ITX Build for Wife

[NovaKill4]

Hi All,

Looking for any advice or guidance for an ITX build for my wife as her work laptop struggles to have a game running with a youtube video on in the background.

The use case is a few games, nothing demanding, Runescape is the main game with the occasional Sims and other light-weight games, shes not interested in anything FPS or graphically demanding, she has 3 1080p monitors.
She wants a plain white case that will be mounted under her desk and it needs to be small, basically she never wants to see it.

I have a Ryzen 3800X spare to use, but OCUK dont have any ITX AM4 Boards so i have found a Gigabyte B550I Aorus Pro ITX board For £160, that should allow me to drop the 3800x in and be ok?

Budget is around £500, happy to go more if its worth it, or lower if not impacting performance or reliability.
Aside the CPU and Board, this is everything else im looking at.
Any advice appreciated.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Ssupd Meshlicious Mini ITX Case - Tempered Glass - White (SKU: CA-000-SU) = £79.99
• 1 x Team Group 8Pack Edition 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C18 3600MHz Dual Channel Ki (SKU: MEM-8PK-02586) = £59.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02517) = £84.95
• 1 x MSI GeForce RTX 3050 VENTUS 2X OC 6GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-MSI-03208) = £169.99
• 1 x Alpenfohn Panorama 2 Low Profile CPU Cooler - 92mm (SKU: COO-ALP-01182) = £34.99
• 2 x be quiet Pure Wings 3 120mm PWM Fan - White (SKU: COO-BEQ-01811) = £9.95
• 1 x Crucial P3 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: HD-077-CR) = £52.99

Total: £514.79 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

 

[tamzzy]

have you looked at those mini computers with ryzen mobile chips?

 

[Tetras]

Looking for any advice or guidance for an ITX build for my wife as her work laptop struggles to have a game running with a youtube video on in the background.

What about a build based on a 8600G or 8700G? You'd have the advantage of being able to pick a smaller case, or adding in a fast graphics card later (if the need arises).

The 3050 6GB is a pretty weak card for the money it costs and you're having to pay a lot for an AM4 board, though admittedly a free CPU is nice.

 

[NovaKill4]

have you looked at those mini computers with ryzen mobile chips?

I have not, and tbh i dont really know what im looking for/at and what the performance is compared to desktop.

What about a build based on a 8600G or 8700G? You'd have the advantage of being able to pick a smaller case, or adding in a fast graphics card later (if the need arises).

The 3050 6GB is a pretty weak card for the money it costs and you're having to pay a lot for an AM4 board, though admittedly a free CPU is nice.

From what i have seen i would need to spend the same money for an AM5 ITX board as the AM4 ITX board, if i stick with AM4 i can save the money on the chip and put it to the GPU which would be faster than the onboard GPU.
Do you have any suggestions for the GPU? is there a better price to performance card at the lower end?

Also, any ideas on the PSU i have picked?

 

[tamzzy]

I have not, and tbh i dont really know what im looking for/at and what the performance is compared to desktop.

this is the performance on tap for these mini computers, pretty impressive nowadays!

but if you've not considered them before then i wouldn't want to muddy the waters

 

[Tetras]

From what i have seen i would need to spend the same money for an AM5 ITX board as the AM4 ITX board, if i stick with AM4 i can save the money on the chip and put it to the GPU which would be faster than the onboard GPU.

I think what I'm getting at, is that AM5 is a newer platform and you're spending a lot of money on an old/dated platform.

The 8600G/8700G both have a pretty powerful IGP, though it is also true that a 3050 6GB beats them both.

Do you have any suggestions for the GPU? is there a better price to performance card at the lower end?

An RX 6600 is around 25% faster than a 3050 8GB, so it would absolutely smash the lesser 3050 6GB. The main benefit of the 3050 6GB is the lack of a power connector, which makes it ideal for some OEM and SFF PCs.

Also, any ideas on the PSU i have picked?

It is believed to be built by Helly, who Seasonic uses for their lower-end PSUs. I should imagine that it is decent (they've given it an 8 year warranty, after all), but I can't find any professional reviews anywhere.

The TUF Gold is usually one of the cheapest ATX 3.x, gold rated 10 year warranty PSUs and reviewed fine at Anandtech. The Phanteks AMP GH is compact though, which is nice for small cases.

 

[NovaKill4]

this is the performance on tap for these mini computers, pretty impressive nowadays!

but if you've not considered them before then i wouldn't want to muddy the waters

I am impressed tbf, but i still want to go with an ITX build, partly because i have always wanted to do an ITX build and partly because i will have upgrade options in the future.

I think what I'm getting at, is that AM5 is a newer platform and you're spending a lot of money on an old/dated platform.

The 8600G/8700G both have a pretty powerful IGP, though it is also true that a 3050 6GB beats them both.


An RX 6600 is around 25% faster than a 3050 8GB, so it would absolutely smash the lesser 3050 6GB. The main benefit of the 3050 6GB is the lack of a power connector, which makes it ideal for some OEM and SFF PCs.


It is believed to be built by Helly, who Seasonic uses for their lower-end PSUs. I should imagine that it is decent (they've given it an 8 year warranty, after all), but I can't find any professional reviews anywhere.

The TUF Gold is usually one of the cheapest ATX 3.x, gold rated 10 year warranty PSUs and reviewed fine at Anandtech. The Phanteks AMP GH is compact though, which is nice for small cases.

I see your point with AM5 being newer, and i would go for AM5 if i didnt have the 3700x already, it looks like for an ITX board and 32GB RAM im looking at 220 if i go AM4 or AM5, i just dont have the expense of the CPU with AM4.
And the 3700x will be ample for my wife for the next 5 year, and then she can have my current 5800x3D when i decide to upgrade which will do for another 5 years.

I'm going to hold off on the GPU, I have my old 1080ti which might work for her, from what i have seen its equivelant to a 4060 so would technicaly better than the 3050 or 6600.

 

[GeorgeStorm]

A 1080ti would definitely be better than a 3050, worth double checking it fits though.

 

[tamzzy]

A 1080ti would definitely be better than a 3050, worth double checking it fits though.

And also the psu needs to be beefy enough (ideally 750w+) and the itx case you choose has to have enough airflow not to be a hotbox.
Tdp 1080ti = 250w