Mini ITX Build Project

Intro

So, I'm looking to down size with my next build, although I love a midi tower, I just don't quite have the room for one, so I thought, a mini ITX would be the best bet as I don't need dual GPU's, and I don't need an insane machine with like 50 storage drives. However, I'd like your guys input on my potential next build, I've listed a bunch of components below and I've also mentioned as to why I've selected those components. But first, I'd like to first talk about cases.

Cases

For the case, I was thinking something that is capable of holding at least 3 storage drives, 1 3.5" though, and one optical drive, yes, I'm old fashioned and I still use those things. I have some of this ancient tech I call DVD's....* silence and awe *..... But seriously, I'd like something that could also house a full size graphics card, now from doing my own homework, the best bet seems to be the Silverstone Raven RVZ01, apparently, if you have an ultra-low profile radiator, then you can actually have a small AIO CPU cooler. Just to prove my point, here's an example, yeah it looks tight, but to be fair, it's still a mini ITX case, so in my personal opinion, that's quite impressive.

Not to mention, this thing matches my needs perfectly, it can house the exact amount of storage drives that I'd like in my next build, plus it can also house a slim line optical drive, and a full size graphics card. Talking about the graphics card, this case also comes with a GPU support, which is a really nice and minor touch to the case in my own opinion, it just reassures you that they thought about how you may use this case to make our mini ITX build a more LAN based system. Despite how practical it is, it also looks amazing, I think it actually looks beautiful, this case makes for an excellent console replacement, as it's only a bit bigger than an Xbox 360.

CPU

Now for the CPU, I'm going back to one of the most annoying steps of picking a CPU, personally I don't know if I'd need an i7, although knowing that my CPU has hyper-threading is nice, but at the same time, I don't actually think I'd really make use of it to justify spending that bit extra. I also wouldn't bother overclocking my system either, I'd rather have a reliable but slightly slower system than a system that's that bit faster and that little bit more unstable. So I think something like the Intel core i5, 6600 (none K version) would be suitable for me, and I assume that you guys would also agree with me on that one.

CPU Heatsink

Now for the heatsink, I think that I could just go for a low profile, fairly quite heatsink, maybe something from Noctua, I mean they're products seem to be pretty great, and I've never heard anyone say anything bad about them. The only thing I've heard people say that Noctua is bad for is the price, and the colour of their products, but as I won't be seeing it, I don't mind the colour. I also don't mind investing an extra bit of cash into a good CPU heatsink/cooler. I'm debating something like the Noctua NH-L9i, I know for a fact that it would be more than small enough.

I guess I could use something like the Corsair H50, but I know for a fact, I would not need liquid cooling in this build, but at the same time, I'd never have to worry about the temps. I think for this build, especially considering I highly doubt I'd overclock, I think that it would be pretty overkill?

RAM

For RAM, I was thinking about getting 1 stick of ECC RAM at 8 GB, although IDK if this is necessary either, I just think it would be a nice feature, I mean that way, if I ever wanted to get more RAM for some reason, then it wouldn't be a problem at all. I have a friend who still swears his life on 8GB of RAM, and he never has any problems, I personally have 16GB of RAM right now, and I think it may be fair to say that quality is a big thing to think about with hardware, not just quantity. But I'm debating the ECC part, just seems like a nice feature to have, I've never had experience with ECC RAM, so if you could let me know if that's unnecessary, that would be great. To be perfectly honest, I'm not even sure if the motherboard and CPU I've mentioned are actually compatible with ECC memory, again, if any of you guys could tell me if I'm wrong, that would be great. But even though I've mentioned that one of my friends uses only 8GB, I swear that I would manage to use up all 8GB of RAM if I only got 8GB, but at the same time, I don't know, because I'm used to having 16GB in my current build. I may get 16GB just to play it safe, but I'm not 100% sure, what do you guys think? - NOTE. I have actually managed to use way over 10GB of RAM before, max I've ever used has been 14GB if I recall correctly.

Motherboard

For the motherboard, I was thinking about something like the motherboard from Gigabyte, the GA-Z170N-WIFI Intel Z170, now a lot of you may think that this is overkill, and I may even agree with you on that one. But I've had some bad experiences in the past from going slightly cheaper on the motherboard, and boy has that backfired on me.

