Tasked with building a mini-game rig, some input please!

Participant · 18 Mar 2011 at 12:41

Tute said:
How do you work that one out? The SG07 is much more expensive on account of coming with a 600W PSU. Which is unnecessary in this instance.

My mistake, I was comparing the SG06 to the SG05, but I notice now that you were referring to the SG07 in the spec list above

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Regarding the HD6870, that's awesome :cool:

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Guardsmon said:
Why do you need to go SandyBridge if you are planning on putting a GTX460 in there and only an i3?

In terms of performance/cost you'd probably do better with the H55 chipset and you can OC that as well and not have to wait and pay for the Gigabyte P67 board.

The only thing that would concern me about taking that option is the fact that H55 doesn't seem to support SATA-III (6 GB/s) and with very fast SSDs likely to be at the front of the storage game for a long time to come, you're kind of limiting yourself especially without the ability to use a controller card.

b.cummins · 18 Mar 2011 at 14:46

well, a lot of response to this thread in the time i've gone off to lunch and come back!

I think I can take away a few good points.

I was looking at silverstone cases as a preference in terms of pricepoints and the fact that most of them include PSUS which brings the cost down. Nice to see them recommended, looks like the best option to consider all my needs is the SG07.

It does still look a little tight in terms of budget trying to fit a 6870 into it, although it is a good shout.

With regards to sandybridge, I was looking at socket 1156 I believe? I think it was someone else who suggessted it. Given budget constraints SATA-III compatibility is not imperative, although it would be a nice bonus.

So far I'm quite convinced m-itx is the better option, so thanks for the input there.

now its coming up with the best hardware configuration in the £500.00 mark. The most important part of the build is the graphics card.

Is it feasible to build an M-ITX system around a sugo sg07 and an ati 6870?

If not i'd settle for a GTX 460 but how goes it for the rest of the hardware?

i'm really liking the look of the sg07 after having had a look at the reviews especially given the fact you can fit in quite a substantial cpu cooler; what kind of system could i build around this unit?

Tute · 18 Mar 2011 at 15:22

Well the biggest difference between the SG05/06 and the 07 is the size. The 07 can take graphics cards right up to and including the HD6990, whereas the 05/06 stop at about 10.25" so you need to take that into account.

Thing is, 10.25" will still get you some good cards. To my knowledge, without whacking out the dremel, there's the option of a GTX570 (EVGA and Zotac do 9" editions), GTX560 (something like the Gigabyte SOC or KFA2 LTD OC would pretty much match the GTX570) or on the ATI side, the biggest you can get in there is the HD6870. It's no slouch of a card though, get something like the Sapphire Toxic with it's hefty overclock and cooler and you're laughing.

Unless you plan on going for something that needs the extra length, I don't think the SG07 is necessary. I certainly tried switching to one about a month ago, but it's very very fiddly to work in compared to the SG05/06 and I ended up going back as fitting my H7O was a right bodge job and I didn't want to risk it in transit.

b.cummins · 18 Mar 2011 at 16:07

Tute said:
Well the biggest difference between the SG05/06 and the 07 is the size. The 07 can take graphics cards right up to and including the HD6990, whereas the 05/06 stop at about 10.25" so you need to take that into account.

Thing is, 10.25" will still get you some good cards. To my knowledge, without whacking out the dremel, there's the option of a GTX570 (EVGA and Zotac do 9" editions), GTX560 (something like the Gigabyte SOC or KFA2 LTD OC would pretty much match the GTX570) or on the ATI side, the biggest you can get in there is the HD6870. It's no slouch of a card though, get something like the Sapphire Toxic with it's hefty overclock and cooler and you're laughing.

Unless you plan on going for something that needs the extra length, I don't think the SG07 is necessary. I certainly tried switching to one about a month ago, but it's very very fiddly to work in compared to the SG05/06 and I ended up going back as fitting my H7O was a right bodge job and I didn't want to risk it in transit.

out of the sg06/sg05 which did you prefer to work with?

The other thing to consider is, will a combination of an equivalent psu and an sg06/05 come to the same as or less than the sg07 combi?

Guardsmon · 18 Mar 2011 at 16:12

Surprised no one her has suggested buying a 6950 and flashing it to the 6970 to save on costs...

LePhuronn · 18 Mar 2011 at 17:45

I'm putting a 6950 1GB into a Sugo SG05-450 (the 450W PSU version). A Mini-ITX review over on Tom's says you can get 9.8 inch cards into the Sugo SG05/06, and I'm going for the Sapphire 6950 whose custom PCB is 9.75 inches long with PCI-E plugs on top (sooooo tight!).

If you're looking at a Sugo SG07 or Lian Li Q08 or Q11 you don't have these restrictions - the SG07 will fit 12 inch cards and has a 600W PSU, the Lian Lis fit 11 inch cards (might even be 12) and full ATX PSUs.

Tute · 18 Mar 2011 at 18:34

LePhuronn said:
I'm putting a 6950 1GB into a Sugo SG05-450 (the 450W PSU version). A Mini-ITX review over on Tom's says you can get 9.8 inch cards into the Sugo SG05/06, and I'm going for the Sapphire 6950 whose custom PCB is 9.75 inches long with PCI-E plugs on top (sooooo tight!).

