New Stylish Gaming System

[obev0098]

Hi All.

I'd appreciate your assistance and suggestions with my up-coming build.

Requirements : I'm looking to build a general purpose and high spec gaming system into a small, stylish unit that balances form, functionality and expense. I would also like the system to be energy efficient and quiet if possible.

Limitations: I will be looking to transfer the PSU, GPU and SSD to the new system. However will consider replacing the GPU if required. Budget ideally under £600.

Questions:
1. Not sure about which method of cooling I should use.
2. I have had issues with compatibility in past builds, are all parts compatible

Bitfenix Prodigy
£70 http://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/pr...assis/prodigy/
ASRock Z77E-ITX
£102.13 http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-Z77E-...31&s=computers
Intel Core I7-3770K
£255.80 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel...ache-35x-ratio
Corsair 8GB DDR3
£34.99 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-%...9-9-24-xmp-15v
Radeon 6950 2GB
NAhttp://www.msi.com/product/vga/R6950...dition-OC.html
Corsair 750AXUK
NAhttp://www.scan.co.uk/products/750w-...uiet-fan-atx-p
Samsung SSD
NAhttp://www.scan.co.uk/products/256gb...-write-400mb-s

[Willzzz]

OK, well I think you should downgrade the CPU a bit and get a more modern GPU.
You could get a 3570k or save even more and get a 3470.
If you want to be energy efficient and quiet there is really little need to overclock when an i5 can run games perfectly well at stock speeds.

The GPU is hardly ideal for a quiet, energy efficient system, but if you already own it..

I'd put some money away, see how you like the 6950 in the new system and look to upgrade it later in the year.

[obev0098]

Thanks, I did notice a big difference in price between the i5 vs i7 but wasn't sure about performance.

OK, well I think you should downgrade the CPU a bit and get a more modern GPU.
You could get a 3570k or save even more and get a 3470.
If you want to be energy efficient and quiet there is really little need to overclock when an i5 can run games perfectly well at stock speeds.

The GPU is hardly ideal for a quiet, energy efficient system, but if you already own it..

I'd put some money away, see how you like the 6950 in the new system and look to upgrade it later in the year.

[Willzzz]

You will not see any difference between the i5 and i7 in terms of gaming performance, at least not unless you are running something heavy duty in the background.
A 3570k is essentially the ultimate gaming processor (outside of very specialised circumstances). Overclocking it can certainly boost performance in some games, but generally speaking you will be hard pressed to tell the difference.

It depends how keen you are on being quiet and efficient and how keen you are on ultimate performance. Personally I'd be tempted by the i5-3470, although it seems slightly silly when it is going to be paired with a 6950 and a 750W power supply.

If you are serious about being quiet and efficient you should try to sell those two bits of kit. You may be able to get a good price for them.

[obev0098]

Okay, I do want a meaty machine but need to find the right balance. Assuming I sell them, what would you recommend as a replacement as my budget is flexible.

Thanks for your help.

You will not see any difference between the i5 and i7 in terms of gaming performance, at least not unless you are running something heavy duty in the background.
A 3570k is essentially the ultimate gaming processor (outside of very specialised circumstances). Overclocking it can certainly boost performance in some games, but generally speaking you will be hard pressed to tell the difference.

It depends how keen you are on being quiet and efficient and how keen you are on ultimate performance. Personally I'd be tempted by the i5-3470, although it seems slightly silly when it is going to be paired with a 6950 and a 750W power supply.

If you are serious about being quiet and efficient you should try to sell those two bits of kit. You may be able to get a good price for them.

[Willzzz]

Well a 7850 will be slightly faster, quieter, cooler and consume less power than a 6950.
A GTX 660 is slightly faster again, probably quieter but consumes more power than a 7850.

There's a couple of 6950s on eBay for around £130-150, don't know if they will actually sell at that price.
The PSU and GPU are both fantastic bits of kit, just not the ideal fit for a Mini-ITX rig.

But I think by far the most sensible thing to do is just try it with the 6950 and see how you feel. It's all quite subjective.
If you feel the system works well and is quiet in the new case then wait and see, maybe the AMD 8xxx series will tempt you.

[obev0098]

Okay, I'll see how I feel with the current GPU. Any other recommendations? What about the PSU?

Thank you

[Willzzz]

The PSU is a great bit of kit, but total overkill even for a 6950, let alone a more efficient GPU.
When you aren't gaming you will only be using 20% or less and even at peak load you won't even hit 50%.

