Complete this Gaming ITX Spec

Soldato
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Hi,

I'm looking to build a mini ITX gaming PC next month or the after. I will be selling my current rig hopefully for around £350, the whole thing including the monitor etc and start from scratch. So my budget is effectively £350. Will be going for the Intel route.

I have the following already:

1) Graphics Card (HD6850)
2) Storage (SSD + HDD)
3) OS

So I need the following:

1) Processor
2) Motherboard
3) Memory
4) Case
5) PSU

A few stuff have already caught my eye. Case I would like the new Fractal Node 304. For RAM I'm looking at 8gb corsair xms3. Processor is i5 3350P and motherboard gigabyte-ga-z77n. Not sure what to go for PSU, I would prefer a full modular one. Might OC in the future hence the Z77 boards but unlikely, so if there are good H77 boards that are cheap I would prefer it.

Need a bit of help as this is the first time I'm specing and building an ITX system. Open to suggestions. But I would like to have low energy consumption parts as possible without being massively down on power.

Cheers
 
That's a very tight budget for what you want.
Some suggestions.

1. Drop the Fractal Node case, it's a whopper of a case for ITX and leaves you still to purchase a PSU for it. With your budget you'll end up with nearly 50% of it gone on case and PSU if you continue with this idea.

Instead, I'd suggest the Silverstone SG-05 with 300w PSU.
The 300w PSU will handle an i5 CPU with an overclock and GPU's in the power range of HD 7850's, without stressing it all (you should be saving for one of these later as the 6850 is getting a bit long in the tooth for new titles with the eye candy turned up)

If you plan on adding a GPU with more power than a midrange card at some point the 450w version is a better buy.

2. You're either overclocking or you aren't, make your mind up which it is.
If you plan to keep the system for 5 years like the last one, I'd suggest you buy components you can overclock to get the best mileage from them, this means "K" designated cpu's and Z77 chipset boards.

With non "k" cpu's they give you another 3 turbo ratio's in Z boards so a 3.1 ghz i5 would go to 3.4 for exmaple, that's it.
Not very impressive ;)

In "H" boards they don't overclock at all.

I'd suggest an i5 3570k and Z77 itx board, for the £20-30 (for both) over the non "k" CPU and H77 board it's a no brainer.
 
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Thanks for these suggestions. I can stretch to £400. Would really like to get the Fractal, it's £80, did look at the Sugo but worried about the PSU being too low in power and replacing it in the future will be expensive as it's a SFF I believe whereas Fractal takes standard ATX. But its cheaper to buy! In two minds now!

GFX card I will keep it until it breaks tbh, I only play like two games and occasionally others.

Will need to think about the CPU, I doubt I will OC as I stopped with my currant rig as I found it fast enough on stock. Something to think about!

Any recommendations for boards? Preferably GIGABYTE failing that an ASUS.
 
The psu in the Sugo is fine for what you intend to put in it.
You'd never have to worry about not having enough power or it breaking down on you.

What you buy is ultimately up to you, if you want the Fractal buy it, my critisism of it is like the Prodigy it's huge.
To me part of buying and using ITX is for the small footprint and size, this case is a whopper with a huge footprint.
That's only my view of course, if you want it buy it.

Gigabyte are not new to ITX, their H55N-USB3 board was a masterpiece, such a shame they never made a Z68 board.
Their Z77 board will be hugley popular, at the price point.
 
The psu in the Sugo is fine for what you intend to put in it.
You'd never have to worry about not having enough power or it breaking down on you.

What you buy is ultimately up to you, if you want the Fractal buy it, my critisism of it is like the Prodigy it's huge.
To me part of buying and using ITX is for the small footprint and size, this case is a whopper with a huge footprint.
That's only my view of course, if you want it buy it.

Gigabyte are not new to ITX, their H55N-USB3 board was a masterpiece, such a shame they never made a Z68 board.
Their Z77 board will be hugley popular, at the price point.

Ah I didn't realise it is big, I looked at that dimensions but they seemed standard, hard to tell without seeing in the flesh, but if it's big like Prodigy then I defo won't be getting it. I'm starting to waver towards the SG05 especially as the SG05BB-450 is only £95, which seems like a bargain, although the PSU not being modular is a bit annoying and the lack of HDD space, but i guess thats the sacrifice of a smaller case and cheaper one. Worried also with the size, my card is an MSI CyClone version with a rather fat heatsink not sure if it will fit in the case!

The Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI seemed perfect spec wise, but I'm worried these boards will have the same audio interference issue which is annoying!

This is what it is looking like so far:

Case/PSU: SG05BB-450 - £95
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI - £92
CPU: Core i5-3570K CPU 3.40GHz - £150
RAM: Corsair Memory XMS3 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz CAS 9 - £25
Total: £362

Already have:
GFX: MSI AMD HD6850
Storage: 128GB M4 + 1TB WD

Does this all seem alright?

Thanks for the help man, appreciate it. :)
 
^ Nice one cheers, watching that it looked a bit big so I've gone for the SG05.

I've ordered all the parts now but the case is on pre order, got the following in the end:

1) i5-3570K 3.40GHz - £150
2) Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI - £92
3) Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz - £31
4) Silverstone SG05BB-450 with 450W - £95

I think I've gone around £20 over budget, but hey hoh, If i'm gonna keep this for min 5 years then it'll be worth it.

Just need to find a decent low profile cooler and I'm not sure whether the mobo has a built in wifi card or not?
 
Just a warning to anyone else considering the Gigabyte Z77 itx board.
It has no vcore adjustment, get the Asrock or the Asus.
If I'd known this sooner I wouldnt have recommended it to Lemonade, but as people have just got their hands on it in the last few days it wasn't common knowledge and certainly not in the online manual.
If you get the board mate, DSR it and get something else.

Gigabyte had an incident a while ago where someone actually set their motherboard on fire using ridiculous amounts of LLC.
You can read about it just about anywhere if you google it.
They have tightened down the settings on just about every board they make.
 
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Hmm, not sure what to do. Can I return it? I think I have had it for 7days now although not opened. Would the lack of volt adjustment be that much of a hindrance? I'm not even sure I will even overclock it although I was actually thinking of under-clocking it for now.

What board should I go for, the Gigabyte had the features I wanted, ASUS is way over my budget and doesn't have some features like WIFI.

I've seen the ASRock Z77E-ITX for £100. Is this board any good?

Thanks for the heads up.
 
The Asrock board is great for the money and still has everything you want, wi-fi etc.
It's what I would have recommended first if your budget hadn't been so tight.
The Asus board certainly isnt worth the premium over it as they overclock exactly the same.

If you bought the Gigabyte from Ocuk you have 14 days to return it.
Other E-tailors tend to stick to the 7 days DSR law.

The whole purpose of buying a Z77 board over a H77 is having the overclocking features available to you when / if you feel you need it.
 
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Cheers man, ordered the ASRock, but unsure on the durability of these boards hope it lasts at least 4 years, GIGABYTE's have always been rock solid for me.

Opened an RMA with the place I got it from, hopefully the accept the return, disappointed though with the lack of vcore control on the GB, such a shame, slightly annoyed as well as I've had to fork out £15 for the changeover, wish GB actually published this.
 
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