Small General Use/Gaming PC

[krazy_olie]

Hello, all.

Finally time to go for a build from scratch.
I've started a couple of pc parts picker builds, one uATX, one mini ITX, seems a bit expensive I'd rather spend less as I still need a monitor/peripherals... This is still rough, I will be looking for deals nearer the build so just trying to narrow down a bit first and will then get in to the nitty gritty, like Gpu vender and shops...

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/MYWNBm
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/MYWNBm/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£169.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£48.79 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£77.88 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£148.81 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£149.00 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital WD Green 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (£58.58 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB AMP! Omega Edition Video Card (£290.39 @ Aria PC)
Case: Silverstone SG10B MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£99.84 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Silverstone 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£71.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1115.27
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-28 12:38 GMT+0000


My thought's on this:
The SG10 is a expensive but the sg09 looks ghastly, tj08e is a consideration, the extra height isn't an issue but it's a bit deeper which is not preferable.
Not sure what the deal with matx boards not having wifi is, not having it would be a tad annoying, though one of the mini usb adapters would probably be fine for occasional use, planning to use powerline/homeplug mainly

I probably don't need a 970 (I have just chucked in a random one for now), I reckon I could quite happily get by on something like a 280, get a bunch of free games and upgrade some time in the future, it's the performance/heat that what leans me towards it.
Noctua cooler not cheap but supposedly whisper quiet.
The strider PSUs being slightly shorter make building in this case easier but not essential.
Unsure about CPU, could go for a Xeon

Mini itx build would be similar, again silverstone looks like the chassis to go for.

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/Js86K8
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/Js86K8/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£169.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright AXP-100 44.5 CFM Ball Bearing CPU Cooler (£46.13 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£93.56 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£148.81 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£149.00 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital WD Green 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (£58.58 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB AMP! Omega Edition Video Card (£290.39 @ Aria PC)
Case: Silverstone RVZ01B Mini ITX Desktop Case
Power Supply: Silverstone 600W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply (£99.95 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£71.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1128.40
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-28 12:38 GMT+0000

Don't think I lose much by going ITX, I reckon both cases would work fine for me.

So first things first, have I made any massive errors here?

[DragoniaBlu]

I have a build being prepared for a Mini-ITX sys here - http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/drag...u/saved/72WmP6

and another cheaper one here - http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/drag...u/saved/GVfV3C

Relatively similar systems. Depends just on the useage. Mine won't be for gaming so I don't need a super powered GPU.

[MrJim]

Do you really need 16Gb of RAM? Unless you'll be using the PC for other purposes like video editing, I think 8Gb should be sufficient. As far as I am aware, there aren't that many 64bit games out there that can make use of the extra RAM - in fact Battlefield 4 is the only one I know of.

The question of the Xeon is a tricky one; again, it comes down to software. Do you use any software that makes use of 8 threads? There aren't many games which do at the moment, but with the new consoles around, that may change in the future. Of course if you do go for a Xeon, you won't need a Z97 mobo, but do check compatibility with whichever mobo you do choose.

I personally don't think much of Silverstone PSUs, but they do make some small form factor units.

Obviously you'll need to check whether all the components will fit in your chosen cases...I've made that mistake before now!

[krazy_olie]

I have a build being prepared for a Mini-ITX sys here - http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/drag...u/saved/72WmP6

and another cheaper one here - http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/drag...u/saved/GVfV3C

Relatively similar systems. Depends just on the useage. Mine won't be for gaming so I don't need a super powered GPU.

Thanks, some handy bits

Do you really need 16Gb of RAM? Unless you'll be using the PC for other purposes like video editing, I think 8Gb should be sufficient. As far as I am aware, there aren't that many 64bit games out there - in fact Battlefield 4 is the only one I know of.

The question of the Xeon is a tricky one; again, it comes down to software. Do you use any software that makes use of 8 threads? There aren't many games which do at the moment, but with the new consoles around, that may change in the future. Of course if you do go for a Xeon, you won't need a Z97 mobo, but do check compatibility with whichever mobo you do choose.

I personally don't think much of Silverstone PSUs, but they do make some small form factor units.

