Skylake mITX PC in PC-TU100, need advice

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1

Hello there,

I am currently working on a Skylake mini-ITX build in the Lian Li PC-TU100, and I need some advice regarding motherboard, cooling and PSU choice.

Since I am running Arch but planning to pass through my GPU to a VM for running editing software and some games, I am going with an i7 6700K for the CPU for the extra cores and integated graphics.

Now I am looking for a matching motherboard, and I was wondering about what Chipset to look for. I don't think that I will be doing any overclocking because of the suboptimal cooling in the PC-TU100, so do I even need Z170? Do the other chipsets generally support the virtualization stuff aswell?

If you are running a mini-ITX Skylake box with linux then I'd love to hear what hardware you are using and if you encountered any compatibility issues.

For the PSU I am just generally confused because I never owned an SFX PSU and I don't know how different companies' PSUs perform in this small formfactor, so I would appreciate some advice here aswell.

For the cooling aspect I was wondering whether it would be worth going for watercooling because of space restrictions with the PSU over the CPU, or if Skylake is cool enough to take the super low profile Noctua for the job.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: Going with the PC-TU100 mainly for the portability (small formfactor and the carrying handle). If there are other good, portable cases then I am open for suggestions.

2

If you want a high powered tiny box like that you should go for like a Core 500 which supports 240mm AIOs for your overclocking

and then why buy the K part if you aren't going to OC? just get the non K part with possibly this board

The i7 6700K is currently $319 on newegg for the next 2 days though, so I suppose you might as well go for that, will need an after market cooler though

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/C2Nqcf
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/C2Nqcf/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($298.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI B150I GAMING PRO AC Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($109.69 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $408.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-18 11:54 EDT-0400

3

The non-K part is at 3.4GHz while the K part is at 4GHz I think. To me that's a difference worth paying a bit more.

4

non K part turbos to 4ghz, normally not exactly worth the difference, buy I'd be sure to pick it up during that sale

but in any case, there's my suggestion for a high powered box, the Core 500 is still really tiny and portable, just pop out the 5.25" bay cover and boom, instant handle

**Also you might want to go AMD for a GPU passthrough set up, just gotta find a solid aftermarket RX 480 or 470, any of them should fit in the core 500, it has plenty of room, probably just double check that or go for a cheap Nano that's on sale

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/t8nVcc
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/t8nVcc/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 240 66.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($109.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus Z170I PRO GAMING Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($159.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Core 500 Mini ITX Desktop Case ($54.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $644.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-18 12:00 EDT-0400

5

Regarding the CPU, thanks, I totally missed that, but it makes sense. I will go for the non-K 6700 then.
The Core 500 is not an option for me though. It's a lot bigger, heavier and less sturdy than the PC-TU100, which is why I can't really think of it as portable.

And yes, I will go for AMD with my GPU, not just because of the Nvidia driver shutdown thing. I don't like Intel and Nvidia for their business practices, but Intel just far exceeds the old AMD CPUs at the moment, and Zen is far in the future and potentially without integrated graphics, making a passthrough impossible.

6

6700K is maybe 10fps ahead on average here at 4.6ghz, literally no difference in GTAV I guess, and The Witcher 3

It's probably sturdy enough given the radiator support, plus it's made of steel

Otherwise tiniest of the tiny is the Elite 110 from CM, would necessitate an R9 nano though

7

I think only the K parts support virtualization so the z170 chipset is the way to go for the case I did a build similar to this one in a node 202 which was great cause the psu was included and it has the portability the issue will be cooling that I7 there are a few low profile coolers that support 90-120 watt parts silver stone makes one notuca makes one other than that you should be good the node 202 comes with a pci bracket that allows for a full sized graphics card or pci card with support for fans to cool it as well