bare bones" kit I bought. Also, I added in some extra memory I had lying around. I have one 512MB PC133 DIMM and one 128MB PC100 DIMM, for a total of 640MB of RAM. I wasn't sure what to do about a hard drive, since all I had lying around was an 8GB. I did some looking around on-line and found a Seagate 80GB 7200RPM drive on newegg.com. They are pretty affordable and meet my needs. It is quiet, cool, and fast.

So, by now you are probably saying "where are the pictures?". I think that's a fair question. Click each image to enlarge.

SFF Computer To create more room inside the case I rounded out the IDE cables. I then taped them and most of the power cords. I was initially concerned with air flow, but the temperature has been very moderate.