Obviously you'll need to check whether all the components will fit in your chosen cases...I've made that mistake before now!

Probably I don't need 16 and definitely something I will consider chopping down. If I decide to get off my backside and do some dev work at home it may be handy I guess. Same regarding 8 thread CPU. Can keep £100-200 off the cost by not maxing out the spec in this regard, I do appear to have ticked some rather expensive RAM, standard Ballistix is fine..

[Gerinako]

I was told to avoid the WD Greens. For what reasons I can't remember for sure but I'm sure Google or a forum member could elaborate if I remember correctly

[Bonebreaker777]

I was told to avoid the WD Greens. For what reasons I can't remember for sure but I'm sure Google or a forum member could elaborate if I remember correctly

WD Greens had a history for being used in home servers/NAS with hibernation enabled which accelerated they demise.

A firmware update was later released to correct the issue.

You can always go for a WD Red or WD Purple (both 3y warranty) but as you will not use your system 24/7, I would say any HDD would do. As long as you will be backing up your valuable data. Go for the best price per GB.

EDIT: Toshiba 3TB HDD, 7200RPM, 2y warranty, £0.024 per GB. http://www.cclonline.com/product/102...QskECNdJFkaRRw

As compared to WD Green, 5400RPM, 2y warranty, £0.026 per GB http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3tb-w...-cache-8ms-ncq

[krazy_olie]

I can temporarily ditch internal mechanical storage for now.

Thinking about case options the sg10 seems to give my the best compromise of footprint/ease.

The ml07/rvz01 looks fairly easy to fairly easy to build but not trivial to maintain due to have to unplug everything on the riser to get to the inside. Although it's slim the other dimensions aren't that miniature.

FT03 mini, looks more awkward and simply doesn't have useful GPU support as it is limited to blowers below 10".
Corsair 250d still a potential, not expensive, takes normal parts. Seems to be designed to use an h100i which I'd rather not, bit bulky for itx.
The Fractal nodes not quite doing it for me.
May be something else I've missed.

So on part picker I end up with something like

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/nF4Rqs
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/nF4Rqs/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£174.50 @ Ebuyer)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£48.79 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£77.88 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£56.83 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£149.98 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card (£289.64 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Silverstone SG10B MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£98.78 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Silverstone 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£89.58 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Silverstone SST-SOB02 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (£108.79 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£71.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1166.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-30 18:54 GMT+0000

That's a full system (minus peripherals which I will need) but ideally would like to bring budget down.
Options I see are, ditch the blu ray, go external - £40-50? I will probably do this if I find a good deal on an external.
Cheaper CPU? Could drop to non-k but difference is minor and might get some cheap performance points.
Cheaper GFX, as mentioned I don't need a 970's power. I probably don't need the strix premium either. 280 and 760 are going fairly cheap at the moment... Or I can use internal/borrow the 460 from myself until a nice deal comes along.
Drop to the sg09 with its awful front

I don't know much about the motherboard or the memory, seems fairly stock.


Switching to something like 250d would make thinks a bit cheaper, case is cheaper, PSU would be cheaper, regular optical drive...

Monitor will probably be the new 24" Dell Glossy S2415H

Any advice welcome,
Thanks!

[DragoniaBlu]

I know for me Bluray is completely unnecessary on my PC. I've got one on my laptop and I don't think it's been used once to play blurays, I would doubt I would even use it on my PC. I do have a PS3 though, so you may by different. Another thing for me would be do you NEED to spend almost £50 on a cooler?
Depends really on your own personal need I suppose, there are always cuts that can be taken. For instance, I know if might leave a bit more mess but most times modular PSUs are more expensive, is it really needed? Might save another £20 but will it be really that worth it for you?

[krazy_olie]

Ps3 has been left at home and I have no tv here so is will be how I consume films as well. Had a look round and pretty easy to get an external for less than half of the slot drive.
I need to have some optical, internal is preferable but keeping one in a draw is fine.

Still looking for alternatives to the noctua, slightly limited in choice. Supposedly whisper quiet, though.

On a full tower build I would go for a more value pus option but cable management isn't going to be a breeze in. Case this size

[Willzzz]

What exactly are you after in a case?
Do you actually need something small or just something that looks nice and isn't massive?
Where will the case sit? Do you need to move it around?

