ITX Build Help

Jim.Ow · 21 Nov 2014 at 16:28

Hi All,

I need to build a very small PC. It's not going to be playing anything too intense, mainly WoW, but I would like to play it on reasonably high settings.

I wanted to ideally keep the cost below 500. Space is very tight as it's going beneath by bed.

Case: Raijintek Metis
CPU Cooler: Raijintek Themis Black
GFX Card: R9 270
PSU: Corsair CX 430w
SSD: Crucial MX100

I'm not sure what board, ram and cpu I should get. I imagine 8 GB ram will be enough for this task.
I imagine I'll need to chuck on a few fans, too.

Thanks for your help.

Danny75 · 22 Nov 2014 at 06:09

Hi Jim,

Max GPU length for the Metis case is 170mm. Had a look for suitable (mini-ITX) GPUs of the same performance or better than the MSI 270 (which is too big) for around the same price and couldn't find any. Would you be willing to change the case?

An i3 is said to be fine for WoW and that's good because that more or less fits in the budget.

As for motherboard, you can go H81/B85/H97 or Z97. The H97s and Z97s will also bring WiFi. The Z97s will allow for faster RAM than 1600MHz, and overclocking (in case you upgrade CPU).

This is a Z97 build with lovely 2400MHz RAM and an alternative case:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 270 Gaming Edition OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £125.99
1 x MSI Z97I AC Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £94.99
1 x Intel Core i3-4150 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £92.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Savage Red 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (HX324C11SRK2/8) £62.99
1 x Crucial MX100 128GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT128MX100SSD1) £54.98
1 x Antec ISK 600 Small Form Factor ITX Chassis £44.99
1 x EVGA 500W 80 Plus Power Supply (100-W1-0500-KR) £39.95
1 x Raijintek Aidos Direct Contact CPU Cooler - Black £14.99
Total : £531.86 (includes shipping : ).

Changed the cooler for a cheaper and smaller one that's about as good, as I really don't feel more is necessary for an i3. You could even run on the stock cooler no problem and save some money there.

H97 build with 1600MHz RAM:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 270 Gaming Edition OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £125.99
1 x Intel Core i3-4150 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £92.99
1 x MSI H97I AC Intel H97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TPKD38G1600HC11DC01) £59.99
1 x Crucial MX100 128GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT128MX100SSD1) £54.98
1 x Antec ISK 600 Small Form Factor ITX Chassis £44.99
1 x EVGA 500W 80 Plus Power Supply (100-W1-0500-KR) £39.95
1 x Raijintek Aidos Direct Contact CPU Cooler - Black £14.99
Total : £513.86 (includes shipping : ).

B85 build:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 270 Gaming Edition OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £125.99
1 x Intel Core i3-4150 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £92.99
1 x ASRock B85M-ITX Intel B85 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ITX Motherboard £62.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TPKD38G1600HC11DC01) £59.99
1 x Crucial MX100 128GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT128MX100SSD1) £54.98
1 x Antec ISK 600 Small Form Factor ITX Chassis £44.99
1 x EVGA 500W 80 Plus Power Supply (100-W1-0500-KR) £39.95
1 x Raijintek Aidos Direct Contact CPU Cooler - Black £14.99
Total : £496.86 (includes shipping : ).

H81 build:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 270 Gaming Edition OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £125.99
1 x Intel Core i3-4150 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £92.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TPKD38G1600HC11DC01) £59.99
1 x Asus H81I-Plus Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £58.99
1 x Crucial MX100 128GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT128MX100SSD1) £54.98
1 x Antec ISK 600 Small Form Factor ITX Chassis £44.99
1 x EVGA 500W 80 Plus Power Supply (100-W1-0500-KR) £39.95
1 x Raijintek Aidos Direct Contact CPU Cooler - Black £14.99
Total : £492.86 (includes shipping : ).

Note: The i3-4150 is "Haswell refresh" and can sometimes not work on Series 8 motherboards (like the B85 and H81) if these were manufactured prior to the release of the Haswell refresh CPUs and the BIOS updates for them. If you go for such a combo, I'd ask Customer Services to confirm the motherboard already has an adequate BIOS to run the chip. Another option is to inquire about the i3-4130, which is original Haswell. It's just out of stock at the moment with no option to order it at all through the website.

I also specced a different PSU which has 488W max combined output on the all-important 12v rail compared to 384W on the CX430M. This would give you more upgrade options in future. But the CX430M will work if you prefer it for its modularity. To get around the non-modular character of the EVGA, you could wind up the excess cabling and cable-tie it, and you'd have a PSU with more potential for the same cost.

Are you sure 128GB will be enough for storage? Could it be worth stretching £20 for a 250GB? The price per GB ratio is much better. Or will you be adding a larger mechanical drive later on, perhaps?

