Small, Silent, Gaming Build

wwusa83

Distinguished
May 2, 2010
120
0
18,680
Toms,

Looking at putting together a mini-itx build based on the Asus P8H61-I R2.0.
The case I,ll be using is the newer Cubitech Mini Cube. The case does not come with a fan.

Parts I have:
P8H61-I R2.0
Cubitech Mini Cube
PC Power & Cooling 400 watt
Gtx 660

Parts I need:
CPU
Memory (mushkin?)
Ssd

This is going to strictly be a gaming machine, however it doesn't need to be a barn burner. I have two concerns. Do I need a case fan if I get a 55 watt ivy bridge? The evga gtx 660 non ti may help ventilate the case. Will my psu be enough to power the system? I was thinking 128gb for the Ssd. Pentium g2020 for the CPU? I don't know. Need good performance but would like it to be silent and be cool. Thoughts and input appreciated. Thank you.
 

fball922

Distinguished
Feb 23, 2008
179
24
18,695
You WILL need a case fan. All the fans inside will just circulate hot air. Any heat that escapes will be radiated. One case fan won't be deafening, and if you are gaming definitely will not notice it :)

I would be concerned about a dual core bottlenecking gaming. Most games do not use much more than 2 cores, but it is certainly trending that way... Maybe try to shoot for an i3? The hyperthreading might help. Otherwise, jump over to AMD for a quadcore on the cheap, though it will spit out some more heat.