How Does this Build Look? First Custom PC - Bitfenix Prodigy

DylanD

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Nov 18, 2014
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Hello all,

I have been researching the past couple weeks and am planning on building my first custom PC this Christmas (hopefully catching some nice deals). Im looking to hang around the $1,000 mark. It will be a mini ITX rig mainly for gaming with some video editing, nothing too heavy, and a ton of multitasking. Ill probably be moving it from school back home on holidays and other visits so I like the portability that ITX (especially the Prodigy) has to offer. So here it is:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($248.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($117.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston Fury White Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.99 @ Directron)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($356.13 @ Newegg)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($79.98 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1031.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-20 15:52 EST-0500

Ill explain a little on why I went with some of these parts. The Xeon has been recommended to me a couple of times and has actually really struck me as a good option. I really cannot afford an i7 right now (who knows what prices will do), and the Xeon being basically a locked i7 without on board GPU seems like a really good option considering I dont plan on overclocking anyway and have no need for an iGPU. That way I get the "future proofing" (I know people will rant over that term) with hyper-threading for a cheaper price.

The mobo seemed like a good option although I do not know much about motherboards. Plus it went with the black/white theme I am keeping in the case.
The RAM seems like a nicer option, plus its white. I went with 1 8gb stick to allow for an easy upgrade later.
The storage I just looked for decent branding with a good price.
I wanted to get the best video card offered for my price range for the best performance while gaming, so the obvious choice was a 970.
For the power supply I am not really sure what to go with. I need something to fit in the Prodigy and possibly modular to help with cable management. Maybe you guys could help me there? Like I said I love the Prodigy case, and I chose black for the extra front ventilation and aesthetics.

I am also looking for help with a cooling setup. I want to go with an h100i in the top with 2 white LED spectre 120s for the fans, a spectre 230mm white LED in the front (dont need the optical drive bay and will have to lose the storage drive bays too) and then a white LED spectre 140mm in the back for exhaust.

Like I said I would like to keep it around the $1,000 range. I know right now it is going to run me about $1,200 but I am hoping holiday prices bump that down a bit.

I know there are a lot of experienced builders on this forum, so what do you guys think? What PSU would you suggest? Will that cooling setup perform well? Also I have not really looked into cabling that much, is there anything that I should grab to make cable management easier (I hope to mod the case with a window at some point)? Am I missing anything? Does the build in general seem like a good one?

Thanks,
Dylan
 
Solution
Nice build overall! A few recommendations though..

CX Corsair PSU's are made with cheap components, it's better to get a 550W XFX or Seasonic power supply. This one I've selected is gold rated + fully modular.
Since you won't be overlcocking, go for a H97 board.. You'll save a good bit of money there.


Refined build below:


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($248.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($84.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($78.59 @ Amazon)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid...

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
Ill explain a little on why I went with some of these parts. The Xeon has been recommended to me a couple of times and has actually really struck me as a good option. I really cannot afford an i7 right now (who knows what prices will do), and the Xeon being basically a locked i7 without on board GPU seems like a really good option considering I dont plan on overclocking anyway and have no need for an iGPU. That way I get the "future proofing" (I know people will rant over that term) with hyper-threading for a cheaper price.

Yup there's no such thing, and buying a more expensive processor doesn't make it so. Having a Z97 motherboard does but that's only if your future plans include buying an unlocked processor.

If it's gaming you're going for I personally wouldn't purchase a Xeon (RAM compatibility issues, that sort of thing) and there's definitely better drives that you can get than the Kingston SSDNow drives - the only thing they have going is the price and that's it.

This is what I would do for your budget:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($67.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($82.27 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.59 @ Directron)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($41.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12G 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Directron)
Total: $987.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-20 16:50 EST-0500
 

aks_1337

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Aug 4, 2014
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4,860
Nice build overall! A few recommendations though..

CX Corsair PSU's are made with cheap components, it's better to get a 550W XFX or Seasonic power supply. This one I've selected is gold rated + fully modular.
Since you won't be overlcocking, go for a H97 board.. You'll save a good bit of money there.


Refined build below:


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($248.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($84.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($78.59 @ Amazon)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.99 @ Directron)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($356.13 @ Newegg)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($79.98 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($76.18 @ Newegg)
Total: $1038.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-20 16:50 EST-0500
 
Solution

DylanD

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Nov 18, 2014
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Wow thanks for the fast responses guys!

@g_unit Thanks for the suggestions. I was going to go with the Xeon just to have the Hyper threading incase I ever need it while maintaining relatively the same single core performance of an i5. Thanks for the suggestions on the SSD as well, I will switch that out.

@aks_1337 I think I had heard that about their PSU, thanks for the heads up, Ill switch it out. Also for the mobo, all I would lose with the H model is the overclocking ability and the higher speed RAM option right?

Does this build look better? I switched the mobo just to keep with the black and the RAM to stay white just downgraded them.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($248.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Fury White Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Corsair Force LX Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.99 @ Directron)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($356.13 @ Newegg)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($79.98 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($76.18 @ Newegg)
Total: $1060.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-20 17:32 EST-0500

Also will that cooling setup work well do you think? And will the H100i be compatible with this build (I know it is compatible with the case)?
 

aks_1337

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Aug 4, 2014
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Yeah basically, you'd lose the overclocking ability but the Xeon can't be overclocked as far as I'm aware of, lower RAM speeds but it's fine, not much of a performance loss and you wouldn't be able to do SLI but in your circumstance I doubt you'd be doing that anyway.

Yeah I like the refined build more! If you can maybe go for the Crucial MX100 128GB SSD, they're really good and at a good pricepoint I'd swap your current SSD with that and your build is good to go!
 

DylanD

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Nov 18, 2014
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Right, Xeons can not be OCed. Intel Turbo Boost seems to be almost like a mini automatic overclock to 3.8 ghtz though, so that'll be nice :) Thanks for all the help. I swapped that SSD in and will use this to guide me when buying parts this Christmas. Hopefully I can find some steals! Thanks again