Tiny ITX & upgrade bundle

martian_aphid · 26 Dec 2015 at 12:08

Hi all and a very Merry Christmas.

I know Boxing Day sales started on Christmas Eve but now it actually is Boxing Day I feel like I can get stuck in.

Helping a friend out for this one. The jist is he wants to upgrade his gaming rig and also produce an ITX machine [preferably from hand-down parts] for his parents office to replace their P4 system!

His current setup is an i5-3450 in an Asus P8Z77-V PRO w/ 8GB [2x4] Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600C9 and a EVGA GTX660Ti.

The plan is to try and get hold of an S1155 ITX motherboard (this might be a bit tricky) and use it with his 3450 and ram to make a really small form factor office pc - here we're looking for a good case and PSU to house and run it all.

His existing mobo and GPU will go on the MM and then he wants kitting out with something that will take on the latest games at 1440p. He's taking my advice and going to size down to an mATX case (that'll be whatever he likes the looks of) and going with one more powerful card and thinking Skylake.

Can't wait to see what you guys come up with and thanks for your help

Quartz · 26 Dec 2015 at 12:31

Does the i5-3450 have an onboard GPU? There are plenty of s1155 ITX motherboards available on other sites.

martian_aphid · 26 Dec 2015 at 12:42

Yeah I believe so, I checked that here:
http://ark.intel.com/products/65511/Intel-Core-i5-3450-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_50-GHz

should have HD2500. The ITX office build wouldn't need dedicated graphics but might need space for a 3.5" drive.

I had a look around on a few sites I know of but couldn't spot any 1155 ITX boards :S

martian_aphid · 26 Dec 2015 at 14:23

Considering s1155 ITX boards seem a bit sparse we're considering a plan B.

Leave the above build intact apart from GPU, which he will upgrade.

Spec up a small ITX build from scratch.

What's are your thoughts on this alternative?

Quartz · 26 Dec 2015 at 17:17

martian_aphid said:
I had a look around on a few sites I know of but couldn't spot any 1155 ITX boards :S

Your favourite search engine is your friend.

martian_aphid · 26 Dec 2015 at 18:37

There are a few on a certain web flea market and a couple from uk etailers but neither are ones I've heard of or could vouch for. As I said if we get hold of one we'll use it, if not that's where plan B comes in. Either way we'll need a compact ITX case and a power supply to suit - any suggestions?