Finally, if the case is going under your bed (if I understood correctly), here's what I'd personally do for that money:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Zotac GeForce GTX 760 AMP 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (ZT-70402-10P) £155.99
1 x Intel Core i3-4150 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £92.99
1 x SK Hynix 256GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (HFS256G32MNB-2201A) £74.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97M-DS3H Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £68.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Savage Red 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (HX324C11SRK2/8) £62.99
1 x EVGA 500W 80 Plus Power Supply (100-W1-0500-KR) £39.95
1 x Zalman T1 Plus Mini-Tower USB 3.0 - Black £19.99
Total : £515.88 (includes shipping : ).

256GB SSD, 5-year warranty GTX 760, Z97 mobo, 2400MHz RAM. Just lay the tower on its side.

Danny75 · 22 Nov 2014 at 13:23

Just a heads up and correction of something I stated - apparently the Metis case does fit longer cards despite the official length being 170mm. If the PSU is short enough it will fit longer cards. Maybe someone can provide accurate numbers?

Jim.Ow · 23 Nov 2014 at 03:01

That's great, thank you for your help, Danny.

I do need wifi. It's not a massive deal having it onboard. I can quite easily just use a USB dongle.

I would rather have a normal case, not one turned on it side, as space really is an issue!

Everything else you suggested looks great.

I am looking at using the Coolermaster Elite 130 case and swapping the fans out for something slightly better. I am also looking at changing out the standard cooler, as I've never fully trusted or liked them, I'll probably go for something like this, but that can be added further down the line.

1 x Zotac GeForce GTX 760 AMP 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (ZT-70402-10P) £155.99
1 x Intel Core i3-4150 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £92.99
1 x SK Hynix 256GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (HFS256G32MNB-2201A) £74.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97M-DS3H Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £68.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Savage Red 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (HX324C11SRK2/8) £62.99
1 x EVGA 500W 80 Plus Power Supply (100-W1-0500-KR) £39.95

Danny75 · 23 Nov 2014 at 04:34

That sounds good, nice little case the CM 130. But they only fit mini-ITX mobos not micro-ATX.

If a Z97 mini-ITX pushes budget too much, just revert to a H81 (for instance) and 1600MHz RAM and USB dongle, bearing in mind the possible CPU issue for series 8 Intel motherboards (i.e. that the i3-4130 would be a safer bet for those).

Glad I could be of some help. I'll keep an eye on thread to see what you finally decide on. The planning involved for little builds is fun.

Jim.Ow · 23 Nov 2014 at 12:39

oops, thank Danny. I didn't spot that little issue. I would rather swap the case and keep the spec you listed, as it looks really good.

I'm back on the idea of the Raijintek Metis, due to it's small form factor, it would be able to stand up right in the space I need it to. Plus it looks nice

I'm going to do some research to find out if it will all fit, below is the current spec, unchanged apart from the case.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Zotac GeForce GTX 760 AMP 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (ZT-70402-10P) £155.99
1 x Intel Core i3-4150 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £92.99
1 x SK Hynix 256GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (HFS256G32MNB-2201A) £74.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97M-DS3H Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £68.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Savage Red 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (HX324C11SRK2/8) £62.99
1 x EVGA 500W 80 Plus Power Supply (100-W1-0500-KR) £39.95
1 x Raijintek Metis*- Black Mini ITX Case £35.99
1 x Raijintek Themis Black Heatpipe CPU Cooler PWM - 120mm £19.99
Total : £551.87 (includes shipping : ).

Lord Alibaski · 23 Nov 2014 at 14:11

Some advice m8 try buying a sfx psu it will give you more room in your case.

Danny75 · 23 Nov 2014 at 16:16

The Metis only fits mini-ITX mobos as well.

I'd go with a SFX PSU as Alibaski recommended, unless you can find accurate measurements to know that an ATX PSU of 150mm will allow GPU to fit. SFX tend to be more expensive.

Lord Alibaski · 23 Nov 2014 at 16:25

My Corsair HX620W left about 1inch at the top it was very tight indeed hence the purchase of the sfx psu.

Jim.Ow · 30 Nov 2014 at 10:00

As a follow up .. my parts arrived yesterday. I deviated slightly from the original plan and went for the below.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Z97I Gaming AC - Devil's Canyon i5 4690K CPU & Mini ITX Motherboard Bundle **£18 Saving** £271.98
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 760 OC Gaming Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Laptop Kit - (MZ-7TE250LW) £112.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H80i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060008-WW) £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-21300C11 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit (TXD38G2666HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x Silverstone Strider SST-ST45SF SFX Series - 450 Watt Power Supply £61.99
1 x Antec ISK 600 Small Form Factor ITX Chassis £44.99
Total : £787.92 (includes shipping : ).

It's absolutely silent, I managed to fit the full H80I cooler unit without any great issues. Only slight problem is that the Power LED header can't reach the plug on the board, but it's not a massive concern. Temperatures are all brilliant and it's crazy fast on Windows 8,1 booting from cold in about 7 seconds.

A couple of pics to show how easy the build was. Don't worry, i did clean out the cable after the pics were taken.