Mini-ITX Build Recommendations

[alterpath]

Hi guys!

Backstory of my situation(probably no one cares anyway, but I'm really talkative so I'll continue ranting on). So I have been gaming on my Macbook for the longest time (bad choice I know) and recently I got a monitor cus I was sick of seeing things on 13'inch. And ta-dah... my Mac was not power enough to support Ark Survival Evolved. Sigh. I had the thought to build an external GPU.. but with that amount of money I'm probably building a new gaming rig.

I have no prior experience in building computers, but I have an idea what each part does (thanks to school). I'm pretty bad at building things in general BUT I'm really keen on getting my hands on building my own machine with my brother's help and I like cable-tying things in general. (He kept saying that girls can't build so I'm going to prove him wrong)

Been doing some research and here are my constrains + requirements. I'm looking at building something small but yet powerful enough to run games at 1080 without fearing of it overheating and blowing up.

Budget: $800-$1000 (I can stretch it to $1200, but that means I'll have to starve for a week)

Casing selection
Cooler Master Elite 130 - $89
Fractal Design Core 500 - $99
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX - $79
Thermaltake core v1 itx - $79

Motherboard + CPU
Asrock H81M-ITX
Asrock H81M-HDS+i5 4460 - $330 (*take note on sizing issue)
Intel Core i5-4460 + ASUS Trooper B85 - $385 (*take note on sizing issue)

RAM - Looking to expand to 16gb in the future
Kingston Valueram 8gb 1600mhz - $53

GPU - Something to run at 4GB should be decent
Zotac Geforce 960 OC 2gb Vram - $265 (lazada)
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 970 Dual Fan 4GB - $419 (lazada)
MSI GTX760

PSU
Super flower Leadex Silver 550W - $80
Silverstone SX500-LG - $145 PCTheme

SSD
Toshiba Q300 240GB SSD - $92
Zotac SSD 240gb from lazada - $109

Hardrive - 1TB is more than enough for my movies
Western Digital Blue 1TB - $77

OS
Windows 10 ($30, Reddit)

I'm not exactly sure what are the things I should look out for. Feel free to comment!

THAAAANKKS in advance!

 

[harharhar]

Can see my build for reference:

 

[Vincym]

Welcome to DIY club!

GPU - Something to run at 4GB should be decent
Zotac Geforce 960 OC 2gb Vram SGD265 (lazada) or
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 970 Dual Fan 4GB SGD419 (lazada)
(You may want to wait 1-2 months as new GPU will be released for further price drop)

SSD
Toshiba Q300 240GB SSD SGD92 (lazada)

Can buy on Friday or Monday for Lazada, making use of citibank 10% (friday) or DBS 10% (monday)

 

[Entry Level PC]

TS is a girl!!!
White Knight fall in!!!

 

[alterpath]

Can see my build for reference:

Thank you! I'm grabbing some of your specs and putting it on my list!

 

[batniss]

Hi guys!

Backstory of my situation(probably no one cares anyway, but I'm really talkative so I'll continue ranting on). So I have been gaming on my Macbook for the longest time (bad choice I know) and recently I got a monitor cus I was sick of seeing things on 13'inch. And ta-dah... my Mac was not power enough to support Ark Survival Evolved. Sigh. I had the thought to build an external GPU.. but with that amount of money I'm probably building a new gaming rig.

I have no prior experience in building computers, but I have an idea what each part does (thanks to school). I'm pretty bad at building things in general BUT I'm really keen on getting my hands on building my own machine with my brother's help and I like cable-tying things in general. (He kept saying that girls can't build so I'm going to prove him wrong)

Been doing some research and here are my constrains + requirements. I'm looking at building something small but yet powerful enough to run games at 1080 without fearing of it overheating and blowing up.

Budget: $800-$1000 (I can stretch it to $1200, but that means I'll have to starve for a week)

Casing selection
Cooler Master Elite 130 - $89
Fractal Design Core 500 - $99
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX - $79

Motherboard + CPU
Asrock H81M-HDS+i5 4460 - $330
Intel Core i5-4460 + ASUS Trooper B85 - $385

RAM - Looking to expand to 16gb in the future
Kingston Valueram 8gb 1600mhz - $53

GPU - Something to run at 4GB should be decent
Zotac Geforce 960 OC 2gb Vram - $265 (lazada)
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 970 Dual Fan 4GB - $419 (lazada)
MSI GTX760

PSU
Super flower Leadex Silver 550W - $80
Silverstone SX500-LG - $145 PCTheme

SSD
Toshiba Q300 240GB SSD - $92

Hardrive - 1TB is more than enough for my movies
?

