mATX 350D Build

Relentless81

Relentless81

Relentless81

Soldato
Joined
18 May 2010
Posts
12,870
Hi,

I'm looking to start my next build, I've just bought a 760 which is sat in my current PC, I'll build my new PC over the next few months along side it.

Its been three years since my last build and the introduction of mATX has me tempted by the 350D case however the following few things I am not sure about.

How do I look into what motherboard and processor would be suited to the case with the end goal of being a mid range gaming build? I'm not fussed on intel or AMD what I do want is for it to be more powerful than the next generation of consoles in terms of overall spec

I also have an old Creative sound card, is onboard better these days to save room or should I get a new one as part of the new build?

In regards to the 350D will it take my SSD and two HHD's out of the box?

Thanks
 
Hi,

The first question is what is the budget? I would suggest you go with Intel as you already have a 760 and these will make quite a good pc. The i5 - 4760K would be a good cpu to go for if the budget allows for it. On board has definitely improved over the last few years.

The 350d will also take two HDDs as well as two SSDs.
 
That's pretty much what I'm looking at but I'm unsure of a few things;

Is the G1 Sniper version worth £60 more for the better NIC and Sound?

No idea what cooler to go for, most go Corsair for the 350D it seems but I'm concerned for reliability and not sure what air solutions will fit in a 350D?

Is it worth going 16GB on the RAM or is there a better 8GB kit that might be quicker?

Thanks
 
I'd avoid the mATX path to be honest as it can be limiting.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £194.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £99.95
1 x BitFenix Ronin Tower Case - Black £69.95
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (PV38G240C0K) £64.00
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Warranty £39.95
Total : £468.83 (includes shipping : FREE).




Your old soundcard is most likely still good but I'd bet it's PCI so you'd need a mobo with a PCI slot. Most mATX mobos have dropped it in favour of PCI-E. Maybe the look of this tickles your fancy?
 
honosuseri said:
I'd avoid the mATX path to be honest as it can be limiting.

Your old soundcard is most likely still good but I'd bet it's PCI so you'd need a mobo with a PCI slot. Most mATX mobos have dropped it in favour of PCI-E. Maybe the look of this tickles your fancy?
Click to expand...

I totally disagree..

For single card setups i feel mATX is the way forward,

Some can hold a fair amount of HDD/SDD's and have very good cooling.

For the space they use you can have a powerful machine..

Yes, the top end mATX boards can be expensive, but you get what you pay for.. If youre not worried about Daul GPU setups, you can get a good board for sub £120.. :)

a lot of mATX case don't even limit you on the cooler choice, yu can go for a big air cooler if you wish. :)

Personally im waiting for the Prodigy M, got the same layout as my TJ08-E, which works wonders. :)
 
The TJ08-E I've never liked. It's limits the choice of PSU and Silverstone themselves suggest a GPU that has external exhaust. He is looking at the 350D though which is larger and not far of a midi-tower anyway.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £197.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 350D Windowed Micro ATX Case - Black £99.95
1 x Gigabyte Z87M-D3H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £97.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (PV38G240C0K) £64.00
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Warranty £39.95
Total : £513.97 (includes shipping : £11.75).



The 350D is more expensive than the Ronin and can only hold mATX mobos obviously. This mATX mobo still has PCI slots to reuse legacy devices but you'll lose one slot from the GPU over hang and the PCI slot you use will "block" the GPU venting. This is why Xfire/SLi is frowned on in mATX builds as they don't have room to breathe.

If it was me I'd go ATX....

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £197.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-D3H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £131.99
1 x BitFenix Ronin Tower Case - Black £69.95
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (PV38G240C0K) £64.00
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Warranty £39.95
Total : £515.87 (includes shipping : £10.00).



This is with an Xfire/Sli capable mobo and comes to roughly the same price as the mATX build
 
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honosuseri said:
The TJ08-E I've never liked. It's limits the choice of PSU and Silverstone themselves suggest a GPU that has external exhaust. He is looking at the 350D though which is larger and not far of a midi-tower anyway.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, Cases are personally choices.

I don't follow them rules and have no issues what-so-ever.

I've had an OCZ PSU and now a THermaltake PSU in the case and they both fit perfectly.

