Newbie itx gaming advice

it's the 6950 - flashed to 6970.
Either that or the 560ti would be good.

Looks like a nice little setup you got spec'd :)
 
Okay, that seems a good build but do remember you're not going to be seeing the kind of clocks the ATX users are. The miniITX Z68 boards just don't have the strong VRMs that their full sized brethren do.

As for CPU cooler, well there are a number of choices.

- Intel stock cooler [Noisy and poor performing but cheap]
- Better air cooler [Decent performance, noise depends on fan choice]
- All-in-one water [Decent performance, noise depends on pump and fan choice]
- Custom water [Excellent performance, quiet, absolute **** to fit]

If you go for an all-in-one water like the Antec H2O-620 or the Corsair H6O, remember that this choice can impact the optical drive and HDD placements and choice. I did post about it in another thread, it's best just to read this:

Right, it's a bit complicated. Best if I take each separately. You have the Corsair H5O, H6O, and the Antec Kuhler H2O-620 as all-in-one watercooling solutions that have a 1" thick radiator. You then have the Corsair H7O, H8O, and the Antec Kuhler H2O-920 as the solutions with the 2" thick radiator. All the pump/CPU blocks should clear the 300/450W PSU fine, and don't seem to interfere with board components in my experience.

All the radiators can be mounted in three different ways.

a) With the rad mounted horizontally in the front of the case. This will allow you to mount an optical drive in the front (you will need to dremel off the HDD bracket) but it will stray into the space for the graphics card, and you will lose the equivalent length of the rad - as you can get away with a total of 10.25" in the SG05, mounting a rad this way will leave you with either 9.25" or 8.25" depending on your choice.

b) Mount the rad vertically. This doesn't interfere with the graphics card choice (you get the full 10.25") but you won't be able to fit an optical drive - the bracket that holds it will NOT fit in the case with this method.

c) Drill holes yourself to mount the rad slightly off-centre. This allows you to get away with both an optical drive and the full 10.25" of graphics card, but it means you will have to drill your lovely new case.

Note that mounting the rad lower by drilling may also affect your ability to mount the HDD to the bottom of the case, as the rad will foul that idea. So you'll need to improvise it somewhere else.
Click to expand...

Of course, if you don't want the faff, just go with something on air and decent like the Scythe Big Shuriken. That way you get full expandability with no need to cut anything. :)

Graphics card choice will impact what you decide to do re: CPU cooler.
 
Hullo. After much deliberation (e.g. putting off) I've finally ordered my new rig.

The original budget of £600-£800 has been blown out of the water. But hopefully it will be a better rig for it.

SG05 B 350w
Zotac Z68 Wi-Fi
i5 2500K
Scythe Shuriken Rev B
Zotac GTX 560ti 448
8 gb ram
1 TB Seagate Barracuda
60 gb OCZ SSD
Blu-Ray drive
and a Iiyama Prolite 24" monitor

Will post build and pics when it arrives.

Very excited. :D
 
computerbuild003.jpg
 
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