sff gaming gear

[GMoney42392]

i'm going off to college soon, so my current antec nine hundred-housed rig is going to be a bit large considering i'll probably have to move it around once a month for moving in/out of the dorms and lan parties (we have a pc gaming league, no big deal ) and whatever else may happen. the extent of my knowledge of sff hardware begins and ends with the atom box i built as a fileserver last christmas, however, so i need some recommendations for cases and motherboards that can game to a solid degree. i'm planning on going with a core i7-930 and an nvidia gtx 465 or 470 or maybe an ati 5870/5970 depending on how much cash i end up with in late july, when all this stuff'll be getting ordered. with all that said, lay it on me, y'all.

 

[Dangman]

It would help if you answered the following questions:
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
3) Where do you live?
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.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
6) Will you be overclocking?
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?

 

[GMoney42392]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

gaming and schoolwork, which will include a fair amount of a/v editing, but i've got a fileserver to help handle the storage requirements of that.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

as of right now, probably around $1500.

3) Where do you live?

i don't really see how this is relevant, but i'll go with it lol. i live in michigan, but college will be in missouri.

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.

case, power supply, motherboard, cpu, ram, gpu, hard drive, dvd drive, monitor (possibly), speakers, keyboard and mouse, though i really only need help finding a case and a motherboard.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

i don't plan on reusing anything except maybe the monitor.

6) Will you be overclocking?

depends on the board. probably not, though.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?

if i reuse my monitor, it'll be a 22" monitor supporting 1680x1050. if i were to buy one, it would probably be a similar size/res.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

mid-late july, as previously stated.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.

four sata ports would be nice if i end up going with multiple hard drives. other than that, i just need something that'll handle solid hardware without imploding.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?

ubuntu 9.10 or 10.04 in 64-bit, with the possible addition of windows 7 ultimate 64-bit in the future.

 

[Dangman]

Question 3 is relavant since we do get a lot of non-American posters here in the forum. Saves us all time knowing that the parts we recommend you can actually buy in your area.

SFF case recommendations:
$70 - Silverstone SUGO SG02B-F Black mATX Case
$90 - Silverstone SUGO SG01B-F Black mATX Case
$90 - Lian Li PC-V351A Black mATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-V351A Silver mATXCase
$160 to $180 - Lan Gear Da Box

Rest of the recommendations:
$210 - Asus Rampage II Gene Intel X58 mATX Motherboard
$170 - G.Skill F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ 3 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$56 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$150 - XFX Black Edition P1-750B-CAG9 750W Modular PSU

Video Card wise: Go with the HD 5850 for best bang for the buck value or the GTX 470 if you want Nvidia. However, both video cards are overkill for 1680x1050. The HD 5770 or the HD 5830 would be more suitable choices. The GTX 465 is a piss poor buy at this point in time.

 

[sidsaccount]

DFI Lanparty P55-t36 itx board
MSI lightning 5870
i5 750
any 2x2 ram thats decent
SG06.
h50 (will go into sg06 with a tiny bit of modding)


This will make a sick gaming rig. Be reminded though you have to undervolt the i5 750 as well as the MSI 5870 (with afterburner)

Runs SC2 beta, BFBC2 and MW2 at MAX settings without breaking 60C on the processor and 70 on the card.

This is my exact same setup.

 

[bastage]

Question 3 is relavant since we do get a lot of non-American posters here in the forum. Saves us all time knowing that the parts we recommend you can actually buy in your area.

SFF case recommendations:
$70 - Silverstone SUGO SG02B-F Black mATX Case
$90 - Silverstone SUGO SG01B-F Black mATX Case
$90 - Lian Li PC-V351A Black mATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-V351A Silver mATXCase
$160 to $180 - Lan Gear Da Box

Rest of the recommendations:
$210 - Asus Rampage II Gene Intel X58 mATX Motherboard
$170 - G.Skill F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ 3 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$56 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$150 - XFX Black Edition P1-750B-CAG9 750W Modular PSU

Video Card wise: Go with the HD 5850 for best bang for the buck value or the GTX 470 if you want Nvidia. However, both video cards are overkill for 1680x1050. The HD 5770 or the HD 5830 would be more suitable choices. The GTX 465 is a piss poor buy at this point in time.

Deffinitly spot on (as usual) especially about the video cards. at 1920x1200 my 5830 does just fine with high settings in everything I have thrown at it so at 1680x1050 it would definitly be sufficient. This all being said as well your budget is fairly high for whats listed & a paid of 60-80gb SSD's in raid 0 is not out of reach by any means. I have 2 1st gen x18m's running in raid 0 to give me about 146gb of hard drive (thats what windows actually see's) so its plenty to keep all my games & such on SSD & all media gets stored on my server (atom with WHS)

 

[Konias]

( To Sidsaccount: He need X58 chipset for corei7 930, So no motherboard with p55 chipset. And no DFI. This company quit with lanparty motherboard manufacturing. So, there will be no future support. No new bios or drivers.)

