Mini ITX Build

BWoolley

BWoolley

BWoolley

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Joined
22 Oct 2012
Posts
40
Hey there, I'm putting together a PC that i can carry around reasonably for moving/LANs. Can you see anything wrong or to be improved with this?

The PC will be used for uni work and gaming, biggest concern i'm aware of is over drive space/speed/life if i were to uninstall games often. I want to create at least 1 PC that doesn't give me a nasty surprise before completion :). Some guidance would be really helpful.
Oh, and I was also wondering about DVD drives, will a USB one be alright for installing Windows or will i need to get a slim drive for the case?

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Geforce GTX 770 Gaming Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £233.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4460 3.20GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £134.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 16GB (2x8GB) PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Red (HX18C10BRK2/16-OC) £119.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £114.98
1 x MSI Z97I Gaming AC Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £109.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-Bit - OEM (FQC-08289) £109.99
1 x Silverstone Strider SFX Gold 450w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (SST-ST45SF-G) £76.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £67.99
1 x Silverstone SST-ML07B Milo Mini ITX Case - Black £54.95
1 x Silverstone SST-NT06-PRO Nitrogon CPU Cooler £44.99
1 x Silverstone SST-PP05-E Short Cable Set For SilverStone PSU Strider Series 100% Modular £16.99
3 x Silverstone SST-CP11 Ultra slim SATA 6G Cable £6.95 (£20.85)
Total : £1,116.29 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
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42 amps on the 12v rail is recommended for a GTX 770. That PSU has 36. Might be okay anyway, as the CPU is not overclockable. But the extra money you're spending on that SFX could go towards a case that will fit normal size/more powerful PSUs.
 
I'd read into this power supply, I'm aware of other builds that have similar setups and i know that overclocking is out of the question. I don't plan to overclock anything which is part of the reason for the i5 choice.
I'm partial to the ML07 and its unfortunate that a more powerful sfx psu hasn't been released yet. I've heard a 600W version has been announced but a release date isnt given.
 
That cooler is OTT for the CPU you will be using...get a 9' Noctua low profile, it will run at least 20c cooler than the Intel supplied one and give a lot more space in the case to work with, because the NT06 will literally cover the entire motherboard and stop you from fitting a case fan above it.

Also the Silverstone cooler can have clearance issues with certain mITX motherboards depending on the positioning of the CPU socket, some of them are slightly lower down (compare a Gigabyte and MSi to see what I mean) and can, ever so slightly, block the riser card that the GPU plugs into.

I have researched this to death, because I'm going to build an almost exact same system as yours in a few weeks, I'll be using my current Nvidia 760 in it, these are the parts I've settled on getting (though not necessarily from OCUK):


4nQ.jpg
 
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Worth checking length of cable kit against PSU included lengths. Some are 5cm shorter which isn't much of a saving. Plus short cable kit is ribbon cable instead of individual wires, in case you planned on braiding cable. Not sure it's worth £17.

PP05-E page
ST45SF-G PSU page

When the RVZ01 (different external styling) first came out I saw this ATX PSU fitted. Might be more people using ATX PSU now, if wanted to check for quieter options and how/if they are secured to case.

Edit: Probably better to use a USB memory stick to install Windows instead of USB DVD.
 
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BWoolley said:
Hey there, I'm putting together a PC that i can carry around reasonably for moving/LANs. Can you see anything wrong or to be improved with this?

The PC will be used for uni work and gaming, biggest concern i'm aware of is over drive space/speed/life if i were to uninstall games often. I want to create at least 1 PC that doesn't give me a nasty surprise before completion :). Some guidance would be really helpful.
Oh, and I was also wondering about DVD drives, will a USB one be alright for installing Windows or will i need to get a slim drive for the case?

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Geforce GTX 770 Gaming Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £233.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4460 3.20GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £134.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 16GB (2x8GB) PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Red (HX18C10BRK2/16-OC) £119.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £114.98
1 x MSI Z97I Gaming AC Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £109.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-Bit - OEM (FQC-08289) £109.99
1 x Silverstone Strider SFX Gold 450w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (SST-ST45SF-G) £76.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £67.99
1 x Silverstone SST-ML07B Milo Mini ITX Case - Black £54.95
1 x Silverstone SST-NT06-PRO Nitrogon CPU Cooler £44.99
1 x Silverstone SST-PP05-E Short Cable Set For SilverStone PSU Strider Series 100% Modular £16.99
3 x Silverstone SST-CP11 Ultra slim SATA 6G Cable £6.95 (£20.85)
Total : £1,116.29 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Click to expand...