Not only does this seem like a really good quality motherboard, but it also has a tonne of really cool features for a mini ITX motherboard. Like having 6 SATA ports, I think that's pretty awesome myself, plus the one PCIE x 16, as I do only need and only want one. I mean even if I was going for a system that was huge, I probably wouldn't bother with SLI, yeah that's right, I like my Nvidia cards.

GPU

Now for my GPU, I was thinking about waiting until my current GPU really does start to struggle, I mean it's still a pretty beastly card, it doesn't struggle with anything I throw at it, I currently have the GTX 780 Super Jet Stream card, although I will have to check to see if the case can hold my GPU. Although, I am pretty damn confident it can, I mean I'd be pretty damn surprised if it couldn't, I'm worried about the actual thickness of the card more so than the physical length of the card or the cooler.

PSU

Now, for the PSU, I think I should've mentioned in the case section that in order for that case to work with all of the above components, you need to get an SFX PSU, however, there is another version of the exact case that does house a full size PSU, but I doubt I'll even need a full size PSU, personally speaking. For the PSU, I was thinking of getting something from Silverstone, specifically the SST-SX700, why this one exactly?

Well first of all, it'll fit in the case, second of all, it supplies 700W, third of all, it has an 80 plus platinum rating, which in my opinion, sounds like one hell of a damn fine PSU. Not to forgot, this PSU is also fully modular, which yet again makes it seem even more attractive to buy, in my very own personal opinion, and as this build is mini ITX built I like the fact that it's fully modular as it allows you to buy and use your very own custom cables, which I may actually consider doing.

Storage

Now as this PC will not be just an entertainment centre, but it will also be my little workstation, I think it would be best for me to consider getting multiple drives, now for my boot drive, it's going to be quality over quantity. Meaning I'll without a doubt be using an SSD for my main boot drive, something like a Samsung 750 EVO with 500GB of storage, then as the second 2.5" drive, I was thinking of something like a good old WD Blue 1TB SSHD. Then as the main bulk of my storage, I was thinking of something along the lines of a 2TB WD Blue drive, this way I'm assured to never run out of storage, plus the blue drives are slightly slower than the likes of a Black drive, so I guess that's better for noise. I would also like to mention that if I were to hit any issues with storage, I think at that point I'd just consider investing into external storage drives. I mean using up all of the ~3.5TB, that's pretty insane.

Optical Drive

I'd like a slim line Blu Ray player, with both read and write capabilities, however, surprisingly, I seem to have issues finding an optical drive that would sit in this case just fine. However, I have found one that seems to be okay for this case, but I've never heard of this make. If you guys can find anything better, or just as good, that would be great, and could you also let me know some of the details about z optical drive?

I say that I'm only able to find one because a lot of the Blu Ray slime line drives have that little tray that comes out when you eject the disk, well looking at this case, that wouldn't work, at all. I don't think that the case could support the tray that comes with such optical drives.

Review

For such a small PC, I think that this PC would be pretty amazing, especially for my needs, I haven't done a price check as I haven't had a detailed browse. Plus I'm not quite ready to upgrade just yet, I need to make a bit more cash before I can consider it, I'm also thinking about getting an ultra wide monitor, but then again, I don't know if that would be necessary, as I already have 2x1080p monitors, although they're very cheap quality and it's true, you get what you pay for.

Finally, could you guys give any input or could you suggest how I could improve this system?
Just remember, the goal is to get a pretty beastly PC into a pretty tiny case, but at the same time, I don't want the nightmare of morbid cable management that you get with most mini ITX builds, but this case seems pretty great for that.

So yeah, any suggestions would be highly appreciated! :)

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Case: Silverstone makes another case, the FTZ01, that uses the exact same chassis as the RVZ01, so it's the same internally, it just doesn't have as strong of a "gamer" aesthetic.

CPU: If you're just gaming and/or watching movies you pretty much won't need hyperthreading at this point in time. An i5 will be fine.

Heatsink: I'm one of those who thinks Noctua is a brand where you're paying for the name rather than the product. Phanteks has a nice low profile cooler, the PH-TC12LS, as does Cryorig, the C7 or C1.

