I'm an idiot building a small form factor computer for games, why not help?

nakedninja · Oct 9, 2013

Hello, hi.

I've been given an old HP case with some disgusting fluff inside that I'm going to transform in to a box full of wonder and joy.

Because of the case limitations I'm thinking of building a MicroATX rig but I only know to write that because I read it on the internetz. It will be for light to medium gaming use as well as watching internet or DVD things and some typing.

I have put together a parts list on Part Picker which looks like this:

CPU: AMD A8-5600K 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor
MOBO: MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard
RAM: Kingston Blu Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory
SSD: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB Video Card
PSU: Corsair CX 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply

I've tried to be quite cheap because I have a wife that I have to answer to and I haven't included an OS because I'll be upgrading my XP discs that I have here. I haven't put a case because I've got one and I said that already but just wanted to make sure, okay?
So, MOBO or CPU suggestions that are the same price/performance or better, but I'm not hugely bothered because this is replaying my old Dell laptop which can't game at all, so it'll be nice just to game even a little bit.

Ramble on!

rolli59 · Oct 9, 2013

It will work.

1s3ct0wN · Oct 9, 2013

25$ more then your build but much stronger CPU, also it's not very smart to combie APU with Nvidia GPU, also if that was my money i'd add aftermarket cooler like Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£82.09 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock 880GM-LE FX Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£49.49 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Kingston Blu Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£50.15 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£63.24 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£44.00 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB Video Card (£119.58 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply (£38.10 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £446.65
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-09 18:17 BST+0100)

USAFRet · Oct 9, 2013

1. Old HP cases are notorious for being not quite, or entirely not, ATX compatible. Especially the smaller ones.
2. XP falls completely off MS support in a few months, so you want to look at upgrading in the very near future.

Other than that....all those parts would seem to work together.

HillBillyAsian · Oct 9, 2013

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1MPUO

drop the ssd, it will only really help you with booting windows and barely enough storage to really add any games to to justify spending 70 on. swapped out your gpu to a 7870 to compensate for the change. swapped out the ssd and harddrive for a black caviar drive. Gave you a 6 core cpu (with room in the budget to pick up a hyper 212 if you want ot upgrade) but yea, there you go.

g-unit1111 · Oct 9, 2013

drop the ssd, it will only really help you with booting windows and barely enough storage to really add any games to to justify spending 70 on. swapped out your gpu to a 7870 to compensate for the change. swapped out the ssd and harddrive for a black caviar drive. Gave you a 6 core cpu (with room in the budget to pick up a hyper 212 if you want ot upgrade) but yea, there you go.

No no no no no no. An SSD will help tremendously on loading and boot times, but you can really add one in later. That's kind of a weak choice for SSD. The FX-6100 is a *TERRIBLE* CPU, the newer FX-6350 is a lot better. And the Corsair CX430 will not handle the loads that rig will produce.

OP - you're definitely not an idiot for building small form factor PCs, in fact that is the new trend and it seems to be the wave of the future in terms of self built systems. I agree with what USAFret said about old HP cases and Windows XP, you will definitely need a new Windows 7 or 8 license, and Windows 8.1 will be available in a couple of weeks and provide some much needed updates.

I think this would be a better build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£131.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock B85M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£60.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£63.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£47.41 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card (£206.03 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£72.19 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£13.15 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £595.75
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-09 18:32 BST+0100)

This will be a much wiser use of your budget - a quad core Intel CPU will be much better for gaming, as will a GTX 760.

nakedninja · Oct 9, 2013

HillBillyAsian you are speaking intelligble sense, thanks. I like the look of your build there. And of yours too 1s3ct0wN, however you say that.
Thanks for the heads up on the case USAFRet, I'll bear that in mind. If it really doesn't fit I'll pick up another cast. Thanks for the warning about XP too, but I'm aware.

nakedninja · Oct 9, 2013

Oh G-unit, you wrote as I wrote.

I'll read what you said and reconsider.

g-unit1111 · Oct 9, 2013

nakedninja :

Yeah as I said the FX-6100 that HillBillyAsian recommended is a *TERRIBLE* CPU. The FX 6350 is far better for not much more money. There's a reason why the 6100 series are referred to as "Faildozer". Plus as I stated the Corsair CX 430 will not handle any sort of GPU and CPU, I've seen it fail to power builds before.

USAFRet · Oct 9, 2013

HillBillyAsian :

g-unit1111 :

and this is where we start a flame war of intel vs AMD. BOTH the amd 6300 and the 6350 are on the Vishera line (aka PILEDRIVER) so you already made yourself a fool. As for his build the 430W psu is more then enough to handle what he's building. I beg to think how you consider that it isn't enough.

No, this is where we end the flame war.

HillBillyAsian · Oct 9, 2013

USAFRet :

HillBillyAsian :

No, this is where we end the flame war.

But I already did?

g-unit1111 · Oct 9, 2013

HillBillyAsian :

First off, knock off the personal attacks or there will be consequences.

Second while gaming generally favors Intel, if you prefer to go that road I will recommend you some benchmarks as to why I think the FX-6100 is a terrible choice:

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/300/AMD_FX-Series_FX-6100_vs_AMD_FX-Series_FX-6350.html

http://versus.com/en/amd-fx-6100-vs-amd-fx-6350

http://www.game-debate.com/cpu/index.php?pid=1863&pid2=792&compare=fx-6350-vs-fx-6100

Third, I stand by why I think the Corsair CX430 will not power that rig. I have seen three CX 430s fail with my own eyes. Two shorted and one completely failed to boot the rig. It's not a question of PSU wattage, it's a question of the quality of said unit. A quality 400 - 450W unit from Seasonic or Super Flower will power that rig no question. A crappy Channel Well unit will not.

(and also g-unit, i never said that the ssd wouldn't help his boot times, he was getting a 64gig drive that wouldn't help him after he installed 3 games and his OS considering he would be closing in on the max it could hold which would kill its lifespan)

Actually the OP had a 120GB SSD, but a poor quality Sandforce 2.0 drive. A better drive would be a Samsung 840 Pro or OCZ Vector.

HillBillyAsian · Oct 9, 2013

g-unit1111 :

Don't act like you have supreme authority over me because I voiced my opinion. Secondly as i pointed out in my reply to you, he wouldn't gain anything from havign a intel over amd in terms of gaming with the gpu he would be purchasing. Thirdly You haven't even acknowledged you are wrong about the architecture about the AMD and just blew it off like you know everything. As for the PSU, you get defective ones anytime, even the all knowing best ever Seasonic have power supplies that fail, so justifying anything by just your own experience vs the hundreds of people who haven't had a issue just proves fruitless.

edit: oh and i put in a fx 6300 in the build i built so i don't know how you keep getting the 6100. Further explaining the detail to reading that you do.

Edit: NVM it didnt post the correct build.

g-unit1111 · Oct 9, 2013

HillBillyAsian :

Whoa whoa whoa. Back it up. When did I ever act like I have supreme authority over you? I'm just voicing my opinion, and I'm backing mine up with facts and charts. And how am I wrong? There's no website, magazine, blog, video, or benchmark anywhere on the internet. I've ever seen that says that the FX-6100 is worth purchasing.

1s3ct0wN · Oct 9, 2013

g-unit1111 :

Hi, I just can't understand why you keep comparing the FX-6100 when he is having FX-6300 in the build provided above, you bring noting but wrong facts, you are comparing showing benchmarks from older generation processor, when clearly everyone can see it's the 6300 that he added in the build. I fully agree with HillBillyAsian about the PSU it's just enough.

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