SSF Gaming recommendations

luckyluca

luckyluca

luckyluca

Associate
Joined
2 Feb 2011
Posts
18
Hello,

I fell in love with the Silverstone SG07B case and wanted to build a custom gaming SFF with but I haven't assembled my own computer in a while and lost touch with latest models and makes.

I'm looking for a top of the spec gaming amd mini-itx quad core machine with one of the latest ati radeons, ideally 6950.

Could you recommend a good mother board - cpu - graphics card combo that would fit in the silverstone sgo7b?

budget shouldn't be a problem if we stick to anything below £1400

Thanks!
Luca
 
Thanks for the fast reply, I'd love to switch to the sandybridge but I decided against it because of the intel recall of two days ago.

I was thinking either miniitx high end amd or older generation of i7.
What about this? (and yes it seems I might have confused the sata cables ^ _^ ). Also I'm a bit confused about the ram, the gigabite websites says the mobo supports 1600Mhz modules meanwhile the intel website says i7-870 only supports up to 1333Mhz...

regarding the HD I have the necessity of running flight simulator games with big photoreal sceneries in the order of 120Gb. So I'm inclined torwards a 10k rpm velociraptor.
Thanks again!

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ok, thanks I'll take that into consideration. What about a similar AMD gaming sff ?
could you recommend a nice amd mini-itx highend motherboard?

Cheers
Luca

danewesley said:
i wouldnt be put off the new sandybridge boards, ocuk have backed all purchases and said if anything happens they will help and if it fails they will replace for free, or replace if a recall comes into effect.

i would also go for a larger ssd instead of the mechanical hdd, u need 120gb? then get this and then a 1tb 7200 drive, there isnt much difference really.

Heres a comparison of the i7 870 VS i7 2600k, i would advise against spending more on old tech when the sandybridge cpu clearly crushes the 870
Click to expand...
 
Thanks but for as much as I find the sandy bridge appealing, it will either be an amd or intel h55 mini-itx just to be safe.

Besides quadcore is good enough and the gpu should be powerful enough for my flight simming (remember I have 120Gb of sceneries for just one game and they're loaded while playing). my laptop 7200rpm 320Gb 8Mb is way too slow and ssd way too small :-)

I've just put together another list, what do you think? will I have problems sticking these in together in the sg07 case? am I missing anything from this list (cables fans etc.)? lastly which one of the shythe fans should I use?

thanks!

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Nice one you convinced me on the HD front, the 1tb black seems much more appealing. I really can't push myself into purchasing the SB architecture though.
I'd honestly rather switch to the most powerful AMD mini-itx I can get or stick to the H55.

Regarding the zotac what problems have you heard about?

Thanks a lot!
p.s.
this
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-027-SY&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395
or this?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-026-SY


and
this
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-248-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752
or this?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-194-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752
 
I was put off by the chipset recall and the annoyances it would bring.
Having been affected at the time by the intel 820 chipset (year 2000) problem I'm a bit wary about getting brand new technology especially if the problem is officially there :-)

Having said that, I was looking at the new OCUK rma policy and I feel much more reassured in case things went wrong. I might as well purchase it afterall; it would be faster and cheaper I know.

-from your previous post I think I could go with the BIG scythe instead of the one I selected right?

-and if the sata2 is affected shouldn't I avoid plugging the dvd drive on that?

-is the basket complete / am I forgetting something?

-lastly the only reason I was thinking of the 1gb 6950 was for the slightly faster 830mhz core instead of the 800mhz core. BTW there is no reason why I'm sticking to 6950 other than price, if you feel like recommending another ati card go ahead :)


Thanks a lot
Luca

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gropingmantis said:
With the Gigabyte the Rev.b with other boards the BIG.

Go for the ASUS as it has 2GB as opposed to the XFX's 1GB GDDR5 and more = better especially at £5 difference.

Have heard of Zotacs having various driver issues and not so good support but as I say I have no first hand experience of this.

As I said before if you really really don't want to go with Sandy then get the Gigabyte board.

Out of interest what is putting you off Sandy? I just switched from an AMD setup and the difference is mind blowing. If you are worried about the 6-series chipset issues its a total non-issue for mITX especially with the Foxonn board as it only has one SATA-II port and in an SG07 you'll struggle to fit in more than 1x HDD 1x SSD and 1x optical drive so just put the optical drive on the SATA-II and problem solved. You never know, when the swaps come in April/May you may even get a free upgrade (fingers crossed).
Click to expand...
 
thanks.
Still a few thoughts on the h55 solution, just for fun:
Regarding the gigabit h55 ga-h55n-sub3 instead, out of curiosity, would it affect the wd black 1tb 64mb performance as it only comes with sata2?

gropingmantis said:
Yes sorry thought you were going with an SSD but if you aren't then stick to the SATA-III ports, yes.

If you feel comfortable doing so I would flash the ASUS 6950 and overclock it (its very easy check the stickied thread in the graphics card section, you just download and let it do its thing. If anything did go wrong you can just use the BIOS switch to switch back to the original BIOS). The 2GB 6950 will clock like the 1GB but it has more memory.

