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Upgrading my mini ITX Desktop

F

F u r u y á

n00b
Joined
Jan 31, 2009
Messages
38
Hello,

I'm going to upgrade my mini ITX Desktop. Here's what I currently have:

  • ZOTAC 9300ITX
  • C2Q Q9400S
  • 4GB RAM
  • Radeon HD 6870

All of which inside a Sugo SG05, which was modded to fit that VGA.


Which mini ITX system do you recommend?

I ask you to please name the model of:
  • motherboard (WiFi)
  • CPU (65W max)
  • RAM (6GB)
  • VGA (150W max)
  • SSD (250GB max)

Total should be no more than $1000 USD.


I don't care whether it's AMD or Intel based system. Actually, I'd be happy if you tell me that there are competitive AMD mini ITX solutions nowadays (when I built my current rig, there were very very few AMD options). Thanks in advance!
 
Some additional questions:
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
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? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? UEFI? etc.


And no, there's still isn't that many AMD options for ITX. You're still basically looking at Intel for this.
 
Ivy Bridge I5 77 watts (can be undervolted with right motherboard (lower watt i5 or I7 cost extra, designatrd "S" or "T").
I3 55 watts
Since you will not be using integrated (iGPU) video, actual watts will be less.
AMD Trinity has 65 watt chips

What case do you intend to use? What power supply?
 
As much as I like the idea of the AMD trinity, I don't think in this case it would actually be much of an upgrade in cpu power over what the OP already has.

a. Gigabyte Z77n http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128568&Tpk=gigabyte z77 n
b. Intel i7-3770s http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116503
c. 8GB of whatever ram you want to use...
d. Gtx 660, it fits your 150w power envelope and is pretty strong contender all things considered.
e. Decide on your own ssd, as long as it is relatively recent the performance won't differ all that much in actual usage.
 
Question for OP: Does your SG05 have the 450W PSU or the 300W?

Either way I would suggest a Core i5-3XXX normal voltage chip (not low voltage) unless the OP comes back with a use case that suggests a benefit from Hyperthreading. Also, I would suggest either the cheaper Gigabyte H77 chipset board (I think still has WiFi) or if voltage/clocks were needed the more expensive ASRock Z77 board.

As the previous post mentioned, GTX 660 would be an upgrade while fitting inside the power envelope. If it turns out you have the 450W PSU, your possibilities open up for higher end cards.
 
Thank you all for the replies! Here is the answers to your questions.


Danny Bui said:
Some additional questions:
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
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? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? UEFI? etc.
Click to expand...
1) Light Gaming, Web Browsing, Watching 1080p content (online through streams and offline)
3) I live in Brazil. But I'm going to US tomorrow! Hence the upgrade (imported electronics here in Brazil is one of the most expensive in the entire world :eek:)
6) I don't intend to, because the case I use is very small. I will certainly undervolt if the motherboard allows though!
7) I have a 23" 120Hz monitor (W2363D)
8) In the next weeks! (see 3) :))
9) Hard requirement here is WiFi and digital audio output. But I'd be happy if it comes with USB 3.0. No need for onboard video because I'll use a discrete VGA.

noob question: why would one want to use UEFI instead the old BIOS?
obs: what happened to 2), 4), 5)? :)


wtourist said:
What case do you intend to use? What power supply?
Click to expand...
Case is the very tiny Sugo SG05. Power supply is a SilverStone 450W SFX.


Zap said:
Question for OP: Does your SG05 have the 450W PSU or the 300W?
Click to expand...
The 300W PSU burned out (I was not even using discrete VGA, it was a defective unit)! Now I have a 450W one. Oh, I forgot about other hard requirement: literrally fitting the VGA inside the case! But don't worry, I'll verify the dimensions of your suggestions on my own. My case has room for no more than 270mm length VGA!
 
F u r u y á;1039492600 said:
3) I live in Brazil. But I'm going to US tomorrow! Hence the upgrade (imported electronics here in Brazil is one of the most expensive in the entire world :eek:)
Click to expand...
How long will you be in the U.S?
Will you be buying online or in a store?
Which state will you be in?
F u r u y á;1039492600 said:
noob question: why would one want to use UEFI instead the old BIOS?
obs: what happened to 2), 4), 5)? :)
Click to expand...
The questions from are from a sticky I have over in General Hardware. You already answered 2,4, and 5 from that sticky. :)
 
oh, I see. I've not decide yet where I'm gonna buy it (I'm still in the process of choosing which part to buy). It can be online or in a store, but I'm tending more to online because of the convenience, unless the store price justifies the hustle. I'm going to be at NY and FL.
 
Well I'm asking because it may take awhile for the parts to ship where ever you are. As such, if you're only staying in the U.S for a week or two, you may not be able to buy computer hardware online.

As for NY, where in NY? There's a store there that has pretty good hardware prices if you are near.
 
Ok, here's the definitions:

MoBo ASRock Z77E-ITX $150
CPU i5 3570K $220
Memo Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB $42
GPU EVGA GTX 660 $220
SSD Crucial CT128M4SSD2 128GB $100

TOTAL $732


Criticize please.
 
Last edited:
Again, will you be near a Microcenter in NY?

EDIT: If not, I can already see two issues with your planned setup.
 
Last edited:
Issue 1: Since you're overclocking, really no point for you to get the Core i5 3570K CPU. You would be fine with the regular Core i5 3470 CPU

Issue 2: Well not an issue per se but just a personal taste kind of thing: Just not a fan of AsRock in general. I generally recommend Asus or Gigabyte.
 
Danny Bui said:
Issue 2: Well not an issue per se but just a personal taste kind of thing: Just not a fan of AsRock in general. I generally recommend Asus or Gigabyte.
Click to expand...

I went for the Asus P8Z77-I myself, but I've been keeping up with the Z77E-ITX owners thread on OCN and seems everyone who has it is very happy. Not that the OP is overclocking, but many reports of >5GHz which seems to at least equal what people are reporting for the Asus board. With it being much cheaper and not needing the oversized daughterboard, I believe Asrock have a real winner there for mITX.
 
+1 on the Asrock Z77E-ITX. I just picked one up this week. It's a great board.

What ever you do stay away from the Evga Stinger... it's bios is junk and renders the board useless, especially if you were to use a Sandy Bridge CPU. And by the time Evga releases their 2nd bios people will probably be buying motherboards for Intel's next CPU.
 
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