It's not going to hurt you, but it's a waste of the PSUs potential.
Once you get 100 posts you could advertise it on here, I bet there are people who would pay good money for a quality PSU like that and you could downsize.

Don't go out of your way to sell them but I bet you could make a deal with someone on here and make both of you happy.

[obev0098]

Willzzz

What do you think of this bundle offer from amazon for the memory and cpu? I've ordered the motherboard and case now, motherboard arrived yesterday and looks amazing.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-16GB...d_rhf_dp_p_t_3

[Willzzz]

Yeah looks good, there's no actual discount for buying them together, but prices seem fine anyway.

[obev0098]

Okay think i'll order it unless you can recommend any other memory. I'm always concerned about compatibility, want my new system to be stable.

Thanks

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Prodigy is quite large for a mini-ITX case,so cooling is not much of an issue. It has been designed with water cooling in mind too IIRC.

There seems to be a dearth of fully modular PSUs between 500W to 600W. Its quite weird as Silverstone make a fully modular SFF 450W PSU:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/450w-...r-80-plus-gold

The Seasonic X560 would have been ideal for your build. It had high efficiency and was fully modular. However,it seems to be EOL now. The Platinum Series 520W is also fully modular and very efficient but since it is fanless is extremely expensive.

I would probably get a Seasonic G 550W:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-...et-fan-atx-psu

Its not fully modular but is a solid PSU AFAIK.

[Willzzz]

I might try something like this:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-...an-atx-v23-psu

This is a 140mm non modular PSU, this will make it much easier to fit although of course you will end up with some spare cables.
Modular PSUs are actually a tighter fit because the connectors stick out.

If you do want modular there are various Silverstone 140mm modular PSUs.

edit: As I said before try out your existing PSU first, and see whether the dimensions/connectors work well with your case.

[obev0098]

Thanks for your advice guys.

What do you think of this, i've increased my budget and going to get a new card, feel free to offer an alternative

EVGA GTX660Ti SC NVIDIA Graphics Card - 2GB
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-e...4-2x-dl-dvi-dp

Going to get the memory through scan too.
Corsair Memory Vengeance Low Profile Jet Black 16GB DDR3
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/16gb-...-10-10-10-27-x

[Willzzz]

Well I certainly wouldn't get that exact card, if you did want a 660 Ti the Asus model seems a better fit:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-a...2x-dl-dvi-dp-h

Asus DC2 models are really quiet and while it doesn't have the same clocks as the EVGA card, you could easily overclock it to that level if you needed to.
At those prices you could also afford a 7950 which is generally faster although potentially less efficient/noisier depending on model.

I wouldn't get rid of your 6950 unless you know you can get a good price for it, it's still a good card.
Try it with the new processor and case and see how you feel.

[Pob255]

I'd say stick with 8gb of ram I know the 2x4gb is out of stock atm so you'd have to wait or go else where, but 16gb really isn't worth it unless you plan to do lots of HD video editing, one of the few times it is useful.

I would say stick with the hd6950 if you already have it, granted the gtx660ti is a good chunk faster (about the same as the 7950, but the 6950 isn't a sluggish card.
The hd7950 would be the AMD alternative, similar cost and performance.
Personally I think the gtx660 or 7870 at around the £170mark are a better value, yes they are slower but they slightly outpace the 6970 and gtx570 of the last series while being a good chunk cheaper.
The problem is they are really not that big a leap forward from the 6950, so it comes down to stick with what you have or spend the extra for a more noticeable jump with the 7950 or gtx660ti

On the PSU if you already have the 750AX then stick with it, it would be nice to buy something like the fully modular silverstone strider 600w and get the short cable kit for it which would give you even less cable mess, but you might as well stick with the 750ax as it's a very good psu.

You've not mentioned cooling yet . . . the problem with intel based ITX boards is the cpu socket is next to both ram and pci-e slot which is going to be the major limiter for cpu cooler.
I'd say definitely look at water cooling, if you don't feel brave enough to do it yourself then on of the all-in-one coolers would be your best bet.
Scan currently has an offer on the H70 with 2 pwm fans http://www.scan.co.uk/products/corsa...-00154%29-scan this should be very good, because if you want energy efficiency then you don't want to be overclocking
The H100 would be nice if you can stretch the budget to it, however a 120rad also means losing the 5.25" bay in the Prodigy so that will come down to how much you want to keep an optical drive.