Experimenting with Mini ITX

jamietallieu · 17 Feb 2013 at 23:44

Hi,

I am very new to the whole PC building and have only built two before.

I am not into overclocking or modding but just enjoy building a good pc that can play games on ultra.

This year I have decided I need new project, and saw a web blog about Mini PC's.

I thought this would be a great little project and I have researched a number of different components to try and see what is best? There is no real budget I can spend as required, however I would like to keep it under £1000 if possible.

My build plan so far is as follows:

Case - Silverstone SG08 (already purchased sadly however noticed OC is a lot cheaper for parts and will be ordering the rest of the parts from here where possible)

Mobo - Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe

CPU - i5 3570k

PSU - Will try using the one supplied with the case first and if that is not suitable would probably replace with an OCZ supply

GPU - EVGA GTX 660

RAM - 16 gb G.Skill RAM

Cooling - Coolermaster H60

HDD - OCZ 128gb SSD (2.5)

OK that is my plan. I am open to and encourage all comments and suggestions as I have never built anything this small before and know that the biggest issues wil be space and heat.

As I mentioned i will not be overclocking and will play games like Simcity (2013), Tomb Raider, WoW, CoD.

So thanks in advance and I look forward to the read!

Idleman · 18 Feb 2013 at 02:13

PSU - Will try using the one supplied with the case first and if that is not suitable would probably replace with an OCZ supply

As the Psu will be their own brand, it will not need replacing, as Silverstone make very good Psu`s.
Ssd, I would look at getting the Plextor Pro or Samsung Pro.

Doomedspeed · 18 Feb 2013 at 07:50

Idleman said:
As the Psu will be their own brand, it will not need replacing, as Silverstone make very good Psu`s.
Ssd, I would look at getting the Plextor Pro or Samsung Pro.

Well said:

These are my thoughts:

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 660TI 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £219.95
1 x Silverstone Sugo SG08 Case with 600w Power Supply - Black (SST-SG08B) £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £161.99
1 x Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe (Socket 1155/Intel Z77.DDR3/S-ATA 600/Mini ITX) £159.98
1 x Plextor M5S 128GB Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5S) £82.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX16GX3M2A1600C11) £55.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 620 Series 4 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) £47.99
Total : £922.98 (includes shipping : £11.75).

The Plextor is a great SSD (intels OEM Supplier). The Read/write speeds are actually quicker than stated, a firmware update is needed.

The Kuhler is a quieter alterntive to the H60.

The 660 isn't really a great gaming card, the 660ti is a lot better, nearly comparable with the 7950 (nearly). If you have no alligence to Nvidia i'd strongly consider the 7950 too..

XMS3 is great RAM, I have some.

Blue160 · 18 Feb 2013 at 08:18

Nothing to add other than take the competitor mention out of your OP before a mod sees it and wields the ban hammer

jamietallieu · 18 Feb 2013 at 08:53

OK thanks for the heads up on the competitor info. I have amended the post and will watch what I write in future.

Interested to know what benefits the 7950 has. My last build had a 6950 in it. I just fancied a change to see what Nvidia had to offer. I am happy to put in the best card I can so as long as it fits and wont bust into flames with the heat then I am all for it.

I will read up on the 7950 specs today. Would you choose that over a 670 or 680?

Thanks

Blue160 · 18 Feb 2013 at 09:05

jamietallieu said:
I will read up on the 7950 specs today. Would you choose that over a 670 or 680?

Thanks

Out of those the 7950 is the one to go for. Personally I'd buy a Sapphire 7870XT at the moment though. Very close to the 7950 in performance but a fair chunk cheaper.

Doomedspeed · 18 Feb 2013 at 10:23

Blue160 said:
Out of those the 7950 is the one to go for. Personally I'd buy a Sapphire 7870XT at the moment though. Very close to the 7950 in performance but a fair chunk cheaper.

The 7870xt is great... Id do that too.

Id personally pick the gtx 670 over the 7950 (if given them free) but I wouldn't like paying the extrra £70+