SFF For female gamer.

J

jvilla

n00b
Joined
Dec 8, 2007
Messages
63
1. What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming, Photoshop (or other intensive programs), Web browsing, strictly HTPC/Playback, etc. (If you have multiple things you want to do with the system, make sure you rank them from most important to least important).
Gaming Small form factor for a female gamer. LOL, COD

2. Will you be overclocking? (If so, are you looking to watercool?)
Ofcourse! Inclosed watercooling.

3. What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included in this budget? Is your budget flexible? Is cost a driving factor in component selection?
USD $1000

4. Where do you live? Do you have any big B&M (brick and mortar) computer chains nearby (e.g. Microcenter, Fry's, etc)?
Kansas City area Microcenter

5. What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need (especially if you will need 3.5" hard drives or expansion cards as these may restrict case options).
I Need all parts including monitor/keyboard/mouse

6. If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. For reused parts, list brands, model #s, and, if applicable, firmware revisions.
Nope

7. What specific features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Thunderbolt? Crossfire or SLI support? How many USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s? etc. Which is more important, size of the system or having the particular feature? Make sure you indicate *required* vs. *wanted* for each feature you list.

Sata 6GB for SSD

8. What resolution output do you need? 4k playback, 1080p playback, etc for HTPC or give a vertical/horizontal resolution for gaming SFF rigs. Do you need multiple monitor output?

1080p 24 in monitor.

9. Does this system need to fit into a particular space and do you need an optical drive? Think entertainment center shelves, closet space, rackmount, etc. Many modern SFF cases have either removed the optical drive or have been constructed so that removing the ODD increases the configuration possibilities immensely.
N/A

10. How comfortable are you with custom case design/modification and electrical wiring? What tools do you have (Screwdrivers/Leatherman, Drill, Dremel, Metal snips, Soldering Iron, Bending Brake, CNC/Welding machines/Plasma cutter, etc...)?

Build a few computers before.

11. How important is the noise/silence of this sytem? HTPCs typically want to be quiet while all-out SFF gaming rigs don't care
N/A

12. How mobile does this system need to be? Need a carrying handle or carrying straps? Is weight important (carry-on bag, etc)? Water cooling quick disconnects, etc?
Stationary in the room.

13. Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? Remember that OEM copies of Win7 have issues with new motherboards
Already have access to dreamspark windows7/8 with her school

14. When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Immediately, in a couple weeks, 3-5 years?
ASAP.
 
There you go: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1ky53
You don't really have much to spare for the peripherals but if it is really just cod drop down to a normal 650 and/or drop overclocking since you don't really need it.
I'd say just get a controller and a plug the whole thing into a big screen TV.
 
I don't see why there's a separation between gamer and female gamer...

If you mean that the case must also be small, light, and pretty... (I hold I'm not being sexist) and that all the parts must be available today, I do believe you've limited yourself to cases from Lian Li, Silverstone, Shuttle, and Cooler Master Elite 120 etc. But what is your budget?
 
I forgot about the Fractal Design Node. <-- $20 cheaper on Newegg (but [H] doesn't like Newegg)... btw

Someone on the Newegg built his with these parts:
i5 4670k
AsRock Z87E-ITX
Hyper 212
Powercolor 7870 2GB OC Vortex II Ed.
Seasonic S12II 520 (Non-modular)
HyperX 8GB DDR3

Looks good to me. But I'd use a NVidia card instead just in case you want LightBoost 2. And there really is no point to use a watercooler in this build, as air cooling on a haswell mITX is just as good. But this will be much quieter.
 
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red or orange bitfenix prodigy? theres always the pink nzxt phantom but thats not small.
 
Wait for the new Mac Pro? Ain't going to be under $1000 though...
 
Some of the recommendations are overkill IMO. Focus on the GPU, and pick a case she'd like. You don't need the best cpu just for gaming, nor a full-featured board, or a hefty psu, but that's just me =p.
 
If you're deadset on having a "girlie" computer, I would recommend picking up a white Silverstone SG05 case, getting a stencil graphic you want to adorn your case with, use it as a mask, and then painting it pink so that the stencil is white (or whatever color)

So my recommendation would be along the lines of this right here.

Hope this helps, if you have any questions let me know.

