Spec me a mini ITX gaming rig

duvet77 · 11 Apr 2015 at 12:20

I've had a laptop for for the last 6 years and want to go back to a desktop so I can play some decent games. I'm a bit out of touch with pc parts so could do with some help.

I've already decided on the fractal node 304 case and an overclockable i5 but that's about it.

I've already got OS, SSD and HDD? SSD is a crucial M4, I assume that will still be decent enough?

Budget is up to about £700, gaming will be 1080, wifi mobo or dongle required, and it needs to be a relatively quiet machine.

Thanks in advance.

stulid · 11 Apr 2015 at 12:21

The SSD is fine, is the HDD a SATA type? which OS is it?

duvet77 · 11 Apr 2015 at 12:29

OS is windows 8.
HDD is sata. It's actually a WD elements external drive that I'm hoping to open up. I'm led to believe it can be done.

stulid · 11 Apr 2015 at 12:31

From what I can tell this all fits,

YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 970 "NVIDIA 970 Cooler Edition" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £299.99
1 x MSI Z97I Gaming ACK - Devil's Canyon i5 4690K CPU & Mini ITX Motherboard Bundle **£12 Saving** £292.98
1 x Antec TruePower Classic 550w '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £49.99
1 x Raijintek Themis Direct Contact CPU Cooler £19.99
Total : £732.54 (includes shipping : £8.00).

The PSU is 140mm long so clears the GFX card.

You need to remove one of the HDD hanging brackets for this card, leaving two.

The Reference style cooler will suck cold air in from the side vent and blow the hot air directly out the rear.

duvet77 · 11 Apr 2015 at 12:45

Thanks for that, Looks good. A couple of question though:

~~Do you know what size that psu is, I can't seem to find it. The case needs max 160mm long psu.~~

Could some money be saved on the gfx card or would I be sacrificing a lot of performance if I had a cheaper card. I want to be playing games on a decent level of detail so if I need to spend that it's fine.

duvet77 · 11 Apr 2015 at 12:46

Ignore my first question, you've already said!

stulid · 11 Apr 2015 at 12:48

There are two GTX770 on pre-order (2Gb and 4Gb versions) with the same style cooler.

But a GTX970 is better and will maxout games at 1080P.

£20 can be save with this GTX970 - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-269-EA&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

Andreas.96 · 11 Apr 2015 at 12:48

You could save some money by going with this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290X LE Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £254.99
Total : £264.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).

But it would mean that the GPU exhausts the hot air into the case which can be an issue in smaller cases.

duvet77 · 11 Apr 2015 at 12:52

Thanks for the help. I'll probably go for the one specced originally.

nashathedog · 11 Apr 2015 at 15:04

Andreas.96 said:
You could save some money by going with this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290X LE Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £254.99
Total : £264.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).

But it would mean that the GPU exhausts the hot air into the case which can be an issue in smaller cases.

Avoid these, The temps are unreliable, you could get a lemon. I have one and both these and the DCUII's from Asus have plenty of unhappy owners in the real world.

duvet77 · 12 Apr 2015 at 13:38

Forgot to ask, should I order some better thermal paste if i'm planning on overclocking?

BriT · 12 Apr 2015 at 13:41

Do you currently have any paste?

duvet77 · 12 Apr 2015 at 14:15

No, but don't CPUs normally come with a little sachet? It's been about 7/8 years since I built a pc so cant remember!

Or is it pre-applied to the stock cooler?

BriT · 12 Apr 2015 at 20:15

Yeah theres some pre applied on stock cooler that comes with the CPU.

duvet77 · 15 Apr 2015 at 21:39

Some came with the raijintek cooler but I ordered some mx4 anyway.

Has anyone here installed that cooler on that mobo? The back of the mobo has a few chips that seem to be stopping the back plate sitting flush.

stulid · 15 Apr 2015 at 21:42

Is there not a small backplate which is part of the socket and it has like a screw thread sticking out and the cooler has a backplate with a notch taken out to account for this? and if the backplate has a plastic film that faces the PCB.

duvet77 · 15 Apr 2015 at 21:50

I hope this image works....

http://images.bit-tech.net/content_...aming-ack-review/msi-z97i-ack-7-1280x1024.jpg

That cluster of three chips near one of the holes clash with one of the back plate lugs/arms whatever you call them!

There's a similar thing near one of the other holes that also causes an issue.

Apologies for the image size, I linked directly to another site.

** Please don't hotlink images **

stulid · 15 Apr 2015 at 21:52

Hmm, and there is no "step" in the shape of the backplate to account for this?

duvet77 · 15 Apr 2015 at 21:56

No, unfortunately not. If I had some small plastic washers the backplate would clear the chips but then it wouldn't be tight against the metal plate on the mobo.

The alternative is to pack something between the metal plate and the plastic backplate to lift it away from the chips.

stulid · 15 Apr 2015 at 22:00

Do you think its just the ends (tips) of the backplate that actually gives the tension against the PCB on the rear itself? if so you could snip away the part that interferes.