OS
Microsoft Windows 8 Professional 64-bit Product Key [OEM] ($30, Reddit)

I'm not exactly sure what are the things I should look out for. Feel free to comment!

THAAAANKKS in advance!

Skip Windows 8 and btw, the board is matx right?

 

[spiky0180]

Hi guys!

Backstory of my situation(probably no one cares anyway, but I'm really talkative so I'll continue ranting on). So I have been gaming on my Macbook for the longest time (bad choice I know) and recently I got a monitor cus I was sick of seeing things on 13'inch. And ta-dah... my Mac was not power enough to support Ark Survival Evolved. Sigh. I had the thought to build an external GPU.. but with that amount of money I'm probably building a new gaming rig.

I have no prior experience in building computers, but I have an idea what each part does (thanks to school). I'm pretty bad at building things in general BUT I'm really keen on getting my hands on building my own machine with my brother's help and I like cable-tying things in general. (He kept saying that girls can't build so I'm going to prove him wrong)

Been doing some research and here are my constrains + requirements. I'm looking at building something small but yet powerful enough to run games at 1080 without fearing of it overheating and blowing up.

Budget: $800-$1000 (I can stretch it to $1200, but that means I'll have to starve for a week)

Casing selection
Cooler Master Elite 130 - $89
Fractal Design Core 500 - $99
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX - $79
Can consider thermaltake core v1 itx - $79

Motherboard + CPU
Asrock H81M-HDS+i5 4460 - $330
Intel Core i5-4460 + ASUS Trooper B85 - $385
The motherboards you picked are not mitx size. Have to look at Asrock H81M-ITX or other itx boards

RAM - Looking to expand to 16gb in the future
Kingston Valueram 8gb 1600mhz - $53

GPU - Something to run at 4GB should be decent
If gaming at 1080p, 2gb of vram on the graphic card is enough.

PSU
Super flower Leadex Silver 550W - $80

SSD
?
Zotac SSD 240gb from lazada - $109

Hardrive
?
Western Digital Blue 1TB - $77

OS
Microsoft Windows 8 Professional 64-bit Product Key [OEM] ($30, Reddit)

I'm not exactly sure what are the things I should look out for. Feel free to comment!

THAAAANKKS in advance!

My replies in red...

 

[alterpath]

Welcome to DIY club!

GPU - Something to run at 4GB should be decent
Zotac Geforce 960 OC 2gb Vram SGD265 (lazada) or
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 970 Dual Fan 4GB SGD419 (lazada)
(You may want to wait 1-2 months as new GPU will be released for further price drop)

SSD
Toshiba Q300 240GB SSD SGD92 (lazada)

Can buy on Friday or Monday for Lazada, making use of citibank 10% (friday) or DBS 10% (monday)

Thank you! Adding those items on to my first post!

1-2months is a long long looonngg time, but let's see how long I'll take to plan this.

 

[alterpath]

TS is a girl!!!
White Knight fall in!!!

Mai ah ni kuan.

 

[alterpath]

Skip Windows 8 and btw, the board is matx right?

Skipping Windows 8 to 10!

To be honest, I'm not too sure what is matx... it's sizing of motherboard, etc.. am I right? I'm just listing all the recommendations and seeking help to short list all the required parts before I screw things up while building.. and back to posting on the forum for help like this ->

 

[batniss]

Skipping Windows 8 to 10!

To be honest, I'm not too sure what is matx... it's sizing of motherboard, etc.. am I right? I'm just listing all the recommendations and seeking help to short list all the required parts before I screw things up while building.. and back to posting on the forum for help like this ->

Matx is bigger than ITX

ITX smaller

Your casing are ITX casing hence you should look out for ITX boards

Otherwise it matx board with matx casing

 

[alterpath]

REVISED based on recommendations!

Budget: $800-$1000

Casing selection
Silverstone SG13 - $79
Cooler Master Elite 130 - $89
Fractal Design Core 500 - $99
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX - $79
Thermaltake core v1 itx - $79

Motherboard + CPU
Asrock H81M-ITX + i5 4460 - $367

RAM - Looking to expand to 16gb in the future
Kingston Valueram 8gb 1600mhz - $53

GPU - Something to run at 4GB should be decent
Zotac Geforce 960 OC 2gb Vram - $265 (lazada)
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 970 Dual Fan 4GB - $419 (lazada)
MSI GTX960 - $26X
MSI GTX950 - $21X

PSU
Silverstone SX500-LG - $145 PCTheme

SSD
Toshiba Q300 240GB SSD - $92
Zotac SSD 240gb from lazada - $109

Hard Drive
Western Digital Blue 1TB - $77

OS
Windows 10 ($30, Reddit)

 

[harharhar]

The superflower PSU is ATX size. If you getting small itx casing, most require SFX PSU. The Silverstone is SFX size.

