Upgrading to a Smaller Package

[Crimson Tear]

I've been out of the game for a long time, but I find myself in need of a smaller PC and even when I was staying up on the current tech, I didn't know much about building small systems. I'd like to end up with something in a package less than 13" tall with a nice minimal look, in black. I'm currently using a rather large, but beautiful Lian-Li case with an i7 920 and I'd like to downsize and upgrade these.

So far the case I'm liking is the Corsair Obsidian 250D, but I'm open to ideas. One troublesome piece I've found is that my PSU is rather large. I'm open to the idea of replacing it. I'm a bit partial to Intel. I'd appreciate any help you all can provide in finding a case, CPU, and motherboard. Standard questions below:


1) What will you be doing with this PC?
- Gaming, web browsing, media consumption

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
- I'd like to keep it in the ballpark of $1000 or below, all told.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
- Florida

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
- Case, motherboard, CPU, RAM

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
- PSU: Corsair CMPSU-1000HX (1000 watt, 8" length)
- GPU: Zotac NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB GDDR5
- SSD: Samsung 840 Pro

6) Will you be overclocking?
- No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
- Dell U3011 2560x1600 (for now)

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

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
- Just the basics. No need for onboard sound, but I do want integrated WiFi if possible

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

 

[Deleted member 88227]

Just so you know the latest CPUs use DDR4 memory so you won't be able to reuse your RAM unless you get outdated hardware.

 

[Crimson Tear]

Thanks. I've updated the OP.

 

[BlueLineSwinger]

I'd be looking at i5-8xxx (Coffee Lake) systems as a starting point. You could probably get away with an i3-8xxx, but I believe the two additional cores of the i5 are worth the extra cost. Ryzen might be even cheaper, but make sure whatever you're playing isn't one of those titles that seemed to be hobbled by it (or maybe those issues were resolved since the reviews, I'm not sure).

16GB (2x8) of RAM is fine. Since you're not overclocking there's no need to get sticks rated faster than the mainboard/CPU officially support.

The GTX-970 seems under-powered for a 2560x1600 display, though I suppose it depends on what games you're playing and the quality you're comfortable with.

I'd consider replacing the PSU solely based on it being massively over-specced for anything outside of an overclocked multi-GPU system. A quality gold-rated unit (e.g., Seasonic) in the 400-500W range is more than enough.

 

[manny1222]

Have you looked at the Air 240 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00LA6WXEO/ref=sxts_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1508261624&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65) for your case? Its the same price with a bit more room with probably better psu support. I just finished a build in it with a corsiar HX1050 psu, and i have mine horizontal like the case you listed above.