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Help with SFF design

hiptoss

Weaksauce
Joined
Sep 29, 2006
Messages
91
It's been several years since I've built an SFF system, and I'm looking for help from all of you.

1. What will you be doing with this PC? [1] Photography - Lightroom / Photoshop [2] Gaming -- 1440p, games like Starcraft 2, Warhammer with occasional streaming to twitch

2. Will you be overclocking? No

3. What's your budget? pretty flexible in the $1k neighborhood to a max of $1500 if absolutely necessary.

4. Where do you live? Seattle -- Fry's is reasonably local, but I mostly purchase online.

5. What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, mobo, GPU, case, PS, and storage drive. I have a 500gb SSD to use for OS/apps already.

6. If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? SSD -- Crucial BX100, monitors [Dell 3011 (2560x1600) and 27" Apple Cinema Display (2500x1600)]

7. What specific features do you need in a motherboard? Prefer at least 1 front USB3 for thumb drives, and at least 2 in the rear.

8. What resolution output do you need? I have two monitors that need to supported for photography work. The Dell is used for gaming, so 1440p would be sufficient for me. If a reasonable video card can support full native resolution, then that's even better.

9. Does this system need to fit into a particular space and do you need an optical drive? I don't need an optical drive, and the case should be as small as reasonably possible. I would love to be able to place it behind my monitors, if possible.

10. How comfortable are you with custom case design/modification and electrical wiring? I have access to most standard tools for building a PC without making mods to the case or wiring. I'm not comfortable cutting or creating my own wiring.

11. How important is the noise/silence of this sytem? I consider a silent PC as a "nice to have". The quieter the better, but the performance is most important.

12. How mobile does this system need to be? Mobility is not a concern.

13. Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? Yes -- 64bit win10.

14. When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Before Christmas.
 
I'm not going to recommend hardware since I'm on mobile right now, but look into the Silverstone ml08 and rvz02, they're slim enough to put behind a monitor and reasonably small overall.
You could also look at the Silverstone sg13.
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($198.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG C7 40.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($37.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B150I GAMING PRO AC Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($109.69 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($65.33 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB ACX 3.0 Video Card ($419.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Silverstone RVZ02B HTPC Case ($64.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair SF 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1054.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-17 22:06 EDT-0400


Should do you plenty good. Gives you an i5 with a 1070 for 1440p gaming at high framerates and plenty of ram for photoshop.
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($198.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG C7 40.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($37.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B150I GAMING PRO AC Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($109.69 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($65.33 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB ACX 3.0 Video Card ($419.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Silverstone RVZ02B HTPC Case ($64.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair SF 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1054.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-17 22:06 EDT-0400


Should do you plenty good. Gives you an i5 with a 1070 for 1440p gaming at high framerates and plenty of ram for photoshop.

Thank you very much for your reply. My only question is the GPU -- is a 1070 necessary? I was wondering if a rx480 would suffice for the games that I play. Do you have any opinions?
 
It should work fine if that's what you want to do. Just keep in mind that if your frame rates drop, tune down your graphics settings.
 
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