A Look At My New SFF Work PC :)

By NextGen_Gamer
in Hardware Hangout

 Share

Recommended Posts

Veteran

NextGen_Gamer

Posted
Posted

I've been at my current job for almost one year now and have been quickly regarded as the "tech guy" (no doubt a lot of you know how all about that). Even though I was provided with a pretty nice Dell OptiPlex for my office, I decided I needed something a little more worthy of being my work computer. After all, I technically spend more time on my work PC than I do on my personal machine at home (a now aging 2009 MacBook Pro - don't worry, that will be upgraded soon enough ;) So, here is what I just got done building over the weekend:

Lian Li PC-Q12A Mini-ITX All-Aluminum Case (with 300-Watt FSP Group Micro-ATX PSU)

ASUS P8H77-I Mini-ITX Motherboard (Intel H77 Express Chipset)

Intel Core i7 3770S Processor (3.10GHz, "Ivy Bridge," 65-Watt TDP)

8GB (4GB x 2) DDR3-1600 Crucial Ballistix Tactical Memory

128GB OCZ Vertex 4 Solid State Drive

Noctua NF-R8-1800 80x80x25mm Case Fan

Total Price ~$850 (doesn't include the cost of Win7 Pro since I already had a spare copy)

Before I get into the performance, I gotta say a few words about the Lian Li case. I have come into contact with Lian Li before, but this is the first time I have owned one myself. In a word, it is pure perfection. Lian Li cases have a such an absolutely beautiful quality to them that it is impossible to describe in words. You have to see and feel one in person to truly appreciate it. At $155 for this particular case, Lian Li is obviously not cheap, but once you have one unboxed in your home you will realize that it is worth every last penny. For those that have the money, I cannot recommend Lian Li enough.

So, how fast is it? Ridicuously fast. I really wish I had recorded the entire Win7 install process to show you guys. From the moment I first pressed the power button to typing in my account name and password, the entire process took just 4 minutes and 33 seconds!!! The Lian Li case has no optical drive bay, so I installed Win7 from a Patriot Supersonic USB 3.0 drive. Between that, the Vertex 4, and the "Ivy Bridge" processor I feel like this must be close to the limit of how fast you can install Windows 7. Boot-up performance is equally impressive. Windows 7 starts up in roughly 20 seconds. I actually posted a YouTube video showing me doing a shutdown/restart (see video here). I also installed PCMark 7 and got a score of 5643 PCMarks.

All-in-all, I am very pleased with the build. It is dead silent with the side panels on, very fast, and gorgeous to look at. If anyone here was looking at building a computer that includes any of the parts listed above, I highly recommend all of them. If anyone has any questions about the build or parts in it, feel free to ask me. And finally, if anyone has any benchmark requests, please let me know - I love testing out computer performance :)

Here are a few pics of the build:

post-58800-0-33989900-1338160917_thumb.j

post-58800-0-60350200-1338160740_thumb.j

post-58800-0-81574700-1338160737_thumb.j

post-58800-0-78384800-1338160743_thumb.j

post-58800-0-09425800-1338160876_thumb.j

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1080079-a-look-at-my-new-sff-work-pc/
Share on other sites
Mentor

Odom Member

Posted
  • Member
Posted

They let you build your own PC and use it at work? That would be cool, I'd replace mine immediately as well :)

I'm curious, how is IT Support provided, if anyone can bring in their own machine and nothing is standard anymore? Do they do it on a best effort basis and the rest is up to the user?

Veteran

NextGen_Gamer

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I'd turn on nogui boot in msconfig to see if that makes it a shade faster (almost no point but it could a fraction of a difference)

Also, nice monitor :shifty:

haha - It's my old Samsung 19" LCD from 2004. I use it when building new PCs/working on other people's computers. Back then, it was a top-of-the-line LCD and cost $399. Nowadays, 24" LED LCDs cost like $200 lol

They let you build your own PC and use it at work? That would be cool, I'd replace mine immediately as well :)

I'm curious, how is IT Support provided, if anyone can bring in their own machine and nothing is standard anymore? Do they do it on a best effort basis and the rest is up to the user?

Wow, very nice setup!

My office PC has remained the same IBM Thinkcentre system since starting at the company over 5 years ago!

Just out of curiosity, what line of work are you in, and do your daily tasks require such a powerful system?