Edit: Changed my recommendation a bit... I realized that $1K is just about enough to fit a GTX 670 instead of a 660. That computer I linked would be amazing for gaming. I picked a cheaper SSD and didn't include the Corsair cooler. I would run it on the stock cooler until you save up enough to pick up an aftermarket cooler.

The monitor I chose for it's low response time, you could pick up a mechanical keyboard and an optical mouse to complete it.
 
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It works for you most likely because of a cookie - for others to see the exact same list you see you should post the link next to "Permalink" instead.

You can double check using your browser's incognito mode.
 
thanks to everyone so far on the suggestions. This is what i got so far;

Microcenter

Intel Core i5 4670K 3.4GHz Socket LGA 1150 Boxed P
$199.99

ASRock Z87E-ITX Socket LGA 1150 mini ITX Intel Motherboard
$129.99

EVGA 02G-P4-2662-KR NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Superclocked
$209.99
$199.99
after Rebate

Thinking about going with a 32 in lcd/led tv since so she can do both tv and gaming.
 
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jvilla said:
thanks to everyone so far on the suggestions. This is what i got so far;

Microcenter

Intel Core i5 4670K 3.4GHz Socket LGA 1150 Boxed P
$199.99

ASRock Z87E-ITX Socket LGA 1150 mini ITX Intel Motherboard
$129.99

EVGA 02G-P4-2662-KR NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Superclocked
$209.99
$199.99
after Rebate

Thinking about going with a 32 in lcd/led tv since so she can do both tv and gaming.
Click to expand...

These are solid picks, not the cheapest but nice. The graphics card could be upped to a GTX 670 if you haven't purchased it already. 660 SC is great cheap card though.

I'm using a Samsung LED TV as my primary display right now, and it's great for watching video but I think the motion handling kinda sucks on it. You'd probably be looking at $300+ for a decent LG/Samsung LED as well.
 
jvilla said:
thanks to everyone so far on the suggestions. This is what i got so far;

Microcenter

Intel Core i5 4670K 3.4GHz Socket LGA 1150 Boxed P
$199.99

ASRock Z87E-ITX Socket LGA 1150 mini ITX Intel Motherboard
$129.99

EVGA 02G-P4-2662-KR NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Superclocked
$209.99
$199.99
after Rebate

Thinking about going with a 32 in lcd/led tv since so she can do both tv and gaming.
Click to expand...

she?? youre a bro bro? shit, and me trying to put you on a diet hahaha! "no games bish, diet and exercises, NOW" :D :D :D

we cant help you until you choose the case, its the most important part. we cant give you a list of hardware and then you choose something that it wont fit, its a waste of time. choose the case, CHOOSE THE CASE. :D

for the display i'll suggest you to create a separate thread on the display section, it'll be better (for you). ;)
 
Any particular reason for the 670 recommendations instead of the 760?
 
vipz said:
Any particular reason for the 670 recommendations instead of the 760?
Click to expand...

I just realized they were actually cheaper than 670 cards, and only marginally slower, I would change my recommendation to a 760 at this point.

edit: Yeah, based on your feedback and OP wanting an OC friendly build...I would update my list to this one

Has a K-series i5, Z87 motherboard, solid SSD, beast graphics card, fast monitor, "girlie" case.

It's like $50 over-budget though.
 
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so an update on the build. going with the Fractal Design Node case. she likes black.
decided that we don't need to overclock. to play the games she wants to play. what you guys think?

H77M Socket 1155 H77 mATX Intel Motherboard
$84.99

Intel Core i5 3570K 3.4GHz Socket LGA 1155 Boxed Processor
$189.99


http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperClo...2G-P4-2765-KR/dp/B00DHW4HXY/?tag=hardfocom-20
260

$69.99
Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit (Two 4GB Memory Modules)

$179.99
Samsung 840 Series MZ-7TD250BW 250GB SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5" Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
 
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I'm not sure which H77 board you're referring to specifically, but the chipset itself will provide what you want if you're not going to OC. This saves you cash on an aftermarket cooler too.

Graphics card is good, and I'm a sucker for EVGA cards. I'm glad vipz called me out on the 760.

RAM is whatever, Crucial is a good company. (It's 1.6GHz and CL9, all you need)

A lot of people get spooked by TLC SSD lifespan but you're going to get around ~200 to ~400 TB worth of writes out of it.

