£500 mITX Gaming/HTPC Build

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Confusedl

Reputable
Jun 13, 2014
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Approximate Purchase Date: This Month
Budget Range: ~£500
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, HTPC
Are you buying a monitor: Using HDTV 1920 x 1080
Do you need to buy OS: No
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: dabs.com (any better UK suggestions?)
Overclocking: Maybe
SLI or Crossfire: No

Can someone critique my build?

I’m trying to build a reasonably cheap small but very quiet gaming/HTPC PC.

My theory with this build is I can add an M.2 boot dive and drop in a quad core Broadwell when funds allow. It will also fit an H80i water cooler if needed.

My motivation is to build something better than the PS4 for not too much more money…

£82.32 Core i3 – 4150 3.5Ghz Dual Core HT, 54W (or G3258?)
http://www.dabs.com/products/intel-core-i3-4150-3-50ghz-s1150-8mb-9D9S.html?q=Core%20i3%20%E2%80%93%204150&src=16

£111.99 Asus Z97I-PLUS S1150 Intel Z97 DDR3 mITX – WirelessAC, BT4, M.2, IntelNIC
http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-z97i-plus-s1150-intel-z97-ddr3-mitx-9GBH.html?q=Asus%20Z97I-PLUS%20S1150&src=16

£59.98 Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz CL9 (9-9-9-24) Vengeance Low Profile 1.5V
http://www.dabs.com/products/corsair-8gb--2x4gb--ddr3-1600mhz-cl9-vengeance-low-profile-black-performance-desktop-memory-kit-7JZ8.html?q=Corsair%208GB%20%282x4GB%29%20DDR3%201600Mhz%20CL9%20%289-9-9-24%29%20Vengeance%20Low%20Profile%201.5V&src=16

£151.99 MSI R9 270X Gaming-2G (quiet cooler? +2 free games deal 161watt)
http://www.dabs.com/products/msi-amd-radeon-r9-270x-1030mhz-2gb-gddr5-pci-express-3-0-hdmi-gaming--r9-270x-gaming-2g--916Q.html?q=MSI%20R9%20270X%20Gaming-2G&src=16

£62.98 Seagate 2TB Barracuda SATA 6Gb/s 64MB 7200
http://www.dabs.com/products/seagate-2tb-barracuda-sata-6gb-s-64mb-7200rpm-hard-drive-7XD7.html?q=Seagate%202TB%20Barracuda%20SATA%206Gb%2Fs%2064MB%207200&src=16

£49.99 Antec ISK600 Case
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/antec-isk600-mini-itx-pc-case-a33nf?gclid=COvS59qG974CFaOx2wodUXYArw

£47.72 CoolerMaster G550M 80 Plus Bronze Modular PSU, 140mm deep, Haswell capable,
5yr warranty, 27db at 300 watt
http://www.dabs.com/products/coolermaster-550w-gm-series-g550m-80-plus-bronze-modular-psu-9FR5.html?q=CoolerMaster%20550W%20GM%20Series%20G550M%2080&src=16

What do you think? Any better ideas/part suggestions?

Thanks!
 
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CTurbo

CTurbo

Pizza Monster
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Aug 27, 2013
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Changed a few things, but it's pretty similar

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/ydvqBm
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/ydvqBm/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor (£77.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£90.29 @ Dabs)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£55.34 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£52.79 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2GB Dual-X Video Card (£129.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Antec ISK600 Mini ITX Tower Case (£52.19 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£46.79 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £504.39
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-13 17:05 BST+0100



This is about £65 cheaper than your parts
 
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Rammy

Rammy

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Sep 3, 2012
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Cturbo is pretty much on the money. If you desperately want M.2 then you need the Asus Z97 board or the ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac, which given they aren't vastly more expensive, isn't such a bad thing.

Personally, I'd probably shave the money off the motherboard budget and try to squeeze in an i5, but it would mean losing Wifi, which I can totally understand being a no-go.
 
