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mini ITX vs mATX

S

spume

n00b
Joined
Jul 16, 2006
Messages
26
I'm looking to build a small gaming rig for $900-1100 using newegg mainly. I'm looking for bang for the buck here so AMD or intel. I already have a monitor and a atx psu that I could use. But I don't HAVE to use the psu.
 
A simple option would be something like...

- Silverstone SG07
- Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3
- Intel i5 750
- GTX 460 (MSI HAWK seems to have free game coupons with it until the end of the month so right now it'd seem the best value)
- 2x2GB DDR3 RAM

But that would not need your current PSU, of course. Price would roughly seem to be $850 from Newegg, so within your budget and it's a decent ITX setup. Although you'd probably want a better cooler for the CPU, something like the Thermalright AXP-140 or Prolimatech Samuel 17, but Newegg doesn't seem to have either of those. Also you'll need to add an optical drive (slim for the SG07) as well as a HD unless you already have one, but that still shouldn't put you over $1000 of course.

I guess you could also use otherwise the same exact build, but use something like the Lian Li PC-Q11 as a case and then reuse your current PSU. But I haven't seen any results on how well graphics cards stay cool in the Q11. The GTX460 should fit in it, though. But for right now, the SG07 would be the more proven option.
 
please answer the "answer these 1st" sticky thread from General hardware. & the Model & age of the PSU.
 
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, I have a mac for all other uses.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1100 firm newegg, no tax
3) Where do you live?
NYC
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
MoBo
Gfx Card
Ram
OS
Ram
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Corsair tx750psu

6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
24" benq fp241vw
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
now
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
solid oc
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
no
 
If you want a Solid OC then that eliminates mITX all together. There isn't a board with proven solid OC capabilities from either the AMD or Intel camp at this point. That being said that puts you in a mATX & gives a hell of alot more flexibility as dual graphics cards & the higher end CPU's from both camps just became available.

Intel:
200 EVGA 121-BL-E756-TR LGA 1366 Intel X58 Micro ATX SLI
300 ntel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz
135 G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
230 EVGA 01G-P3-1370-TR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB
55 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM
70 NZXT Crafted Series Vulcan Black Steel
100 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Shipped total of 1103. But I diddnt go looking for any combo discounts so there should be a few bucks that can be shaved off.

AMD:
130 MSI 890GXM-G65 AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX
196 AMD Phenom II X6 1055T
85 G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
380 XFX HD-587X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5870 1GB
55 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM
150 LIAN LI PC-V354B Black Aluminum MicroATX Mini Tower
100 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Shipped total of 1106. Also did not look for combo discounts.

Between the 2 the intel has got raw processing power. but thats basically where the advantages end. Most notable is the much better video card int he AMD & much nicer case that were both allowed by not paying for the i7/x58 premiums. Another option would be the AMD build with the GTX460 instead of the 5870 & then you would have plenty of budget left to grab an SSD (60gb range) & if you kept the nzxt vulcan case as well you could throw in an SSD in the 120gb range.
 
Forgot an aftermarket cpu cooler. Not going to overclock anywhere without that. My recommendation is get a megahalems or something off this forum. Though you might want to check fitting beforehand.
 
catcherintherye said:
Forgot an aftermarket cpu cooler. Not going to overclock anywhere without that. My recommendation is get a megahalems or something off this forum. Though you might want to check fitting beforehand.
Click to expand...

Fitting is part of the reason I diddnt. Because with every case change or what not different coolers are better. So I always wait till I ahve parts in hand & will run stock for a bit before I pick an aftermarket.
 
I like the ideas so far, any others? And I thought the gigabyte mini itx board was a stable overclocker. Am I wrong in this?
 
there isnt a super oc friendly mitx board. none of them have the power management required
 
I would like to use a corsair h50 or h70, would the vulcan or lian li case work for that? Also somewhat interested in the inwin dragon slayer, the reviews seem good for it.
 
spume said:
I would like to use a corsair h50 or h70, would the vulcan or lian li case work for that? Also somewhat interested in the inwin dragon slayer, the reviews seem good for it.
Click to expand...

As pinted out the Vulcan on the front Intake Vent, a shit ton of Lian Li cases will also fit an h50. I dont know about the inwin. sounds like your going to go mATX though from the Vulcan. If thats the case it wont be hard to get a good overclocker.
 
bastage said:
As pinted out the Vulcan on the front Intake Vent, a shit ton of Lian Li cases will also fit an h50. I dont know about the inwin. sounds like your going to go mATX though from the Vulcan. If thats the case it wont be hard to get a good overclocker.
Click to expand...

