Good Mini-ITX Build?

MasterOshawott · Apr 11, 2014

Is this a good Mini-ITX build.
I'm going to be mainly gaming on a single 1080p monitor.

Here is the build

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£161.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master RR-T4-18PK-R1 70.0 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler (£19.30 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H87N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£87.66 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£64.56 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£59.00 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES.2 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£48.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280 3GB Video Card (£200.16 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (White) Mini ITX Tower Case (£69.95 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£36.39 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHDS118-04 DVD/CD Drive (£10.78 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) (£71.93 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £830.71
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-11 15:06 BST+0100)

Thank you in advance!

rolli59 · Apr 11, 2014

Better PSU http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1550sxxb9 has 2 x PCIe power connectors you need for the GPU. The having 4670K you would need a Z87 board for overclock or just get 4670 none K and keep the selected motherboard.

badboyrog2 · Apr 11, 2014

prefer micro atx rig

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3pVRo
PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3pVRo
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3pVRo/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3pVRo/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£161.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i 57.5 CFM CPU Cooler (£34.98 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87M Extreme4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£92.00 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£66.68 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£59.00 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card (£229.99 @ Aria PC)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy M Midnight MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£65.52 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£76.96 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £823.06
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-11 16:45 BST+0100)

Francisco Costa · Apr 11, 2014

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£161.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.45 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£103.95 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£59.36 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£59.00 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280 3GB Video Card (£200.16 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (White) Mini ITX Tower Case (£69.95 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£46.98 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHDS118-04 DVD/CD Drive (£10.78 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) (£71.93 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £845.49
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-11 15:21 BST+0100)

I put a better motherboard that will allow you to overclock, a bigger power suply (430W just wouldn't be enough) and some minor changes to lower the price while maintaining performance.

CTurbo · Apr 11, 2014

That video card won't fit in that case. You'll burn down your house with a R9 280 on that power supply. DO you really want to overclock a miniITX system?

HiTechObsessed · Apr 11, 2014

The Bitfenix Prodigy is actually bigger than most microATX cases. I had it for a little while, but it's just too big for me. Ended up switching to the Hadron and love it.

If you plan on overclocking, I would get a rear-exhausting blower-style card. I have the MSI 760 TF (same exact cooler as that 280) and when gaming and overclocked, it (CPU) got way too hot for my liking.

CTurbo · Apr 11, 2014

Here you go. Much better video card. A smarter more efficient build.

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3pVSN
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3pVSN/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3pVSN/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£137.03 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H87N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£87.66 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£59.47 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£52.98 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£34.80 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card (£239.72 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case (£68.72 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£59.35 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHDS118-04 DVD/CD Drive (£10.78 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) (£71.93 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £822.44
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-11 16:10 BST+0100)

Rammy · Apr 11, 2014

Prodigy or not Prodigy?
I liken the Prodigy case to a modern MINI. It's not as small, cheap or efficient as some people might have you believe, but it's kinda cool in it's own way so if you want one, why not?
There are likely to better value options like the Elite 130, but for sheer part compatibility and flexibility, the (ITX) Prodigy is hard to beat.
Don't be persuaded that the mATX Prodigy is a viable option. Stick in an optical drive and you lose most advantages of the mATX format, as well as inheriting a significant number of disadvantages.

Be aware of poor advice
You have three builds suggested in this thread, and all are solid, sensible (for one reason or another) and a pretty good way to spend £800+. All three however, have a significant flaw (imo) which is likely to cause you a lot of issues, and most of them are based around the choice of case+motherboard+cooler, which at the ITX level is crucial - you can't just swap one motherboard for another and assume something will still function as desired.
These images - ONE, TWO - show what I'm getting at, in general a 120mm fan tower cooler will not be compatible with Gigabyte ITX boards as it overhangs the PCIe slot. You can potentially rotate the cooler, but it's really not an efficient solution.
If you are going with an overclockable (ie. 4670K+Z87 motherboard) solution, I'd suggest using an ASRock Z87e or Asus Z87I-Pro as to one degree or another, they can avoid this issue in a Prodigy case.
If you are going with a non overclockable build (ie. 4440+H87/B85 motherboard) then you don't really need an aftermarket cooler. You should be able to use a smaller tower cooler like a Hyper TX3 or Hyper 101 if you really want to, and these should be compatible with the majority of motherboards.

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