• Review

System Builder Marathon, Q2 2013: The $400 Spirit Of Mini-ITX

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Performance Summary

Our pair of lower-cost builds yields almost identical performance in applications, since they both rely on dual-core Sandy Bridge-based G800-series Pentiums distinguished by a scant 100 MHz. The $650 PC isn’t much more impressive, but it does lead from start to finish, benefiting from a faster Ivy Bridge-based Core i3 with Hyper-Threading.

Traditionally, our first set of medium- to high-detail System Builder Marathon game benchmarks is tailored to the least-expensive machine. Today's little $400 setup survived those settings all the way through 1920x1080 at less than 80% of our normal budget. Our newest title, Ubisoft’s brutal Far Cry 3, proved the greatest challenge, though we can forgive its performance knowing that its High detail preset will push $500 machines through 2013.

Packing AMD's Tahiti GPU, this quarter's $650 PC is the big fish in a little pond, ripping through our most demanding game settings at 1920x1080, including Far Cry 3. This system is even able to handle 4800x900 using three screens. So, our main comparison is between the two lower-cost builds, where nearly identical CPUs are matched up to different graphics cards.

We knew this build would fall short of the best-looking graphics settings. Still, we’ll summarize performance at those settings for each game at 1280x720 and 1920x1080. Bear in mind that only the $650 PC remains playable in Far Cry 3.

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Summary
  1. An Inexpensive Console-Sized Gaming PC
  2. CPU And Cooler
  3. Motherboard And Memory
  4. Graphics Card And Hard Drive
  5. Case, Power Supply, And Optical Drive
  6. Assembling Our Little Budget Box
  7. How Small Is It, Really?
  8. Limited Overclocking
  9. Test System And Benchmarks
  10. Results: Synthetics
  11. Results: Audio And Video
  12. Results: Adobe Creative Suite
  13. Results: Productivity
  14. Results: Compression
  15. Results: Battlefield 3 And The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
  16. Benchmark Results: F1 2012 And Far Cry 3
  17. Consumption And Temperatures
  18. Performance Summary
  19. Can Less Equal More?
About the author
Paul Henningsen
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129 comments
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    Top Comments
  • envy14tpe
    Enjoy the $400 build. Kinda hoped for an A10-5800k build to compare to.
    • Other Comments
  • ingtar33
    great article. this type of look at how a low end "budget" build handles modern titles was perfect. Loved it. I think you got about the most you could hope for out of a $400 budget. Frankly i can't find a way to make something better at that price point. spot on really. nicely done.

    I do like how most of those games were "playable" on high settings at 1080p with that tiny rig... very cool.
  • Crashman
    Nice build, makes me wonder how it would stack up to my old 4.0 GHz overclocked Core 2 Duo office PC. Which gets gamed on occasionally using its HD 6850 graphics card.
  • envy14tpe
    Enjoy the $400 build. Kinda hoped for an A10-5800k build to compare to.
  • rmpumper
    250 bucks makes HUGE difference. Unlike 2500 vs 1300 systems.
  • allanitomwesh
    FINALLY! I agree this whole system builder was almost a fail.
    Also, I can't believe you had a SG05 and didn't build with it,it has an awesome power supply. Again,if you weren't getting a disk drive the V3+ was the smaller, higher quality case than CM 120 ( though they're finished on newegg)
    The obsession with ginormous cards in tiny places made your cases not tiny.Clearly,a more sensible build,like with a 670,would fit in a much smaller footprint.
    The lack of the FT03 Mini is a fail. It's a Mac killing case,and should've been the go to case for the $2500 build, because at that price,my case better look it.
    Otherwise I like that you were at least up to the challenge, and I applaud this last build.
  • Crashman
    Anonymous said:
    FINALLY! I agree this whole system builder was almost a fail.
    Also, I can't believe you had a SG05 and didn't build with it,it has an awesome power supply. Again,if you weren't getting a disk drive the V3+ was the smaller, higher quality case than CM 120 ( though they're finished on newegg)
    The obsession with ginormous cards in tiny places made your cases not tiny.Clearly,a more sensible build,like with a 670,would fit in a much smaller footprint.
    The lack of the FT03 Mini is a fail. It's a Mac killing case,and should've been the go to case for the $2500 build, because at that price,my case better look it.
    Otherwise I like that you were at least up to the challenge, and I applaud this last build.
    The FT03 Mini would have probably caused the $2500 PC's graphics card to overheat, or caused the graphics card to overheat the CPU. And a 670 might have worked, but then it wouldn't have been a $2500 PC. But please don't let the facts get in the way of your opinion.

