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First MiniITX Gaming Build - Feedback Appreciated

P

pirivan

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 22, 2009
Messages
346
Hi All,

First, thanks in advance for any feedback, I absolutely appreciate it! After quite a bit of thought, I've decided to build a new primary gaming box for myself in the mini-itx form factor to really cut down on the space for features/components I honestly don't need.

However, there are a few components that I am unsure of so I thought I might solicit some feedback before I pull the trigger.

1. What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming, Photoshop (or other intensive programs), Web browsing, strictly HTPC/Playback, etc.
Gaming. Period. I have a secondary PC for literally everything else, this box will be for gaming alone!

2. Will you be overclocking?
I am currently overclocking my 920 but I really don't see much need to do it with my new PC (it's a bit of hassle generally to get setup initially and I'd prefer stability and lower/heat/noise plus a larger cooler in a smaller case is of course more of a pain).

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?
Budget is flexible, cost is not a great concern. I think I should be able to get in for well under $1,000

4. Where do you live? Do you have any big B&M (brick and mortar) computer chains nearby (e.g. Microcenter, Fry's, etc)?
Yep, Fry's but I will likely order everything from the egg.

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.





  • PSU - Silverstone ST55F-G 550W
    • http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256085
    • I am not 100% sure I will use this PSU. I simply wanted a fully modular power supply from Antec, Seasonic or Silverstone and this one fit the bill AND had a shorter cable option that I could use with the Fractal if I went that way. However, since I am pretty much going to go with the Cubitek I assume that the stock cables would be the way to go, so that they can be routed behind the motherboard?
    • I also want to make sure that 550W will support my CPU + GTX 670 (likely)
    • I am open to other fully modular options here that would be better to route in the Cubitek

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.

  • EVGA 670 FTW - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130787
  • Intel SSD 320 300GB SSD - It's a bizarre version I think was sold to HP so I don't have an exact link to it
  • SeaSonic M12 SS-700HM 700W - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151031 - I have this in my current PC and while it works great still I am really leaning toward NOT reusing it and retiring this PSU. I'd really like to deploy a PSU that is full modular rather than reuse this unless someone really wants to convince me otherwise!
  • Kaze JYUNI SY1225SL12SH - 120mm fan. I originally purchased this for a server and never used it. I am considering not using it due to reports of potentially higher noise than I want and failure rates. Noctua's sound like they are where the enthusiast market is going.
7. What specific features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? 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.
Required: SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.0, decent NIC (that is ONE reason why the Asus option is appealing, Intel NIC, not much Broadcom experience)
Ultimately I could care less about bluetooth and wireless, I will likely never use either (wireless I would actively disable if it came with the board).

8. What resolution output do you need? 1080p, 720p, DVD quality, etc for HTPC or list Vertical/horizontal resolution for non-HTPC SFF rigs. Do you need multiple monitor output?
Primary gaming PC connected via the GTX 670 to 2560x1440 Dell 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.
No case size constraints of any kind, my current case is a GIGANTIC Lian Li. I actively do NOT want an optical drive.

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...)?
I do not want or plan to mod the case in any way. I would buy a different case rather than needing to mod it

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 ;)
I certainly want it to keep cool as it is a gaming rig but I won't be OC'ing the video card or CPU so I am hopeful that it can be reasonably cool and keep quiet. It does sit quite close to me so any loud fans are completely out of the question.

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?
No concern for mobility at all, it will sit under a desk.

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 :eek:
I have a WIndows 7 x64 Ultimate and Windows 8 x64 license. I will probably go with WIndows 8 and install StartIsBack.

14. When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Immediately, in a couple weeks, 3-5 years? :p
I'd like to buy it now. The Ncase M1 looks AMAZING but I don't think I want to wait that long for it to release. Maybe when it comes out I will transfer the components out to it! I also considered waiting for Haswell but I am not sure if that will be a very compelling upgrade from a performance standpoint so it doesn't seem worth waiting until June
 
If you're not going to be overclocking, don't buy the K model of the CPU. Indeed, you might consider the S version which is slightly slower but has a much lower TDP.

Have you considered a Shuttle system? I like the look of the Cubitek but it really needs a 120mm top vent.
 
