Mini ITX Build <£500

JCVV

JCVV

JCVV

Associate
Joined
11 Jul 2014
Posts
8
Hey guys,

I'm attempting my first build and I have decided to go down the Mini ITX route (for size and portability). I intend to buy a cheap case for now and pick up the Corsair Air 240 further down the line.

My usage will be for light gaming, no heavy titles, just WoW and Minecraft really.

I will upgrade the GPU I have from a previous system at a later date, to keep the cost as low as possible, I will use the old GPU until it literally breaks and/or melts.

I've done as much research as I can and read up on what I could find to put together the below, my primary concern is compatibility with each other because if I'm honest, as much as I've read up, I'm not sure if what I've put together will work. My budget is £500 and the below total to almost £500 on the dot, although I would like to trim the price down further if any of the parts below are too much for what I will use it for.

- Asus H81I-Plus Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX
- Intel Core i5-4440 3.10GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor
- Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 Mhz CL9 XMP
- Gigabyt Nvidia Geforce 560ti (already owned from a previous system)
- Corsair Builder Series CXM 600W Modular 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX/EPS PSU
- Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5 inch Basic SATA Solid State Drive
- LiteOn IHAS124-14 24x SATA Internal DVDRW
- Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case
- Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614)

Also, I may be able to pickup a single Corsair Vengeance 8GB for cheaper than the 2x4GB listed above, I was wondering if I could just stick the single 8GB in (with the intention to buy another 8GB further down the line if ever needed), or is it not efficient to run the single?

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks!
 
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That all looks fine. My only concern would be with the size of the SSD. You'll be surprised how quickly it fills up and 250GB is only £40 extra.

I think it's better to go with the single 8GB stick now in an ITX build, because should you want to upgrade later to faster/more ram you'd need to replace both the 4GB sticks.

Also, you're aware that the Corsair Air 240 doesn't have space for an optical drive? Do you really need one? They tend to take up a lot of space in ITX cases.
 
MichaelAwkward said:
That all looks fine. My only concern would be with the size of the SSD. You'll be surprised how quickly it fills up and 250GB is only £40 extra.

I think it's better to go with the single 8GB stick now in an ITX build, because should you want to upgrade later to faster/more ram you'd need to replace both the 4GB sticks.

Also, you're aware that the Corsair Air 240 doesn't have space for an optical drive? Do you really need one? They tend to take up a lot of space in ITX cases.
Click to expand...

I forgot to mention I have a 1TB external already, I will only really install WoW plus the Win8 requirements.

Ok brilliant I'll pickup the single 8gb, I was concerned if there were any drawbacks instead of using 2x sticks.

Oh no I didn't know the 240 doesn't have space, although no I don't really need an optical drive bar the installation of Win8, but from my understanding I can just download and install from USB?

Many thanks for the help.
 
No worries.

Also, watch your fingers on the modular cables for the CX600M! The plastic is quite sharp and I've cut myself numerous times when faffing about with mine.

If I'm honest, I think that PSU might actually be overkill for your system. You might as well save a few quid and get the 500W version.
 
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