Spec check: Bitfenix Prodigy m-atx

ramsy

ramsy

ramsy

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I've been tasked with building a gaming pc for my stepson.

Would someone be kind enough to review these components, and let me know if they would change anything, everything should fit inside the Prodigy m-atx hopefully:

CPU: INTEL Core I7-4790K 4GHz 8M LGA1150 BOX
GPU: Asus GTX760 4GB PCI-E Striker (STRIKER-GTX760-P-4GD5)
RAM: DDR3 16GB PC 2133 CL11 G.Skill KIT (2x8GB) 16GZL RipjawsZ
PSU: Seasonic X-850 80 plus GOLD - 850W - Fully-modular (X-850)
MOBO: ASUS Maximus VII GENE, Intel Z97 Mainboard, RoG - Sockel 1150
HDD: SSD 250GB 2,5" SAMSUNG 840 EVO Basic SATA III
CASE: BitFenix Prodigy M Micro-ATX Gehäuse - schwarz

Using stock CPU cooler to start with, considering water at a later time perhaps.

Thanks in advance.
 
I'm actually mostly in doubt about picking a m-atx motherboard with the prodiby m, or going for a itx motherboard in the regular prodigy.

What would be your first choice?
 
Why? An M-ATX mobo will fit in an M-ATX case...

Seems a decent setup. Though I'd question the inclusion of an i7 in a gaming PC. Why not just get an i5 and put the difference towards a better graphics card. Or just pocket the cash. The 760 will be fine for 1080p gaming.
 
 
If you're set on the Prodigy chassis, I recommend you go MITX. You don't really lose that much by going MITX vs. MATX, and the MITX Prodigy has a much better internal configuration. The MATX one came second and so is kind of botched- it has a poor/strange airflow configuration and not much room for storage.
 
Oh he is not dead set on the prodigy, he just asked for mobility since he will be moving it back and forth a lot between his parents..
 
For me the spec is totally off for a purely gaming PC.

Drop the i7 down to a i5 - you won't see any benefit from Hyperthreading. Also unless you're going to overclock, I wouldn't even get a K series, let alone a Devil's Canyon. i5 4460 would be perfectly fine. And since you're not overclocking no need for a Z97 board - H97 is all you need, perhaps the MSI H97I AC. It's Mini ITX so you'd be best with the regular Prodigy.

16GB RAM is also overkill for gaming, but it doesn't hurt when it's cheap enough - 8GB will be fine.

850W PSU is totally overkill for any mordern single-GPU graphics card, let alone the 760. Drop that to a good quality 550W for even more savings (gotta love the SuperFlower PSUs here). Maybe go 650W if you upgrade the graphics card, as I'm about to say.

So that'll save you a good chunk of money to either pocket or put towards other things, such as a bigger SSD (games are rapidly filling up my 500GB Samsung 840) or a better graphics card - the new AMD R9285 is apparently a good'un, as are the R290 and GTX770 (but probably a bit much if you're only gaming at 1080p).

I'd personally throw a mechanical drive in too for basic storage - even a 500GB drive will ill up quickly if it's the only drive in the system.

But all in all I'd now question even using the Prodigy - so much wasted space inside if you're not loading up with hard drives or using a 240mm AIO water cooler, but I will admit I've been spoiled by what I managed to cram into my gaming rig (in my sig). But the carry handles on the Prodigy are convenient if you're moving the thing around.
 
Based on my post above, I had a play with this.

YOUR BASKET
1 x XFX Radeon R9 280X DD Black Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (R9-280X-TDBD) with FREE Kingston 60GB SSD £221.99
1 x Samsung 500GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE500BW) £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4460 3.20GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £134.99
1 x MSI H97I AC Intel H97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £79.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 650W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £67.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (HX316C10FBK2/8) £65.99
1 x BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Cube Case - Midnight Black £64.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EZRX) HDD £62.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H55 Quiet Liquid CPU Cooler £52.99
Total : £946.01 (includes shipping : £11.75).



In comparison, your initial spec came out at roughly £1,090. I've doubled the SSD, upped the graphics card (just edges out the GTX 770), dropped in 2TB of mechanical storage and even threw in a good water cooler.

And everything is black :D

And of course if you don't want the mechanical storage and water cooler that'll save £116.
 
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