£350 office ITX build

ote1

ote1

ote1

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Hey guys,

The rents have a computer nearing its 10th birthday I'd like to replace it for them for Christmas. They only use it for office-type things as it stands although with a more capable computer they may start using it for streaming services etc. Here's the spec I have in mind, I already have a 60gb SSD laying around and don't need an OS or peripherals.

Case and PSU: Silverstone Sugo 300W (£79) or Raijintek Metis (£36) and Corsair CX 430W modular (£40).
RAM: TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (£60).
HDD: WD Caviar Blue 1TB (£43).
Mobo: Gigabyte F2488W-wifi (£78).
CPU: AMD A10-5800k (£80).
Cooler: Raijintek Themis (£15).

Sorry it's not linked in a basket, not near a computer at the moment. Is the CPU hugely overkill? I would like something that won't find itself limited for a fair few years to come. Was thinking pwrhaps the CPU could handle the odd game on Steam if required.

Also, I realise ITX hikes up the cost a fair bit but desk space is limited and the current tower we have is way too big. Also want to impress them somewhat.

Budget has some give in it if there are significant gains to be made for going beyond £350. Feedback much appreciated.

Cheers,
O
 
Just needs faster RAM as APU graphics benefit from it (if they do end up gaming a bit). That APU/mobo seem to be capable of 2400MHz. Led RAM to impress, and the Raijintek Aidos will be about as good as the Themis and won't look so bulky on a mini-ITX. Just my opinion. Also stands a greater chance of leaving the PCI-E slot unblocked were you to add a GPU later on to squeeze more performance out of it (the CPU socket is pretty low on the board).


YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD580KWOHJBOX) £79.99
1 x Gigabyte F2A88XN-WIFI AMD A88X (Socket FM2+) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £77.99
1 x Avexir Gold Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17200C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U21331104G-2CEY) - Yellow/Gold Light £65.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £42.95
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.95
1 x Raijintek Metis*- Windowed - Gold Mini ITX Case £39.95
1 x Raijintek Aidos Direct Contact CPU Cooler - Black £14.99
Total : £371.40 (includes shipping : £8.00).




Blue:


YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD580KWOHJBOX) £79.99
1 x Gigabyte F2A88XN-WIFI AMD A88X (Socket FM2+) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £77.99
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U21331104G-2CI) - Blue Light £65.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £42.95
1 x Raijintek Metis*- Blue Windowed Mini ITX Case £39.95
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.95
1 x Raijintek Aidos Direct Contact CPU Cooler - Black £14.99
Total : £371.40 (includes shipping : £8.00).




Green:


YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD580KWOHJBOX) £79.99
1 x Gigabyte F2A88XN-WIFI AMD A88X (Socket FM2+) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £77.99
1 x Avexir Venom Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17200C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U21331104G-2CIG) - Green Light £69.95
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £42.95
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.95
1 x Raijintek Metis*- Green Windowed Mini ITX Case £39.95
1 x Raijintek Aidos Direct Contact CPU Cooler - Black £14.99
Total : £375.36 (includes shipping : £8.00).




Red:


YOUR BASKET
1 x Avexir Core Red Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17200C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U21331104G-2CIR) - Red Light £79.99
1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD580KWOHJBOX) £79.99
1 x Gigabyte F2A88XN-WIFI AMD A88X (Socket FM2+) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £77.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £42.95
1 x Raijintek Metis*- Windowed - Red Mini ITX Case £39.95
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.95
1 x Raijintek Aidos Direct Contact CPU Cooler - Black £14.99
Total : £385.40 (includes shipping : £8.00).





Silver/white led:


YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD580KWOHJBOX) £79.99
1 x Gigabyte F2A88XN-WIFI AMD A88X (Socket FM2+) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £77.99
1 x Avexir Core White Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17200C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U21331104G-2CIW) - White Light £69.95
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £42.95
1 x Raijintek Metis*- Windowed - Silver Mini ITX Case £39.95
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.95
1 x Raijintek Aidos Direct Contact CPU Cooler - Black £14.99
Total : £375.36 (includes shipping : £8.00).




Black case would be equally nice for any of the above, methinks. Unfortunately there's no 2400MHz led RAM available, but 2133 is close enough should you want to use it anyway. Or get non-led 2400 and buy a led strip to illuminate the inside of the case maybe.
 
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Wow, thanks for the detailed reply! Think the window and LED RAM is a great idea and will definitely pursue that.

I wonder how the cooling works with this case (not that my rents are going to be having 3hr Skyrim sessions for me to worry about, yet...). My understanding is there's another grill on the motherboard side of the Metis case. Would it be best to feed the CPU cooler to the rear fan exhausting and have the cool air drawn in from behind the motherboard?

Is AMD the way to go then given the price point/needs?
 
ote1 said:
Wow, thanks for the detailed reply! Think the window and LED RAM is a great idea and will definitely pursue that.

I wonder how the cooling works with this case (not that my rents are going to be having 3hr Skyrim sessions for me to worry about, yet...). My understanding is there's another grill on the motherboard side of the Metis case. Would it be best to feed the CPU cooler to the rear fan exhausting and have the cool air drawn in from behind the motherboard?

Is AMD the way to go then given the price point/needs?
Click to expand...

