Mini ITX Upgrade

Sumer · 4 Nov 2013 at 16:45

Hi, i'm looking at upgrading to an itx system. I fancy something small, overclockable and watercooled. Current cpu is at 4.6 so I would be looking to keep it as close to that as possible but im stuck on what motherboard, case and watercooling I should use.

Im looking to spend roughly £300

Cheers

TooMuchCheese · 4 Nov 2013 at 17:00

This appears to be the board of choice for ITX on Z77.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-530-AS

stulid · 4 Nov 2013 at 17:06

Case is easy, you buy a Prodigy or Phenom ITX.

daveip · 4 Nov 2013 at 17:32

Sumer said:
Hi, i'm looking at upgrading to an itx system.

Are you actually looking at a new system or going to be cannibalising parts from your existing one?

Kyleo92 · 4 Nov 2013 at 17:36

My Bitfenix Phenom ITX will be turning up tomorrow I'll take some snaps for you to see what you think

Doomedspeed · 4 Nov 2013 at 17:50

stulid said:
Case is easy, you buy a Prodigy or Phenom ITX.

But then why not go mATX and get the Prodigy M or Phenom M, there the same size and mATX boards are cheaper and come with more features.

Sumer · 4 Nov 2013 at 17:50

I will be using all my current parts except for the motherboard and current cpu cooler.

I do feel a bit meh at spending money on a motherboard with a dead socket but I really don't feel the need to jump to haswell and I feel I will be more satisfied with an itx build.

Regarding drive space well I will be using a dvd drive and 2 hdd's but I do plan on buying a small ssd for the os and a 2tb hdd so the case will have to cater for 1 optical drive, 2 hdd and 1 ssd. A modular psu will be getting added but at the moment its realy not important.

Im more concerned on what water cooler to fir in regard to it actually fitting perfectly and cooling the cpu sufficiently. I have no experience with itx or water cooling what so ever so i'm not too clued up on how this could affect temps.

stulid · 4 Nov 2013 at 18:34

Doomedspeed said:
But then why not go mATX and get the Prodigy M or Phenom M, there the same size and mATX boards are cheaper and come with more features.

Comment was in relation to the board suggestion.

Kyleo92 · 5 Nov 2013 at 00:29

Phenom will be no good then, as it doesn't have an optical drive bay cover..

Prodigy or Silverstone Fortress FT-03 mini maybe?

Sumer · 5 Nov 2013 at 00:48

Kyleo92 said:
Phenom will be no good then, as it doesn't have an optical drive bay cover..

Prodigy or Silverstone Fortress FT-03 mini maybe?

Prodigy it is, seems to tick all the boxes.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=MB-530-AS this motherboard and the prodigy. Will decided on what water cooler to get after I get the case and mobo.

Kyleo92 · 5 Nov 2013 at 00:56

Sumer said:
Prodigy it is, seems to tick all the boxes.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=MB-530-AS this motherboard and the prodigy. Will decided on what water cooler to get after I get the case and mobo.

Linky doesn't work

Go for the windowed Caseking edition to show off your new mobo and watercooler

Sumer · 5 Nov 2013 at 01:16

Kyleo92 said:
Linky doesn't work Go for the windowed Caseking edition to show off your new mobo and watercooler

Oh, http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-530-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2071 that should work now.

I've went from wanting a Corsair Carbide 540 to a Bitfenix Prodigy, a friend recently built an itx system with a watercooled haswell i7 and and 670 and I just fell in love with the little thing.

Cheers for the input and yeah the windowed case looks good.

Thanks

Kyleo92 · 5 Nov 2013 at 01:30

Sumer said:
Oh, http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-530-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2071 that should work now.

I've went from wanting a Corsair Carbide 540 to a Bitfenix Prodigy, a friend recently built an itx system with a watercooled haswell i7 and and 670 and I just fell in love with the little thing.

Cheers for the input and yeah the windowed case looks good.

Thanks

working now

I'm going Z87 and Haswell but that Mobo looks good!

Prodigy is a great ITX case, so flexible

FYI, the Phenom does have the internal bracket for a Optical drive but the face plate doesn't have the slot, obviously they have recycled the chassis from the Prodigy, but they may release a front with a optical drive slot..

Sumer · 5 Nov 2013 at 11:12

Ok so i've been having a proper look at the mobo and what I don't like is the placement of the sata sockets. I'm really wanting to go for a clean tidy look but with the placement of the sata it means having the cables travelling along the board or over the ram sticks which I really don't want (picky I know) so im looking at this board:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-417-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2071

The sata connections sit right at the edge of the board which will be perfect for no cable travel BUT any idea if I could still achieve a 4.6 oc with this board? I assume it could anyways

Divine Pain · 9 Nov 2013 at 21:24

Minus any mods to the case, you can't even see the sata cables anyway behind the GFX card. The only problem with this board is the front audio panel connectors are really close to the PCI express lanes, it can fit, but it's a tight fit. Other than that it's a great board.