I'm assuming the guy is providing his own support ;). And if he's regarded as the tech guy, I doubt anyone else will be building their own haha

I'm in the oil/gas leasing business. There isn't necessarily a need for all this power - I kinda just wanted to have the fastest computer in the office. However, all this speed does come in handy once you start doing some serious multi-tasking. We use FileMaker Pro for our lease database along with a huge array of Excel spreadsheets. Once you get FileMaker Pro open, a couple 1000+ line Excel spreadsheets, multiple IE/Chrome tabs, some Word docs, etc., you'll understand why the SSD and Core i7 were important for me to have. Even under those circumstances, everything operates buttery smooth, whereas before on the Pentium Dual-Core Dell machine I had it would start to choke-up. Could I have gotten by with less? Of course. But when you have the means to go all-out, why not do it?

Although my primary job there is data entry/lease analysis, I am also trying to fill the role of computer support guy along with server maintenance. So although it's okay for me to have my own PC, the rest of the employees will have to make-do with their Dell boxes ;)

  • 6 months later...
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Posts

    • Linux 7.2's first release candidate gets off to a good start

      By zikalify · Posted

      Linux 7.2's first release candidate gets off to a good start by Paul Hill Credit: Larry Ewing It has been a few weeks since the release of Linux 7.1, and in that time, the Linux 7.2 merge window has been open, where developers can submit their features and patches ready for the upcoming release. That window is now shut, and the release candidate phase has begun so that new features can be tested and further fixes applied. According to the founder of Linux, Linus Torvalds, this week’s release candidate looks “reasonably normal”. Although we are super early in the release candidates, this is a good sign as it makes it more likely that an eighth release candidate will not be needed. Torvalds even mentioned that the update’s stats are only larger than they really are because there was another AMD header drop with a third of the patch just being AMD GPU register definitions, which aren’t big changes but make the code contributed look larger overall. In addition to this, he noted that just over half the patch is drivers, even when excluding the AMD register dump. The rest of the changes are spread out over architecture updates, tooling, documentation, and core kernel updates. In the next week, Torvalds says that he will be chilling out, taking the week “mostly off”. Despite this, he will be reading emails and keeping up with things, so if he is slow responding, now you know why. He said he is hoping for a calm week, but we will just have to see if the second release candidate is actually like that. We should expect seven or eight release candidates before Linux 7.2 is released, so expect it around the end of August. If you missed it a few weeks ago, be sure to check out our coverage of Linux 7.1's release.
    • Why it's almost impossible to produce a smartphone in the United States

      By Asgardi · Posted

      Ridiculous claim that the labor cost difference of $6000 annually would increase cost per phone by $200. The employees produce 3 phones per month or what?
    • Sparkle 2.20.1

      By Copernic · Posted

      Sparkle 2.20.1 by Razvan Serea Sparkle is a free, open-source Windows optimization tool designed to make your PC faster, cleaner, and more private. With Sparkle, you can easily debloat Windows by removing unnecessary apps and services, disable Microsoft tracking to enhance privacy, and apply performance tweaks to boost speed. Its cleaner removes junk and temporary files, while every change is safe and fully reversible. Sparkle also features a modern, user-friendly interface with automatic updates, making system maintenance simple. Explore over 39 tweaks, from disabling telemetry and hibernation to optimizing network and game settings, all aimed at customizing and enhancing your Windows experience. Sparkle supports Windows 10 and 11. Sparkle 2.20.1 changelog: You can now change the Animation Direction from Up, Left, or Off. Added configurable animation direction (Up, Left, Off) for improved accessibility Added TTL caching to the system info backend Refactored tweak application flow to await NvidiaProfileInspector Improved IPC listener cleanup to correctly remove specific listeners Fixed online status not updating after successful network requests Updated system info tests to support backend caching Removed electron-toolkit utils dependency in favor of internal is.dev helper Fixed unwanted files and folders being included in application bundles Download: Sparkle 2.20.1 | Portable | ~100.0 MB (Open Source) Links: Sparkle Website | Github | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • The best controller for XBOX and PC is down to the lowest price

      By Figure 8 Dash · Posted

      Never used the G7 Pro, but I've never had a good experience with that style of d-pad and fighting games.
    • Sihoo Doro C300 Pro V2 Ergonomic Office Chair review: The Ikea of chairs

      By Figure 8 Dash · Posted

      And I just bought a seat cushion for my mesh chair. The chair feels nice but the first time I sat in it with boxers, I realized I don't like the feel of mesh on my legs. 😂

  • Recent Achievements

    • One Month Later
      JKR earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Dedicated
      Asgardi earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • Conversation Starter
      jessse3334 earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • Reacting Well
      JuvenileDelinquent earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • One Month Later
      Excellence2025 earned a badge
      One Month Later

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      496
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      250
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      154
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      86
    5. 5
      macoman
      65
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!