Micro ATX Gaming Build

JoDaMa

JoDaMa

JoDaMa

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Joined
20 Aug 2007
Posts
539
Location
Exeter
Hi all,

I'm looking into building a small machine that won't be used for much other than gaming, the less I spend the better, but consider £900 the absolute limit.

The spec:

CPU: i5 3570k - £180
Mobo: ASUS Maximus V Gene - £155
GFX: MSI ATI 7850 Twin Frozr IV - £175
RAM: 8GB Corsair Vengeance LP 1600mhz - £45
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - £68
SSD: Samsung 830 128GB - £90
Case: Fractal Design Define Mini - £75

That leaves me needing a PSU, mouse, keyboard, OS, CPU cooler, and anything else I might have forgotten.

Other thoughts:

I'll be looking to overclock a bit, but I won't be looking to go crossfire/sli in future. (I'm guessing some of you may suggest a cheaper mobo.)

PSU-wise I'm not too knowledgable, other than that I will want a modular one.

CPU cooler will need to fit inside the case!

No need for a disk drive at this point as I'll be installing the OS by USB.

Suggestions welcome! :)
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards w/ Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showdown PC Games £167.99
1 x Silverstone Fortress FT03 Tower Case - Black (SST-FT03B) £116.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £85.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x ASRock Z77 Pro4-M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £77.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ / ST1000DM005) £67.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £31.19
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775/ AMD AM3/AM3+/AM2/AM2+/FM1) £29.99
Total : £897.08 (includes shipping : FREE).



Yes, i have changed the case, to something a lot more expensive. Feel free to change it back, but if you have no need for an OD, why not make it look god damn gorgeous.

I would drop down on the motherboard to the ASrock or the gigabyte mATX of the Dh3.

EDIT: do you need an OS in the budget then (if you are installing by USB? It would make things SOOO much easier.
 
He said he'll be overclock (a bit), which means not trying to achieve mega high clocks. Also he doesn't need to consider SLI/Xfire.

Those are the two features that really make the Gene Desirable. (apart from it's so pretty, obviously) :)

Also the ASrock boards, as well as the gigabyte board, are very well made and very reliable while still have great OC features.
 
Why not? ASRock boards are pretty good, and for the i5 you don't really need a fantastic board to overclock it.
 
Thanks for the swift replies!

Doomedspeed your spec looks really good, though I would probably change the case back (as nice as the Silverstone one is). To be honest I'm trying to decide between the Fractal Define Mini and the Silverstone Temjin TJ08-E.

If I could stretch to £1000, would the upgrade to the ATI 7950 be worth it, or would you spread the extra money elsewhere?

Edit: Sorry Deaths Calling, I missed your post there.
That build looks fantastic! GPU space-wise it does look very tight, yeah.
I'll keep an eye on your thread.
 
Last edited:
JoDaMa said:
Edit: Sorry Deaths Calling, I missed your post there.
That build looks fantastic! GPU space-wise it does look very tight, yeah.
I'll keep an eye on your thread.
Click to expand...

I've been reading into GPU risers but I don't really know if they are a good idea or not. Basically moving the 2nd GPU down a slot.

Other than that, I would say the V Gene, I5 3570k and Define Mini is a great setup. Runs silent with the K2 MountDoom but again the cooler is ridiculously close to GPU's pci express. I think that is more of a issue with this cooler rather than the motherboard though.
 
Deaths_Calling said:
I've been reading into GPU risers but I don't really know if they are a good idea or not. Basically moving the 2nd GPU down a slot.

Other than that, I would say the V Gene, I5 3570k and Define Mini is a great setup. Runs silent with the K2 MountDoom but again the cooler is ridiculously close to GPU's pci express. I think that is more of a issue with this cooler rather than the motherboard though.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm fairly keen to stick with that spec, even if it means I might go over budget slightly. I'll definitely be giving overclocking a good go.

How close does the K2 come to the side panel of the case?
I've had a look at the Fractal specs and it says it'll fit a 160mm cooler.
I've got the Cooler Master Hyper 612S shortlisted as a CPU cooler, but I'm slightly concerned it won't fit being 163mm.
Is there a lot of extra room?
 
JoDaMa said:
Yeah, I'm fairly keen to stick with that spec, even if it means I might go over budget slightly. I'll definitely be giving overclocking a good go.

How close does the K2 come to the side panel of the case?
I've had a look at the Fractal specs and it says it'll fit a 160mm cooler.
I've got the Cooler Master Hyper 612S shortlisted as a CPU cooler, but I'm slightly concerned it won't fit being 163mm.
Is there a lot of extra room?
Click to expand...

It's a little tricky to tell but I would say I've got roughly 5mm clearance, maybe a little less. 163mm would probably fit but it might touch the insulation. I don't think this would be a problem.
 
Deaths_Calling said:
It's a little tricky to tell but I would say I've got roughly 5mm clearance, maybe a little less. 163mm would probably fit but it might touch the insulation. I don't think this would be a problem.
Click to expand...

Ah right, in which case I think the cooler that Doomedspeed suggested will be a better choice. (It looks like the miniature version of the K2).
 
Updated Spec

I've had a slight change of heart over the budget.
I think there were a few components that were worth the upgrade over the original spec.

I've listed the updated spec below:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7870 OC Windforce 3X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showdown PC Games £209.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £179.99
1 x Asus Z77 Maximus V Gene Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** Free ROG 16GB USB ** £154.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x Fractal Design Define Mini Computer Case - Black £74.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ / ST1000DM005) £67.99
1 x Samsung 64GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC064D/EU) £64.99
1 x Samsung Green (MV-3V4G3D/US) 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual Channel Kit £47.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775/ AMD AM3/AM3+/AM2/AM2+/FM1) £29.99
Total : £929.00 (includes shipping : £11.75).



You'll notice that the PSU is missing, but I've got that sorted already.

If anyone could comment on the spec that would be great.

The final missing pieces are a keyboard and mouse.
I've been out of the loop for a while, so I'm not sure what's good nowadays, but I was always a big fan of the Logitech G5, so if they make something similar now, that would be perfect!

Thanks. :)
 
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