I am in the process of building one myself, so I don't know first hand, but everybody in the forum tells that the C2D systems are great for Scope boards, so for sure you can go with that.
Which motherboard? I would start by writing down exactly what I need, how many USB ports, firewire, SATA disks, how much ram I need for the system, how much CPU speed, and then would go based on this, to search for the components.
I am investigating much, and I can tell you the following:
800MHZ memory compared with 667MHZ memory is not worth the money, it’s better to get the 667MHZ. The increased performance is minimal and nevertheless, you need to overclock it some to really show any benefit, from 1 to a maximum of 3% difference, but about 40% in “price” difference.
Processor:
If you want a small system as you say, you can go sure with the INTEL CORE 2 DUO E4300 - 1.80 GHZ 800 MHZ 2MB. I have read a few reviews about this processor and it is simply great! No way to get lost in the way with it.
Ram:
I think you should get 1GB of DDR2 667mhz in two sticks of 512 each. It would be better if you chose a pared one, like those offered by Corsair as they tend to work better when fine-tuned by the manufacturer, for the best dual channel performance. I would recommend Corsair, OCZ (very, very good memory), or cheaper but with less performance even with the same characteristics and specs, Crucial or Samsumg.
Power supply: (often and wrongly overlooked)
Please! Spend some money in your power supply, don’t go with a cheap low power one… this is truly important not only for a good working machine, but the safety of the components… With 450W you have enough, but let them be “real” watts. And for them to be real and sustainable 450watts, you need a serious choice like Thermaltake, Coolermaster, Enermax or Corsair for instance.
Video Card:
I think here you can save a lot of money, because you are not going to do any graphic related work, so get a decent 256mb card with an nvidia, hopefully PCIE specific, and you’ll be more than ok. I would like to be more precise in this one, but I have not researched for these particular middle-low end video cards.
Motherboard:
Well… there is an array of motherboards out there… too many to choose from… it is the most difficult choice of them all if you start getting in depth with compatibility, capability, stability and performance issues. It all depends what you are going to do exactly with the system. If you are not going to overclock it at all and you will only be working with Scope, an Intel board will probably be the best choice for you, there are several constantly recommended here in the forum, quite cheap by the way. See Gary posts about them please.
I hope you build a good, stable system, good luck!
But I remember that my old PC was not too noisy compared to the PCs of my friends, but it was a hell of a psycho compared to my Macs ..... it should really be silent and small (I know that there are silent cases - but they are rather big and so on ....)