    You could say that nobody should even bother spending $2500 on an ITX-based system, or that a system with ITX limitations should never be expected to provide top performance. At least those opinions would make more sense than the stuff you said above.
  • brucek2
    My favorite of the builds. Feels congruent to me in that budget, form factor and system capabilities all align to each other and to my personal sensibilities. I could see making a system like this for a bedroom or den.
  • Crashman
    Anonymous said:
    My favorite of the builds. Feels congruent to me in that budget, form factor and system capabilities all align to each other and to my personal sensibilities. I could see making a system like this for a bedroom or den.
    Or even an office! Really. I might not build one of these for a performance competition, but it looks like a solid alternative to my retired-gaming office PC.
  • CommentariesAnd More
    PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

    CPU: Intel Pentium G860 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($69.99 @ Newegg)
    Motherboard: Foxconn H61S Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($49.99 @ Amazon)
    Memory: Corsair 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
    Storage: Samsung Spinpoint M8 500GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Newegg)
    Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7750 1GB Video Card ($99.99 @ Newegg)
    Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNX-N180UB 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($9.99 @ Newegg)
    Case: Rosewill RS-MI-01 BK Mini ITX Tower Case w/250W Power Supply ($49.99 @ Amazon)
    Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
    Total: $371.92
    (Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
    (Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-27 03:06 EDT-0400)

    Some improvements I would like to suggest , Maybe I am crazy , but felt I should do this.
  • silverblue
    Even this diminutive little machine would significantly outpace my old Phenom II X3 710, XFX HD 4830 and 4x1GB DDR2-800 (4-4-4-12) for a pretty decent price.
  • army_ant7
    When I read how it's smaller than the Tiki in every way, I got kinda excited. It is pretty neat how small (and thin) this thing is. How one could wish that more low-profile decent-performing cards were made. That HD 7850 by Afox is interesting.

    Once the Kaveri APU's start rolling out, I wonder if you guys would end up choosing them over Intel CPU's + discrete GPU's for SFF builds like this or for any other budget configuration for that matter.

    BTW, was the Athlon X4 750K/760K not chosen due to its power req. and heat or was it just not available at the time?
  • slomo4sho
    This build definitely deserved an APU...
  • allanitomwesh
    Anonymous said:
    The FT03 Mini would have probably caused the $2500 PC's graphics card to overheat, or caused the graphics card to overheat the CPU. And a 670 might have worked, but then it wouldn't have been a $2500 PC. But please don't let the facts get in the way of your opinion.

    You could say that nobody should even bother spending $2500 on an ITX-based system, or that a system with ITX limitations should never be expected to provide top performance. At least those opinions would make more sense than the stuff you said above.


    I will say,since my point was lost in the rant

    Nobody should be building an ITX rig for $2500 that's bigger than the Silverstone SG10.

    A system with mini ITX should crunch top numbers and remain small.The two cheapest rigs prove that.


    I hope I make sense now.
  • re-play-
    So AMD has APU CPU with integrated videocard that can run any game decently on low-mid setting and u choose for this matter intel? intel is really really paying u off very well to keep people away from good stuff... This build will kick the......butt of your intel build.

    AMD A10-5800K APU: http://goo.gl/XaFFP

    MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 Motherboard: http://goo.gl/DXM3W

    8GB Samsung DDR3 1600Mhz RAM: http://goo.gl/gVqCL - Another great option: http://goo.gl/Jbtye

    500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue Hard Drive: http://goo.gl/bM1Ww

    NZXT Source 210 Case: http://goo.gl/2wlae

    430W Corsair CX430 Power Supply: http://goo.gl/QzWZo

    These parts make up the $350 build however since this is a custom PC feel free to customize it with some of these options!

    OS - Windows 8 System Builder: http://goo.gl/OTZAL

    OS - Windows 7 System Builder: http://goo.gl/7hc9M

    Optical Drive - Lite-On DVD Burner: http://goo.gl/DCVBn

    Wi-Fi Adapter - Asus PCE-N15: http://goo.gl/JQ7Mt

    RAM Upgrade - 8GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 2133Mhz: http://goo.gl/bTOiK

    Graphics Card - Sapphire Radeon 7770: http://goo.gl/FrSHW

    SSD - 120GB Samsung 840: http://goo.gl/ykuCA

    HDD Upgrade - 1TB WD Caviar Blue: http://goo.gl/MZTnq
  • Crashman
    Anonymous said:
    Anonymous said:
    The FT03 Mini would have probably caused the $2500 PC's graphics card to overheat, or caused the graphics card to overheat the CPU. And a 670 might have worked, but then it wouldn't have been a $2500 PC. But please don't let the facts get in the way of your opinion.