RAM: Unless you have a C-series motherboard and a CPU that works with ECC (Xeon, i3, Pentium), ECC straight up will not work. Unless you need ECC, save the money and just go with plain ol' RAM.

Motherboard: Find one that has the minimum features you'd actually use from a brand you like and go for it. I like modern MSI motherboards, so I'd go for something like the MSI H170I Pro AC if I was making a Skylake ITX machine.

GPU: If you already have a card you like, don't bother replacing it. If you do replace it, the RX 480 is a good card for the money and if DX12/Vulkan takes off it will probably be even better.

PSU: You'll need a modular PSU for sure. For a single card system you will not need any more than maybe 550 watts, and that estimate is on the high side. To me 80+ Gold or higher from a reputable OEM is more than adequate.

Storage: It's all up to what you think you'll use. Crucial and Mushkin make good SSDs for the money. For spinning rust I'd go for Western Digital or HGST/Hitachi. WD Blues are perfectly fine for average consumer usage. Don't waste your money on an SSHD, they really don't make much of a difference.

Optical: I have a slimline Samsung (?) DVD drive. At this point in their life cycle if an optical drive was bad I'd be concerned for the company making it.

Overall, aside from the ECC thing, I don't see anything wrong with your ideas, it's really down to personal preference. I have brands I do like and ones I don't like so I'll recommend those over others, but your brand preference may be different.

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Why ECC RAM if you're going for a mainstream chipset (they won't work anyway)? Get standard RAM instead.
Why a Z170 motherboard if you're going to use a non-K SKU? Get an H170 to save some useful cash.
Why just 8GB of RAM? They're pretty inexpensive these days so just one 16GB stick is preferable.
Why an SFX-L power supply and why 700W? The Silverstone SFX 650 is smaller and is more than enough to power anything you're going to fit in that case.
You're far better going with a blower style cooler card insted of an open design one. Also I think the middle fan is too high for that case but I might be wrong (try to sell the 780 and with a little investment get a much more efficient and cool reference GTX 1060 6GB).

Other than that I think you're going to have a pretty sick build.

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Cooler Master Elite 130... Solve all your issues...

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Honestly, I think either would be fine, they both look great, and they're basically the same internally.

That's the thing, I don't just game and watch stuff online, I also do some pretty intense work, like 3D rendering, I've been doing a fair bit of augmented reality stuff lately. But it all seems to run fine on my current i5, so I doubt an i7 would be a noticeable improvement for that?

Totally fair enough, I have also been looking at Phanteks actually, bigger fan's available too.

I had an educated guess that ECC wouldn't work, but I wasn't sure, thank you for correcting me there! :)

As for brands I'm not fussy, as long as it's not something I've never heard of before, then I may have some concern. But like I've asked (lower down) @MetalizeYourBrain, would a H170 come with less features? Or am I just being a nut in thinking that?

All jokes aside, I'm only planning on staying away from AMD because of heat and I know that heat + compact system isn't a good mix. I and a few friends have also had some awful experiences with AMD, both CPU's and GPU's, maybe it's just us, who knows? Nvidia + Intel is honestly just my very own personal preference.

Honestly, I thought it would be a bit TOO much for this build I mean I don't think I'd ever really need it for my personal rig, I just thought, oh, it may be pretty fancy.

I was thinking about that to be honest but I'm really not sure, I mean I'd only get the Z170 board because they tend to come with more features, but I haven't had a great look into the H170 boards, so I don't know how valid my statement is there.

I'm not totally sure myself, I was thinking about trying out just 8GB at first, and if it does turn out to be too little, then I was thinking about buying the exact same stick and just plugging that second one in.

Last time I checked, they recommended a 700W PSU for my GTX780, sadly it's not as efficient as the latest cards, although I guess it would probably work with 650W. But don't quote me here, I just think I remember that being the case. Plus I was thinking it would be nicer to get more, just because it wouldn't have to work as hard, keeping it cooler.

Honestly, that sounds like a pretty decent idea, just because I do use my 780, but I don't play AAA title games all of the time, so I don't make the most of my 780 so to speak.

