$1500 budget, looking for a mini-ITX build for gaming+school use

[jiafei9014]

Hello:

Budget includes monitor, speakers, keyboard and the computer itself. Since I'm woefully inexperienced with computers, I will be looking to use a prebuilt box from avadirect, in their mini-cube gaming pc section. The machine will primarily be used for school work plus some gaming at medium to high details on 1440*900 resolution and above.

Please give me some suggestions as to the part selections within the available choices on the website. I'm not putting the link in here to avoid suspicion of advertising.

Thank you!

And if other web services offer better small form gaming machines, please let me know as well.

 

[AxlFone]

Here you go: PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1hZjK
Other good case for this build is Fractal Node 304 but then you need DVD be usb version
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/fractal-design-case-fdcanode304bl
Oh my bad.. You need monitor and all with this build. So lets make other build..
So here you go: PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1hZKn

 

[g-unit1111]

Here you go: PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1hZjK
Other good case for this build is Fractal Node 304 but then you need DVD be usb version
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/fractal-design-case-fdcanode304bl
Oh my bad.. You need monitor and all with this build. So lets make other build..
So here you go: PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1hZKn

Depending on what the actual needs are you most likely don't need the i7 or 16GB of RAM for this purpose. If it's CS5 and CAD usage, then you could justify it but otherwise you don't need it.

Maybe something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X40 98.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($82.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87E-ITX Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Plextor M5S Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($179.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($409.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($69.99 @ Microcenter)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1322.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-18 12:59 EDT-0400)

And then you can add a monitor and whatever else you need. I dropped the i7 for an i5 and included a better SSD and liquid cooler.