New build, Mini ITX! all help is appreciated!

B

burned-ati

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 27, 2006
Messages
427
Hey guys, i've been out of PC building since 2008. After looking at some new games, and hardware and a couple hundred reviews later. I decided! The only smart thing to do was, buy a i5 3570k! So, after seeing these mini itx boards. I thought that is awesome! I want to build something small and powerful! So, i got my cpu sealed in the box for $165 shipped! It was such a good deal, i couldn't pass it up. All i have so far is my processor. I need power supply, memory, motherboard, and a case! I'm planning to do a little overclocking. nothing serious, I know i'm limited with cpu cooler size with these cases.

I wanted to post this thread. to see what you guys think. Or maybe some of you have experience with these parts. All opinions and advice is much appreciated !!!

Here's what i got in the mail yesterday. Pics below



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I suggest looking around these forums for a case you like. Mitx cases come in a large range of sizes and the components we will suggest will depend on what kind of case you want.
 
As you can see in my signature thats my old timer build lol! Ok so heres the rest of my parts ill be getting Monday. The memory is extremely fast and cas latency 9. So, thats why i went with those sticks. Also, the video card is a ATI 7850, its stock core clock is 1000mhz. And in most benchmarks its averages 5-6 fps higher than a reference clock 7850, close to the 7870 performance. Maybe i can get it to 1200mhz. Im going to be playing at 1680/1050 resolution. The games im looking to play are, Crysis 2, metro 2033, skyrim, i would like to max them out. hitman, batman, idk.. its been a while since ive played any games. I really want this to be a HTPC and the fact that it is so small is even better. i might even bring it in the living room and hook it up HDMI to my 50" plasma to watch movies on. Or game in there with a xbox 360 controller. I do not want to be limited to a desk with it. i got a wife and 2 kids now. so, i can only imagine sitting at the desk for 3 hours playing skyrim and hearing what she has to say lol.

Power supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026

Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119261

Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130673

Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144617

Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131472
 
Will you be overclocking the CPU? That motherboard is kind of an unknown at this time as to overclocking potential. If not overclocking, then you can save money by going with an H77 chipset board for around $100, unless you actually will be using the WiFi and the Bluetooth. If just the WiFi, the Gigabyte H77 board is $120, or you can just buy a USB dongle.

"Extremely fast" memory is not needed. In a mini ITX system, you're better off with lower profile. This stuff is almost as fast, is super low profile and runs at only 1.35v. And by "almost as fast" I mean that you may see a 0.5% performance hit. I'm pulling that number out of some cavity, but seriously fast RAM doesn't add that much to gaming when you are using a discrete graphics card.

That PSU is really good for $20. Nothing better at that price. Now, if you're not the "mail in the rebate" type and will end up paying the full price of $40, you may want to reconsider this choice.
 
Zap said:
Will you be overclocking the CPU? That motherboard is kind of an unknown at this time as to overclocking potential. If not overclocking, then you can save money by going with an H77 chipset board for around $100, unless you actually will be using the WiFi and the Bluetooth. If just the WiFi, the Gigabyte H77 board is $120, or you can just buy a USB dongle.

"Extremely fast" memory is not needed. In a mini ITX system, you're better off with lower profile. This stuff is almost as fast, is super low profile and runs at only 1.35v. And by "almost as fast" I mean that you may see a 0.5% performance hit. I'm pulling that number out of some cavity, but seriously fast RAM doesn't add that much to gaming when you are using a discrete graphics card.

That PSU is really good for $20. Nothing better at that price. Now, if you're not the "mail in the rebate" type and will end up paying the full price of $40, you may want to reconsider this choice.
Click to expand...

He says right in his first post he'll be overclocking some, OP I'd personally recommend getting the ASrock Z77 itx motherboard, it offers more expandability and in reviews has been proven to be the best Z77 itx option:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157312&Tpk=asrock%20z77%20itx

Also in the CM 120 Elite, which is a great case, you'd want to make sure to get a GPU that has a blower style cooler, something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161406

I know that one isn't clocked like the one you found so perhaps search around more to find one that has a cooler like the one I linked but 1000mhz clock.

As far as the ram goes, 16GB is pretty overkill unless you plan on running VMs etc, I'd go with this and not look back:

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-Extreme-MV-3V4G3D-US/dp/B00592002W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357408924&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+low+profile+ram

The ram is a proven strong overclocker and runs at a lower voltage stock like Zap said, which may give a little more headroom for overclocking if leaving the ram at stock clocks.
 
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I plan to use the wifi, and bluetooth. Im going to use my pc in the living room often for gaming, movies, and other stuff. So i need wifi with my roadrunner. and bluetooth for one of those small android keyboards, all while in the living room of course.

And, at this point. Im proubly going to stick with the MSI just because of my past experience with them. Ive always loved there boards they all overclocked like monsters, and from the full reviews i have read on google about the board. It overclocks really great!