That is correct, there are two grills. One behind and one in front. However, you won't be pulling any any from the mobo side grill as there is almost zero clearance. The way I built mine was to have the exhaust, an intake and used a low profile cooler which pushes some air out of the grill. The rest of the air goes into the PSU and out the bottom. Its not ideal, by any means, but the CPU stayed nice and cool (max of 50c or so whilst gaming, using the unlocked k G3258 (or whatever).

I've also a 270x ITX GPU inside the thing, which gets to the high 70's temp wise and makes the entire case pretty hot!

The Mentis case is nice, but you NEED to go for the one without a window, or you won't have the grill on the side where you need it. Also, you can't have a graphics card and a hard drive, just not enough clearance, so just think of that long run.

EDIT: It is however a lovely looking case, cable management is rather hard work, so defiantly need a modular PSU, the shorter the PSU the better as well, as that gives you more room for cables. One thing however, you need to put the Motherboard in first, as it wont fit in after you stick the PSU in.
 
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I guess I could push air in and let it feed out through the PSU although that doesn't sound ideal. A shame the windowed option is so poor from a cooling POV.

The EVGA Hadron Air has caught my eye. Case and 500W PSU for around the £100 mark (OC out of stock for a while so going by market prices). Looks to have considerably better cooling and a window to boot. Think it might be worth the extra £20 given the additional flexibility.
 
Size wise the Metis is a bit smaller, 277mm*190mm*254mm vs the EGVAs 169mm*305mm*308mm.

Cant find the EGVA for the price you mention however, but if you can get it for £100 with a PSU go for it. The metis looks great but its a shame they didnt add just a little room for an intake. You could potentially use the space where the 2nd SSD goes and fit a slim fan in to act as an intake.

That said, to be honest, if its just an office PC, no GPU you'll be alright. THe CPU shouldn't give out much heat.
 
gradyhawks said:
Size wise the Metis is a bit smaller, 277mm*190mm*254mm vs the EGVAs 169mm*305mm*308mm.

Cant find the EGVA for the price you mention however, but if you can get it for £100 with a PSU go for it. The metis looks great but its a shame they didnt add just a little room for an intake. You could potentially use the space where the 2nd SSD goes and fit a slim fan in to act as an intake.

That said, to be honest, if its just an office PC, no GPU you'll be alright. THe CPU shouldn't give out much heat.
Click to expand...

Spending quite some time deliberating this one. Nearly there now, though. One quite question for you Grady. I am looking at an EVGA G1 650W fully modular PSU and it's 180mm tall. The usual Superflower ones seems to be about 140mm tall. Do you think the extra 40mm is too much?

Since this post I've decided to go for intel route. Getting a G3258 for now on a good Z97 mobo (Asus Z97i plus). Down the line has significant upgrade potential as will have a good PSU and mobo. Can either OC the CPU (great OCer it would seem and 2 cores is enough for most things) while adding an GPU or swap it out for an i5 with a new a GPU. The case at £35 isn't too much of a loss if it has to be changed then. I think this is a fairly sensible idea? An FM2 board isn't really upgradeable...
 
why not use a low power amd chip, i just built one thats quiet and quick with a 450 ssd drive.

this is mine:

antec ISK 310 case with 150 watt psu
450 gig seagate ssd
amd 5350 chip
mini itx fm1 mobo MSI
8 gig of elite group ddr3 ram

if you took off the ssd and got a cheaper one, comes in at around £150 with windows 8.1. runs like a dream and looks lovely.
 
ote1 said:
Spending quite some time deliberating this one. Nearly there now, though. One quite question for you Grady. I am looking at an EVGA G1 650W fully modular PSU and it's 180mm tall. The usual Superflower ones seems to be about 140mm tall. Do you think the extra 40mm is too much?
Click to expand...

Only just seen this, sorry for the epic long reply time.

I used a 550w corsair one inside it, non modular, and was really struggling for space as you only have from the top of the PSU to the top of the case for any space for spare cables.

A modular one will help slightly, but the shorter the PSU the better. 40mm is a fair amount of space to save.

Go Z97 IMO. Gives a nice upgrade path. You can fit a 270x inside it, MSI ITX one, which I did. Case gets very hot, but no blue screens or anything. GPU sits at around 75 when you game.
 
gradyhawks said:
Only just seen this, sorry for the epic long reply time.

I used a 550w corsair one inside it, non modular, and was really struggling for space as you only have from the top of the PSU to the top of the case for any space for spare cables.

A modular one will help slightly, but the shorter the PSU the better. 40mm is a fair amount of space to save.

Go Z97 IMO. Gives a nice upgrade path. You can fit a 270x inside it, MSI ITX one, which I did. Case gets very hot, but no blue screens or anything. GPU sits at around 75 when you game.
Click to expand...

Pulled the trigger, built and wrapped this one up last week. Thanks for the reply nonetheless. I did go for the EVGA and I'd say a 180mm tall PSU is the absolute limit for this case. Fits very snuggly below the power button chip.

Wasn't too difficult to build. A few times I hurriedly installed the PSU before fitting every cable on the mobo and thus had to remove the PSU to put in right. I also cut myself a few times on the front panel (edges of which quite sharp). Happy with my cable management. Will post pics after xmas of it. In the meantime I posted in your Golden Delicious thread - would be great to see some more pics of it and how you got on.
 
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