I am really liking the AMD build you posted. I used to be predominatly AMD about 10 years ago but switched to intel when they clearly pulled ahead with the e6000 series. I'm generally leery of MSI for some reason, I've never had a bad experience but I tend to stick with ASUS or Gigabyte boards. I like the price point of the vulcan case, looks like great return for the cost but I have enjoyed lian-li cases in the past. Decisions, decisions.
 
Honestly I am not a huge fan of MSI's recent boards. But that 890gxm is without a doubt the BEST mATX enthusiast board on the amd side. Infact I dont know of another mATX board that can do x8 x8 with the pci. Everything else is x16 x4 if it even has 2 pcie slots.

As for the case I am a Lian Li Buff. & The v354 is jsut dead sexy. But the vulcan even with as ugly as it is appears to be a well designed case with just a few things I dont like. Although the biggest one of those will be a non issue when coolit releases its 92mm self contained liquid cooler (think h50, but smaller).
 
bastage said:
Honestly I am not a huge fan of MSI's recent boards. But that 890gxm is without a doubt the BEST mATX enthusiast board on the amd side. Infact I dont know of another mATX board that can do x8 x8 with the pci. Everything else is x16 x4 if it even has 2 pcie slots.

As for the case I am a Lian Li Buff. & The v354 is jsut dead sexy. But the vulcan even with as ugly as it is appears to be a well designed case with just a few things I dont like. Although the biggest one of those will be a non issue when coolit releases its 92mm self contained liquid cooler (think h50, but smaller).
Click to expand...

You are a font of information, thank you so much. I was starting to lean towards the PC-V351 and shoving a H50 into it. What cooler would you put in the v354 on the MSI 890GXM? I'm certainly going with a 1055T at this point, paired with a 4890 I have in my old desktop. I'm going to hold off on a new card for now as the 4890 is still more than serviceable. That would enable me to get a nice SSD instead.

Thanks for all your time bastage, it's awesome.
 
I won't claim to be as knowledgeable about SFF systems as bastage, but if you're willing to sacrifice one of the HDD cages, a Corsair H50 or H70 should work nicely :)
 
spume said:
You are a font of information, thank you so much. I was starting to lean towards the PC-V351 and shoving a H50 into it. What cooler would you put in the v354 on the MSI 890GXM? I'm certainly going with a 1055T at this point, paired with a 4890 I have in my old desktop. I'm going to hold off on a new card for now as the 4890 is still more than serviceable. That would enable me to get a nice SSD instead.

Thanks for all your time bastage, it's awesome.
Click to expand...

I would to begin with use stock until you have it all assembled. Its a new enough case that there hasnt been a whole lot of people get it so there isnta wealth of info on what will fit with what. This post by djstarfox in the v354 thread though shows it working rather well with a large noctura HSF. But with the tolerances you see there CPU placement being different by even a couple mm may rule it out. I am sure though that there should be something that ends up working well & will still be quiet. But you may have to be prepared to do a little RMAing trying different HSF until you find one that works well (thats what I had to do with my Intel DH57JG (1156 mITX) in a lian li PC-q07 when that board first came out, & in the end I found something I was happy with, but it did take a couple RMA's).

As far as sacraficing one of the HDD cages & mounting it in the front. I am not so sure that the h50 will stretch far enough to do that without loosing the top cage, & since you will loose the bottom one with a long video card that would leave you with nothing. This being said if your going with a single SSD that ccould be a non issue as a little bit of that super sticky 3m velcro shit could mount an ssd nicely to the bottom of the CD rom tray.
 
Ok, this is what I'm about to pull the trigger on. Going to take bastages advice and temporarily hold off on an after market cooler. I want to watercool it, I just need to find the right config.

lian li pc-v354b
MSI 890GXM-G65
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T
Windows 7 pro 64bit

Cost is $910 with shipping.

I will reuse my 4890 and corsair 750tx psu

Sound good?
 
spume said:
Ok, this is what I'm about to pull the trigger on. Going to take bastages advice and temporarily hold off on an after market cooler. I want to watercool it, I just need to find the right config.

lian li pc-v354b
MSI 890GXM-G65
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T
Windows 7 pro 64bit

Cost is $910 with shipping.

I will reuse my 4890 and corsair 750tx psu

Sound good?
Click to expand...

If you can find a similar price on another sandforce SSD of comparable size I would avoid OCZ products. But after a quick newegg search that ones got the best price by a fair margin on any of them atm. Also your mechanical drive.. I take it that its going to be for storage? if so then get one of the spinpoint 5400 RPM drives. Quieter, Cooler & since your OS & I assume apps (since your getting a 128gb ssd) wont be on it you wont take any real performance hit, but will end up with a drive better suited to the task (and bigger)
 
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