Like I said. If you want CPU Intel i7 930 so you need mobo with chipsetX58. So you are limited to micro ATX boards. Ther is no such mini ITX board. Exeption is Shuttle barebone sff system.

MOBO: One of the best micro ATX boards are ASUS Genes. Wait for GENE III (! dont buy Gene II. !, Asus improved this board, and ad USB 3.0 and SATA 6 support )
VGA: For micro ATX buy ATI 5850 or NVIDIA 470 ( louder, and more power hungry ) Depends with brand you prefer. For miniITX setup use ATI Radeon 5770 ornew NVIDA 4600.
CASE: I like SIlverstone SUGO 01 and 02, but for such hot processor, there is very limited cpu cooling.Better is combo of Sugo 03 or 04 + Corsair H50 liquid cooler. , Silverstone TEMIJIN TJ08, LanGear DABOX.
next case I like are prepared Silverstone FT03, LianLi V354. InWIn DragonSlayer ( too big to carry ).
Nice case is NZXT Rouge. But its hardto find it.

OR. You can use diferent processor. Buy mini ITX board from Zotac ,Smaller Case like Silverstone Sugo 07, and thats it.

 

[RonindeBeatrice]

MOBO: One of the best micro ATX boards are ASUS Genes. Wait for GENE III (! dont buy Gene II. !, Asus improved this board, and ad USB 3.0 and SATA 6 support )

That's ridiculous. The Gene III is not an improvement on the Gene II. I detailed this on overclock.net, but essentially Asus skimped on a lot of features that made the Gene II great, while adding a controller for SATA 6Gb/s. SATA 3Gb/s is well enough for anyone except those willing to buy the fastest (read: not yet available) SSDs, while USB 3.0 can be avoided by utilizing eSATA drives.

If you were going to wait for any board it'd be one with native SATA 6Gb/s support (on southbridge: a long way coming).

 

[Zap]

I would also recommend against the DFI ITX board, because it only has three SATA ports.

Here's my recommendation for something really small:
Core i7 860 CPU
Zotac H55 ITX board
Lian Li PC-Q08 case

Here's my recommendation for something a bit bigger:
Core i7 930 CPU
any micro ATX X58 board (OP said probably no OC so they're all the same at stock)
Cooler Master Elite 341 case

I would actually NOT recommend a micro ATX cube case such as Danny Bui recommended. The reason is for portability, since the OP said the system would be moved on a monthly basis. You would think that such small looking cases would be really portable, right? However, their WIDTH and SHAPE makes them really awkward to carry under one arm, and makes carrying straps fit funny. The tower shape of the Elite 341 makes it a breeze to carry under one arm, and carrying straps fit them fine. I've built LAN rigs in the Ultra MicroFly as well as an X-Qpack2 which I used for quite a while, so I know what I'm talking about. Also, I would not trust any handle that is attached to the fascia of the computer, especially a plastic one (not that the suggested cubes had handles AFAIK).

 

[sidsaccount]

DFI didn't split with Lanparty... that was a false rumour. I also saw that, but once I found an official statement that it was untrue I bought the lanparty.

I find that if you are going compact, 3 or maybe 4 SATA ports would be the optical amount you use. Right now it's perfect for me. 1 Sata for SSD os drive, 1 SATA for 2.5 500gb and 1 for my Slim blu ray player. Keep in mind the ITX is for those who don't want to use too much space, and thus probably have external solutions for storage.



To the OP: Don't go for the 1366 socket CPUS if you want to go mobile gaming. Most ITX cases do not have the capacity to house a powerful enough cooler to tame an i7 (overclocked), and the H50 is grossly overrated for it's actual performance.

The 1156 socket processors are very nice. Runs cool, with low wattage and is very fast, with a more varied selection of ITX mobos.

I highly suggest i5-750 + p55-t36. I looked at the Zotac board and was very unimpressed at it's inability to oveclock at all.

-Sid

( To Sidsaccount: He need X58 chipset for corei7 930, So no motherboard with p55 chipset. And no DFI. This company quit with lanparty motherboard manufacturing. So, there will be no future support. No new bios or drivers.)

Like I said. If you want CPU Intel i7 930 so you need mobo with chipsetX58. So you are limited to micro ATX boards. Ther is no such mini ITX board. Exeption is Shuttle barebone sff system.

MOBO: One of the best micro ATX boards are ASUS Genes. Wait for GENE III (! dont buy Gene II. !, Asus improved this board, and ad USB 3.0 and SATA 6 support )
VGA: For micro ATX buy ATI 5850 or NVIDIA 470 ( louder, and more power hungry ) Depends with brand you prefer. For miniITX setup use ATI Radeon 5770 ornew NVIDA 4600.
CASE: I like SIlverstone SUGO 01 and 02, but for such hot processor, there is very limited cpu cooling.Better is combo of Sugo 03 or 04 + Corsair H50 liquid cooler. , Silverstone TEMIJIN TJ08, LanGear DABOX.
next case I like are prepared Silverstone FT03, LianLi V354. InWIn DragonSlayer ( too big to carry ).
Nice case is NZXT Rouge. But its hardto find it.