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C

Confusedl

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Jun 13, 2014
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Thanks Cturbo, that saved quite a bit! And as you said Rammy I might be able to squeeze in an i5 with that saving but if the i3 was good enough for current games and won't bottleneck the R9 then I was going to hold out for a lower TDP Broadwell to keep this little thing as cool as possible and have that as a future upgrade when the games demanded it, what are your thoughts?

Ref M.2, are they native PCI and not using SATA? ie are they a lot quicker or does it not really matter? I'll save the money if I can!

I really want this build to be quiet as it is going to sit under the TV so I'll look into the part suggestions and see if they hold up. I don't mind paying slightly more if they run cooler / less acoustic noise.

What do you think to the case / will this be able to match the PS4 for a fairly smart living room gaming system?

Thanks again!
 
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CTurbo

CTurbo

Pizza Monster
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Aug 27, 2013
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Here is the same build with an i5

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/LNjNgs
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/LNjNgs/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£127.19 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£90.29 @ Dabs)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£55.34 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£52.79 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2GB Dual-X Video Card (£129.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Antec ISK600 Mini ITX Tower Case (£52.19 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£44.11 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £550.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-13 18:54 BST+0100


Or back to the i3 but a better video card

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/NR6qBm
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/NR6qBm/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor (£77.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£90.29 @ Dabs)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£55.34 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£52.79 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280 3GB Double Dissipation Video Card (£167.95 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Antec ISK600 Mini ITX Tower Case (£52.19 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£44.11 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £540.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-13 18:58 BST+0100
 
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S

sora

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Oct 30, 2013
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It would definitely match the PS4 or be even better than the PS4 for a living room gaming system.
 
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andrei65

andrei65

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It will NOT match a PS4 , it'll destroy the PS4
Consoles have their graphics lowered down compared to pc , and are limited to only 30FPS , compared to PC where you can get far better graphics at 60+ FPS if you have a good PC

EDIT : PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor (£76.79 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus H81I-PLUS Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£47.38 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£55.34 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£52.79 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 760 2GB DC Mini Video Card (£191.06 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Antec ISK600 Mini ITX Tower Case (£51.90 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£44.11 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £519.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-14 07:59 BST+0100

These are my two cents
I went with the 760 mini because i'm not sure that a 270x or 280 would fit in there , and the motherboard has on-board ethernet
 
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Rammy

Rammy

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Sep 3, 2012
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andrei's build above is fine enough, but it does lack Wifi, M.2, and it's not a great choice of graphics card for the case as it's too short to use the side venting, and in general a reference cooler is probably more suitable if possible.

One thing I want to mention, in slight contradiction to the two above posters, is that this PC won't beat/match a PS4. It has hardware which far exceeds the performance and graphical capabilities of a PS4, but nobody can predict the lifespan of a console, or how well supported it is, or which games come to it exclusively (and a million other factors).
You are comparing two very different machines, and while even a basic gaming PC has better hardware, increased optimisation means that in the previous generation at least, consoles had a far longer lifespan.
I'm not going to venture into the "difference of experience" argument as I'm firmly in the PC camp, especially after the shocking framerates of GTA5, which my console-junkie friends seemed to think were totally ok.
The Xbox360 lasted 8years before it's replacement landed, and anyone telling you a gaming PC, even a top-end one, will still be playing AAA games in that type of time frame is probably incorrect.

What I'm saying is that you shouldn't try to compare them too much, just enjoy them for what they are.
 
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C

Confusedl

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Jun 13, 2014
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Thanks everyone, I'm still edging towards the i3 route and having a Broadwell Quad + SSD upgrade option in the future. I'm hoping the system is balanced and the i3 will keep up for the next year or so.

I take your point Rammy, I actually wanted to buy a PS4 for simplicity but I'm a PC guy at heart and don't agree with paying monthly subscriptions. Hoping to turn this into a media centre + SteamOS option as well which will be some added benefit. Also, I think you are right reference using the longer gcard as it will reach the vents.

A few of the other parts I have kept the same as I've managed to find thermal/acoustic reviews on them so there's no suprises.

Thanks again everyone for your input, next stage spend the money!
 
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