Quartz-1 said:
If you're not going to be overclocking, don't buy the K model of the CPU. Indeed, you might consider the S version which is slightly slower but has a much lower TDP.

Have you considered a Shuttle system? I like the look of the Cubitek but it really needs a 120mm top vent.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback! I am having trouble finding a 3570S listed anywhere for sale.. There is a 3470S but that's clocked quite a bit lower and I'd prefer not to go that route. Plus the 3570K is pretty popular and will likely be pretty easy to resell in the future.

As far as shuttle goes do they even sell anything that is just a standalone case? It looks like everything they have to offer is a pre-built more or less.
 
I'd stick with the 3570K, and then grab the AsRock if you really don't plan to oc. As for the ram, I personally would not pay $100 for 16gb of ram and would drop down to 8gb.
 
Wyluliraven said:
Here is about the only decent deal on an i5-3570S that I was able to find.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...sor-/221195990726?pt=CPUs&hash=item33804ef6c6
However, you are correct in thinking about resale value and going with the i5-3570K. That is a pretty solid game plan. The TDP savings from the K, to non, to S model is not very much.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was pretty much all I could find and I'd prefer not to purchase from an odd retailer as you might imagine. Thanks for the heads up though, I will go with the 3570K.

liangr said:
I'd stick with the 3570K, and then grab the AsRock if you really don't plan to oc. As for the ram, I personally would not pay $100 for 16gb of ram and would drop down to 8gb.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. I think I agree with you on the ASRock. That is sounding like a pretty attractive option based on some reading. The Asus is out of stock for some reason right now anyhow (hard to say why) at Amazon/Newegg. I am sure that if I really wanted to in the future the ASRock isn't terrible for overclocking anyhow. As far as the RAM goes I think I will likely stick with 16GB. I may do a bit of research to see what people are using with that motherboard to make sure I get something that is no hassle. However, I get what you are saying about not wanting to pay $100 for it but I'd really like to go with 16GB for this build (I tend to not upgrade RAM later). I may look around a bit to play with pricing.
 
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In case anyone ever looks at the thread and wonders what I did, here is what I ended up ordering:



  • Motherboard -
    • ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131840
    • I was really conflicted on this decision but ultimately I felt like the ASUS was really the better reviewed product (even if I won't be overclocking) and that again, it would have more resale value to someone else down the road. I am also totally unsure of ASUS vs. ASROCK warranty but I was at least more familiar with ASUS so that played into my decision.


  • Case
    • Cubitek Mini Cube - http://www.cubitek.com/products/mini-series/mini-cube
    • I went with the cubitek because again, it had no drive bays of any kind (a plus for me) and that space for hiding cable routing behind the tray. I am iffy on the company but the reviews that are available for the case seem good. It is only available from US reseller that I could find and is not quite yet in stock (it will be by the end of the week) so it should be a pretty unique case.

  • PSU - Silverstone ST55F-G 550W
    • http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256085
    • Seemed like a good option as it was fully modular. I did not order the short cable kit as I assumed that would not play as nicely with routing the cables behind the tray. I also liked that I knew it would work nicely with the Fractal if for some reason the Cubitek REALLY didn't work out.

 
Have you received your case yet? Curious to see what you think of it and what you have stuffed in it.
 
Unfortunately I have not. The case just cleared customs but now there is some kind of shipping delay apparently. They expect to get the cases in on Monday and ship them out immediately so hopefully I will have it at the end of other week.

I didn't want to wait to see if my motherboard etc. had any issues so I decided to get everything installed in my new case; which worked great. It's a tiny mini itx motherboard inside of a gigantic lian li case; looks a bit odd. Anyhow I may do some stress testing while I wait to test for stability but other than that I just have to wait! Anyhow, I will reply back with an update when I am able to put it all together properly.

I am slightly nervous about the thermals on the CPU in a small case like that so I may consider buying an aftermarket cooler. I will wait until I get the case to decide what might fit and take a look at temps before I decide.
 
Thanks for the response. I'm interested in what you think of the case. I'm looking for something very similar. Please post some pics/temps when you get a chance!

thanks!
 
pack66 said:
Thanks for the response. I'm interested in what you think of the case. I'm looking for something very similar. Please post some pics/temps when you get a chance!

thanks!
Click to expand...

