Advice on Upgrading My Current Mini PC – Around £1,000 Budget

[borse2008]

Hey all,


I’m looking to upgrade my current home setup and would appreciate some recommendations. I’m an IT tech by trade, so my everyday use involves a lot of multitasking, but I don’t need anything overkill. My main gaming title right now is Euro Truck Simulator, which my current machine handles just fine — so I’d like something with similar or slightly better performance, just newer and more future-proof.


Current setup:

• Intel NUC 11 Enthusiast Kit (Phantom Canyon)
• Intel Core i7-1165G7 (11th Gen, 4C/8T, up to 4.7 GHz)
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB
• 32 GB DDR4 RAM
• 1 TB NVMe SSD
• Wi-Fi 6 / 2.5 Gb Ethernet

I was potentially looking at the ASUS ROG NUC Ultra 9 with 32 GB RAM and RTX 4070 as a similar option, but the price is well over my £1,000 budget. I like the idea of sticking to a compact form factor like a NUC or mini-ITX, as space is limited.


What I’m after:

• Similar or better performance than my current rig
• Compact size (NUC or mini-ITX style)
• Budget around £1,000 (slightly over if it’s worth it)
• Good for everyday IT work and light/moderate gaming

If you’re recommending a build or prebuilt, please list all parts and details, including:

• Case (size and airflow)
• Power supply (wattage and efficiency rating)
• CPU (with generation)
• CPU cooling (air or liquid, low-profile options welcome)
• Memory (capacity, speed, DDR4 or DDR5)
• Storage (SSD type, size, and speed)
• Graphics card (GPU model, VRAM size)
• Networking (Wi-Fi standard, Ethernet speed)
• Ports & connectivity (USB-C, HDMI, DisplayPort, etc.)

Has anyone here upgraded from a Phantom Canyon to something newer in this price range? Would love to see your recommended part lists or complete systems that can be sourced in the UK.


Cheers!

 

[Gray2233]

Can you stretch a little budget wise?

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x MSI MAG A650BN UK PSU 650W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (SKU: POW-MSI-03345) = £49.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600X Six Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DG-AM) = £169.99
• 1 x Lian Li A3 mATX Black (SKU: CAS-LIA-02350) = £59.96
• 1 x Thermalright Aqua Elite 240 Black ARGB V3 All In One CPU Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03254) = £39.94
• 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C38 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLABD532G6000HC38ADC01) (SKU: MY-0B2-TG) = £80.00
• 1 x Asrock B850M-X WiFi R2.0 (Socket AM5) DDR5 mATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-05290) = £124.99
• 1 x Team Group MP44L 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-03128) = £49.99
• 1 x PowerColor Radeon RX 9070 Reaper 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-PWC-04020) = £499.99

Total: £1,086.84 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

This is going to be a lot of uplift over your NUC, but be sure to measure up the case for your area. While the A3 is an M-ATX it's also quite compact and I believe should fit the components I've listed.

I only used the AiO due to height restrictions and it was the cheapest "good" option.

@tamzzy owns or has worked in one I believe and may be able to tell you better.

 

[tamzzy]

While the A3 is an M-ATX it's also quite compact and I believe should fit the components I've listed.

It'll fit

I only used the AiO due to height restrictions and it was the cheapest "good" option.

The A3 will also take dual tower coolers such as the peerless assassin 120 too.
The only reason why I would suggest to get an AIO is because the A3 doesn't come with any fans as standard. So the AIO automatically provides the exhaust fans.
So, just needing to buy a couple of intake fans to mount at the bottom.
2 birds, 1 stone.

 

[borse2008]

After research decided to go down this route to put together a new micro-ATX system for everyday IT work (I’m in tech), some light gaming, and general multitasking. My main game right now is Euro Truck Simulator 2, but I’d like the system to be reasonably future-proof without going overboard.


Here’s the current parts list I’ve priced up from UK suppliers:

• Case: Fractal Pop Mini Air RGB White Micro-ATX Tempered Glass (£74.99)
• Extra: Fractal Design USB Type-C – Model-D front I/O module (£8.32)
• CPU: Intel Core i5-14400F (Raptor Lake Refresh, 10-core) (£98.32)
• Cooler: NZXT T120 RGB White (£33.32)
• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix B860-A Gaming WiFi ATX (£191.66)
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB 32 GB (2×16 GB) DDR5-5200 (£74.99)
• Storage: Samsung 990 PRO 1 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD (£73.16)
• PSU: Corsair RMe Series RM650e (2025) 650 W Gold ATX 3.1 (£66.66)
• GPU: XFX SWIFT AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming 16 GB (£359.99)

Total: ~£981.41


Goals for the build:

• Compact but capable mATX system
• Smooth multitasking (VMs, Office apps, browsers, etc.)
• Run ETS2 easily, plus some headroom for more demanding titles later
• Keep total cost under £1,000

Questions:

1. Do you think the RX 9060 XT is the right GPU for this price point, or should I stretch to a 7700 XT / 7800 XT?
2. Would you swap the B860-A motherboard for something else at this budget?
3. Is the DDR5-5200 speed fine here, or worth spending a bit extra for 6000 MHz?
4. Any bottlenecks or mismatches you can see?

Keen to hear your thoughts before I pull the trigger.


Thanks!

 

[Tetras]

Would you swap the B860-A motherboard for something else at this budget?

B860 is for Core Ultra CPUs, so you NEED to swap it since it won't work. Personally, I'd say a ~£200 motherboard is very rarely justified with a £100 CPU (poor bang for buck overall, in terms of budget priorities).

 

[sastusbulbas]

If you are not planning on using an optical bay or mechanical hard drives you could probably do better than the Fractal Pop case.

It's cooling is a little below average, build space a little tight. Not bad if around £40-£50 but for £90 it's questionable.

 

[borse2008]

B860 is for Core Ultra CPUs, so you NEED to swap it since it won't work. Personally, I'd say a ~£200 motherboard is very rarely justified with a £100 CPU (poor bang for buck overall, in terms of budget priorities).

It's the B860-G board sorry. I want a white board but with all of the latest ports and WiFi available as of now. Are there others ?

 

[borse2008]

If you are not planning on using an optical bay or mechanical hard drives you could probably do better than the Fractal Pop case.

It's cooling is a little below average, build space a little tight. Not bad if around £40-£50 but for £90 it's questionable.

Yep just like the look of this it's subtle not too tacky and looking cheap if they did a match north case id consider this

 

[Tetras]

It's the B860-G board sorry. I want a white board but with all of the latest ports and WiFi available as of now. Are there others ?

That won't work either, B860 is the wrong socket. The CPU will not physically fit (they're incompatible). You need to buy B760 for a 14400.

 

[borse2008]

B860 is for Core Ultra CPUs, so you NEED to swap it since it won't work. Personally, I'd say a ~£200 motherboard is very rarely justified with a £100 CPU (poor bang for buck overall, in terms of budget priorities).

So should I get this instead

Intel 14 Core Ultra 5 225F Desktop CPU/Processor​

 

[Tetras]

So should I get this instead

Intel 14 Core Ultra 5 225F Desktop CPU/Processor​

Reviews are not widely available for this model (at least, not from the sources I usually use).

It appears to be roughly comparable to a 14600 non-K, but without the reviews I normally use, I don't know how it compares across single thread, multithreaded and gaming.

The first Core Ultra model of which reviews widely exist is the 245K.