Need mITX reccomendations - rush build

If you want to skip the questionnaire and get to the meat of my concerns, feel free to skip to post number two. I'm going to try to rack up some quick posts as I couldn't sign into my very very old screen name and now I'm starting back at post #1.

1. What will you be doing with this PC?

Mostly general multitasking, but a decent amount of gaming on the side (Tomb Raider, other FPS and indie games), mild Photoshop/lightroom use.

2. Will you be overclocking?

No.

3. What's your budget?

$800-1200, lower is better

4. Where do you live?

San Jose, CA. Apparently the Microcenter closed here. Still have Frys and some other big box stores.

5. What exact parts do you need for that budget?

CPU, GPU, motherboard, RAM, SSD, Case, PSU... (see below for my starting point)

6. If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing?

I have existing peripherals (monitors, keyboard, mouse, speakers). I don't have any reusable parts for the actual system.

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.

Need wifi (no hard lan connections in my office currently), USB 3.0 is ideal (and pretty common so i'm not really worried about this).

8. What resolution output do you need?

Right now I have two monitors, primary is a 24" Dell running 1920x1280, secondary is a 19" Viewsonic running 1280x1024 (i think). No forseeable plans to change, though a 27" 1440k monitor would be tempting.

9. Does this system need to fit into a particular space and do you need an optical drive?

No real space requirements, but I'm looking at SFF for efficiency. Optical drive is not necessary.

10. How comfortable are you with custom case design/modification and electrical wiring?

I have no interest in customizing my cases anymore.

11. How important is the noise/silence of this sytem?

Quieter is better, but my old system was probably considered very noisy, so most anything will be an improvement.

12. How mobile does this system need to be?

Not a concern. This system will stay put.

13. Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?

No. I'll buy a new license.

14. When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

Immediately. Next couple of days if possible.

So my current desktop shit the bed today (now typing from my chromebook). Either the video card or the motherboard is fried, but the system is too old to bother repairing. I had already been toying with the idea of building a new SFF system and now I’m more or less going all in.


Just to set a baseline, my outgoing build is quite old and has nothing worth transferring into my SFF build.


CPU Intel Core2 Q6600 2.4G
CPU Cooler Thermalright Ultra-90
Motherboard Asus P5K Deluxe/Wifi
Memory G.Skill 4GB DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Storage WD Raptor 150
Storage WD 1TB Black
Storage WD 1TB Black
Video Card EVGA GTX460 R
Case Cooler Master ATC 201
PSU Seasonic SS-600HT
Soundcard Asus Xonar Essence ST
OS Windows 10


Based heavily off another thread (sorry I can’t link yet, but it’s titled “new and looking for some advice") here’s what I’m thinking of building:


CPU Intel Core i5-6500 ($199.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler Scythe BIG Shuriken 2 Rev. B ($44.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-H170N-WIFI Mini ITX ($117.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory G.Skill NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 ($59.59 @ Newegg)
Storage Samsung 850 EVO 500GB M.2 ($157.99 @ Amazon)
Storage Samsung 850 EVO 500GB 2.5” SSD (I already have this)
Storage some high volume 2.5 HHD (eventually)
Video Card Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX ($325.99 @ Amazon)
Case Silverstone ML08B HTPC Case ($64.99 @ Amazon)
PSU Silverstone 450W 80+ Bronze Certified SFX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
OS Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($87.95 @ OutletPC)
Total $1120.17


Any red flags? Any areas to easily downgrade and save some money? I know there’s some H110 and B150 motherboards out there with wifi that are a little cheaper, but I don’t know what compromises (if any) there are to switching to those.