    You could say that nobody should even bother spending $2500 on an ITX-based system, or that a system with ITX limitations should never be expected to provide top performance. At least those opinions would make more sense than the stuff you said above.


    I will say,since my point was lost in the rant

    Nobody should be building an ITX rig for $2500 that's bigger than the Silverstone SG10.

    A system with mini ITX should crunch top numbers and remain small.The two cheapest rigs prove that.


    I hope I make sense now.
    What you're saying is that a $2500 ITX rig simply shouldn't exist, and you're contradicting yourself to say that it should remain small and crunch top numbers. The two cheapest rigs prove that.

    What you're really saying is that all the people who loved the $2500 PC were wrong. It's OK to believe that, but the reality is that your opinion on their market doesn't count any more than my opinion on feminine hygiene products. Both of us are ill-equipped to speak with authority on those respective issues.
  • allanitomwesh
    Anonymous said:
    So AMD has APU CPU with integrated videocard that can run any game decently on low-mid setting and u choose for this matter intel? intel is really really paying u off very well to keep people away from good stuff... This build will kick the......butt of your intel build.

    AMD A10-5800K APU: http://goo.gl/XaFFP

    MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 Motherboard: http://goo.gl/DXM3W

    8GB Samsung DDR3 1600Mhz RAM: http://goo.gl/gVqCL - Another great option: http://goo.gl/Jbtye

    500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue Hard Drive: http://goo.gl/bM1Ww

    NZXT Source 210 Case: http://goo.gl/2wlae

    430W Corsair CX430 Power Supply: http://goo.gl/QzWZo

    These parts make up the $350 build however since this is a custom PC feel free to customize it with some of these options!

    OS - Windows 8 System Builder: http://goo.gl/OTZAL

    OS - Windows 7 System Builder: http://goo.gl/7hc9M

    Optical Drive - Lite-On DVD Burner: http://goo.gl/DCVBn

    Wi-Fi Adapter - Asus PCE-N15: http://goo.gl/JQ7Mt

    RAM Upgrade - 8GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 2133Mhz: http://goo.gl/bTOiK

    Graphics Card - Sapphire Radeon 7770: http://goo.gl/FrSHW

    SSD - 120GB Samsung 840: http://goo.gl/ykuCA

    HDD Upgrade - 1TB WD Caviar Blue: http://goo.gl/MZTnq


    Your case is much much bigger.
  • slicedtoad
    Anonymous said:
    So AMD has APU CPU with integrated videocard that can run any game decently on low-mid setting and u choose for this matter intel? intel is really really paying u off very well to keep people away from good stuff... This build will kick the......butt of your intel build.

    No. They chose intel for the cpu, not for it's integrated gpu. They used the fastest half height, single slot gpu available to them along with it. Swapping out the intel cpu for the A10-5800K would have been a step down in gaming performance. Don't make stupid accusations.
  • jestersage
    This build just resonates positive on me. It's not as beautiful or powerful as the $2500 build but I gravitate toward it just a tad more. This is something I'd build myself. And a year down the road it will have a few upgrades:

    -a core i5 3350P or whatever haswell version is available by then
    -the AFOX 7850 is available in my country :-P
    -a 120 or 240Gb SSD
    -more ram
    -a slim optical drive
  • ojas
    Nice, enjoyed reading. What i'm wondering is, could you guys get your hands on a Kabini board and add a 7870 or 7850 to see how it does? Obviously i'm thinking about the new consoles here...The fact that Sony managed to fit all of that into $400...

    Anonymous said:
    Nice build, makes me wonder how it would stack up to my old 4.0 GHz overclocked Core 2 Duo office PC. Which gets gamed on occasionally using its HD 6850 graphics card.

    Well i have a Core 2 Quad and a GTX560, manages fine at 1024x768, but a lot of times i'm intensely CPU bottlenecked. Arma 3's killing my CPU like no other game. Ok, maybe the FreeSpace 2 Open engine, but then that's single threaded.

    http://www.anandtech.com/show/6670/dragging-core2duo-into-2013-time-for-an-upgrade
  • jack1982
    Great build, great article. I didn't even know you could get cases that small. Now I'm seriously considering making something like this with a Blu ray drive and a much larger HDD for a HTPC.
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