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Building a cheap micro itx set up

L

LTR

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 6, 2011
Messages
198
I’ve been thinking about building a micro-itx build for a few months now. It seems like it will an interesting challenge to fit all the componets in the case, and achive good air flow.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? Etc
The machine will be for web browsing, and some less graphic intensive games (source games mostly)
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

I’m trying to do it all for around $500

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

I live in Central NJ, and can travel to a Microcenter :)


4) 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.

Case (I know there are a lot of choices don’t really have a favorite), Motherboard, Processor, GPU, PSU, RAM, CPU cooler

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I don’t really have any internal componets that would fit this build.

6) Will you be overclocking?

Don’t think that goes well in a micro-itx build.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?

1920x1080

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

I would like to start buying parts for this on Monday

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.

Don’t really need anything crazy on the Mobo just maybe a PCI-1x for a wi-fi card

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

Yes I will be running Windows 8 64 bit.
 
I guess I should add I generally lean more toward Intel and Nvidia, but open to other ideas.
 
Gaming will be the ultimate showstopper here. What's the most resource-intensive game that you plan on playing?
 
For source based games, wouldn't take much of a video card or cpu to keep up with that.
 
For a mini-ITX build, I'll have to cut this baby in half...

Buy from Micro Center:

$49.99 - Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced
$119.99 - Intel Core i3-3225
$54.99 - ASRock H77M-ITX (instant $40 discount when purchased alongside the i3-3225)
$15.99 - LG GH24NS72
+$8.43 - Sales tax from Patterson, NJ MC store
=====
$249.39 - Total from Micro Center

Buy from NewEgg:

$29.99 - Crucial Ballistix Sport 2x4GB DDR3 1333
$49.99 - Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB HDD
$44.99 - Corsair CX430 V2 430W PSU
$99.99 - Zotac ZT-61001-10M GTX 550 1GB
+$15.75 - Sales tax for NJ residents
=====
$240.71 - Total from NewEgg (with free ground shipping, not including any rebates)

$490.10 - Total for complete build (not including any rebates or additional fees)

With your $500 limit and your mini-ITX (was I right?) requirement, I focused more on sales and specials than on high-end or quality parts. I also took your Intel and Nvidia preferences into consideration.

But I really need an answer to my earlier question, as I believe that you need a better video card for the resolution you're playing games in.
 
Thanks for the build suggestions I was thinking that I would basically have to cut the order down the middle since MC has great prices on something and Newegg has great prices on some things. I have been considering getting an APU to use in this application I'm still considering all options.
 
The 1920x1080 resolution may impact some games greater than you imagine.

Which APUs were you considering? And for clarification, are you looking at mini-ITX or micro-ATX?
 
I can vouch for the 3225 being solid for Source games using the integrated graphics (4000). You will be playing with med/low textures though to get decent framerates at that resolution. 'course these are games from 2008 we're talking about...lol

An AMD APU would be a definite step up.
 
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