Building an 8700k ITX system for my son. What do I lose using H370 vs Z370?

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I've read the feature compare between H370 and Z370 - mainly OC and some PCIE lanes.

The 8700k (already bought) has a 4.7 turbo and we're not going to use a huge cooler so I don't know that an OC would be much better than that.

He's 17 and a very high level Overwatch player and does a lot of programming.

One area of concern is that it's not clear that the H370 supports RAM over 2666 Mhz vs 4000Mhz on the Z chips - but I'm not sure if that's a hard limit and maybe some H boards support RAM in the 3000-3200 range which is our target.

His GPU is a 980Ti and he's using a 1080P 144Hz monitor

Opinions and advice welcome.

Edit: He'll run Win 10 primarily but may add Linux and in the past has played with Mac OS...

No virtual/hypervisors though.
 
Thanks man, according to that, it looks like I could drop down to a B360 and be fine.

Should still be a solid upgrade to his 2500k that is on a non OC mobo.
 
Define huge cooler, what case?

I delidded some 8700ks and they do really well on U9S which fits in some nice cases, would be also good with something cheaper like cryorig or similar size. I copper-topped them too but that was more "because reasons" than anything. The ITX builds are on the asrock board with thunderbolt, has a lot of ATX performance/feature parity.
 
Aluminum said:
Define huge cooler, what case?

I delidded some 8700ks and they do really well on U9S which fits in some nice cases, would be also good with something cheaper like cryorig or similar size. I copper-topped them too but that was more "because reasons" than anything. The ITX builds are on the asrock board with thunderbolt, has a lot of ATX performance/feature parity.
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I replaced his stock cooler with a Noctua L9i about a year ago (https://noctua.at/en/nh-l9i) due to his case not having much clearance for anything larger.

He's using the Silverstone Sugo SG02 (https://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-SG02B-F-USB3-0-MicroATX-Desktop-Computer/dp/B008J0ZQAC)

I'd really like to change out the case, but he has Aspergers and is extremely resistant to changing familiar things and has a lot of sensory issues (so no large or flashy cases or RGB, etc)

I might be able to get a slightly beefier cooler as I'd prefer to keep the old 2500k system running for someone else.

RoPC.png
 
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It's a pretty minor difference for most things. Memory (and in fact all computer) speed is dramatically overrated for gaming needs - it's still 99% skill. My autistic son is "master" level in the games he plays, and is still rocking an i7 860. A few more FPS doesn't change positioning, tactics, aim, etc. He can still outplay people consistently - 10ms be damned.

Given your son's needs, I'd say just go with whatever makes him comfortable. The increases will be evident no matter what path you choose, and if the goal is to make him happy - make that the first priority. Go for outward familiarity and a conservative interior build. Get the Z2370 if your finances support that, but otherwise he will not miss much.

(possibly off topic - but I have a special needs kid too, so this is real)
I helped a friend who has a child (well, kinda, he's 17 as well) with Asperger's doing an upgrade. We updated everything we could in the familiar case, and just put an empty new case in his room for a while. Right next to the old case, and just called it the "future case", but it didn't really do anything.
A month later, we actually migrated all the new parts to the new case, but left the old case there. A month after that, we moved the old case away from the desk, but still in his room. Another month later, he was fine with letting go of the old case which wasn't doing anything.
 
The one question I have is if the 980ti will fit any mITX case you build. Just make sure you know the specs of the card and if it will fit any case you buy.
 
Yeah that case really kills your cooler options, might be able to shoehorn an AIO water in there somehow?

All things considered I am a huge fan of the core v1 for itx gaming boxes: regular parts, good sized heatsink (U9S or H7 for sure), any stock gpu and most of the customs if they aren't extremely oversized.
 
deaedius said:
The one question I have is if the 980ti will fit any mITX case you build. Just make sure you know the specs of the card and if it will fit any case you buy.
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Yes, it's a founders edition so it's pretty easy to fit. I'm using a 1080Ti with an Arctic Accelero Xtreme III (2.5 slots) and I'd like to pass it on to him when I upgrade, but none of the cases that look like they will work are going to fit that card.

Aluminum said:
Yeah that case really kills your cooler options, might be able to shoehorn an AIO water in there somehow?

All things considered I am a huge fan of the core v1 for itx gaming boxes: regular parts, good sized heatsink (U9S or H7 for sure), any stock gpu and most of the customs if they aren't extremely oversized.
Click to expand...

I like my Core V21 but I think even the V1 is too big and boxy for my son. I might double check though, thanks.

I've never used an AIO (too skeerd of leaks killing a $300 CPU) and while I'd consider it, I don't think a major case mod is a good idea for my first useage.


I really appreciate all the advice, I ended up going with the Asrock Z370 ITX as it was about the same price as a lot of the B360/H370 boards ($135)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07638L88W/

I also got him a 250GB M.2 drive which he's not expecting and I think I'm going to go with the Fractal Design Core 500 case:



It uses an ATX PS, has plenty of room for a GPU and it supports a 240/280 AIO as well as the large Noctua D15S (which is what I use and the direction I'm leaning - for cost and longevity)
 
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Check out the Cooler Master Elite 130. Probably not as fancy as others (its around $50) but it supports ATX power supplies and longer (14" length I think) video cards. I built my cousin a Ryzen system with a GTX 1060 and a Corsair AIO 120mm liquid cooler using this case. ITX builds are kind of a pain, but it works nicely.
 
The Fractal 500 looks like a real bitch to build, lots of tight crammed/bent cables for starters. You might want to check double towers like the D15S, they barely clear only some ITX boards down by the socket and more or less overhang on one or two sides. The S version is center offset for ATX 2011 and some 115x boards to clear the first pci-e slot, you might actually want the regular D15 for ITX.

I know the CM 120/130 elites are a pain to build with maxed out components since I used to own a few, very limited cooler height and maximum cablecram.

The V1 is "only" 22 liters and is probably the easiest ITX case to build in, better than quite a few matx/atx cases even. It would fit the D14/15/etc if it was 15~20mm taller but max unmodded is H7 at ~145mm top pipes.
 
Aluminum said:
The Fractal 500 looks like a real bitch to build, lots of tight crammed/bent cables for starters. You might want to check double towers like the D15S, they barely clear only some ITX boards down by the socket and more or less overhang on one or two sides. The S version is center offset for ATX 2011 and some 115x boards to clear the first pci-e slot, you might actually want the regular D15 for ITX.

I know the CM 120/130 elites are a pain to build with maxed out components since I used to own a few, very limited cooler height and maximum cablecram.

The V1 is "only" 22 liters and is probably the easiest ITX case to build in, better than quite a few matx/atx cases even. It would fit the D14/15/etc if it was 15~20mm taller but max unmodded is H7 at ~145mm top pipes.
Click to expand...

All very reasonable but the V1 is too big. Case size / acceptance is the primary constraint.

I've seen several Core 500 builds, I think it will work well. I'll double check D15S compatability though.
 
Verdi said:
Can you still control voltages in H370/B360? That would be nice for OP's case. Undervolting can do wonders about temperatures, specially on small cases.
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no idea. youd have to look into it.
 
Verdi said:
Can you still control voltages in H370/B360? That would be nice for OP's case. Undervolting can do wonders about temperatures, specially on small cases.
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pendragon1 said:
no idea. youd have to look into it.
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You might be able to though Intel's XTU software, not 100% sure on that though. I agree the l9i could be pretty rough on the 8700k, but possible and more possible with tweaking.
 
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