I'm glad we agree on that! :)

Honestly, I'd also agree with you, but due to the way my set up is set up, that would actually be more annoying than something like the Silverstone RVZ01, just because it's wider. I'm pretty sure the Cooler Master 130 is also cheaper, but seriously, room efficiency is a big deal for me right now, my room is pretty darn small. I need something kinda short and slim, which is basically the RVZ01, it's only a little bit bigger than an Xbox 360, which is perfect for me. But if size wasn't such a pain for me, then I'd probably get the Cooler Master case, just down to the fact that it's cheaper, although I'm not 100% sure it could house all of the drives I'd like to house, but that wouldn't be a huge issue. Worst comes to worst, I can use USB 3.0 for storage solutions.

That one really depends on the actual motherboard itself. The only real differences between H170 compared to Z170 is the inability to overclock, some PCIe configurations (at ITX it will not matter), PCIe storage (2x M.2 drives v. 3x M.2 drives), and 2 fewer native USB 3.0 (8 compared to 10).
So in your case, unless you need SLi/Crossfire, 3 M.2 drives, and 10 USB 3.0 devices, and overclocking, H170 will be plenty adequate.

Further reading: https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Z170-H170-H110-B170-Q150-Q170---What-is-the-Difference-635/

GPU manufacturers will often recommend power supplies that are way more than necessary because they know people will use their fancy high-end GPUs with the latest dumpster dive special of a power supply. It's easier for them to recommend a higher wattage PSU than to deal with people catching their GPU on fire by pulling too much power from sketchy power supplies.
Having said that, going overboard is not a bad thing, but saving a few pennies is nice. For reference I've used a Xeon, an HD 6950, GTX 770, and three hard drives off of one 650 watt power supply without issue. I wouldn't recommend it, but that's 430 watts of GPU, far less than any single GPU should pull.

Yeah, I thought that was the major difference, and another reason why I'm leaning more to the Z170 is that I MAY get a CPU that I can overclock, I may even get an i7, I'm just not 100% what would be better for me really. I mean I'm not rich, but I don't mind spending that extra bit of cash because this is something that I will be using 90% of the time.

Honestly, I thought those were like the minimal requirements, if I'm totally honest. But like I also said above, I don't mind spending a tiny bit extra if it means that it'll be a better and more reliable system.

One strong vote for the Raven RVZ01 case you have picked out there. Just measured yesterday to see if a WD 8TB Red would fit in the 3.5 slot height-wise, and no worries at all. As far as the PSU, it sounds like you're leaning that way with the 700W listed, but the SFX-L is long enough to fit a 120mm fan, while some of the lower watt, non "-L" versions have a smaller higher-RPM (louder) fan.

Here's my HTPC/PLEX build in the same case: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Concu55i0n22/saved/pMdWGX

I admittedly have a lower TDP than you're going for from the sounds of it, but the AR06 cooler is pretty whisper quiet @ idle and isn't super noticeable under load....The slim fans that come with the case are not as quiet, so a rad may be comparable noise-wise.__

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Regarding the point you made about Z vs H chipset getting an overclockable CPU for a system that will always be compact, in my opinion it's not worth. Also the feature difference is not here because there's only so much that you can fit on such a tiny board so Z or H chipset doesen't make any difference in this case.
On the PSU subject: the reccomended wattage are always way higher because I think GPU manufacturer take into account really low efficiency power supplies that need a really high wattage to drive those GPUs. I don't know if I'm allowed to say this (lol, just kidding) but Luke of the LTT crew did a really nice video on PSU wattage and a 650W can handle, if I recall correctly, an overclocked 5690X and a Titan. So I guess you'll be good with a really tini SFX 650W PSU in order to get more space to put away cables.
Also take a look at Cryorig coolers too, they look to have really good performance same as the Noctuas ones. Also there's that really tiny 92mm watercooler from Cooler Master that looks like can fit in such case too but I would advise that only if you're going for the i7 (K or not).

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Yeah, I guess you're right about the mobo's, but I'm debating getting an i7 ----- K, I'd only bother overclocking if I could get my hands on an i7, rather than an i5.

Good point about the PSU I guess! :)

But apparently, from watching a bunch of videos, if you get an i7 (K or not), they always seem to be using a fan cooler, surely a fan cooler would be fine?