Any particular reason you're switching it up to mATX? Node 304 is nice ITX case by Fractal too. If you're not going SLI longterm there's really no reason for a larger than ITX build at this point of the game. The original link I posted for a build had the motherboard and CPU cost to $261 vs your $275...If you're trying to pinch pennies. Are you set on mATX at this point? :D
 
oh i thought i was a m itx case. and yes i am going mitx so we can set it on her desk
 
Alright, you've got me pretty confused here. You indicated you were getting an mATX motherboard...Did you mean ITX? I thought you were going to be putting an mATX board in a Node 605 ATX case...Node 304 is the ITX one. Case selection comes down to personal choice in a lot of cases, so I won't even question why you're not getting an SG05.

Which mobo were you gonna get? You can save cash by going with the ASRock B85M-ITX paired with a Haswell i5-4430.
 
You'd be better off with the blower version of the card you picked with most SFF cases - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DHW4HM0/

Any particular reason for Ivy Bridge over Haswell at this point?
 
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vipz said:
You'd be better off with the blower version of the card you picked with most SFF cases - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DHW4HM0/

Any particular reason for Ivy Bridge over Haswell at this point?
Click to expand...

If he's making a conscious choice between acoustics and thermal performance the twin fan EVGA card is fine. I seem to recall from some reviews that those new twin-fan EVGA coolers are quieter, you're right about it exhausting warm air into the case though.
 
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I tried putting together a few builds earlier but realized that your $1000 budget, with the additional requirement for a monitor, a mouse, and a keyboard, limits what we could recommend.

The following build was my best attempt to keep everything under $1000:

$120 - Acer G236HLBbd 23 inch monitor
$17 - Logitech Desktop MK120 wired keyboard/mouse set
$40 - Silverstone SG05BB-LITE mini ITX case
$64 - Silverstone ST45SF 450W SFX PSU
$110 - Intel Core i3-3220
$90 - ASRock B75M-ITX
$66 - Crucial Ballistix Sport 2x4GB DDR3 1600
$255 - MSI N760-2GD5/OC GTX 760
$165 - Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD
$63 - WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB HDD
=====
$990 - Subtotal (not including taxes, shipping, or rebates)

The biggest compromises I made were to the processor, the motherboard, and the monitor. To keep costs low, I went with the (IMO) entry-level Acer monitor. My personal preference was the Asus VS247H-P, which costs around $160.

I didn't go with any Micro Center bundles because the comparative lack of motherboards made it hard for me to find a bundle that could fit your budget. I didn't want to make any significant compromises in performance.

I went with the dual-core i3-3220 instead of an AMD quad-core because many gaming benchmarks show that the i3-3220 can beat most of AMD's low-end and mid-range processors when paired with a discrete video card. While the i3-3220 falls short against all of the Intel quad-cores, it can still play COD or any other first-person shooter along with the GTX 760.

I decided to stick with an SSD and an HDD to maintain a balance (for lack of a better term) between speed (SSD, which loads programs faster than an HDD) and capacity (HDD, which has a lower cost per gigabyte than the SSD). I went with the 250GB version of the Samsung 840 SSD as it performs better than the 120GB model and it gives you more space for your OS and your primary programs. (SSDs, like HDDs, degrade in performance the closer they get to full capacity.) That said, if you really want a quad-core processor, I recommend omitting the SSD. The "savings" could then go towards the processor and a better motherboard.

To meet your SATA 6Gb/s requirement, I went with a B75-based board in the ASRock B75M-ITX. Though it only has one SATA 6Gb/s port, the WD Blue hard drive performs just as well on a SATA 3Gb/s port as it does on a SATA 6Gb/s port. That's because virtually all (non-Velociraptor) HDDs don't utilize the full bandwidth provided by the SATA 3Gb/s port.

The case and power supply changes weren't compromises so much as they were cost-cutting measures. At Amazon, the Fractal Design Node 304 paired with the Corsair CX430 cost around $114. (In hindsight, I didn't have to swap out the case and power supply. I was trying to play it safe in regards to your budget.)

I don't know whether or not you'll be fine with the cheap keyboard and mouse bundle I chose. If you don't like them, try out a few keyboards and mice at Micro Center before making your selection.
 
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Have you purchased anything yet? We're nearing the end of July, which means that different combo deals and specials will crop up this weekend.
 
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