Storage Samsung 850 EVO 500GB M.2 ($157.99 @ Amazon) replace with SAMSUNG SM951 M.2 128GB/256GB PCI-Express 3.0 Internal Solid State Drive for your OS drive. Get your evo drive for games etc.. The SM951 has much better performance than the EVO 850. Newegg has them. 99$ for 128GB or 166$ for 256GB

landcruiser said:

CPU Intel Core i5-6500 ($199.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler Scythe BIG Shuriken 2 Rev. B ($44.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-H170N-WIFI Mini ITX ($117.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory G.Skill NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 ($59.59 @ Newegg)
Storage Samsung 850 EVO 500GB M.2 ($157.99 @ Amazon)
Storage Samsung 850 EVO 500GB 2.5” SSD (I already have this)
Storage some high volume 2.5 HHD (eventually)
Video Card Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX ($325.99 @ Amazon)
Case Silverstone ML08B HTPC Case ($64.99 @ Amazon)
PSU Silverstone 450W 80+ Bronze Certified SFX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
OS Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($87.95 @ OutletPC)
Total $1120.17


Any red flags? Any areas to easily downgrade and save some money? I know there’s some H110 and B150 motherboards out there with wifi that are a little cheaper, but I don’t know what compromises (if any) there are to switching to those.

Click to expand...

FSP Group makes the Silverstone PSU. They sell the same thing under their own name. Sometimes I've seen it for $5 cheaper.

If you want a higher capacity 2.5" HDD just for pure data storage, cheap and popular way (though you lose warranty) is to buy an external unit and remove the drive from the enclosure. Do your research though, because some of the highest capacity drives are taller than the standard 9.5mm and may be 12mm or 15mm tall, which may make them not fit. Also, some drives (especially WD Passport models) don't have SATA connectors on the drives.

If not overclocking and no need for super quiet, use the stock cooler. As long as you install it properly it is completely sufficient to cool the CPU under normal usage without being too noisy.

In actual game play, I don't think you would notice the difference between one GTX 970 and another, regardless of the cooler used or the factory overclock. Go for whichever one is on sale at the time of purchase.

Cheaper boards may have lesser WiFi (like lacking ac) or fewer USB ports. Otherwise, for your described use there probably won't be any difference. If it has enough ports for you and the WiFi has the specs you are looking for, then no reason to pay more.

Vengance_01 said:

Storage Samsung 850 EVO 500GB M.2 ($157.99 @ Amazon) replace with SAMSUNG SM951 M.2 128GB/256GB PCI-Express 3.0 Internal Solid State Drive for your OS drive. Get your evo drive for games etc.. The SM951 has much better performance than the EVO 850. Newegg has them. 99$ for 128GB or 166$ for 256GB

Click to expand...

I was on the fence about the m.2 drive. My original concern was whether the pci-e versions would see too much heat in this case, but it sounds like even though they will run hot, they'll still be faster than the SATA versions. Considering the 256G 850 Pro now (though it will increase the cost ~$30).

Zap said:

FSP Group makes the Silverstone PSU. They sell the same thing under their own name. Sometimes I've seen it for $5 cheaper.

If you want a higher capacity 2.5" HDD just for pure data storage, cheap and popular way (though you lose warranty) is to buy an external unit and remove the drive from the enclosure. Do your research though, because some of the highest capacity drives are taller than the standard 9.5mm and may be 12mm or 15mm tall, which may make them not fit. Also, some drives (especially WD Passport models) don't have SATA connectors on the drives.

If not overclocking and no need for super quiet, use the stock cooler. As long as you install it properly it is completely sufficient to cool the CPU under normal usage without being too noisy.

In actual game play, I don't think you would notice the difference between one GTX 970 and another, regardless of the cooler used or the factory overclock. Go for whichever one is on sale at the time of purchase.

Cheaper boards may have lesser WiFi (like lacking ac) or fewer USB ports. Otherwise, for your described use there probably won't be any difference. If it has enough ports for you and the WiFi has the specs you are looking for, then no reason to pay more.

Click to expand...

Noted on the PSU. Depending on where I end up buying things from I'll keep that in mind.

Mass storage is not an immediate priority so I'm still considering all my options there. NAS or some other external form is a possibility.

The CPU cooler and STRIX card are based more or less on my wants not needs, and I'm comfortable with the small price deltas associated with them. Board choice is what I was most worried about, but I'm getting more and more confident in my choice.

I'm mostly just trying to confirm that I'm not looking at anything blatantly incompatible or frivolous.

Thanks for your feedback.