Mini ITX Workhorse

skaif · 28 Oct 2014 at 21:06

OK so my parts arrived during the week and I was itching to get them together! Have now got it all together in its first incarnation. The cable management here is not the best as I am waiting for a modular silverstone psu with short cable set so will tidy it after that!
In all though pretty pleased with it!
Running windows 8.1 pro with the h80i caused some issues but they were resolved after a regedit tweak and an update to the latest firmware.
System is idling around 27 degrees after being on for 15 hours+ which I think is pretty good right?!
The installation itself was a small challenge, the radiator and fans (push > pull) were a squeeze and the psu comes down on the pipes a bit but nothing too major (I have tried to show in pics). I decided to leave the small 80mm fan in just for some extra air flow and mounted the cpu so that it was taking in the air from the case and expelling it out the back. Will monitor this and see how it gets on!
Really impressed with the z97i-plus. So much tech on such a tiny board!! Still undecided on getting a GFX card and an ODD...will see if the need arises!
Anyway, specs and pics

Case: Cooler Master Elite 130
MoBo: Asus Z97i-Plus
Cooler: H80i
Processor: Intel 4790k
RAM: Kingston HyperX Beast 2400mhz 16gb RAM
HDD: WD 6TB Green
SSD: MX100 SSD 256GB
PSU: Fractal 500w for now (Silverstone modular short cable coming!)

Thanks for looking guys
(Apologies for the quality of some of the pics, was a little excited!)

FloppyPoppy · 28 Oct 2014 at 21:08

Hi skaif,

You should edit the swear out pal not allowed on here it's a family forum

skaif · 28 Oct 2014 at 21:10

oops, thanks for the heads up! (I meant donkey

)

FloppyPoppy · 28 Oct 2014 at 21:15

Donkey huh,

Come on stulid spec him a real donkey system

You will need a graphics card realistically if you are doing any video editing

what you decide on would be important in determining the PSU requirements the guys should be pretty happy to help though

skaif · 28 Oct 2014 at 21:19

Haha, yeah a real kick donkey system please!
In terms of video editing, its going to make basic video tutorials etc most probable using movie maker or something along those lines, nothing too fancy so again, not sure if a card would be worth it...

FloppyPoppy · 28 Oct 2014 at 21:28

im no expert in these matters so other people are going to be more qualified to tell you what would be best.

im more than sure you can render the video on the cpu however it will be well, slow as a donkey in comparison to a gpu

altrewin · 28 Oct 2014 at 21:31

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £259.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 16GB (2x8GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (HX324C11T3K2/16) £129.95
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 750Ti OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (N750Ti-2GD5/OCV1) £107.99
1 x Asus Z97I-Plus Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £105.95
1 x Silverstone Strider SFX Gold 450w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (SST-ST45SF-G) £76.99
1 x SK Hynix 256GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gb/s - Retail (HFS256G32MNB-2201A) £69.98
1 x Corsair Hydro H55 Quiet Liquid CPU Cooler £52.99
1 x Silverstone SST-ML07B Milo Mini ITX Case - Black £51.95
1 x Silverstone SST-SOD02 Slimline Slot Loading 8x DVD±RW SATA Drive - Retail £46.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £39.95
1 x Silverstone SST-PP05-E Short Cable Set For SilverStone PSU Strider Series 100% Modular £16.99
Total : £969.32 (includes shipping : £8.00).

_____
Thought I'd mix it up with a slim itx build. I'd definately get a GPU, I think a 750Ti should be plenty of oomph for video/photo editing.

skaif · 28 Oct 2014 at 21:38

wow thanks for that spec! Looks awesome, that case?! It looks tiny! Can you even get all that to fit in?! lol
GFX card thrown in as well...hmmm think I may have to invest in one afterall...

DaleTheWhale · 28 Oct 2014 at 22:04

What development and editing do you do, some work can be passed over to the GPU depending on what software you use, making it quicker.

Graphics card width may just be OK in that case above.

skaif · 28 Oct 2014 at 22:19

Well I am a teacher by trade so its going to be setting up basic development environments, creating resources (video resources as well) and general work stuff!

skaif · 29 Oct 2014 at 07:15

Does that really warrant a graphics card?

skaif · 29 Oct 2014 at 12:35

just wanted to ask as well, considering that my usage is no gaming and just basic video editing and general work. If I was to add a 3rd monitor (another P2414h) what would be the best gfx card at the lowest price point? As far as I am aware, the mobo can support 3 displays which is a major reason for getting it. Would it suffice at 1080 or would I need an external card?
Thanks again

ZXSpectrum · 29 Oct 2014 at 13:55

I would have thought that the build in GPU in the 4790K would be perfectly adequate for light video editing. A friend of mine does his on an i5 NUC with no problems at all.

skaif · 29 Oct 2014 at 13:58

Cool, do you think it would power 3 24inch screens at 1080?

ZXSpectrum · 29 Oct 2014 at 14:21

I am pretty sure you can.. here is the bit from the website:

Integrated Graphics Processor- Intel® HD Graphics support
Multi-VGA output support : HDMI/DVI-D/RGB/DisplayPort ports
- Supports HDMI with max. resolution 4096 x 2160 @ 24 Hz / 2560 x 1600 @ 60 Hz
- Supports DVI-D with max. resolution 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz
- Supports RGB with max. resolution 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz
- Supports DisplayPort with max. resolution 4096 x 2160 @ 24 Hz / 3840 x 2160 @ 60 Hz
Maximum shared memory of 512 MB
Supports Intel® InTru™ 3D, Quick Sync Video, Clear Video HD Technology, Insider™
Supports up to 3 displays simultaneously
DP 1.2 Multi-Stream Transport compliant, supports DP 1.2 monitor daisy chain up to 3 displays

I would have thought at what resolution would depend on how much memory was allocated to the iGPU.

skaif · 29 Oct 2014 at 14:34

Oh Cool! Just what I needed! I don't mind allocating all the 512mb to it if it works! Can you or anyone shed any light on what daisy chaining is? My monitors support DP 1.2a which I think should be compatible?
Ok i have read what daisy chaining is, connecting the monitors to one another? Has anyone got experience of this. Does it work well in practice?

ZXSpectrum · 29 Oct 2014 at 16:47

You can only do it with Displayport but yes it does seem to work fine.

skaif · 31 Oct 2014 at 08:15

Ok so I ordered the first parts for my build today!
Thanks for all the suggestions, I wanted a small case but one that is easy to work in and comes highly recommended! Also one that supports water cooling.
Here's what I went with,
Elite 130
Asus z97i-plus
4790k
HyperX Beast 2400mhz 16gb RAM
MX100 SSD 256GB
6tb WD Green
H80i water cooler
Fractal PSU - I will probably look into replacing this for a modular one with shorter cables as mentioned above but have it lying around for now so I'll use it
Still undecided on the gfx card!
Don't really need a optical drive but out of interest, what's the best bang for buck?
Thanks again

skaif · 1 Nov 2014 at 22:21

anyone?

FloppyPoppy · 2 Nov 2014 at 12:06

Id just get a external one if i was you, Samsung make some brilliant bluray read/writes for about £50