£350 office ITX build

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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

 

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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?

 

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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.

 

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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.

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...

 

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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.

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.