Spec me a mini rig

GreasyDiablo88 · 8 Apr 2014 at 12:18

Hi all!

I recently attended my first LAN party and realised what a massive ball ache it is carting your entire PC from one place to another then back again (my PC is housed in an Antec P280).

While I still want to keep my PC the way it is, I've been contemplating putting together a secondary PC which would only be used for gaming at LAN parties and maybe hooking up to my TV every once in a while.

I'm looking to build a mini-ITX rig, I don't have a specific budget in mind but I would like to keep the cost as low as possible while still having decent performance.

I look forward to seeing what you guys come up with

Thanks in advance!!

drakioned · 8 Apr 2014 at 12:22

nVidia actually have a guide for mini ITX built around a 750Ti

http://www.geforce.co.uk/whats-new/guides/geforce-gtx-750-ti-mini-itx-pc-build-guide

snips86x · 8 Apr 2014 at 12:27

Budget?

GreasyDiablo88 · 8 Apr 2014 at 12:55

snips86x said:
Budget?

I don't have a specific budget in mind but would like to keep the price as low as possible

snips86x · 8 Apr 2014 at 13:03

GreasyDiablo88 said:
I don't have a specific budget in mind but would like to keep the price as low as possible

That makes providing a spec really hard!! What are you classing as low?

GreasyDiablo88 · 8 Apr 2014 at 13:21

snips86x said:
That makes providing a spec really hard!! What are you classing as low?

Haha I know I'm a pain in the arse lol errrm, let's say around £500-£600

honosuseri · 8 Apr 2014 at 13:36

GreasyDiablo88 said:
Haha I know I'm a pain in the arse lol errrm, let's say around £500-£600

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 270 Gaming Edition OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £137.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4430 3.00GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £131.99
1 x BitFenix Prodigy M MATX Cube Case - Midnight Black £74.95
1 x Gigabyte H87M-HD3 Intel H87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £64.99
1 x Silverstone Strider Plus 500W Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (SST-ST50F-P) £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G1600HC9DC01) £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £43.99
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £16.99
Total : £594.98 (includes shipping : £11.75).

stulid · 8 Apr 2014 at 13:45

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Radeon R9 270 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £142.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4440 3.10GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £134.99
1 x BitFenix Prodigy M MATX Cube Case - Arctic White £74.95
1 x Gigabyte B85M-D3H Intel B85 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £56.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £49.99
1 x NZXT Hale Power 90+ 550W '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £47.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £43.99
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £16.99
Total : £590.30 (includes shipping : £17.85).

• Gold rated PSU is made by Superflower
• B85 board has four RAM slots and a VRM heatsink.
• Faster clocked Gigabyte 270 card. It also less likely to leak oil as per thread here.
• Faster CPU

GreasyDiablo88 · 8 Apr 2014 at 13:48

I already have an op drive laying around that I can use so I'll save a few quid there. Also, are there any cheaper, but still decent, mini-ITX cases out there?

stulid · 8 Apr 2014 at 13:48

GreasyDiablo88 said:
I already have an op drive laying around that I can use so I'll save a few quid there. Also, are there any cheaper, but still decent, mini-ITX cases out there?

Is it a SATA interface drive?

There are cheaper cases but most are itX, the spec I did uses a mATX board.

GreasyDiablo88 · 8 Apr 2014 at 13:54

stulid said:
Is it a SATA interface drive?

There are cheaper cases but most are itX, the spec I did uses a mATX board.

I'm pretty sure it is. I hope this doesn't make me look like a complete idiot but whats the difference between mATX and mini ITX?

Idleman · 8 Apr 2014 at 13:55

What Gpu do you currently have, you save money by using that when going to lan parties.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £161.99
1 x Crucial M550 256GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M550SSD1) £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87M-D3H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £82.99
1 x Aero Cool Dead Silence Gaming Black Mini Tower Windowed £72.95
1 x Silverstone Strider Plus 500W Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (SST-ST50F-P) £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £53.99
1 x Raijintek Themis Direct Contact CPU Cooler £19.99
Total : £585.98 (includes shipping : £11.75).

stulid · 8 Apr 2014 at 13:56

GreasyDiablo88 said:
whats the difference between mATX and mini ITX?

The physical size.

A mATX case can sometimes take a ITX board but a ITX case wont take a mATX board.

With MATX because the board is bigger you get more expansion usually such as,

• 4 ram slots vs 2.
• More PCI/PCI-E slots.
• More room for aftermarket coolers.

snips86x · 8 Apr 2014 at 13:57

Idleman said:
What Gpu do you currently have, you save money by using that when going to lan parties.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £161.99
1 x Crucial M550 256GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M550SSD1) £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87M-D3H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £82.99
1 x Aero Cool Dead Silence Gaming Black Mini Tower Windowed £72.95
1 x Silverstone Strider Plus 500W Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (SST-ST50F-P) £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £53.99
1 x Raijintek Themis Direct Contact CPU Cooler £19.99
Total : £585.98 (includes shipping : £11.75).

That's a great idea, swap it out before you go

stulid · 8 Apr 2014 at 13:59

I have already pointed out a better PSU above

GreasyDiablo88 · 8 Apr 2014 at 14:05

I currently have a GTX 580 but I'd rather just have a separate build other than my main PC so I don't have to keeping taking the GPU out and moving it back and forth everytime I wanna use the mini one.

Out of mATX and mITX which would you recommend using?

stulid · 8 Apr 2014 at 14:09

GreasyDiablo88 said:
Out of mATX and mITX which would you recommend using?

mATX because of the bigger size/room on the board and with cases such as a Phenom/Prodigy the two size cases are the same outside, it is only internally they differ.

honosuseri · 8 Apr 2014 at 14:14

GreasyDiablo88 said:
I'm pretty sure it is. I hope this doesn't make me look like a complete idiot but whats the difference between mATX and mini ITX?

I used the Prodigy as it's popular for LANs, it basically has built in carry handles lol They do a mini-itx variant but it's the same size, it's just the internal layout that differs to allow different sized mobos.

I thought the NZXT Hale 550W was a non modular PSU

No hotlinking of images.

I used the Vulcan over the Elite RAM as it had better CAS timings for the same price. Hopefully you are getting a good idea of what's possible for your cash

GreasyDiablo88 · 8 Apr 2014 at 14:25

I'm quite surprised how good a build I can get with the budget I said in all honesty! I preferably wanted an Intel based build but didn't think I'd be able to afford so that's a plus

will a 550W PSU be enough power? My PSU in my main PC is 750W

stulid · 8 Apr 2014 at 14:25

GreasyDiablo88 said:
I'm quite surprised how good a build I can get with the budget I said in all honesty! I preferably wanted an Intel based build but didn't think I'd be able to afford so that's a plus will a 550W PSU be enough power? My PSU in my main PC is 750W

For that spec a good 500W+ PSU is ample.

Also according to the specs,

NZXT Hale 550W PSU = 45amps on the 12v rail
Silverstone strider plus 500w = 34amps