Best ITX Motherboard + CPU + Memory Combo for £200

pumaz · 14 Oct 2012 at 22:22

I'm thinking of buying a HP ProLiant Microserver N40L + 8GB Memory + HD 6750 Low Profile for about £200 after voucher.

It will be used as a NAS, Media Player (XBMC) and some gaming i.e Trackmania Nations, COD 4, F1 2012 (hopefully), Source Games and Emulation at 720p with medium settings.

But it got me thinking, Could I not build my own?

I only need to house 1 x 3TB Hard Drive and I've found a case I could use but there is no room for a Video Card, Just Motherboard, CPU and 3.5" Hard Drive.

With all this in mind could someone spec me a Motherboard, CPU and Ram Combo for about £200 that would give me the same or better gaming performance than the Microserver I'm considering?

pumaz · 15 Oct 2012 at 00:08

Just been reading about the AMD Trinity's and the following seems ideal

AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor
ASRock FM2A75M-ITX AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard
GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit

Only problem is the Motherboard isn't available yet and no idea when it is

Also would this system run off a 120w pico PSU. Will only be powering above components and 1 Hard Drive?

OliverDavis · 15 Oct 2012 at 10:36

It should run off of that but I wouldn't recommend it,

Does the PICO PSU even have a CPU connector?

pumaz · 15 Oct 2012 at 14:01

Not sure what you mean by "Does the PICO PSU even have a CPU connector?" But as far as I'm aware Pico PSU's are all compatible with standard connectors on ITX boards and you just have to make sure that it as enough wattage!

As my research goes on I see more options opening up such as the following:-

HD 7750 Low Profile Edition 1024MB GDDR5
Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge)
ASRock H61M-ITX Intel H61

HD 7750 Low Profile Edition 1024MB GDDR5
Intel Pentium G2120 3.10GHz (Ivybridge)
ASRock H61M-ITX Intel H61

Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge)
Asus P8H77-I Intel H77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 MiniITX Motherboard
*** Use HD4000 onboard graphics ***

From what I've been reading most folk are saying Intel is still the way to go. I'm planning to put whatever I get in something like a Antec ISK 310-150, Silver/Black, mini-ITX Case with 150W PSU. So It can't exceed 150w

It also seems the HD 7750 is the best Low Profile Video Card available but would that make the first 2 combo's better or would the better CPU and Motherboard of combo 3 make it it a better all round system?

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 15 Oct 2012 at 14:24

pumaz said:
Just been reading about the AMD Trinity's and the following seems ideal

AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor
ASRock FM2A75M-ITX AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard
GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit

Only problem is the Motherboard isn't available yet and no idea when it is

Also would this system run off a 120w pico PSU. Will only be powering above components and 1 Hard Drive?

The 65W TDP A10-5700 would do the job:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-331-AM

Trinity also has very low idle and low load power consumption. It is better than my Core i3 2100 in this area and even better than a Core i3 3220.