Yes on the Foxconn go for the BIG as it has a larger 120mm fan whereas the Rev.B has a 92mm fan.

Other than that unless you fancy overclocking your CPU in the future then you're set.
Anyone else got any comments?
Click to expand...
 
ok it's going to either be h55 or amd, (i know hit me...).

would it make sense to purchase a i7 875k with the Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 in order to overclock the cpu a little bit? hoping that the scythe would be enough for cooling it down.

and in terms of videocards I just need to make sure that the asus 6950 2gb would fit and vent nicely in the sg07b case.

I'll think about flashing the GPU bios to a 6970 as it would be appealing although I don't think I'll need the extra performance right now.

Thx
L
 
quango-uk you're putting hope back in the zotac itx board with the sg07 case :-)

I'll be running w7 64bit too and was just a little worried about reliability and drivers. But I'd rather buy the zotac mobo for the sata3 and future proof ssd option and wifi.
Also I'm a little confused about the sata cables. Could you help me a little please?

Is the angled thing you mention due to the sg07 design or zotac design?
I was planning onto buying the sata3 WD black 1tb harddisk and then a simple slim optical dvd drive for now.
What sata cables would you recommend (sata3 wherever possible)?
I was also thinking of getting the asaka slimline optical cable ( http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-032-AK ).
Would I still need angled sata3 cables for the HD?

Lastly I take the scythe rev.B fan would fit nicely (hopefully!).
Thanks a lot.
Luca

p.s.
am I dreaming here or is is zotac H55ITX sata3 ?




Quango-uk said:
Can I just add

if you go with the zotac board the sata cable will not be long enough
as they are on the far right corner of the mobo, I had to buy an extension cable for mine.
Running win 764 bit on it, no problems with drivers you can get updated ones from their web site

also with the zotac the sata cables that comes supplied are not angled and if you use ssds it pulls down on the sata cables when you put the cover on.
It can break the pins on the ssd , I know, I broke one of my ssds :(

My spec is

sugo sg07 case (looks better in the flesh its darker than it shows in web pages)
zotac wifi mobo 1156 (replaced my supplied sata cables with ones that were right angled)
intel i5 760 (using stock cooler at the moment)
radeon 6870 (can only just hear the fan on it if close up)
2x 2gig ddr3 ram
2x 64gig ssds 1 for os and 1 for gaming
1x 1terabyte hd for storage
slimline optical drive
slimline optical cable + sata extension

Cost about £900

Im playing Rift beta at the moment and my machine can play it with everything maxed out
Well probably get a better cooler as i noticed the fan was getting a bit loud after I had played for a 5 or so hours
Click to expand...
 
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Thanks for the clarification.

..I thought the zotac came with a sataIII controller but it seems I just dreamt it :-) If not I would probably stick to the gigabyte as it would suit me better (except for the missing wifi)

Quango-uk said:
It's a bit of both really

only the ssds are a problem with clearance

You can use mobo supplied cables if you are careful with the cover, bend the saras into a right angle before you attach to the ssds so they tend to want to drop down the case instead of sticking out

The cover on the case is quite a tight fit , swivel angled cables are a better option imo
because if you get right angled ones then they are angeld on the mobo which causes problems
itself covering other satas and or hitting components on the mobo.
I managed it with a combo of straight and right angled ones.

you could get around it buy using stick pads and seat the ssds a little bit further in

the slimline optiacal cable use a special mini sata/power plug at the optical end, you cant use a standard one on it, but i had to get a sata extension as it would not reach the sata ports on the mobo


and another thing the case has a power suplly built in , theres a really really hard to see on off switch on it which is set to off, it is right next to where the cable goes into it insiide the case.

I spent ages scratching my head as to why it would not boot up :)
Click to expand...
 
I went for the sg07 with gigabyte h55 and i870 just to be safe. (I had troubles with technology too new in the past, it's personal :)

I went for a gfx 560 oc and single 1tb 64mb and 8Mb corsair vengeance I think they're called.

To my surprise the scythe rev.B doesn't fit the H55N-USB3 mobo unfortunately so I'll have to return it at some point.

Otherwise good good

Thanks a lot

p.s.
the sg07 looks really cool but beware the optical sata cable is not usually long enough to reach the sata connectors.

L
 
Geez I just realized that I still can't use it because the side copper pipes prevent from installing the corsair vengeance modules (which to my surprise are much taller than expected).

Any recommendation?

the max height from the cpu to the ceiling fan in the case is 120mm

I'm seriously considering keeping the stock i7 cooler
 
I'll was thinking of keeping the ram as it is and the stock cooler for now :)

in fact I don't think the i7 870 and gigabyte h55n-usb3 would allow for cpu overclocking (although I'd love to play with it) and all considered the sg07 is well ventilated with the mega top fan and holes in the sides. The other option would be to take the top fan off the case and mount a cool big cpu cooler, but i'm not too sure just yet.

Ideally a medium sized fan with a max height of 12mm would do the trick, hopefully not as massive as the scythe
 
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