Another 1155 ITX build, thoughts?

[fackamato]

Hi guys,

I'm quite close to finalize my future rig. Here's the specs so far:

GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560Ti OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £200
SSD: Intel X25-G2 160GB (from my laptop) £0
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £175
Case: Silverstone SG07 Mini-ITX Gaming Case - Black/Silver (With 600W PSU) £160
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD2002FAEX) £137
RAM: G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL ) £90
Mainboard: Foxconn H67S Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) £70

The only thing I don't like is the mainboard. I've heard reports saying that it doesn't go over 3.5GHz (which would limit the CPU's turbo function), + that it doesn't have USB3. I've sent an email to OCUK asking if they're getting any other 1155 ITX boards and if so, when.

The reason for the NVIDIA GPU is that I run Linux a lot, where the AMD/ATI drivers are quite behind the NVIDIA drivers in terms of features and performance.

Any tips, anything you would change in this setup? The goal is a small system capable of games, lasting for a few years at least, while maintaining a small price tag. Depending on the noise, I might exchange the cooling, but I don't know until I've assembled and used the system.

Cheers,

 

[Tute]

How about the GTX480 instead?

 

[fackamato]

How about the GTX480 instead?

Yeah, I chose the 500-series because they're less power hungry, and quieter. That's the main reason. Otherwise yeah, I saw that the price is about the same...

 

[Tute]

Yeah but the GTX480 walks all over it.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/309?vs=330

 

[gropingmantis]

Its true that the Foxconn limits the turbo to 34x which is annoying but if you are waiting for P67 (like many foxconn owners it seems) then hopefully it wont be an issue too long, if you want to play games for a few years the the K is probably a better bet as an overclock will see you through more years of gaming than none/limited turbo. Definitely go for the 480 over the 560. Shame about AMD's linux drivers being rubbish else the 6950 would be the card of choice.

 

[fackamato]

Yeah but the GTX480 walks all over it.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/309?vs=330

Indeed it does! But it's MUCH noisier! Maybe I should look around for GTX480 water blocks...

Its true that the Foxconn limits the turbo to 34x which is annoying but if you are waiting for P67 (like many foxconn owners it seems) then hopefully it wont be an issue too long, if you want to play games for a few years the the K is probably a better bet as an overclock will see you through more years of gaming than none/limited turbo. Definitely go for the 480 over the 560. Shame about AMD's linux drivers being rubbish else the 6950 would be the card of choice.

I didn't choose the K because it lacks some virtualization things. OTOH, down the line when the CPU is getting old, squeezing another 800MHz or so out of it might push back the next upgrade...

 

[gropingmantis]

You use virtualisation at home for a gaming machine???

edit: the K chips only lack VT-d they still have VT-x.

 

[Tute]

Indeed it does! But it's MUCH noisier! Maybe I should look around for GTX480 water blocks...

Shame the GTX570 is almost another £100 more...

I'd still get the GTX480 mind. It's noisier but you can always go with a third party cooler.

As for watercooling it - in an SG07, putting the GPU under water is going to be a right task.

 

[fackamato]

You use virtualisation at home for a gaming machine???

edit: the K chips only lack VT-d they still have VT-x.

Well, it's not only going to be my gaming machine, but everything

But, very good point, I might switch to the K version. IOMMU is not a top priority, unlocked multiplier will probably be better in the end.

Shame the GTX570 is almost another £100 more...

I'd still get the GTX480 mind. It's noisier but you can always go with a third party cooler.

As for watercooling it - in an SG07, putting the GPU under water is going to be a right task.

Yeah, will not watercool it. I'll have a look around for 3rd party coolers. Thanks!

 

[Tute]

Be careful that said cooler fits the case, I believe there are some around that don't.

 

[fk506]

GTX480 is hot and louder than most. Have you considered the 6950/70 ?

 

[danewesley]

the zalman, arctic cooling and akasa third party coolers are all triple slot, i couldnt find one for my case/card

shame you missed the gtx470 msi card, good colling and close enought to the 480.

 

[gropingmantis]

the Scythe graphics cooler (Mugen??) is supposed to be very good and dual slot.

 

[jamesfreddie]

H67 cant overclock

 

[fackamato]

Thanks for all your replies. Now with the Intel chipset fiasco, I'm looking at putting something together in a few months. I'll try to update the list as things happen along the way. I've currently switched to an i7, see updated list below. What will change is probably the graphics card (GTX480 perhaps, if I can find a quiet cooler), the mother board will change as well. I do need some form of CPU cooling that will fit the case, be quiet and keep the CPU stable at 4GHz.


GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560Ti OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £192
SSD: Intel X25-G2 160GB (from my laptop) £0 <- depending on future SSDs (in the comings months) this might be X25-G3 or something else.
CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £232
Case: Silverstone SG07 Mini-ITX Gaming Case - Black/Silver (With 600W PSU) £160
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD2002FAEX) £130
RAM: G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL ) £84
Mainboard: none, something around £120 probably.
Cooling: Something small but good enough to keep the i7 stable at 4GHz, and more importantly quiet. Estimated £40.

