Mini-ITX Gaming Build $500 Budget

[Gamer1183]

Currently working on an Mini-ITX gaming build for my wife and I. I know Tom's just did a nice Mini-ITX build, http://goo.gl/HXjC7, but didn't list any benchmarks yet for it. This is what I have currently and depending on sales at time of purchase some items might change. I don't have a huge need for storage due to my NAS setup and I only play 1 or 2 games at a time, so you will notice I have a smaller SSD listed. All parts are from newegg, when I did the pricing and more than likely can find cheaper items all around the web.

Any feedback is welcome...

Case: COOLER MASTER Elite 120

Motherboard: ASUS P8H61-I R2.0 LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI USB 3.0 Mini ITX with UEFI BIOS

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5

PSU: Antec VP-450 450W ATX 12V v2.3 Power Supply

CPU: Intel Pentium G860 Sandy Bridge 3.0GHz

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory

SSD: ADATA Premier Pro SP900 ASP900S3-64GM-C 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Total with shipping or OS is $515.93

What are your thoughts?

 

[HopelessNoob]

in my opinion i would either put a little more money into the cpu or switch to AMD because of the tight budget and even though you said you don't care much for storage if it were me i would still take out the ssd
JUST MY OPINION

 

[Gamer1183]

in my opinion i would either put a little more money into the cpu or switch to AMD because of the tight budget and even though you said you don't care much for storage if it were me i would still take out the ssd
JUST MY OPINION

Yeah, SSD and CPU I watch on sales every day, more then likely those 2 will be switched out by the time i purchase... Thanks for the opinion

 

[g-unit1111]

Yeah, SSD and CPU I watch on sales every day, more then likely those 2 will be switched out by the time i purchase... Thanks for the opinion

You might want to check this out: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/mini-itx-gaming-radeon-hd-7750,3369.html

 

[jmsellars1]

I definitely wouldn't go AMD for a mini ITX gaming build, unless it is a cheap one and an A10 would suffice. A 100W+ CPU with a graphics card would be too much for a small case.

Here's another alternative similar to the one in the link if you want something really small.

Intel Pentium G2020
2x8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport 1.35v 1600Mhz C9 Low Profile
ASRock B75M-ITX
60GB Intel 330 SSD
HIS iCooler HD 7750 1GB Low Profile
Antec ISK 300-150 with 150W PSU

Total - $478.94

Not quite in the same league in terms of gaming performance but is very small and should still handle the majority of games fine at 1080P. Only the most demanding games will really push it. It should cut your power consumption in half too while being a bit cheaper. Worth a consideration if you value something smaller.

In case you're worried about the PSU, here's a guy running a Sandy Bridge i3 and HD 6670 on it.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1038499163

That Pentium is 55W compared to the i3's 65W and the HD 7750 is 55W compared to the HD 6670's 63W. He actually has an extra fan and a wireless (mSATA) card too.