OR. You can use diferent processor. Buy mini ITX board from Zotac ,Smaller Case like Silverstone Sugo 07, and thats it.

 

[GMoney42392]

Question 3 is relavant since we do get a lot of non-American posters here in the forum. Saves us all time knowing that the parts we recommend you can actually buy in your area.

SFF case recommendations:
$70 - Silverstone SUGO SG02B-F Black mATX Case
$90 - Silverstone SUGO SG01B-F Black mATX Case
$90 - Lian Li PC-V351A Black mATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-V351A Silver mATXCase
$160 to $180 - Lan Gear Da Box

Rest of the recommendations:
$210 - Asus Rampage II Gene Intel X58 mATX Motherboard
$170 - G.Skill F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ 3 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$56 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$150 - XFX Black Edition P1-750B-CAG9 750W Modular PSU

Video Card wise: Go with the HD 5850 for best bang for the buck value or the GTX 470 if you want Nvidia. However, both video cards are overkill for 1680x1050. The HD 5770 or the HD 5830 would be more suitable choices. The GTX 465 is a piss poor buy at this point in time.

yeah, i was leaning pretty hard toward da box and the gene 2 just based on what i've read here, but some people were complaining about da box having a lot of quote-unquote "issues," without really specifying what those issues were. do you have firsthand experience with it, and if you do, could you please put that into context somewhat? also, will da box fit a bigger card like a 5850, or would there be modding required? i'd like to avoid modding if i could since i don't have any tools that are particularly well-suited to case modding.

 

[GMoney42392]

I would actually NOT recommend a micro ATX cube case such as Danny Bui recommended. The reason is for portability, since the OP said the system would be moved on a monthly basis. You would think that such small looking cases would be really portable, right? However, their WIDTH and SHAPE makes them really awkward to carry under one arm, and makes carrying straps fit funny. The tower shape of the Elite 341 makes it a breeze to carry under one arm, and carrying straps fit them fine. I've built LAN rigs in the Ultra MicroFly as well as an X-Qpack2 which I used for quite a while, so I know what I'm talking about. Also, I would not trust any handle that is attached to the fascia of the computer, especially a plastic one (not that the suggested cubes had handles AFAIK).

your points are noted and appreciated, but i feel like a micro atx cube case would have an easier time fitting inside my backpack, which is what i'd use to transport it if it ends up being moved as often as i predicted (there's only about a 50/50 chance of that happening, though).

also, sorry about the double post.

 

[Dangman]

yeah, i was leaning pretty hard toward da box and the gene 2 just based on what i've read here, but some people were complaining about da box having a lot of quote-unquote "issues," without really specifying what those issues were. do you have firsthand experience with it, and if you do, could you please put that into context somewhat? also, will da box fit a bigger card like a 5850, or would there be modding required? i'd like to avoid modding if i could since i don't have any tools that are particularly well-suited to case modding.

Not sure what those issues are. Though I'd guess it's probably due to HSF placement.Sorry, don't have first-hand experience with the case. Yes it can fit the HD 5850.

 

[GMoney42392]

Not sure what those issues are. Though I'd guess it's probably due to HSF placement.Sorry, don't have first-hand experience with the case. Yes it can fit the HD 5850.

so would getting a low-profile hsf be a good idea?

 

[Dangman]

so would getting a low-profile hsf be a good idea?

The stock HSF is fine. I think the HSF issue was related to more larger HSF.

 

[Zap]

your points are noted and appreciated, but i feel like a micro atx cube case would have an easier time fitting inside my backpack, which is what i'd use to transport it if it ends up being moved as often as i predicted (there's only about a 50/50 chance of that happening, though).

Some mini towers can fit in some rolling carry-on bags. I knew someone who would take his mATX rig as carry-on like that.

 

[bastage]

Want Portable mATX. Fresh onto the newegg shelves is the NZXT Vulcan. I Think its ugly, but from the 1st time I saw pictures of the case interior I ahve been a fan.. Looks to be a feature wise near perfect mATX tower.. Plus it comes with a handle so it really doesnt get much easier then that.

 

[Konias]

Want Portable mATX. Fresh onto the newegg shelves is the NZXT Vulcan. I Think its ugly, but from the 1st time I saw pictures of the case interior I ahve been a fan.. Looks to be a feature wise near perfect mATX tower.. Plus it comes with a handle so it really doesnt get much easier then that.

If you like NZXT, sey, Why not, but be prepared. Its not so small. If you like Vulkan, try look on others micro ATX cases : In WIn Dragon Slayer or on my prefered NZXT Rouge.
In NZXT Rouge:

In WIn Dragon Slayer

One of the best micro ATX, but too big cases to transport is ANTEC Mini p180:

 

[fr500]

You could also consider the NZXT Panzerbox, the Silverstone TJ08 or the SG03/4 e