mini itx budget gaming rig.

[famas]

Hey all

I currently have a FX 8320 and radeon 7950 that are starting to show their age.

I want a new gaming rig and fancy an itx case as I want to move away from large cases, water cooling and overclocking. Though the ability to "tweak" is always welcome.

I'm using a 1080p 144hz monitor.

budget is a bit limited so I'm after advice on what options are going to be best.

I've decided I want the Raijintek metis case and ideally an NVMe boot drive.

Thinking a ryzen built would suit the budget best but the graphics card is proving troublesome.
I'm wanting a decent upgrade over my 7950 but playing at only 1080 is a high end card really needed?
I'd like to run modern and upcoming games at max settings though.

The question is do I get a better GPU and a worse CPU knowing I could upgrade the CPU in a year or two time for cheaper than a new GPU.

Or get a better CPU and a lesser GPU?

Also I'm currently running 16gb of ddr3 ram but is it really needed for gaming, could I save a bit and just go for 8gb of ram? Only problem with that is ITX boards only have 2 memory slots so If i did want to upgrade in the future I'd need to get a new set of 16gb rather than adding another 8.

done a very quick spec which is coming in around £750. this is really max budget, less would be better.

I have windows and a hdd already, again upgrading to a high capacity ssd when funds allow.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 Six Core 1600 3.60GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £188.99
• 1 x Gigabyte AB350N-GAMING WIFI AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 Mini ITX Motherboard= £110.99
• 1 x Team Group Dark Pro 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Grey (TDPGD48G320= £79.99
• 1 x Zotac GeForce GTX 1060 Mini 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £179.99
• 1 x Cougar LX 500W 80 Plus Bronze Full Modular Power Supply= £58.99
• 1 x Samsung PM961 Polaris 128GB M.2-2280 PCI-e 3.0 x 4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £68.99
• 1 x Raijintek Metis - Black Mini ITX Case= £45.95

Total: £746.19
(includes shipping: £12.30)



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Would it be better going for a ryzen 3 and a better GPU with the option to upgrade the cpu later?

Oh the decisions!

 

[mickyflinn]

An extra £11 will get you a 240gb ssd gotta be worth it, the 1060 3gb is not to bad a performer very close to the full fat version especially at 1080p untill vram becomes an issue. So for your budget i would stick with that and ryzen 1600 but if you could get another £40 then 16gb of 3000mhz would be advisable.

Tough choices.


http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-3gb-vs-6gb-review_6

 

[Journey]

I'd like to run modern and upcoming games at max settings though.

That's the deal breaker, although at 1080p it will be less of an ask, have you considered looking for a second hand 980ti and just a normal small SSD, since NVMe isn't going to give you any extra gaming performance.

With your budget you should be able to manage that.

 

[famas]

thanks for the replys.

this spec was just thrown together quickly for comparison. I thought the NVMe drive would add a bit of performance as a boot drive over a sata ssd?
I do have a spare ssd that I can also use but its low capacity.

the 960 evo polaris 250gb would be a better choice?

looking into ITX mother boards a bit more it seems the Asrock fatality 370 is a better board to go for but the AB350 version can be had for the same price as the gigabyte so I'd probably go for that. Can't see the point of getting a x370 for an itx build?

Think I might change the case as well to a Enthoo evolv itx.

Would going for a RX 580 or a GTX 1070 be a better option, though this would mean dropping down to a ryzen 3. Would it be a bottleneck?

Another possibly option, a friend has a GTX 1080 and is thinking of upgrading to a 1080ti so his card would be available, not sure what he would want for it but I could get it, again due to budget I'd have to drop to a ryzen 3 unless he gave me a very good deal.

Lastly is 16GB of ram considered the minimum for a gaming build these days?

It's obvious I've been out of the loop since the last build

 

[Journey]

I thought the NVMe drive would add a bit of performance as a boot drive over a sata ssd?
I do have a spare ssd that I can also use but its low capacity.

It will speed up boot times, and loads times, but won't give you any increase your in-game framerate, but it Windows booting in 6 seconds vs. 9 seconds is what you want, then sure go for it

it seems the Asrock fatality 370 is a better board to go for but the AB350 version can be had for the same price as the gigabyte

Both of the ASRock board are literally identical, the B350 is great, nice an solid and the Wireless LAN module is superb.

a friend has a GTX 1080 and is thinking of upgrading to a 1080ti so his card would be available, not sure what he would want for it

Ask him? Maybe you could do interest free credit

dropping down to a ryzen 3. Would it be a bottleneck?

Probably, but I'd go watch a few Ryzen 3 videos, or read some review to see what games it does bottle neck. At least with AM4 you've got a good few years of life, and can always change in in 12-18 months.

Lastly is 16GB of ram considered the minimum for a gaming build these days?

I guess with RAM being so expensive, you could buy a single 8GB stick, then add another if you feel like it's not enough, obviously you'll lose a few percentage points in performance from not being in dual channel.

 

[Quartz]

The 3 GB GTX 1060 is NOT a good idea. That PSU should be changed due to poor capacitors. Intel are due to launch their Coffee Lake CPUs in early October which may drive prices down.

Consider this:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Intel Pentium G4600 3.60GHz (Kaby Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail= £83.99
• 1 x XFX XT Series 400W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply= £34.99
• 1 x Gigabyte GA-B250N-Phoenix WIFI Intel B250 (Socket 1151) DDR4 Mini ITX Motherboard= £109.99
• 1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 1060 "Reference Design" 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £239.99
• 1 x Crucial MX300 275GB SSD SATA 6Gbps 3D Nand 7mm Solid State Drive (CT275MX300SSD1)= £85.99
• 1 x Raijintek Metis - Black Mini ITX Case= £45.95
• 1 x GeIL Pristine AMD Edition 8GB PC4-19200 2400MHz Single Module - Black (GAP48GB2400C16SC)= £56.50

Total: £669.70
(includes shipping: £12.30)



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You can upgrade the CPU and RAM later. Note that the PSU won't cope with a GTX 1080

 

[famas]

thanks for the help guys.

Ideally a ryzen 1600 with a GTX 1070 or cheap 1080 would be best. I'm not in a rush at the moment so could wait it out and see what the news cpu's bring.

thanks for the spec Quartz.

I've just looked at some figures and it seems the Pentium is pretty much on par with the ryzen 3. any reason to pick it over a ryzen?

Read a fairly positive review on the PSU but it did mention the lower grade caps. main plus point is its fully modular with flat cables which will be easier managing in an ITX case.

I have seen a EVGA 550w B3 for cheaper which also gets decent reviews.

Seems an m2 drive isn't as necessary as I thought, I'd be better off putting the money towards a larger ssd?

I think I've got to see what my friend wants for his 1080. If I did get it what would be the minimum cpu I should pair it with?