Estimated total: £948 + shipping to .ie.

Who knows? AMD might kick Sandy Bridge's arse, or if not, come really close to it at a cheaper price. Then things will get interesting.

 

[fackamato]

Thanks for all your replies. Now with the Intel chipset fiasco, I'm looking at putting something together in a few months. I'll try to update the list as things happen along the way. I've currently switched to an i7, see updated list below. What will change is probably the graphics card (GTX480 perhaps, if I can find a quiet cooler), the mother board will change as well. I do need some form of CPU cooling that will fit the case, be quiet and keep the CPU stable at 4GHz.

<snip>

Who knows? AMD might kick Sandy Bridge's arse, or if not, come really close to it at a cheaper price. Then things will get interesting.

Some news; I won't be getting the new Intel SSD that's for sure, really bad random IOPS at 4k. I was looking at another case actually, and getting the GTX480, since it's good performance/price at the moment. Updated list:

GPU: Asus GeForce GTX 480 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Far Cry 2 £206

SSD: Intel X25-G2 160GB (from my laptop) £0 <- or OCZ Vertex 3 or cheaper equivalent

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £248

Case: Silverstone Sugo SG01B-F Evolution Aluminium Micro-ATX Case - Black £160

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD2002FAEX) £137

RAM: G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL ) £86

Mainboard: The case takes Micro-ATX boards so that definetly brings more boards to choose from. Something around £120 probably.

CPU cooler: Scythe Shuriken BIG Quiet Low Profile CPU Cooler (Scoket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £31

Total: ~£1050 including shipping to Ireland. Prices have gone up a bit!

Questions:

What do you think about this case compared to the Sugo SG07?
Is the CPU cooler enough? Is there a better one that will fit the case?
When idling in Windows, can the GTX480 be heard, or can you sleep in the same room as it?

Cheers

edit: Wow the case is 6 years old, Anandtech has reviewed it: http://www.anandtech.com/show/1835

 

[goujon945]

I would avoid the SG01, it's pretty dated now and only has 80mm fan mounts so it will be hot and noisy. How about the Lian Li PC-V354? Looks better imo and should be cooler and quieter too. The P8P67-M PRO looks like a good M-ATX board, it's ATX equivalents are monster clockers for the price although I haven't seen a B3 revision of one yet.

May I ask why you changed to the 2600k? The 2500k is better value imo and the money saved can go on a PSU which isn't in your new specs.

 

[fackamato]

I would avoid the SG01, it's pretty dated now and only has 80mm fan mounts so it will be hot and noisy. How about the Lian Li PC-V354? Looks better imo and should be cooler and quieter too. The P8P67-M PRO looks like a good M-ATX board, it's ATX equivalents are monster clockers for the price although I haven't seen a B3 revision of one yet.

May I ask why you changed to the 2600k? The 2500k is better value imo and the money saved can go on a PSU which isn't in your new specs.

Maybe you're right about the case. 80mm fans + (potentially) GTX480... that won't be so quiet.

I'll have a look at the Lian Li, thanks. The mainboard was just a suggestion, any B3 Micro-ATX P67 will do as long as it's not super expensive.

About the CPU, you're right. It's not worth the extra money for HT... I wouldn't see the difference in my everyday usage.

Valid points, cheers.

// Mathias

edit:

GPU: Asus GeForce GTX 480 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Far Cry 2 £206

SSD: Intel X25-G2 160GB (from my laptop) £0 <- or OCZ Vertex 3 or cheaper equivalent

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £186

Case: Lian Li PC-V354B Aluminium Mini-Tower Case - Black [PC-V354B] £135

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD2002FAEX) £137

RAM: G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL ) £86

Mainboard: Asus P8P67-M PRO Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 MicroATX Motherboard £120 (whenever it goes B3)

CPU cooler: (retail CPU)

PSU: Coolermaster Silent Pro Modular 700W Power Supply £80

Total: ~£955 plus shipping to Ireland.

I wonder if the stock CPU cooler is quiet enough, can you go 4GHz stable without much noise? I'm not 100% on the PSU either, I want something efficient for under £80. The case is quite big, I wonder how it compares to the Sugo SG07.. oh wait, that's ITX only!

 

[Ricki]

You'll want to be careful about the PSU size, especially the modular supplys - I've got the same case and with my Samsung bluray player in I've only got 152mm of room for the PSU. However, without an optical drive (I don't see one listed) you get 185mm before you'll hit the HDD bays.

 

[fackamato]

You'll want to be careful about the PSU size, especially the modular supplys - I've got the same case and with my Samsung bluray player in I've only got 152mm of room for the PSU. However, without an optical drive (I don't see one listed) you get 185mm before you'll hit the HDD bays.

No plans for an optical bay, it's all Steam and USB here

185mm, perfect, thanks!