Also have a stanard exhaust GPU and have no temp issues atall (apart from the stupidly hot day we had yesterday, should open my windows. :))

I'm agrueing with you, i just want to clear up some valid points. :)


honosuseri said:
The 350D is more expensive than the Ronin and can only hold mATX mobos obviously. This mATX mobo still has PCI slots to reuse legacy devices but you'll lose one slot from the GPU over hang and the PCI slot you use will "block" the GPU venting. This is why Xfire/SLi is frowned on in mATX builds as they don't have room to breathe.
Click to expand...

Out of those two, i'd go for the Ronin too. :)
 
Doomedspeed said:
I don't follow them rules and have no issues what-so-ever.

I've had an OCZ PSU and now a THermaltake PSU in the case and they both fit perfectly.
Click to expand...

Most likely because you aren't trying to fit a PSU to cover Xfire/SLI ;)

Doomedspeed said:
I totally disagree..
Click to expand...

Doomedspeed said:
I'm agreeing with you, i just want to clear up some valid points. :)
Click to expand...

Which is it then? lol

Case is a personal preference true. If he wants mATX fair enough but hopefully we've covered the pro and cons enough for him to make his own decision now :)
 
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honosuseri said:
Most likely because you aren't trying to fit a PSU to cover Xfire/SLI ;)
Click to expand...

Actually (because it was the quickest PSU i could get my hands on when i needed one) it is a SLI/Xfire PSU. Though i only have 2 of the 4 PCI-E cables in it.

(if youre wondering it's a Thermaltake Toughpower i think 750W evo Blue) :)

honosuseri said:
Which is it then? lol
Click to expand...

The last one was meant to say

Im not Argueing with you...
Click to expand...

Damn my Awful Spelling and Grammar :)

honosuseri said:
Case is a personal preference true. If he wants mATX fair enough but hopefully we've covered the pro and cons enough for him to make his own decision now :)
Click to expand...

Exactly couldn't agree more..

It's is agree this time. :)
 
thanks chaps, so its a single gpu that's required I dont have any interest in sli, i have a 760 also im hoping to rid myself of legacy devices, in considering the matx g1 sniper as it has on board creative sound.

So if im only using a single gpu matx is the way to go? And how come the refurb h100 gets recomended so much id be concerned about issues with it?
 
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The point of using mATX is that the case should be smaller. The 350D isn't much smaller than a stand midi-tower case. The TJ08-E Doomed has for his rig is smaller but I think we'd both agree that you should wait and see what Bitfenix does with the Prodigy mATX variant. For what the 350D costs I'd sooner just have the Ronin and use a full sized ATX mobo.

The Sniper is a SLi/Xfire mobo so you are paying for a feature you won't use. So you can get a cheaper mobo and buy a dedicated soundcard or use your legacy one.

The refurb'd H100 is £40 on the pre-order price. That's a bargain for what it is, if it was me and it failed out of warranty I'd probably consider butchering it and using the rad to do a custom loop. You'd just need a waterblock, tubing and maybe use a res with a pump that sits in the optical bay.

It's your build and your cash bud so it's entirely your choice.
 
All good advice, thanks, still really unsure on a refurbed H100 though, surely if it fails its taking other things out with it

I'll look into the other case options and consider full size ATX but I love the look the of the 350D, I suppose if I go full size ATX I can stick with a decent sized air cooler and not have to worry about room as I'm really not into custom water cooling I'm not a huge overclocker and I'm fine with the noise

You're right on the G1, I'm paying for SLi/Xfire but the lesser mATX Gigabyte board also has SLi/Xfire which I don't need, I was more interested in the better sound but cant justify £60 for it
 
Returns are basically faulty products that are sent back, the send the customer a new one and replace rhe defective part/parts in the faulty product. They can't be sold as new for obvious reasons so they are sold as refurbs.

If it fails it will just not cool your CPU, your motherboard will detect the CPU is getting massively hot and switch off for safety.. Unless you do this many times it won't damage your CPU.. Or anything else..

So don't worry, this is a rare occurrnce.

If your set on the 350d go for it. It just means paying more for rhe motherboard.. Due to its size.
 
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