Help on a small form factor, efficient gaming build

L

LostEnder

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Dec 4, 2009
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Hello [H], long time lurker, first time poster.

My family has decided that I need a new PC for Christmas, and I have been trying to work out a nice solid rig that won't empty their wallets.

The backstory is that my current rig (P4 2.8GHz, Radeon 9800 Pro) has been a freaking trooper for the last 7 years (yikes!) but it is developing some issues, and seems to be about ready to give up the ghost. Clearly, anything I get at this point is going to be a massive improvement. Given my apparently long roundtime between builds, I want to focus on high quality components that will more or less hit the sweet spot between performance and price.

So, I started dredging the interwebs to see what was what in the current scene. As I read reviews and started putting various parts together, I kept coming back to the fact that damn near everything was becoming more power efficient and more compact. This gave me the idea to try and build the best overall system I could, instead of simply the fastest I could afford.

A good overall system will do the following things (in order of how much it matters to me):
  1. Be capable.
  2. Be reliable.
  3. Minimize power usage.
  4. Be space efficient.
  5. Have upgrade potential.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
This is going to be a all-round machine, the major functions will be gaming and media, but I'll also be doing work on it occasionally (CFD analysis and FEA, 3D CAD work, etc.). My gaming has been so limited lately that it's hard to say, but I don't feel the need to max out ridiculous games like Crysis. Take EVE Online maxed out as a minimum expectation.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Somewhat variable, but I'm aiming at circa $1000 all told.
3) Where do you live?
USA, Indiana
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Full build, case+all contents.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
No reuse planned, but I can use my Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme again if it will fit.
6) Will you be overclocking?
Moderately, probably will stop at very minimal voltage bumping.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
22" widescreen probably, 1680x1050. Recommendations welcome, but not to be considered part of the build.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Soon (TM). It's meant to be a Christmas present, but I may wait to see what the post-holiday sales will bring.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Dual cards looks like a good potential upgrade, eSATA ports would be nice also.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
No, will buy Win7 on student discount. Not a factor in the build.


Parts I like so far:
ASUS Maximus III GENE - Really the cornerstone of the build idea, looks to be a solid feature set in a tidy little package, but I'm not too sold on it's price. $199.99
Intel Core i5-750 - The other part of the combo that made me think this was going to be possible. $199.99
XFX Radeon 5770 1GB - DX11 and Eyefinity make this a no brainer, and it appears to be fairly power efficient as well. Awesome warranty makes it a winner. $179.99
Seasonic X650 PSU - Massively efficient PSU, both in supply and heat, and coming from a top manufacturer. I think that 650 is overkill, but it's still efficient at low usage. $179.99
G.SKILL Eco DDR3 1333 2x2GB RAM CAS 8 - Fairly fast ram that is running at 1.35V. New, and a bit unproven, but it does tickle my need for power efficiency. $104.99
Antec Mini P180 Decent case, looks like it would be easy-ish to build in and have good airflow. $79.99

That's $944 so far, and I still need storage. I really want an SSD, but I'm wary of the limited lifespan vs. cost and my own lack of familiarity with that market. I may decide to get one now and add a storage drive after the holidays, but I really need help with this part.

Let me know what y'all think, most especially about SSDs, or if you think I'm wasting money somewhere.
 
Unless you're planning on upgrading to a 24" monitor AND will be getting both cards at the same time, little reason to buy a Crossfire setup for such a low low resolution.
$105 - Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 Intel P55 mATX Motherboard

I'd recommend this cheaper but still solid Gigabyte mATX motherboard instead:
$105 - Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 Intel P55 mATX Motherboard

However if you really want SLI/Crossfire support, I'd recommend this mobo instead:
$150 - GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD4 P55 mATX Motherboard

Ditch the Seasonic PSU. Not worth it for someone with your budget. This PSU will still fit your needs but is $80 cheaper:
$100 - Antec Truepower New TP-650 650W PSU

Personally I'd spend the extra $40 for the Xeon X3440 since it has HT support which may come in useful later on:
$240 - Intel Xeon X3440 CPU
 
... HT support should come in useful later, since your upgrade intervals are far inbetween.

With Danny's changes, you'll be getting better bang for your buck. While your build was energy efficient, Danny's changes don't detract from power efficiency much, nor from capability/reliability/space efficiency/upgrade potential.

For SSDs, you'll want to stick with Intel or Indilinx based drives. There's way too much for me to type, so please read my SSD page: http://ssd.alphaq.org
 
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Thanks for the feedback gents.

I hadn't thought of the Xeon line, do you have any idea how they would OC? With the lower clock initially, it starts to matter more, but a look around only gives me this guy's build. Or would the HT capability offset the probable lower clock speed?

Regarding multicard support, I'm not especially wedded to it, but it seemed like it would offer a decent upgrade path in the future. The UD2 looks like a steal though, so barring a massive sale on the Asus board, I'll probably go that way.

I actually looked at the Antec New 650, but its lack of complete modularity initially turned me away from it. The 650W does seem to be a bit overkill to me though, looking at roughly comparable systems. Would it be a better idea to move down to a ~500W unit now that CF/SLI is off the board?

Either way, knocking $150 to $200 off my list puts me in striking range for a quality SSD. After reading enginurd's array of links, I'm torn between the Vertex Turbo 60GB ($269.99) and the Intel X25-M 80GB ($299.99) . Thoughts? That's a nice resource by the way, thanks for keeping it up.
 
Yes "CFD analysis and FEA, 3D CAD work" would benefit from HT. Games really anything higher than 2.66 GHz is perfect for smooth gameplay on 24".
 
How often do you see yourself transferring large files to/from your main os drive? If not often, then get Intel. The Vertex Turbo is overpriced, IMO. The best price I've seen on a 60GB Indilinx drive was $140 for the UltraDrive ME. The best price I've seen on a 30GB was $90AR ($100AR on BF). The best price I've seen for the X25-M G2 was $215 during BF -- this is just to give you an idea of what type of deals you should be looking for. ;)
 
That's a good point about the filesize. I wouldn't expect to be moving big files all that much. Probably only for archival and installations, which are sporadic at best. That, coupled with the larger size, makes it a win for the X25-M. I'm confused though, the Egg listing is for a SSDSA2M080G2R5. What is the difference between that and the SSDSA2MH080G201 I see listed at MWAVE and ZipZoomFly for significantly less?
 
Aside from the drive question above, I'm still wondering about the cooling situation in this small case. It seems to be fairly spacious, but it's hard to estimate how much space I have to work with. What sort of coolers have y'all put into the Mini P180?
 
AFAIK, it can take a full sized 120mm tower, like the CM Hyper 212+.

The difference between the models is that one is retail, and the other is OEM (bulk).
 
Roger that, thanks again enginurd.

I'll start digging for deals around the web, see what I can turn up. I'll post again with my quasi-final list and prices, see what I find.
 
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