Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question
Solved

Suggestions for Mini ITX gaming build

Tags:
  • Gaming
  • Build
  • Systems
Last response: in Systems
Share
September 30, 2014 5:48:42 PM

Hello,

I was going to be building my father a gaming rig for Christmas, but I need some suggestions. I would like to use a Corsair 250D Mini ITX PC Case to make a small gaming build for my father, but I am unsure of what other components to use. He doesn't play the newest games on the market, the newest game he plays is Skyrim. I would like the build to be around 700$ then I will upgrade/adjust the price based on that. The build should include Windows 7 (He is hesitant to learn to use 8.1), and doesn't require any additional peripherals.

Thanks in advance!

More about : suggestions mini itx gaming build

Best solution

a b 4 Gaming
September 30, 2014 5:56:45 PM

If he needs extra storage grab a 1tb hdd. My reasoning for the cheaper components is that if he doesnt want to play the latest games, this build will handle skyrim on ultra @ 1080p fine and you save some money too!


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($59.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($119.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $633.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-30 20:56 EDT-0400
Share
a b 4 Gaming
September 30, 2014 6:08:39 PM

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($175.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($95.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 270X 2GB DirectCU II Video Card ($179.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $710.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-30 21:08 EDT-0400
m
0
l
Related resources
October 1, 2014 10:52:14 AM

camohanna said:
If he needs extra storage grab a 1tb hdd. My reasoning for the cheaper components is that if he doesnt want to play the latest games, this build will handle skyrim on ultra @ 1080p fine and you save some money too!


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($59.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($119.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $633.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-30 20:56 EDT-0400


I am liking this build, so far. I should be able to wipe his old HDD and used that in this build.

Quick questions:
Will that pentium perform well enough if he does pick up a newer game? (Like will it be able to run it at least on medium?)
Why choose that over one of the cheeper i3 Haswell cpus (other than cost of course)?
m
0
l
October 1, 2014 10:58:49 AM

skuhnhenn said:
camohanna said:
If he needs extra storage grab a 1tb hdd. My reasoning for the cheaper components is that if he doesnt want to play the latest games, this build will handle skyrim on ultra @ 1080p fine and you save some money too!


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($59.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($119.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $633.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-30 20:56 EDT-0400


I am liking this build, so far. I should be able to wipe his old HDD and used that in this build.

Quick questions:
Will that pentium perform well enough if he does pick up a newer game? (Like will it be able to run it at least on medium?)
Why choose that over one of the cheeper i3 Haswell cpus (other than cost of course)?


My best guess is because it's highly overclockable even with a stock fan, even tho I don't know if it's unlocked on that motherboard.

m
0
l
a b 4 Gaming
October 2, 2014 3:40:25 PM

voyboyfan said:
skuhnhenn said:
camohanna said:
If he needs extra storage grab a 1tb hdd. My reasoning for the cheaper components is that if he doesnt want to play the latest games, this build will handle skyrim on ultra @ 1080p fine and you save some money too!


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($59.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($119.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $633.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-30 20:56 EDT-0400


I am liking this build, so far. I should be able to wipe his old HDD and used that in this build.

Quick questions:
Will that pentium perform well enough if he does pick up a newer game? (Like will it be able to run it at least on medium?)
Why choose that over one of the cheeper i3 Haswell cpus (other than cost of course)?


My best guess is because it's highly overclockable even with a stock fan, even tho I don't know if it's unlocked on that motherboard.



Hey. The pentium is practically an i3 without hyperthreading (Skyrim won't use this feature anyway) and yes it is overclockable. I went for the H97 has im pretty sure you can overclock on it.
m
0
l
a b 4 Gaming
October 2, 2014 4:58:44 PM

Really?! I went with 4 cores, and a R9 270X while he only has a GTX 750 and a Pentium. How come you guys aren't going for that extra performance!
m
0
l
October 3, 2014 11:20:54 AM

camohanna said:
Ah, i have just discovered you can overclock the pentium on non-z97 chipsets but you need an asus mobo. (http://www.techpowerup.com/202196/asus-enables-overcloc...)

I would reccomend this board then: https://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-h81iplus


Oh ok, one last question:
Could you suggest a closed loop CPU water cooling unit for this build? or do you think it wouldn't be worth it. Should I just slap a Noctua on it? Sound doesn't matter too much, mostly care about performance and reliability.
m
0
l
October 3, 2014 11:46:46 AM

okcnaline said:
Really?! I went with 4 cores, and a R9 270X while he only has a GTX 750 and a Pentium. How come you guys aren't going for that extra performance!


The biggest reason I did not choose your suggestion is due to it being over 700 already and you didn't include a power supply. The smaller and less important (Some what petty) reasons include the following:
-Only 4gb of ram
-I dislike the Radeon drivers, I have consistently had issues with them (Note I said petty reasons)
-The lack of an SSD (I did not mention it, its not your fault for not including it, of course)

I appreciate your response, I just think that Camohanna's suggestions better fit what I was looking for.
m
0
l
!