Spec me a HTPC/ sofa gaming box please

Devrij

Devrij

Devrij

Soldato
Joined
23 Jul 2009
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Bath
I'm a novice to the world of SFF builds, having most of my builds in a full tower case! I'm hoping you'll help me avoid the noob pitfalls that I might not see! This is just a side project, so will be getting bits and bobs as I go. Birthday coming up next month so planning ahead :)

What I had in mind:
Light gaming: no FPS, just some driving/3rd person games, can turn settings down if needed. Would like to have room to expand if I decide to up the GPU power later
HTPC work: reasonably quiet and low power

Case: Sugo SG02B (cheap and cheerful, but let me know if it's rubbish and something better can be had in that price bracket) £60

PSU: EVGA 500W Bronze to leave headroom for GPU growth £40

GPU: MSI 750Ti £110

CPU/mobo/RAM: TBC, but I have an ancient S775 system that can be used as a placeholder (currently running as my HTPC now, but woefully slow). I'm thinking as low power as I can get away with, but maybe with enough grunt for some games. Perhaps an i3 or even less. Mobo doesn't need anything special, not many peripherals to connect at all.

HDD/SSD: I was thinking a boot SSD and storage HDD, but would suffice with a HDD if space is short.

ODD: have a 5.25in bluray drive that is wasted in my study desktop, so thinking it would be happy in this.


Any opinions about the case and PSU (worried about space!), or the cpu/mobo/ram situation are very welcome! Trying to keep it cheap as it is a side project
 
Nah I have a spare SSD I could put in, and maybe a 500GB had somewhere. That gives me a good starting point to work from anyway
 
Just realised that it has a laptop odd not the 5.25 one you have spare. Its a small case and could be hard for cable management. Also buy the case and psu separate as if you buy separate you get a gold psu instead of a bronze one.
 
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What form factor are you looking to keep to? mITX/mATX or ATX? Gather mATX or under?

There's the mITX Fractal Node304, Corsair 350D, there's also HTPC cases which could fit in a cabinet/rack or sorts, such as a Silverstone GD05B, saying that though the new mITX Raven is due soon isn't it? Though that'll require a SFX PSU which aren't usually cheap.

All the best.
 
I'm actually not too concerned about matx vs mitx, but atx is a bit big for where it is going to be and what I want it for. I'd like something that fits an atx psu so I could potentially upgrade it and run a full size gpu in the future. I'm not used to tiny cases so something on the more spacious side would suit me. My current pc sits in a tv cabinet, but I could always sit it next to the cabinet if the case is too tall
 
My Xeon E3 1220 and a GTX660 consumes around 135W to 195W at the wall when gaming. Hence,I would go with a GTX660 or a R9 270.

DevrijPCBuild_zps560f0e10.png


The Sapphire R9 270 is quite short and has a decent cooler and comes with a copy of BF4 you can sell. The Seasonic PSU uses a ball bearing fan and AFAIK uses decent capacitors.
 
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