Hello everyone. I am trying to put together a mini gaming PC. I am located in the USA and my price range is around $1700. I do not need any peripherals or operating system. And what I am trying to do is make my build as small as possible without the possibility of overheating. The one thing that I was hoping to incorporate into the build is a GTX 980. I know the GTX 980ti is about to come out. And I am hoping the dimensions will be about the same as the 980. If anybody has any recommendations that would be Awesome!
A buddy of minw wanted to build something small but powerful to put in his living room. We threw together this. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/bg7Mxr
Getting at all in there nice and tidy was a challenge however it all worked out well.
This was my inspiration: http://www.overclock.net/t/1438429/lightbox/post/21094949/id/1782684
Hay, a_bwl_o_awesome,
I appreciate you taking the time to share this build with me. I definitely think this will work. Thank you Bro!
Peripherals:
Stuck in a 23" IPS 1080p monitor from Asus with VESA mounting holes for if you ever want to mount the thing.
There's plenty of other mice and keyboards available that you may prefer, put some research into this. It's all subjective. I only stuck those peripherals in for pricing's sake. Don't see it as an absolute necessity to go mechanical on the keyboard, some people are happy with rubber domes and it's much cheaper. It's all subjective, go to a store with mechanical keyboards and try a few out.
These came to a total of $331.98, leaving me with $1368.02 for the build itself.
Built around:
- The 4690K (If you're solely gaming, it'll do you fine, if you were into content creation I'd otherwise suggest a 4790k).
- A Noctua NH-D15 (best readily available CPU air cooler atm).
- The same ITX mobo as a_bwl_o_awesome.
- An EVGA GTX 980 (as per your request).
- A copy of windows (as per your request).
I've tried to theme this thing black, obviously there's some brown on the noctua fans.
Went with 1x8GB of RAM to allow for future upgrades (that mobo only has two RAM slots, being ITX).
Note: Single channel has no performance loss over dual channel. [Source]
Put a 120GB 850 EVO SSD in for a boot drive and a few essential programs such as chrome.
Put a 1TB WD blue HDD in for mass storage. Don't bother with WD blacks. [Source]
Went with a decent 80+ gold 650W Fully modular PSU from EVGA to keep things tidy.
Stuck it in a Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV because it's one of the only ITX tower cases the above would fit in that had a windowed side panel, as hopefully you'll want to be able to show it off as I've themed the whole thing to be black. Probably wouldn't look bad with some white LEDs IMO.
Hay SpaceCat,
Thanks for your input on your system build. It definitely helps give me more possible options, on what I might want to do. You sir, Rock!! (thanks for all the help)
No problem. :)
Had a closer look at the layout of the SATA, USB etc headers on that mobo, and to be honest, it looks like it'd be a nightmare to cable manage and wouldn't look particularly great anyway.
@a_bwl_o_awesome, how did it turn out looking (it looks like you'll have some SATA cables going atop your RAM, and a USB 3 cable going along the top of your GPU, no?)
That being said, with it being an ITX board, practically the entire thing will be hidden under the monster of a cooler that is the NH-D15.
I'd check RAM clearance with the NH-D15 (I believe it's 35mm) and how high that RAM actually is. It doesn't look at all tall, so it probably won't be a problem, but you're better off safe than sorry.
If you wanted to go with an AiO, that case can handle up to a 280mm radiator (I think). I'd go with a different motherboard though (unless a_bwl_o_awesome says it looks alright). This MSI one seems to have better header placement (the only cables going across the board would be the front panel connectors). It's $10 more though, and a good AiO (Corsair H100i GTX/H110i GT or whatever they're called) is going to cost more than that NH-D15 ($40 more for a H110i GT). If you're going with cheaper enough peripherals though, the price increase shouldn't put you over budget.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z97iac
If and when you build this, it'd be nice to see some photos. Looks like it'd be a pretty neat little build.
EDIT: Looked at some builds completed with that EVGA Stinger board, they don't look half bad with cables going along the board tbf, as long as they're not too brightly colored. Again, an AiO would probably be great because then you could actually show off the thing, it looks pretty damn nice.
http://pcpartpicker.com/builds/by_part/evga-motherboard-111hre973kr
Based on what you want and your budget I would go for something like this. If you have any questions and or concerns feel free to ask I'm more than happy to help.
The Build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kpbVXL
Read the post. He needs peripherals and OS in that budget.
WD black drives, don't bother. Read my first post in this topic for the reason why.