Sure, will do!

As an update to my thread, I am a bit nervous about temperatures after going over some of the Cubitek reviews again, so I believe I am going to order an aftermarket CPU cooler. Unfortunately, with a mini-itx board/case it's a bit hard to tell what precisely will fit/work well.

I am leaning toward the cooler master Hyper 2012 Evo as it has a really good price/performance ratio and I believe I saw someone mention that it clears the daughterboard on the Asus motherboard I have without any issues
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...rue&Keywords=(keywords)&Page=1#scrollFullInfo

My main concern is that the Hyper 2012 Evo might not work with the motherboard + G-Skill Ripjaw X series RAM I ordered. That was a mistake on my part; I should have gone with some low profile RAM.

The Noctua NH-L12 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608025) also looks like a good option but it's pricier and I am not sure it is really worth it. It might have the same RAM clearance issue anyhow. Also, it has two fans and for whatever reason the ASUS board only has 2 fan power connectors on it. So 2 case fans + 2 CPU heatsink fans= I am two connections short on the motherboard. Yeah I could plugin to the PSU but then you lose the monitoring.
 
looks like a nice case, I'll keep watching this thread and maybe i'll get it and use my H60 like this
 
I recently purchased a 212+ EVO for my main box to tide me over until Haswell. Doesn't cost much and does a great job cooling. I've pushed my AMD 720BE from 2.8 to 3.5ghz (1.5 voltage) and am getting around 30-33 temps on idle and 48 on load. If you have room and not a lot of money, it's a great budget cooler.
 
pack66 said:
I recently purchased a 212+ EVO for my main box to tide me over until Haswell. Doesn't cost much and does a great job cooling. I've pushed my AMD 720BE from 2.8 to 3.5ghz (1.5 voltage) and am getting around 30-33 temps on idle and 48 on load. If you have room and not a lot of money, it's a great budget cooler.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I decided to go with the 212 EVO+ purely due to the great reviews and fantastic value. I don't plan on OC'ing, so just for lowering temps the price was more than OK.

I also received the case this week (finally) and I am planning to try to get everything installed soon.

Initial impressions. It looks/feels pretty much EXACTLY like an all aluminum Lian Li case. It looks great but I do have a few concerns. First, the power/reset buttons make an odd quiet-ish scraping noise when you push them. They likely are just BIT too tight, so that's a little disappointing. Granted, I really don't use the buttons ALL the time so I will just live with it but it's a little annoying for a case of that cost.

The case itself is incredibly light while empty (as you might expect) and that does lend and it does make it feel a tad flimsy but that's just my opinion. Also, as reviewers have stated the metal grates for the fans are not ideal. The metal between the open holes is pretty significant so it is clear you lose a lot of airflow because of this.

Anyhow, overall it looks like a pretty decent case, we'll see how I feel about it after I attempt the build.
 
Well, after significantly more hassle than I intended, I completed the build.

After I got the motherboard in and setup with the backplate I was working on mounting the 212 Evo+ and ran into an issue. Unfortunately, it was only at that point that I realized that the 212 Evo+ was too high by half an inch or so; it wouldn't fit inside the case. I assumed it would fit fine but I didn't consider that as there is space behind the motherboard tray to hide cables and that means the motherboard is 'elevated' quite a bit. However, in case anyone wonders it DOES work with the G-Skill Ripjaws X series (you need to move up the fan mount a little bit to accommodate the RAM size but it works) and it works with the ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe (it baaaarely clears the daughterboard).

So, I tore it down and rebuilt it using the stock Intel cooler, argh. After messing around with it so much I am not sure how inclined I am to locate another after-market cooler that might work and install it; we'll see how I feel down the road. Temps are hitting 90c while running the prime95 blend test after 25 minutes, so not great. I am definitely not buying another cooler unless I am POSITIVE it will fit.

Other build notes; the Noctua NF fans I purchased have rubber mounting 'screws'. They are great in concept but they can be a huge pain in the ass to get 'pulled in' appropriately. I ended up NOT using them on the rear fan (they are brown so they looked a bit odd anyhow). I used them on the bottom 120mm fan but I had to leave 1 of them only partially secured (I gave up after repeated attempts to pull it through, it was late).

