Spec me a mini power PC for coding, photoshop and gaming.

UberTiger

UberTiger

UberTiger

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Joined
1 Nov 2008
Posts
4,502
Hello!

I've been trying to wait for Skylake before upgrading from my old i7 920, but I can't wait any longer and my mobo is a bit dodgy.

I work a lot from home in a very small space and need to fit my PC under my desk, which is a bit of a pain. So I'm thinking about going mini ITX. It will be powering a 4K monitor.

I've been contemplating mounting the PC to the bottom of the desk too to give me more floor space.

I'll keep my 7970 graphics card, so it's just other components that I need.

Ideally I wanted to install 32GB of RAM, but am I correct in thinking you can only get 2 RAM slots on mini ITX mobos? So I may have to stick with 16GB.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus Maximus VII Impact - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£30 Saving** £424.98
1 x Parvum Systems X1.0 - Monochrome White & Black + Silverstone Strider SFX 600W Modular PSU £190.03
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TPKD316G1600HC11DC01) £89.99


I'm not sure what motherboard to get though. What chipset?
Are there any good mini overclocked bundles?
Is that a good chip to overclock? I wouldn't mind doing a small easy overclock as long as it's stable and hassle free.
 
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Hi,

Use this to display a basket - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18371076&highlight=browser


but am I correct in thinking you can only get 2 RAM slots on mini ITX mobos? So I may have to stick with 16GB.
Click to expand...

Correct.

I'm not sure what motherboard to get though. What chipset?
Click to expand...

Z97 so you can overclock.

Are there any good mini overclocked bundles?
Click to expand...

Yes,

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-026-AS&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=2858

Or,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £281.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97N-Gaming 5 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £118.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED316G2400HC11CDC01) £109.99
Total : £520.57 (includes shipping : £8.00).




Is that a good chip to overclock? I wouldn't mind doing a small easy overclock as long as it's stable and hassle free.
Click to expand...

Yes it is a good overcloker and easy to do, just need a suitable cooler.
 
Thanks stulid.

Are there any notable differences between the Asus and the Gigabyte board?

Generally what kind of clocks do users get on the 4790k?

Is there a noticeable difference between the 2400Mhz RAM and slower sticks?
 
Gigabyte have better customer service and a UK support center, the boards are equal to each other.

4.5GHz-4.7GHz is common, remember it turbos to 4.4GHz anyway using a single core, you will be able to that and higher on all cores.

Are you sure mATX is not going to be ok?
 
Ahh okay. Good to know.

Any suggestions for a quality low profile aftermarket cooler with a quiet fan?

I believe the restriction is 150mm in the Parvum case.
 
Is a Parvum case ideal for high usage work related stuff? It's not very good from a dust proofing aspect and if it's going under the desk I don't see the point in it from an aesthetic point of view either.
 
One of the main reasons I picked it was because of its tiny size.

I have a sit stand desk, so even though it's going under, it will be quite visible and I like the styling.

The Parvum will fit in any orientation behind the right leg, flush with the floorboard or wall allowing enough room to store the chair completely enter the desk when in standing mode, which I can't do at the mo with my old define r2

I'm open to other suggestions though?
 
stulid said:
Corsair AIR240?
Click to expand...

Looks quite nice, but if I'm to fit it behind the leg in the picture faceing forward and not rotating it 90 degrees and have I've only got about 36cm to play with at floorboard level. Maybe 39 or 40cm if I change which bolts slots are used to attach the top of the desk to the legs.

Such a pain working to such tight constraints :(

If the parvum/whatever case I get is really small I may even look into mounting it somehow underneath the desk to lift it off the floor. Not sure how I'd do that though.
 
You would make a piece of metal/or three pieces of wood in a U shape and sling it underneath, the PC would sit in the base of the U shape.
 
That looks great! I love it :)

I spent quite a while reading reviews about the FT03 before I went to bed and I think that's the one (unless you can suggest any other tall thin cases like it).

It means I can use a micro ATX instead of mini to get 4 RAM slots and I can keep my 3 x 3.5" HDDs and single SSD for the time being instead of consolidating.

Plus the micro atx board will leave the option of SLI/Crossfire on the table for the future, just in case.

The biggest factor is that it looks like it will fit perfectly though. At 23.5cm wide and 28.4cm deep It sit perfectly up against the wall behind the back right leg and is still just short enough at 48.7cm tall to allow the desk to shrink to it's lowest height :)

Need to have a re-think about what board to get now that I have room for a micro-ATX one...

Also if I should change the PSU as there's room for a full size one in here. A few reviews recommended the Strider ones because you can get the short cables. Are they good and quiet?

There's room for a 167mm tall CPU cooler now too.

Also, it seems that case came out in 2011, has there been any rumours of an update per chance?
 
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No idea about any update to the case.

Unfortunately my only experience of Silverstone PSUs is bad, but that shouldn't put you off, they can't all be bad!

Both Silverstone PSUs were very noisy, coil whine on one and dodgy fan noise on the other, both different strider models, in fact I still have one to RMA that I never get around to as I simply don't have time to arrange returning it because of work hours.

I would go with a Superflower PSU if I were in the market for a full size PSU at this time.
 
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