Also, I'd go for two 140mm fans to go in the front. Less noise, more airflow. I'm assuming that's why you put those fans in that build, as the H100i GTX comes with those fans (without the colored rings) as stock.
You can fit a 280mm radiator in that case, no?
Actually he doesn't need peripherals or an OS "I do not need any peripherals or operating system." Also the reason I selected the Black drive is because it comes with a five year warranty and they are known to be slightly more reliable than blues. The fans and the 240mm radiator were my bad I didn't realize that the H100i GTX came with said fans.
Updated Build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/c8MyBm
Whoops. facedesk
In that case, that looks like a pretty solid build.
Those RAM heatsinks too... damn.
I want pictures of this when it's done. I demand pictures!
1 Like
LinuxForYou,
I just check out your gaming build suggestions. And I appreciate you taking the time to help me out! This is definitely a portable gaming setup that will work for what I want. (Thank you my friend!!)
Well for $1750 you can get a build with a Titan X http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sy49Lk
and for $1500 you can get a build with a strix 980 and more [EDIT: SSD storage] http://pcpartpicker.com/p/McbVXL
From what I understand there is a low chance for overheating, but I am not an expert. I would be more concerned with the Titan X build. I am not 100% sure of all your desires for this other than the 980. I am assuming you do not want to overclock. For best gaming performance for your money an i5 is good. These are the builds I would personally choose for the pricing. If you want some extra space you can add a WD Blue, as it is the best for the money, and more reliable than the seagates. (Don't get me wrong I would pick seagates if I had to vs some company I have never heard of).
I am a bit confused by this. I can add an edit section if I get some more information. I hope you like these.
No problem I hope it all works out for you.
Putting a Titan X in a gaming rig is virtually pointless I mean yeah it's amazing don't get me wrong but it's better used for productivity. On top of that the the PSU in the Titan X build is a little on the sketchy side considering you only have 59 watts of headroom. The bare minimum I would recommend for a PSU is 100 watts of headroom, although I personally prefer 150-200.
Hay ShockBowXtreme,
Thanks for adding a couple of possible gaming builds. And you are correct that I am not going to do much overclocking. My main goal is to be able to game on the go. Thank you my friend!
Some PSUs can handle over their limit, but I do understand I should have put a little more consideration into that, and for some extra money (~$25-50) you can get more wattage to meet that amount of headroom. I was just pointing out that for $50 over you can get a bit more performance in an console like ITX form factor.
If I were to spend about $1700 for a build with a 980 I would get more storage, more wattage, and an i7 4790k (unlocked so if you want to overclock you can) but it has a high clock out of the box for more performance. I picked the wd blue because of its smaller profile 2.5" not 3.5" and its lower speed for less noise and heat. I also picked an MSI gaming 980 because under load it is quieter than the rest, but the Strix is quieter at idle because of its out of box fan stop at idle (which can be enabled on the rest with software) I wish I had a source, but I don't.
@reclayton51 This is that build I said above, for $1700 http://pcpartpicker.com/p/H449Lk
@reclayton51 But if I wanted a console-like-PC high performance for the dollar $1300 http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8cMyBm
Beware of 2.5" drives as they are nowhere near as reliable as 3..5" drives. The other thing to consider is that 2.5" drives are also significantly slower than 3.5" drives. Also in both of the rigs you suggested you put unlocked CPU's on H97 chipset motherboards which can't overclock more than the factory 400Mhz.
A few pieces of advice that come to mind are...
- Consider this case.
It looks like a pretty impressive and small case.
-Get a xeon 123 v3. It's the same cpu as a core i7 4790k, but without the integrated graphics and without overclocking (your not going to be overclocking in a small build right?). It's $240
- Wait a month for the 980Ti and R9 390x cards to come out.
I knew about the H97, I chose it because it was cheaper, but he says he does not want to overclock. I picked the unlocked CPUs because they have an already good clock speed, and if he wants to overclock he can a little bit. I thought 2.5" HDDs were more reliable in some cases due to their design to be in a laptop, making it design to take a hit or two. But I am not sure about usage, I am sure it is okay. I have had a WD Blue 500GB 2.5" drive for 5 years now, and I have dropped it, it works fine as far as I know.
But if he can get a Z97 bored which he can in his budget he would be better off getting it. Also the 2.5" drives just aren't as reliable as 3.5" but the fact that you've had yours for five years is nice.
@maxwellzelophan Yes that case is the best ITX chassis on the market but it's just so expensive. Tears, tears pouring down my face lol.