Building Compact Pc

darkcain · Feb 26, 2014

Going to build a gaming pc in about july-august. I want it to be compact so I can move it between friends houses etc. I have $2500 to spend but need to buy a monitor (already have gaming keyboard and mouse). Where do i start? Never built a pc before but I generally learn better if I jump in head first. Also, will there be new models of hardware coming out within a few months of that cause I'm fine with waiting.

Thanks

nashdes001 · Feb 26, 2014

july august is too far

ny ways
I'll look up

DarkSable · Feb 26, 2014

Okay, so here's the deal. I'm the guy to talk to about small form factor, so I'm going to ask you a couple questions, but one thing first:

1) You're spending too much.

2) You have to realize that more expensive parts are not always better. (For example, an i7 will perform no better at gaming than an i5)

3) That brings us back to: You're spending too much. With that kinda budget you could do custom watercooling... which is absolutely a good option if you want to invest the money and learn some more complicated tricks. It will require modding, however, which means access to tools.

So. Here goes, those are my warnings, now on with the questions:

1) What's your objective here? Do you want a teeny tiny box that can blow your friends' computers away? Do you want something that can play with ultra low latency on a 120Hz screen to make it feel like you're cheating when you play shooters? Do you want to have max graphics, or would you prefer to pocket some money and live with high/ultra graphics?

2) When we're talking compact, what do you mean? To me, that means a mini-itx rig that fits in roughly 20-24 liters... or about a shoebox and a half of volume. However, you could also easily include the Bitfenix Prodigy as a small form factor rig - it's about double a true SFF computer, at about 40 liters, but it's still small enough to be carried relatively easily, and can certainly be taken to a friend's house no problem. (There are a lot of mATX options that can do that in about the same form factor, too.)

3) Do you want to overclock? If you don't know what that is, go google it - it's fairly simple to do nowadays, but in a small form factor rig means a lot more planning.

4) Silence - how big of a priority is it to you? On the same note, do you want a computer that has bling, or do you want something unnoticeable?

nashdes001 · Feb 26, 2014

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ TigerDirect)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Z87I GAMING AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($74.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($499.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (White) Mini ITX Tower Case ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($54.99 @ Microcenter)
Monitor: Asus VN247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($169.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1693.88

verma1891 · Feb 26, 2014

Here's a kickass portable build-http://pcpartpicker.com/p/30ljd

darkcain · Feb 26, 2014

Yeah I really have no idea with computers haha :/ Dont need it to be too small, just so that its portable enough to easily move between houses. It really doesnt need to be too small, I guess just enough so that it doesnt look/seem silly moving it. I dont wanna sacrifice performance for space too much. Id want at least 500gb ssd storage. Want to be able to play games on max graphics.

verma1891 · Feb 26, 2014

darkcain :

You stated a budget of 2500$, so I added everything premium and top quality

specially that 1440p IPS monitor. Did you check it out? It can be easily altered to cut prices if you want. I mean you can get similar performance using cheaper parts too

DarkSable · Feb 26, 2014

darkcain :

That's just throwing your money away. You can do that, but it seems like a lot of the reason you want this is to compare your e-peen to your friends'. Now, that's fine, but think about if it's worth $500-1000 more than a computer that will max everything out anyways.

As for the storage, you don't want 500gb on an ssd. Remember, data gains NO benefit from being on an SSD. Neither do most games, as all it does is speed up loading screens.

This is great for MMOs and single player games like skyrim and half life, but...

Think about it: If you remove the loading screen in, say, Call of Duty, what have you accomplished? You load in to the map way before everyone else, woo hoo... but then you have to sit there and wait for everyone else to load for the match to start, so what's the point?

verma1891 · Feb 26, 2014

DarkSable :

darkcain :

That's just throwing your money away. You can do that, but it seems like a lot of the reason you want this is to compare your e-peen to your friends'. Now, that's fine, but think about if it's worth $500-1000 more than a computer that will max everything out anyways.

As for the storage, you don't want 500gb on an ssd. Remember, data gains NO benefit from being on an SSD. Neither do most games, as all it does is speed up loading screens.

This is great for MMOs and single player games like skyrim and half life, but...

Think about it: If you remove the loading screen in, say, Call of Duty, what have you accomplished? You load in to the map way before everyone else, woo hoo... but then you have to sit there and wait for everyone else to load for the match to start, so what's the point?

Plus you dont get to read the hints and tricks

darkcain · Feb 27, 2014

Alright I'm on a computer now and can reply properly. First up it's not about impressing my friends lol, only me because I'm keen to do the build. I only have one friend that'll ever really see it and he plays on consoles anyway. It's more so that I can move it to dads easily when i stay there but also if I went away and wanted to take it or the odd occasion I will take it to a mates house. I just like having that option even if I don't use it much. I honestly just have set aside $2500 that I almost spent on a gaming laptop for this computer and have no problem spending all of it especially if it means I'm going to get a few more years of it being uberish.
Yeah I know but I just love the speed. Put one in my current desktop and ermagerd. haha. But I'm open to other ideas? Am I right in thinking that steam games have to be all installed on one hard drive though? I mostly play MMOs and single player campaigns rather than multiplayer games like bf4 and cod as I'm pretty achievement driven in my game playing after I finish the storyline, and do a lot of replays of games. So that faster loading would actually be nice. Would it be noticeable though? I've read of configuring a normal hard drive in RAID configuration to make it almost equally fast as an SSD? Is this right and would it be a better idea?
I guess I do want a portion of my hard drive space to be fast just for where I download my movies to and transferring to my hard drive just because I'm impatient and also kinda like seeing a big file get transferred quick? :S haha. And I would also want part for games to be fast as well if it's going to noticeably improve load times.

Okay now to answer your original questions sorry.
1. Yeah I want max graphics, would like to be able to operate 3 monitors? I realize this affects graphics capabilities but would only run 2 most of the time. Not worried about having money left over, I want to spend it all so it can last as long as possible. I want it to keep it from going obsolete as much as possible (haha i know how ridiculous that is in computers but yknow)
2. Not really sure about how compact I mean.. maybe if you could show me a few different sizes? Not too small though, just so it doesn't seem/look silly moving it.
3. I prooobably don't want to overclock. I've read it can affect life of your hardware if not done right? I want this to last as long as possible so yeah, wouldn't wanna do it wrong and think I should just play it safe?
4. I don't really mind about it being silent. I wouldn't mind a nice hum to be honest haha. So yeah, whatever you guys think is best on that front. Looks wise I was kinda interested in custom lighting? This is gonna sound silly but I'd kinda like to stencil a pokeball on the side of a matteblack case and have that lit up accordingly to its colours.. haha just cause it was the games that got me in to gaming.

darkcain · Feb 27, 2014

Oh okay well that's looks pretty good. I don't know a lot about the specs but yeah. Thanks for the website

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