To be honest, I'm just coming back into the PC arena in general after having used nothing but my MacBook Pro (January 2008-ish) and PS3 for gaming. I swore off of PC for a while...but now Planetside 2 is coming out and I'm looking at another build for gaming. I've built several mid-tower rigs before with no issues, but I've never actually had to worry about space before either. I know I don't want a monstrous full tower like my last build, and there's a strong possibility I'll be bouncing around a lot within the next 6 months to 1 year so I started looking at ITX for a more portable gaming option. I'm aiming for a budget of roughly $1,000. Also, given that I'm cold-blooded and hate AC, my apartment/room/wherever I'm staying is generally around 70-75 degrees inside - NOT the coolest environment for a compact gaming PC. Anyway, all that being said....here's what I'm looking at so far.
============================================================================================
Mini-ITX build:
ASRock Z77E-ITX LGA 1155 Intel Z77 - $149.99
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz - $239.99
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB DDR3 1600 - $46.99
Subtotal for Mobo, CPU, Memory - $436.97
- Case:
Either Lian-Li - PC-Q08B ($109.99) or PC-Q18B ($159.99) - or this Silverstone SG07-B (184.99, but comes with a 600w PSU)
- Graphics:
Gigabyte GV-N670OC-2GD GeForce GTX 670 - $399.99 Lengthwise it should be fine in either case, but I'm not sure about width-wise, apparently stuff gets pretty tight in there and I don't know about any potential heat issues as well (hence my reasoning for choosing those two Lian-Li cases - large intake fans in the front, and the Silverstone has a 180mm).
- PSU:
SeaSonic M12II 620W or the PCPCS - $89.99
Subtotals:
PC-Q08B + 670 + PSU - $599.97
PC-Q18B + 670 + PSU - $649.97
SG-07B + 670 + no PSU - $544.98
Haven't decided on a hard drive or optical drive yet. The Silverstone case requires a slim, the others can accommodate a full size but I'm thinking about just buying a slim drive in any case as it'll likely rarely if ever be used other than to install Windows...which can be done through USB anyway. I'm really leaning toward the Silverstone case as I like how the video card has the entire side for ventilation and the top fan takes care of the mobo, but then again the Lian-Lis have some pretty sweet builds I've seen on here and people haven't seemed to have had any trouble with the card being on the bottom of the case. I'm not planning on watercooling if I can avoid it to cut costs, so keeping the case relatively cool IS important to me, but keeping it quiet is important as well.
============================================================================================
Alternatively, this is my Micro-ATX build for a slightly bigger but still compact and probably cooler (temperature-wise) build:
Micro-ATX build:
SilverStone Temjin Series TJ08B-E - $97.99
Western Digital WD5002AALX 500GB - $99.99
LITE-ON Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive - $18.99
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB DDR3 1600 - $46.99
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz - $239.99
GIGABYTE GA-Z77M-D3H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 - $114.99
Gigabyte GV-N670OC-2GD GeForce GTX 670 2 gb - $399.99
SeaSonic M12II 620W or the PCPCS - $89.99
Total : $1108.92
============================================================================================
============================================================================================
Mini-ITX build:
ASRock Z77E-ITX LGA 1155 Intel Z77 - $149.99
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz - $239.99
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB DDR3 1600 - $46.99
Subtotal for Mobo, CPU, Memory - $436.97
- Case:
Either Lian-Li - PC-Q08B ($109.99) or PC-Q18B ($159.99) - or this Silverstone SG07-B (184.99, but comes with a 600w PSU)
- Graphics:
Gigabyte GV-N670OC-2GD GeForce GTX 670 - $399.99 Lengthwise it should be fine in either case, but I'm not sure about width-wise, apparently stuff gets pretty tight in there and I don't know about any potential heat issues as well (hence my reasoning for choosing those two Lian-Li cases - large intake fans in the front, and the Silverstone has a 180mm).
- PSU:
SeaSonic M12II 620W or the PCPCS - $89.99
Subtotals:
PC-Q08B + 670 + PSU - $599.97
PC-Q18B + 670 + PSU - $649.97
SG-07B + 670 + no PSU - $544.98
Haven't decided on a hard drive or optical drive yet. The Silverstone case requires a slim, the others can accommodate a full size but I'm thinking about just buying a slim drive in any case as it'll likely rarely if ever be used other than to install Windows...which can be done through USB anyway. I'm really leaning toward the Silverstone case as I like how the video card has the entire side for ventilation and the top fan takes care of the mobo, but then again the Lian-Lis have some pretty sweet builds I've seen on here and people haven't seemed to have had any trouble with the card being on the bottom of the case. I'm not planning on watercooling if I can avoid it to cut costs, so keeping the case relatively cool IS important to me, but keeping it quiet is important as well.
============================================================================================
Alternatively, this is my Micro-ATX build for a slightly bigger but still compact and probably cooler (temperature-wise) build:
Micro-ATX build:
SilverStone Temjin Series TJ08B-E - $97.99
Western Digital WD5002AALX 500GB - $99.99
LITE-ON Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive - $18.99
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB DDR3 1600 - $46.99
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz - $239.99
GIGABYTE GA-Z77M-D3H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 - $114.99
Gigabyte GV-N670OC-2GD GeForce GTX 670 2 gb - $399.99
SeaSonic M12II 620W or the PCPCS - $89.99
Total : $1108.92
============================================================================================