Struggling with M-itx motherboards!

OhPascal · 11 Jul 2013 at 12:22

I have been trying to finalise a m-itx gaming build for some time now and still cant seem to settle. The person who asked me to look into it gave me an absolute tops budget of about £1000 and they need a screen (they don't need keyboard mouse etc.) Probably wont be doing any overclocking as I figured I may have to stick to the stock fan to stay in budget. Consequently I struggling to navigate the performance differences of the m-itx motherboards. Especially now the Haswell selection has entered the fray !

Any help with this build will be greatly appreciated !

Here are some over budget ideas I had already...

OhPascal · 11 Jul 2013 at 13:50

So if I abandon Haswell and stick to Ivybrigdge I'm still undecided between the P8Z77-I Deluxe and the Z77N. What is the performance gulf between the two ?

OhPascal · 11 Jul 2013 at 16:17

The Z87N-WIFI looks really nice so if we are not overclocking its best to go with the 4670k ?

OhPascal · 11 Jul 2013 at 19:06

Ok this is a slightly revised version, stuck with Reapers screen suggestion. Just kind of changed out the PSU to a Seasonic one and the card to the Sapphire as I have always been a big fan of both though if anyone has any thoughts to the contrary please tell me ! Going Haswell just seemed more sensible than investing in older tech when your just about to build someones first rig. However does anyone have any experience with how the supposed higher thermals play in a m-itx case ?

OhPascal · 11 Jul 2013 at 19:17

Yeh I chose to keep the (k) to maybe add an aftermarket cooler or see what they think about slightly upping the budget to include one and maybe clock it up a bit later down the line. But otherwise what do you think of the build ? Seemed sensible to not completely rule out overclocking

OhPascal · 11 Jul 2013 at 19:41

Well I went Seasonic because on the Haswell compatible psu's page it was a choice between Seasonic or Corsair and Seasonic seemed a better option

OhPascal · 11 Jul 2013 at 22:53

Yeh thanks I totally forgot the OEM don't come with fans, so cheers for reminding me ! Picking up an earlier point though (without having to start a new thread), does anyone have any recommendations for Haswell CPU coolers that wont fit inside this build ? I have had a look at the Coolermaster 212 evo and NH-L12 but again like the mobo's couldn't seem to pin down a strong contender !

OhPascal · 12 Jul 2013 at 10:09

I had been looking at the Noctua NH-L12. Does anyone know what thats like in a m-itx build. Also what do you mean DSR ?

OhPascal · 12 Jul 2013 at 10:56

Ahh thanks for your help, I trhink I might go with the NH-U9B SE2 considering as per that handy chart it doesn't have any issues with the GZ77n-wifi and the layout doesn't seem to have changed for the G87n. Seems like a strong performer!