Mini-itx Gaming Rig

[Chadders87]

Over the next 2-3 months I will be building a small form gaming pc. Initially because it has been 4 years since my last build, and secondly to prove to certain unbelievers that a mini-itx form pc gaming rig can be just as good at high end gaming as a regular sized monster.

Partlist (All purchased except GPU / CPU Cooler):
Chassis: Bitfenix Prodigy
Mobo: Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe
PSU: Be Quiet! 450w (140mm)
CPU: Intel i5 3570k
GPU: SAPPHIRE Radeon 7870 2gb or Zotac GTX 660 2gb
HDD: 1TB Western Digital Black (7200rpm)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x4gb 1600mhz
CPU Cooler: Hybrid Water / Fan (cooler masters looking good)
OS: Windows 7
Monitor: Asus 21.5" HDMI / VGA with inbuilt speakers

Plus wireles mouse and keyboard, 5m flat hdmi cable and headphones etc all for around £800.

Also looking to get a whdi device to stream from pc to tv, coupled with a wireless mouse / keyboard will bear any console experience but until then a 5m hdmi lead will suffice.

Happy to hear peoples oppinions in any of my choices. Im 4 years out of date and there's alot to catch up on!

[dacads]

Not sure which XFX PSU you're talking about as they are well reviewed and recommended. Go with the XFX Pro 550w

[MrJim]

Not sure which XFX PSU you're talking about as they are well reviewed and recommended. Go with the XFX Pro 550w

The OEM for most XFX PSUs is Seasonic, which is a quality make. An alternative to the XFX unit might be this one though:

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

Also Seasonic, but Gold rated...

[Willzzz]

I'd get this one:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-...an-atx-v23-psu

The 160mm PSUs just won't fit.

[Chadders87]

I'd get this one:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-...an-atx-v23-psu

The 160mm PSUs just won't fit.

Thats the alternative I've been looking at especially for the shorter size. Although a 160mm does fit, it leaves simply no room for adequate cable management.

The XFX one I looked as was from my local maplins and was also a shorter edition, and pretty sure it wasnt a seasonic core otherwise id have bought it there and then... It was on offer for £35 which is a decent price for any semi modular 500w psu.. But when your forking out £450 for mobo, cpu and gpu... Why skimp on the unit which can potentially destroy them if mis-chosen?

[Willzzz]

It does seem that all current XFX PSUs are Seasonic, but price is usually a pretty good indicator of quality. Worth checking out though, maybe Maplins made a mistake and it's a bargain!

http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page625.htm

Also, while XFX stuff is made by Seasonic and therefore good, it still won't be quite as good as their actual Seasonic badged stuff.

[Pob255]

The XFX one are tweaked, the PWM voltage regulation has been reprogrammed to be a more 12v heavy load, this does have an issue the the 12v rail tends to be slightly high if the 12v load is light (potential issue with older pc's not so for any builds in the last few years)
I know there's been some reports of "ticking" fans, but they do seem to be fairly rare, big issue is that some retailers will not except "ticking" as a fault as long as the psu and fan is actually working.

All psu's can be bad, I advised a friend to get a corsair HX520w when they first came out and it was DOA had to get it replaced and the replacement was fine.

AFAIK the XFX rma base is in the UK (fairly sure repair work is done via seasonic who have a UK repair centre) and the turn around time is supposed to be good.

EDIOT: on the issue of it costing less than the seasonic badged unit, I'd just like to say that back when corsair was using seasonic they where cheaper than the same seasonic badged units, but no one questioned their quality.

[Willzzz]

I'm not saying that he rebadged PSUs aren't great quality, just that the actual Seasonic models are pure excellence.
And original FSP models are also excellent, although maybe a smidge short of Seasonic.

[Chadders87]

Cheers for the advice. Decided to go for the BeQuiet 450w as the reviews were good and it was 140mm deep. Plus it was 50% off... When i'm looking at components I'm like a girl in a shoe shop... if it's 50% off, Bogof, or "Comes with free xxx" I impulse buy, then work out what to do with it afterwards.

Oh, and the PSU from Maplins was actually ScanFX (big difference!) but in my defense im an idiot....and they had a big red sticker over most of the name.

Now to update on the build; All parts have been ordered barring the GPU and aftermarket cooling.