That GPU is 4.376 inches, how is it going to fit in a 4.13386 inch tall case?
 
Edward78 said:
That GPU is 4.376 inches, how is it going to fit in a 4.13386 inch tall case?
Click to expand...

The case has a PCIe riser so the GPU is parallel to the motherboard rather than perpendicular to it.

EDIT: Derp, spent too long typing and got ninja'd.
 
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Thanks guys, gonna be ordering soon so im making the last minute changes on your advice. I was aware that the clearance for the cooler was tight so thanks so much for that info, i dont want to have the side off :p.
Oh sorry bane didn't mean to forget, I'm gonna attempt to be neat on the inside of the case, sleeving doesn't bother me much on a windowless case. If it takes me in the future so be it but for now we're going lazy :).

Changed the cooler to match yours cooper. Other things I've done are replace the second SSD for a WD 1tb hard drive, added a slim dvd drive, dropped down to an 8GB memory kit, and gone for the i5 4670k with the savings :D. Your i7 has inspired me to go bigger, we'll get wiggle room when the 600W psu comes out.

New Basket (also whats your opinion on the less memory)
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Geforce GTX 770 Gaming Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £233.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-Bit - OEM (FQC-08289) £109.99
1 x MSI Z97I Gaming AC Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £109.99
1 x Silverstone Strider SFX Gold 450w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (SST-ST45SF-G) £76.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £67.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-14900C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Red (HX18C9BRK2/8-OC) £64.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1003FZEX) HDD £59.99
1 x Silverstone SST-ML07B Milo Mini ITX Case - Black £54.95
1 x Noctua NH-L9i CPU Cooler Low Profile - 92mm £34.99
1 x LiteOn DL-8ATSH Slim SLOT Black 8x DVD-RW SATA Optical Drive £19.99
1 x Silverstone SST-PP05-E Short Cable Set For SilverStone PSU Strider Series 100% Modular £16.99
3 x Silverstone SST-CP11 Ultra slim SATA 6G Cable £6.95 (£20.85)
1 x Akasa Slimline Optical SATA Cable, 40cm (AK-CB050-40) £2.99
1 x OcUK Value AT/ATX "Kettle Plug" 2 Meter Mains Cable £2.39
Total : £1,060.67 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
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8GB will be fine for the next couple of years..but for only £3 extra, why not go with the 2400mhz Ram instead of the 1866mhz you have listed..your MSI Motherboard can take it, every little bit of extra speed, wherever you can find it helps..:D

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-177-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=2426

Do you specifically need a DVD drive?....if it's just for the OS install, then buy a £5 USB flashdrive and create an install off that with Microsoft's own USB installer tool?
 
Changed to the faster memory, and yeh that should work.
My current PC has no dvd drive either but i can use my brother's to create the usb installer when the stuff comes so we can save a bit there :D.
Unless there's anything else I think I'm about ready to order :).
 
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Unfortunately OCUK don't sell them, but you should really look at the Shuttle boxes. Whichever case you choose, for this form factor you should double-check that the GPU is short enough to fit.

And why have you got two SSDs?

There's no problem installing Windows off USB optical drives.
 
Build has changed in a later reply, now using a 120gb ssd boot drive and 1tb hard drive. Original intention was less space for faster load times in games but i decided against it later. Lots of stuff has changed from the original basket and for the better in most places :).
 
BWoolley said:
ORDERED :D
Should be here tomorrow, I promise to take pictures of the struggle :P
Click to expand...

Good luck...remember, try to curb your excitement and take a few deep breaths before starting the build, do a dry run to plan out cable routing and such like, being such a small form factor you need to take more care than with a regular build...measure twice, cut once as they say.

Hopefully it will be a trouble free build and be sure to let us know the results..:)
 
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