Have you got your S2415H?
Just ordered mine, looking forward to it

[Bonebreaker777]

1. Do you really need an optical drive, even more a Blue Ray? External DVD readers can be purchased for £5, cheaper than internal and can be his when not needed. The case don't have to have a 5.25" slot.
2. Second hand CPU? Hunt for one and you can save again £40-50, depending on model & luck.
3. Good idea for the GPU, if in no rush but could really use the saved cash elsewhere, wait (for a better deal come along).
4. Don't go glossy, man! Unless you have a perfectly hidden man-cave, from the sun and such.
5. Cooler Master 110 and ITX setup?
6. PSU is overestimated. Choose something smaller (haven't read about a planned multi GPU setup anywhere, sorry if I missed it.

[krazy_olie]

Mainly I need to to fit under the rather small desk I inherited. Only have about 40cmx50cm, and preferably not up against the wall. There would be space next to the desk for one of the ultra slim ones. Something 350cm+ deep would probably be placed lengthways, (i.e side facing me, which would be fine). That's the the cube cases are a bit of an issue as I need it quite narrow in at least one dimension.

I still buy CDs to rip and the odd dvd/blu-ray film, burn CDs for the car... so close to essential. Having it internal is definitely not. Had a look around and it's definitely much cheaper external.

I took a punt on my last screen, another Dell glossy, and prefer the extra clarity

[Pob255]

5. Cooler Master 110 and ITX setup?

not going to get a gtx970 in a 110, a 130 would be a good option http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...30-w-o-psu-(st pair it up with a corsair H80 or similar 120mm all-in-one cooler to get around the limited cooler clearance in the 130, you can put an ssd on the side bay which leaves you with a 5.25" for an optical if you want it or you can put in additional drives

although saying that how about the zalman m1 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/zalma...-psu-(std-atx)
seems to have snuck in under the radar, it's a bit on the large side for a mini-itx case

[Willzzz]

Mainly I need to to fit under the rather small desk I inherited. Only have about 40cmx50cm, and preferably not up against the wall. There would be space next to the desk for one of the ultra slim ones. Something 350cm+ deep would probably be placed lengthways, (i.e side facing me, which would be fine). That's the the cube cases are a bit of an issue as I need it quite narrow in at least one dimension.

I still buy CDs to rip and the odd dvd/blu-ray film, burn CDs for the car... so close to essential. Having it internal is definitely not. Had a look around and it's definitely much cheaper external.

I took a punt on my last screen, another Dell glossy, and prefer the extra clarity

You are right about cube cases often being quite wide, and it sounds as if this is the opposite of what you want.
A taller case will be better for you as they are usually thinner and easier to access without having to bend down too much.

If you like the Corsair 250D consider the 350D instead, it is thinner, taller and incredibly easy to build into. I use one for my main machine.
Plus if you have it side on like you say, the window will look awesome.

My S2415H just arrived and I love it
For £151 it was a steal!

[krazy_olie]

151 sounds a great price.

Trimmed things down a bit

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/tzvKkL
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/tzvKkL/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£159.99 @ Ebuyer)
CPU Cooler: RAIJINTEK PALLAS 56.5 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£35.76 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£85.00 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£57.47 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£151.14 @ Aria PC)
Case: Silverstone ML07B HTPC Case
Power Supply: Silverstone 600W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply (£99.95 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£72.35 @ Aria PC)
Total: £661.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-02 21:36 GMT+0000

I think I will try the ml07, it's pretty cheap and looks reasonable to build but awkward to maintain. I can always transfer if I find it bothersome. PSU is pricey but only alternative is the 450w which appears to have some issues according to web searches, and doesn't come with the flat cables.

H97 trims a bit off as well as stepping down an i5 grade. Will probably get memory and ssd direct from crucial, 512 an expensive ssd but I think it's worth it, and preferable to multiple disks. Optical I will get something external off ebay. Not 100% sure about that cooler.
Graphics haven't decided, moderately tempted to get a used 780

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would get the Xeon E3 1230 V3 for a few quid more. Used it and the same motherboard in a Bitfenix Phenom build I helped with last weekend.