FYI. I just checked, those tiny Cooler Master AIO cooler's are still too tall for this case, I may reconsider the case, I'm unsure about this though, I mean I really like the size of the RVZ01.

I seriously recommend either getting a fully modular psu or getting custom cable lengths, the cable management in itx cases is non existent and is a bitch to deal with. I built one in the Coolermaster case for someone and if you put a DVD drive in there your space goes to 0

TY for that input, but I was going to get a fully modular PSU one way or another, and yeah, I've seen how morbid it can be to build in some ITX cases. I'd say it's fair to say that 50% of the mess is down to the case, the other 50% is down to the guy building the PC. But it's still not even as black and white as that, there's other variables to take into account, like cable length, etc. I'm just trying to give a fairly round enough number? :')

I would also recommend water cooling the cpu, 120mm radiators are about the same price now as that noctua cooler, I've had that same cooler and it went out after 6 months, you would have to flick the fan for it to start up at all.

The benefits are huge and it looks like both cases allow for it, i know the coolermaster one does.

With this case, all jokes aside, water cooling solutions will fit, but they look so tight, I'd be paranoid that something would go wrong.

That sounds like a faulty shipment? I mean I highly doubt that's the case for the average shipment of that fan, surely there was something just bad with yours? :/

As for benefits, I don't know about that, I currently have a water cooler, I'd honestly say it's over rated, I mean of coursed it does the job, but it's not like my CPU stays < 60°C or anything like that. I'd say with the single block AIO liquid coolers, they're good, don't get me wrong, but they're probably over rated and over hyped, at least that's what I've discovered from personal builds and experiences, I've also talked to a few friends, they'd agree on the whole. I know some friends that have had liquid coolers and have actually gone back to having air coolers, just because there was no difference, and due to the pump(s) and the liquid circulating the system, it was actually louder in some cases.

You dont need a pump for just cpu cooling, its self sustaining. I thought it was just me but found a good amount of people with the same problem, still not all of them are bad though.

Just my experience though, in a case of this size your temps are going to be higher than average and smaller space with less airflow is when watercooling actually makes a difference.

Hmm, well, damn, I guess Noctua screwed up?

Apparently some guy that did a build in this case, he only got an extra 4°C over his midi tower case, so I guess this case is actually pretty awesome for airflow? I mean to be fair, you can have 2 fans blow on your GPU, and depending on the height of the CPU heatsink, I think you can also get a fan to blow down directly onto your CPU. Emphasis on the fact that I said I think, if I remember correctly.

@MetalizeYourBrain @w.meri @psycho_666 @_hill @Concu55i0n22

Would you say that possibly one of the Corsair SFX PSU's would be more suitable, as they have the zero RPM feature?I'm not 100% sure if the Slverstone PSU I mentioned above does have this feature.

No... I don't like corsair and i can never recommend a brand, that have so called "name tax" attached to it's products...
If you go Elite 130 you can use full atx power supply. Zero fan feature makes less of a difference than you think.
11 fans total in my system... Silent as grave. All 11 fans running...

That's totally fair enough and I just had a sneak a peak to see what a FULL system upgrade would cost, I mean everything from peripherals to the PC itself. I was amazed as to how cheap it would be, all jokes aside, considering I've all but picked the best parts possible, or there about at least.

FYI. I haven't bought into the whole wired is better than wireless, and stuff like mechanical keyboard rule, I currently have a mechanical keyboard, and a really good quality mouse, with a braided cable. Honestly, I'm quite disappointed indeed, I actually somehow find myself typing with more accuracy on a flat keyboard, it may be due to the fact that I learnt to type on an old HP laptop that had a nice and flat keyboard, I'm not sure, but that's the case either way.

FYI. If I were to do a full upgrade, I probably wouldn't go quite this crazy, but here it is, it's a lot cheaper than what I had expected, all jokes aside. This also isn't an accurate accumulation of the actual components that I'd get, I mean I personally think I'd probably spend more on my speakers too, I love listening to music, I'm hardly an 'auidophile', I mean I think the whole dedicated sound card(s), I think they're a waste of money to be 100% honest.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/TH2DJV