Overall the case seems fine but I wouldn't say I am thrilled with it. Partially due to the issues I had with the 212 Evo+ but frankly I should have noticed that earlier so that is not really the fault of the case. The issue I have with the case itself is while it IS great to hide the cables behind the motherboard tray the entire case started to feel like a bit of a 'blast from the past'.

The previous case I built was a Fractal Design R4 and coming from that to this felt bizarre. This felt like something that was designed 4 years ago, something like my current Lian Li. Yeah sure the Cubitek has cable routing areas but they weren't covered in any kind of rubberized material or plastic to blunt any sharp edges. Pulling a power cable through once caused it to get nicked slightly (it did NOT break the sheath luckily) but it highlighted WHY these edges need to be protected. Also, it felt like there weren't enough cable routing holes in the right places. I made it work but I wasn't able to make it QUITE as neat as I would like.

It also annoyed me that the front USB port/audio port cables were short and thus I was unable to route them in any kind of nice way; they had to be stretched across the motherboard. I rarely use them so I almost decided to just zip tie them up and call it good.

The three most positive aspects of the case are as follows:

1. It's great that you can hide the cables behind the motherboard tray, truly nice for a mini ITX build.
2. It looks very 'LIAN LI' like in a solid aluminum case. If you like those cases, you'll love how it looks
3. Even though it can be a pain at times, it's really quite roomy and easy to build. Mounting the SSD on the back of the motherboard tray was a good idea and there was plenty of room for the PSU

So for ~$115 I think it's 'good' but I don't love it. $115 for a case with no fans is a bit of a tough sell. However, this is my first Mini ITX gaming build so maybe my standards are a bit high overall. I LOVED the Fractal Design R4 after I was done with it and I really didn't feel the same way this with this case. It's possible that if I did a Node 304 build I'd have a lot more favorable feelings about the Cubitek Mini Cube.
 
There are some decent shorter heatsinks using 92mm fans. Look for ones that have at least 3 heatpipes.
 
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Sure, I took a couple quick ones last night

ugCvcK9l.jpg
- Front, apologies for the terrible iPhone quality photo, I took it last night in a hurry. Also, not my best cabling job. I may go back and zip tie it up to make it a little cleaner looking. I am also still tempted to just get rid of the front USB 2.0 and 3.0 cables just to make it look cleaner.

GQCgZCul.jpg
- Back. Again, could be cleaner if I had zip tied it but I wasn't certain that I would be leaving it as-is for a little while so I left it a bit messier than it could be.

Looking at it again, the other thing I neglected to mention that is a bit 'non-modern' about the case is that you will notice that the back has no 'dedicated' zip-tie cable tie holes; annoying. It would be so simple to add, it's on almost all modern cases and yet this doesn't have it.

On the positive side, notice how much room there is for the GPU; plenty of room for a 670.

Brief aside, I went ahead and ordered a Cooler Master Hyper TX3. It was cheap and it appears it should be fine in terms of height, so that should be OK.
 
Last edited:
That is a lovely small case. I really like the airflow on the Fractal Design Node 304 though.
 
Okay, the Cooler Master Hyper TX3 arrived and I went ahead and installed it; no significant issues in terms of size. It fits in terms of height and doesn't even come close to the daughter board on the ASUS motherboard. However, the Ripjaw series RAM is SLIGHTLY too tall so I had to move the CPU cooler fan up about 4 heatsink 'fins' to get it to clear the RAM without touching it. I'm not too concerned about that. After 25 minutes or so of the Prime95 blend test temperatures are at 75c or so which is not bad. Better than 90c with the stock CPU cooler...

I also took the time to clean up the cabling a bit. I disconnected the front USB and audio ports because I essentially never use them on my primary gaming box. If anyone wanted to use them with this case/motherboard I would recommend getting extension cables for the USB2.0/3.0/audio so that you can run them underneath the motherboard, otherwise you have to go across and it looks a bit ugly. Anyhow, here are some updated pictures of what I believe will be the completed configuration:

Back:
9HTzpZ2l.jpg

6LZuhSJl.jpg


Front:
6QpWu1Sl.jpg

NFhfNKol.jpg

bJo4l7Fl.jpg
 
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