 

[harharhar]

Anyway, my GTX760 is an old model. You should consider GTX960 ($26X) or GTX950 ($21X) for your budget from Lazada

 

[alterpath]

The superflower PSU is ATX size. If you getting small itx casing, most require SFX PSU. The Silverstone is SFX size.

Thank you! Didnt know that's sizing to that as well. I'll put that into consideration.

 

[harharhar]

For casing, you can consider Silverstone SG13. Smaller than those you listed. And support ATX PSU (up to 140mm length). ATX PSU is generally cheaper than SFX PSU.

 

[batniss]

REVISED based on recommendations!

Budget: $800-$1000

Casing selection
Silverstone SG13 - $79
Cooler Master Elite 130 - $89
Fractal Design Core 500 - $99
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX - $79
Thermaltake core v1 itx - $79

Motherboard + CPU
Asrock H81M-ITX + i5 4460 - $367

RAM - Looking to expand to 16gb in the future
Kingston Valueram 8gb 1600mhz - $53

GPU - Something to run at 4GB should be decent
Zotac Geforce 960 OC 2gb Vram - $265 (lazada)
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 970 Dual Fan 4GB - $419 (lazada)
MSI GTX960 - $26X
MSI GTX950 - $21X

PSU
Silverstone SX500-LG - $145 PCTheme

SSD
Toshiba Q300 240GB SSD - $92
Zotac SSD 240gb from lazada - $109

Hard Drive
Western Digital Blue 1TB - $77

OS
Windows 10 ($30, Reddit)

will not recommend Toshiba SSD. too many mixed reviews on its performance.

RAM buy from Qoo10 / Lazada and use coupon, cheaper. around $44.

I recently built something with Xigmatek Nebula casing (if you don't mind the slightly bigger size - ITX casing as well). It supports any standard PSU. You won't have to worry about assembling it as well as heat dissipation issue.

 

[alterpath]

@batniss That's a really pretty case! I'm prioritizing my options of cases since some of them might pose issue to having regular sized PSU

I'm wondering what's the difference between Skylark vs Intel and AMD processors? I'm currently looking at Intel i5 4460... what does the "4460" represent? Does it provide higher performance as the number increases?

Casing
Thermaltake core v1 ITX - $79
Silverstone SG13 - $79
Xigmatek Nebula - $69
-------
Cooler Master Elite 130 - $89
Fractal Design Core 500 - $99
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX - $79

Motherboard + CPU
Asrock H81M-ITX + i5 4460 - $367

RAM - Looking to expand to 16gb in the future
Kingston Valueram 8gb 1600mhz - $53

GPU - Something to run at 4GB should be decent
Zotac Geforce 960 OC 2gb Vram - $265 (lazada)
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 970 Dual Fan 4GB - $419 (lazada)
MSI GTX960 - $26X
MSI GTX950 - $21X

PSU
Silverstone SX500-LG - $145 PCTheme
Super flower Leadex Silver 550W - $80

SSD
Zotac SSD 240gb from lazada - $109

Hard Drive
Western Digital Blue 1TB - $77

OS
Windows 10 ($30, Reddit)

 

[FlushX]

will not recommend Toshiba SSD. too many mixed reviews on its performance.

RAM buy from Qoo10 / Lazada and use coupon, cheaper. around $44.

I recently built something with Xigmatek Nebula casing (if you don't mind the slightly bigger size - ITX casing as well). It supports any standard PSU. You won't have to worry about assembling it as well as heat dissipation issue.

been wanting to assemble a rig using a Nebula, for wife or female gaming friends.

sadly, not easy to find nebula C in pink

 

[alterpath]

been wanting to assemble a rig using a Nebula, for wife or female gaming friends.

sadly, not easy to find nebula C in pink

NO PINK. Haha! I'm just looking at black, less exciting colours please. But yes something sleek and tiny will be nice. I'm still thinking what goes in. The case will be either

Thermaltake core v1 ITX - $79
Silverstone SG13 - $79
Xigmatek Nebula - $69

Leaning towards Thermaltake core though, since I can move the panels around. It will be nice of all the panels were see through so I can put BLINK BLINK.. I mean lights inside. Like a rainbow puking CPU.

But I'm not too sure which will be the more feasible one for future expansion in terms of changing of the GPU/memory/RAM and cable management.