I do plan on overclocking memory and cpu. Im going to go with 8GB dual channel memory, instead of 16gb. I will not ever use 16gb lol.

For now im going to use the stock cooler with artic silver 5. Im going to maybe go for 4.2ghz on the 3570k. I will go for a higher clock after i get the low profile water cooler i need. These cases dont work well with tall air coolers so..

As far as the video card goes.. Im going to hold off until i get my taxes back. Should be a couple more weeks or so, although! its worth the wait. Im going to get a GTX 690, or 7990 But, please! PLEASE! DO NOT TELL MY WIFE!! ;)

And the motherboard, memory, and power supply will be ordered monday! was suppose to be sooner. But, you know how it is waiting on paypal money to be released off of hold. lol

I will post pics of the build. When i get everything in!

Still deciding on memory.

Possibly some low profile ballistix 1600mhz 2x 4gb kit cas 7-7-7-24 timmings 1600mhz. pretty sweet.

I want this to be a monster little computer. So, and i know another psu will be needed! when the gtx 690 comes.

This case can hold a 13.5" card so were all good there! CANT WAIT!!!
 
burned-ati said:
And, at this point. Im proubly going to stick with the MSI just because of my past experience with them. Ive always loved there boards they all overclocked like monsters, and from the full reviews i have read on google about the board. It overclocks really great!
Click to expand...

Links? If it overclocks well, would be a great choice on the budget side.

burned-ati said:
Still deciding on memory.

Possibly some low profile ballistix 1600mhz 2x 4gb kit cas 7-7-7-24 timmings 1600mhz. pretty sweet.
Click to expand...

Samsung magic RAM. :D
 
burned-ati said:
Hey, here is a link to the motherboard. This is a 3770k at 4.6ghz

http://www.kitguru.net/components/motherboard/henry-butt/msi-z77ia-e53-mini-itx-motherboard-review/
Click to expand...

Very nice! I noticed they also reviewed the ASRock Z77E-ITX and got the same 4.7GHz that Tweaktown got on that board. Tweaktown also got only 4.5GHz out of the Asus. I still think the ASRock is better (more I/O) but it also costs a bit more and the MSI has Bluetooth. Guess it comes down to needs. If someone wanted to use the integrated video or have a lot of analog audio outputs, the ASRock would be better with DVI/HDMI/DP while the MSI only has VGA/HDMI. I am confused about the expansion on the MSI. Newegg says mini PCIe while the review says it is both mini PCIe and mSATA. :confused:
 
Hey guys, i was going to use my i5 3570k's HD4000 graphics until tax time when i can afford a video card. although, i was looking around on newegg At, Radeon 7770's and 7850's and after a little research, and reading. I picked up a Sapphire HD 6950 2GB for $120 shipped on ebay, it includes, original box with all cables. apparently, it was bought from newegg 5 months ago.

So, im planning to flash the bios and unlock the extra shaders and overclock this old beast. going to flash to a amd 6970. performance is on par with a $240 Radeon 7870!

$120 shipped for a Radeon HD 6970!!! WOOT WOOT!

The real reason i bought this was because price, and its decent on power usage. And it does great in all the games in going to play. and DX11!

Any of you guys still running the ati 6950 or 6970? And, i had to reduce the quality of my motherboard down to a $80 asus mobo. oh well... its worth it to be able to play games.
 
burned-ati said:
I picked up a Sapphire HD 6950 2GB for $120 shipped on ebay, it includes, original box with all cables. apparently, it was bought from newegg 5 months ago.

So, im planning to flash the bios and unlock the extra shaders and overclock this old beast. going to flash to a amd 6970. performance is on par with a $240 Radeon 7870!

$120 shipped for a Radeon HD 6970!!! WOOT WOOT!
Click to expand...

Do your research carefully before flashing. The ones that could be flashed successfully were from the first month or two after they came out because they reused he 6970 PCB initially.
 
Zap is right. Be real careful as to whether that particular card can be flashed. Otherwise you'll have a bricked card.
 
Yea, ive flashed cards before. Back in the Radeon x850xt days lol. I flashed x850 pro, to a X850XT worked like a charm. Although, keep in mind guys. You cannot brick these cards with a bios switch. switch position 1 is the HD6950 bios, and switch position 2 is any bios you want to flash on there. So, if it doesnt work. You simply hit the switch to position 1 and your back to the 6950. See what i mean? Its awesome. So really you have 2 video cards in 1.

Anyway, i went a different route. My card was dead that i bought! And it simply was just fried, and didnt work it all. i got jipped! So, i filed a claim and got my money back, and bought a 7770, for a good price new. I put a new link in general hardware. of my build.

I purchased all my parts this morning! They will be here wednesday. I did a completely different build lol

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1739411


Theres my build!
 
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