What CPU and Motherboard for ITX build?

pumaz

pumaz

pumaz

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I'm in the process of building a Mini-ITX HTPC and Gaming @ 1360x768 Rig.

I plan to buy a Sugo SG05 Case as this seems to look and offer the best for my needs.

Parts I've got so far:-

4GB Corsair XMS3 1600C9 DDR3
Corsair H50-1 Cpu Cooler
ATI 5770 Video Card
Corsair Force 60GB SSD (Boot Drive)
2TB Samsung HD (Media and Games)

I'm considering buying a i3 540 and a Gigabyte H55N-USB3. These will cost me around £160.

For up to £200 is there a better CPU + Mobo than the one above?

Any critique on my proposed build welcome as this is my first ITX!

Thanks :)
 
I would consider waiting for the B3 sandybridge chips/mobo. The performance is a lot better for around the same price.

The 5770 should be able to just about fit though I've not worked with a Sugo SG05 but from the specs there should be an extra half an inch gap card dependant.
 
the 5770 will fit with ease, you can get a 5850 in a sg05 without any problems and even a 6870 at a squeeze.
 
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Think I'll see how i get on with the 5770 first, I''l be gaming on the lounge TV at 1360x768 or maybe just 720p (1280x720). Will be mostly racing games like Trackmania, Grid, F1 and Dirt2.

Just wanted to make sure i got the best motherboard and cpu i can get for ITX with my budget. Would AMD be an option?
 
GPU-wise, although Silverstone says 9 inch cards will fit, I've done some basic estimates based on visual references and it looks like you can get 10-inch cards in there. A recent review of the SG06 (identical internally) from Tom's Hardware say 9.8 inch cards will go in (PCI-E power permitting). I'm personally going with a Sapphire Radeon 6950 1GB (custom PCB is 9.75 inches, PCI-E power on the top, not the back) and the Sugo SG05-450 as it contains an upgraded 80+ Bronze 450W PSU.

Of course, Google Max11L to see a 10.5 inch GTX 480 go into a SG05 by cutting a hole in the front of the chassis (which is hidden by the front panel).


As far as the CPU+mobo goes, I don't see any point going with AMD. The only AMD Mini-ITX boards I've seen don't handle 6-cores and use SODIMMS - not necessarily an issue price-wise, but they don't overclock as well as standard DIMMs (if that's of interest).

Plus, and this isn't intended as flamebait, Intel have been stomping over AMD for a while in terms of performance. On the desktop, yeah AMD is substantially cheaper if you're on a budget, but in Mini-ITX the prices for mobos are pretty similar and you can match decent AMD performance with the cheaper Intel chips. IMO there's no reason to go AMD Mini-ITX.

If you want to get a system NOW, then you can't beat the Gigabyte H55N-USB3 available here on Overclockers. It will handle any socket 1156 CPU and can do a bit of overclocking as well - a mighty board indeed. CPU? i5 540 for a fast, cool dual core, or the i5 760 for the quad.

Or for even more performance at very similar prices, hang on a wee bit Sandy Bridge Mini ITX - Gigabyte's H67N-USB-B3 is on their website, and I've seen it pop up on other vendors' listings. Asus also have a great Mini ITX H67 board with Wifi, but it uses SODIMMs so unless you grab those Kingston HyperX 1600MHz SODIMMs, you'll be restricted to 1333MHz.

Not too much of an issue as you can't OC H67 motherboards anyway.
 
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pumaz said:
I'm considering buying a i3 540 and a Gigabyte H55N-USB3. These will cost me around £160.
Click to expand...

^This,they all do 4+ghz with a freezer 7 pro!
At this speed spanks an i3 SB silly.

Edit,just noticed you have an H50 waiting,that's an easy 4.2ghz using that.
 
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Legion said:
^This,they all do 4+ghz with a freezer 7 pro!
At this speed spanks an i3 SB silly for a lot less money.
Click to expand...

And if Gigabyte do release the rumoured P67 Mini ITX board Sandy will spank it straight back!

But yeah, if we're restricted to H67 boards then going previous-gen 1156 i3 and giving it an overclock will be better bang for buck.
 
I decided to go for the i3 540 and a Gigabyte H55N-USB3 as it's a proven combination, I also ordered a Sugo SG05-450 and should be able to start my build Monday :D
 
Good luck pumaz and be sure to post pictures.

Are you planning on using an optical drive? If so I'd be interested to hear how you managed to fit the H50 rad, optical drive and graphics card.

If you're sticking with the 5770 I should imagine you'll just put the rad sideways (tubes on left or right) to fit the optical drive as you'll have the space (5770 won't extend the entire internal length), but your experience will be very interesting to me as I'm commencing a similar build very soon.
 
I have bought a slim optical drive but may not use it, what's more of a concern at this point is fitting a 3.5" HD as well as a 2.5" SSD. I've trawled the web looking for examples of a H50 + 3.5" HD in an SG05 but not found any info as everyone sticks to 2.5" drives which are not big enough for my needs.

I would like a 460 eventually but i'm always amazed at how well my sons 5770 + Q6600 copes with games like Dirt 2 and Black Opps @ 1680x1050 and i'll only be gaming on my ITX @ 1360x768 Max So i would expect it to be decent :)
 
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