If you're looking at a Sugo SG07 or Lian Li Q08 or Q11 you don't have these restrictions - the SG07 will fit 12 inch cards and has a 600W PSU, the Lian Lis fit 11 inch cards (might even be 12) and full ATX PSUs.

Never noticed these, GOOD FIND!

Pity it doesn't carry an overclock as I still feel some of the heavily overclocked GTX560s would be faster, but the HD6950 does have the advantage of 2GB GDDR5.

LePhuronn · 18 Mar 2011 at 18:56

Tute said:
Never noticed these, GOOD FIND!

Pity it doesn't carry an overclock as I still feel some of the heavily overclocked GTX560s would be faster, but the HD6950 does have the advantage of 2GB GDDR5.

Benches show that the 2GB doesn't make any difference compared to the 1GB models - heat, noise and power draw are all the same, and you only drop 2 or 3 FPS at the higher resolutions.

Of course 2GB would be more beneficial for Crossfire setups at large resolutions or Eyefinity gaming.

Tute · 18 Mar 2011 at 19:04

Yeah, and the price gap doesn't seem to be that large either so it's almost always worth going for the 2GB card if possible. It'll help the residuals on the card, too.

Do you happen to know if they still unlock to HD6970s?

Code13 · 18 Mar 2011 at 19:04

These are some nice spec'd systems. To be honest I never really considered m-ITX for a gaming rig. In hindsight I don't see why. You get the more console-like size which is etter if you like your PC in your living room.

Tute · 18 Mar 2011 at 19:10

Code13 said:
These are some nice spec'd systems. To be honest I never really considered m-ITX for a gaming rig. In hindsight I don't see why. You get the more console-like size which is etter if you like your PC in your living room.

Not just that, I lug my PC around quite a lot and having it in a case a little over 10L in volume is a godsend.

pumaz · 18 Mar 2011 at 21:13

I ordered a Sugo SG05-450 last night for just over £100 for my M-ITX build. I've been researching my build for over two weeks solid now and this seems to be the best case for looks, price and performance. Was originaly going to buy the SG05-300 but for an extra £20 thought i may as well get the extra power and the nice black internal

Azzy.. · 18 Mar 2011 at 22:21

I built the system below back in October, while i havent bought any of the latest latest games, it run MW2 and Black Ops On almost max settings at 1920x1080.

For general use im running dual monitors of 1920x1080, and the computer is almost silent. Well untill you fire up a game that is.

I think the only thing holding mine back is the processor. So im gonna be upgrading that at some point, and possibly upgrading the cooling, not that there is a problem with cooling, i rarely see it hit above 80 and thats only when stuff starts getting crazy.

MSI GeForce GTX 460 Cyclone 768MB
Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 Intel H55
Lian Li PC-Q11B
Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz
Corsair XMS3 4GB
OCZ ModXStream Pro 500w Modular Power Supply
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB

b.cummins · 18 Mar 2011 at 23:43

This is all pretty good feedback, i like the sound of most of the system ideas being put forward.

Another thing I'm curious about tho, I wondered; is intel definitely the superior platform in M-ITX?

Tute · 18 Mar 2011 at 23:44

Intel's the superior platform full stop at least until Bulldozer in June.

gropingmantis · 18 Mar 2011 at 23:52

Tute said:
Not just that, I lug my PC around quite a lot and having it in a case a little over 10L in volume is a godsend.

Thats why I went ITX, I just wish the Q08 was as small as I thought it would be, its still better than my mATX beast for taking on the train.

Even without Sandy Bridge Intel always seem to have more choice when it comes to ITX boards and usually by the bigger companies like Gigabyte, MSi, Asus, Zotac etc.

b.cummins · 19 Mar 2011 at 22:34

right so apparently he's wanting a system in the m-atx format, apparently it doesn't need to be TINY tiny and the fact that m-atx is cheaper is appealling.
So right, now I'm open to some ideas for a nice M-atx configuration..

b.cummins · 23 Mar 2011 at 12:32

So we are definitely going with m-atx.

having a look around tho, looks like we'll get more for our money with AMD?

LePhuronn · 23 Mar 2011 at 13:48

If you're only gaming, you could look at a Phenom II X4 955BE and give it a good overclock - that's still enough CPU power to keep your graphics cards fed, and it'll free up come cash for a better graphics card.

You still looking at £500 for this?

Maybe to start...

Phenom II X4 955BE
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-244-AM&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1943

Kingston HyperX Genesis 8GB
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-094-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

Asus M4A88TD-M
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-403-AS&tool=3

Sapphire Radeon 5770
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-216-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1515

Obviously power supply, storage, optical and case needs to be added to that.

4GB RAM to share off £30 or so, but if you want a relatively new graphics card you might be pushing it to stay within £500.

b.cummins · 23 Mar 2011 at 14:16

Experimented a bit more with AMD builds and came up with this:

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Asus ATI Radeon HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £131.99
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £104.99
Silverstone Sugo SG01B-F Evolution Aluminium Micro-ATX Case - Black £71.48
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £69.98
OCZ StealthXStream 2 500W Power Supply £40.99
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £39.98
OCZ Intel Extreme XMP 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 10666C7 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit (OCZ3X1333LV4GK) £33.98
Sub Total : £411.17
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £84.58
Total : £507.50

Would come within budget with free shipping :-)

I think this set up would offer a better 'bang for buck' than on intel hardware no?