Portable Project

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Joined
24 Sep 2008
Posts
9
Location
Glasgow, Scotland
So..

I built a pc 5 years ago. But now I'm on the move a lot and need something smaller and a lot more portable. Something that has the portability of, say, a laptop - but the upgrade options of a desktop.

I'm thinking a LAN-party style system might be a good idea but I don't know where to start. I'd like to assemble this thing piece by piece. Keeping cost fairly low on most items but spending into the mid range for the important stuff.

I'd love all you're input, especially anyone who games on a LAN party rig. I want to build something that can run games smoothly at 1080/1200.

Which is the best way to transport lan party rigs?

And finally - what your personal choices would be for the components.


I'm thinking,
Small, solid case with good airflow that can fit my old gtx 275
Mid range intel motherboard supporting the newer i7
CPU - something cost effective that is the better half of the mid range.
8gb ram - 1600
Storage - maybe a SSD and hard drive combination?
Gfx. I have an xfx gtx 275 xxx from my original build that I can start with then upgrade later. But what to?
PSU - if I'm upgrading the 275 to something a fair bit more powerful will there be any great need for more power or are the newer cards more efficient?
750w too much?

And carry case for the train.

Would love to hear your thoughts, or Ben your experience of building a smaller form desktop. Pros and cons - troubles you ran into.

Look forward to hearing from you.

All the best.
 
You could build something similar to this but with your own personal tweaks depending on how much you want to spend, and obviously build it yourself if you're comfortable with that rather than buying a pre made bundle.

Change the CPU to an i5 equivalent, 8GB ram, with SSD as a boot drive, HDD for storage, and something like a 7850 upwards and you will be good to go for a portable 1080 gaming PC. That case even has handles! :)
 
My Rig is a SFF build and it is brilliant. They are a lot harder to setup that standard towers though, a lot of messing wiring to contend with. It is worth it though.

I needed mine to be transportable for taking too and from university. Using the box (the case came in) was a godsend.

To the build: to answer your question newer GPU's use less power, depending on what you get 500W-600W will be fine.

My idea for a case is: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-073-BX&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=2279

What budget do you have?
 
I was looking at that case - great style to it.

Because I'm thinking build step by step, I don't mind spending a little more if it's a product that'll buy me an extra year of life.

I'm thinking the core i5 3.3ghz on the asrock mini atx mobo. 8gb 1600 ddr3, 120/240gb ssd and 1tb hdd. Not sure about a power supply - do standard atx psus fit in the bit fenix case? Maybe the be quiet 730w supply?
Starting with my Gtx 275 -then something that will: fit/not overheat the system/be as top end as possible.

Also - fan?? What would fit? Would I be better off with a discreet water cooling solution?
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £189.95
1 x Asrock Z77E-ITX Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £119.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £89.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £69.98
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 700W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £64.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775/AM2/AM3) (CWCH60) £59.99
1 x BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Cube Case - Midnight Black £59.99
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1333C9DC) £37.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £720.46 (includes shipping : £10.50).




H60 will fit either at the back or the top of the case/ If on the top may be able to do push/pull, not sure.

Stick with the M4 SSD's, if you want a 256GB one.

The case will fit really long GPU's in with the extra HDD cage removed, this will only allow 2 drives. So make them as big as your budget can afford.
 
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