The first piece to arrive was the case whcih is alot bigger and wider than I expected. Not overly impressed with the BitFenix Prodigy on initial inspection since the top and bottom arches are quite flimsy plastic and don't feel like they could take much to snap. Also, I was expecting the soft touch rubber coating to be on the entire case, but this is restricted to the flimsy feet and handles. Not so bad since customising the appearance will now be slightly easier.
It looks like it will be nice to build inside of it though, tons of well thought out room.

Undecided on the GPU now. Still like the idea of the 7850, but tempted to step up to either the 7870 of GTX 660. Is there much difference between the 2?

[Chadders87]

All the remaining parts have now arrived and since been installed into the case.

Due to the size of the BitFenix Prodigy case, installation was relatively easy with enough room for good cable management. One point to note is that the case comes with 2 fans, and slots for 2/3 more, yet the Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe only has power connectors for 1 chassis fan. So another part is on its way in the form of a fan splitter cable.

Secondly, like the idiot I am I forgot you need a WIRED keyboard to install an OS / Enter Bios. Thats fine... i go up the loft and dig out my old one from years gone by. Blow of the dust... and try to plug it in. Hmm. When did PS/2 standard change to USB? So a quick trip to tescos is in order for a new wired USB keyboard.

Otherwise, a good install so far with the software element being done tonight. Just hope my windows 7 usb bootloader works and my old windows 7 key is still accepted!

After that... I plan to fully utilise my machine (and HD 4000 graphics until GPU is ordered) by running benchmarks, tests and more importantly...playing Don't Starve. << I'f anyone has a spare code to give / trade i'm open. If not, I might have one tomorrow for someone.

[Willzzz]

Undecided on the GPU now. Still like the idea of the 7850, but tempted to step up to either the 7870 of GTX 660. Is there much difference between the 2?

In terms of value for money they are all about the same, the 7870 is slightly faster on average than the 660, but also slightly more expensive.

Your PSU only has one 6 pin power, so you'd need to use an adaptor with the 7870 although the card should come with one included.

[Chadders87]

Thanks Willzzz, I didn't even know they had different power pins. Sometyhing to look out for when ordering!

[Willzzz]

This was the PSU right?

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/450w-...us-fan-atx-psu

Most would come with 2x 6 pin connectors, but the cheap ones often don't. It's not a big deal, but in an ideal world you'd prefer not to use an adaptor.

I wouldn't normally recommend EVGA, but the price is just so good on this one, cheaper than most 7850s:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-e...p-2x-dl-dvi-hd

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

HC tested two examples of the GTX660TI, with the reference cooler, and neither could maintain Turbo for long,with the average clockspeeds falling over time. That EVGA GTX660 seems to use a reference cooler. The problem is whether that GTX660 is using the GTX660TI reference cooler or a cheaper one for the non-TI cards. Either way,I am not too enthused about the reference cooler on the 660 series cards. I would spend a few quid more TBH.

Edit!!

Here is the article with the reference GTX660TI:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...xy-msi-21.html

DiRT3 is not as intensive as Batman,and the GTX660TI cards with the reference cooler started to overheat over time.

Like I said,it is not clear what variation of the 660 series stock cooler the EVGA card is using.

If they just plonk on the GTX660TI reference cooler it might be OK,but OTH if they cut back the heatsink further for the cheaper model,the same issue might happen.

HC used longer time demos of around 5 minutes looped 4 times ,and saw this issue. As they mentioned shorter runs usually used in many reviews don't seem to show this,and if you look at their graphs it starts to happen after 70 to 80 seconds.

[Willzzz]

I don't know, the difference seems to be slight:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...review-10.html

Here we see the EVGA version with a reference looking blower cooler outperforming the TF3 model (due to a higher factory overclock).
It doesn't really seem to matter that much, I guess it helps that the 660 has a lower TDP than the 660 Ti as it is based on a much smaller chip.

The EVGA model I linked is clearly a long way from the best 660s out there, but I bet it comes very near the top in terms of bang for buck.
It's just a pity that the 660 TF3 model went up in price so much, that was a total bargain when it was under £160.

Our GTX 660 already runs so close to its maximum boost clock so often that simply allowing it to draw more power doesn’t allow it to clock up all that much higher.

Anandtech on the reference GTX 660 review