Budget gaming build (miniITX) to replace PS3

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bakhtosh

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Oct 19, 2014
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Hi, first-time poster here. I'm looking to build a small budget gaming PC - around €600-800 incl. OS+monitor+keyboard+mouse (roughly $750­-$1050, I'm based in Germany).

I want to level up my gaming setup so I can play recent games at decent settings - I've mainly been playing on my PS3 and run some older games in bootcamp on my Macbook Pro. This build is for the living room, so I'm after something that's small, looks ok, isn't too large nor too loud.

Here's what I got so far:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor (€97.85)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (€85.85)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€62.65)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€42.25)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270 2GB Dual-X Video Card (€139.63)
Case: Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Tower Case (€39.22)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply (€37.45)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit) (€83.90)
Monitor: LG 27EA33V 60Hz 27.0" Monitor (€180.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Other: Mindfactory shipping cost (€7.99)
Total: €776.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-19 17:25 CEST+0200

How can I do better?

The PSU, video card and monitor were pretty random choices as I don't have much of a clue really. I'm scratching my budget ceiling, so if you have ideas for where I could save some money, I'm all ears.

What's still missing is a mouse and keyboard. I guess I have basic needs here: something dependable, quiet and cheap, no "gaming" look or silly lights, etc, and I don't play anything competitive, so ultra-accuracy isn't important. Any good recommendations?

This will be my first PC build in almost 15 years! The world has moved on, but I'm getting excited to start putting it together. :)
 
Solution
pierrerock
i can't get the same pricing that you are displaying with your link. but this is a better PSU, €5 more for double HDD storage is worth it and you don't need a H97 board with an I3 CPU :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor (€97.85)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (€60.42 @ Hardwareversand)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€62.65)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€50.39 @ Pixmania DE)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270 2GB Dual-X Video Card (€139.63)
Case:...
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misclik

misclik

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Sep 17, 2012
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well, special memory does not matter, you can pretty much pick the cheapest RAM on the market and it'll be fine.
I'd personally go with a 1TB HDD, but that's just me. they are a little more pricy, but way more storage.
video card and processor are fine, just don't expect to run stuff on max settings at 1080p.
as far as keyboard and mouse, any keyboard should do the job just fine.
I prefer the logitech G400 mouse, it is popular and you could get the G400s if you want.
all together looks pretty decent, not too bad of a job
 
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pierrerock

pierrerock

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Jul 4, 2014
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i can't get the same pricing that you are displaying with your link. but this is a better PSU, €5 more for double HDD storage is worth it and you don't need a H97 board with an I3 CPU :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor (€97.85)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (€60.42 @ Hardwareversand)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€62.65)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€50.39 @ Pixmania DE)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270 2GB Dual-X Video Card (€139.63)
Case: Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Tower Case (€39.22)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€46.94 @ Home of Hardware DE)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit) (€83.90)
Monitor: LG 27EA33V 60Hz 27.0" Monitor (€180.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Other: Mindfactory shipping cost (€7.99)
Total: €768.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-19 17:56 CEST+0200
 
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bakhtosh

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Oct 19, 2014
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That RAM actually is the cheapest 8GB kit I could find at €63!
Extra storage makes sense, and actually only adds €5, so I'll definitely do that.

Re: that logitech mouse -- I can't find that anywhere for less than €50. I was hoping to spend no more than that on both mouse and keyboard together.
 
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bakhtosh

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Oct 19, 2014
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4,510


Thanks, much appreciated! PC Part Picker prices aren't very reliable for Germany, so I manually entered the prices I get from http://geizhals.de/, hence the price differences probably. I'm planning to get most of the components from www.mindfactory.de, they have a wide range and competitive prices on most bits.

If I don't need an H97 board for the i3, that sounds like a great place to save. I'd probably go for the wifi edition of the ASRock H81M-ITX, which I can get for €63.

Do you have an opinion on the LG 27EA33V monitor? It's by far the cheapest 27" IPS monitor I could find, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing. :)
 
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bakhtosh

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Oct 19, 2014
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That *does* look like a good deal indeed! Do you happen to know if those blue lights can be turned off? Not sure I'd want that in my living room…
 
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IrnMan

IrnMan

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May 29, 2014
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Yes you can turn the LED back lighting on/off using the Scoll Lock key. Its a useful feature to have back lighting if you are playing at night with the lights turned off.
 
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bakhtosh

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Oct 19, 2014
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4,510


Awesome.

Thanks everyone so far, here's my updated selection based on the suggestions:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor (€97.85)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-ITX/WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (€62.85)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€62.65)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€47.06)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270 2GB Dual-X Video Card (€139.63)
Case: Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Tower Case (€39.22)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€47.24)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit) (€83.90)
Monitor: LG 27EA33V 60Hz 27.0" Monitor (€180.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse (€25.31)
Other: Mindfactory shipping cost (€7.99)
Total: €793.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-19 20:04 CEST+0200

Fits perfectly in the budget! :)

The only thing I'm still unsure about now is the monitor. Should I get a well-reviewed 24" one instead, or just risk it with the LG 27EA33V 27"? I'd be getting this off Amazon, so I suppose returning it wouldn't be much hassle if I don't like it…
 
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bakhtosh

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Oct 19, 2014
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Ok, sorry one more question: on PCPartPicker, I'm now getting this warning:

"Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Tower Case has front panel USB 3.0 ports, but the ASRock H81M-ITX/WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard does not have onboard USB 3.0 headers."

Does this mean I won't be able to connect the front panel USB ports to the board at all, or just that I won't be able to connect them as USB *3.0*? (That would be fine, I figure mouse & keyboard won't get much out of USB 3.0 anyway, and storage can just as well be connected at the back…)
 
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IrnMan

IrnMan

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May 29, 2014
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For the USB 3.0 ports you can either leave them loose and not connect them as you suggested or you can get a USB3.0 to 2.0 internal connector like this one.

As for the monitor, I'd probably go by reviews unless you are happy to order the LG one and return it if you aren't happy.
 
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