Build It Yourself: A Mini-ITX Gaming System For Just Over $500

[GazP172]

[citation][nom]alvine[/nom]i switched from full tower /atx mobo to micro atx case/mobo and its awesome more space on my desk[/citation]

Off the top of my head temps hit the 90's before I shut-down the machine (playing BF3 for 15 mins).

Problem is, the graphics card created a wall splitting the case in 2. The card virtually fills the case front to back, top to bottom so no cool air from the lid and side can get to the side with the graphics and PSU. The PSU exhausts air but as it cant get any new air it doesn't help.

 

[GazP172]

I have just noticed this case must be a updated version of the case I had as it has a vent (80mm) on the PSU side to try and solve the heat issue I mentioned. I did the same thing by drilling a hole and fitting a wire fan guard, I still wasn't happy with temps as well as ruining the look of the case .

 

[cknobman]

Awesome build!!!

With recent rumors of Suckbox 720 and StinkStation 4 cutting out used games I would much rather build something like this and put it in my living room.

 

[JackMomma]

[citation][nom]xkm1948[/nom]What about putting in an APU instead?[/citation]
I've been debating this on a planned ITX build, but the power requirements are a bit higher than the Intel's (which is hard to overcome with the pico PSU's) and heat issues come to mind as well.

 

[jabliese]

One more vote for a temperature page. And a comparison, noise and temperature, between stock cooler and 3rd party, if you knuckles can stand it.

 

[WickedPigeon]

How did you get $623 for the advanced option? New math?

Just adding a SSD to the Standard setup = $650 plus the other upgrades = $713.

And at $700 this becomes a somewhat less attractive when compared to standard build performance - imho.

 

[WickedPigeon]

Got it - sorry
less $90 for the HDm - get you 623

 

[max40watt]

I still prefer my NES console case.

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn87/max40watt/NESpc/IMG_1726.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn87/max40watt/NESpc/IMG_1727.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn87/max40watt/NESpc/IMG_1739.jpg

 

[mansfield]

I have something like this but I used AMD's A10 and it plays all MMO's with flying colors.

 

[ojas]

[citation][nom]FormatC[/nom]@zooted:The performance of a HD 7750 is wellknown and this little card is in the most cases the slower part. This is from the other project:[/citation]
Fair enough...though if you could have run maybe a game or two like FIFA 13, Sleeping Dogs and/or maybe a Batman game as well, we could have compared this to present (even future?) gen consoles...maybe have a value chart (assuming consoles deliver 30 fps) too.

Otherwise had fun with the article...just that i was expecting benchmarks and found none! *weeps softly*

:lol:

 

[ojas]

@Igor, after looking at the charts you posted in the comments, a thought came to me:

How come no one talks of IPC of some sort for GPUs? The 7770 needs a clock speed of 1GHz to catch a 775MHz 6850, for example. Does it mean that the 7770 executes less IPC? Or do GPUs not relate that way?

(IIRC it consumes less power even at a higher clock rate, so obviously it's more efficient, just wondering about the clock rate vs delivered performance aspect)

 

[phate]

I've built 7 of these mini-ITX machines for office workstations. They work great for the office. It's surprising how much you appreciate the small form factor over the bulky dell workstations they replaced. No need for optical or discrete graphics for great little Ubuntu machines.

My builds
4GB(2x2GB) GSKILL $32
64GB Crucial m4 $80
i5-3330 $180
hec ITX200B Case+ PSU $50
Intel BOXDH61DLB3 MOBO $75
Total: $417

 

[nukemaster]

I want a link to this slimline bluray drive for 60$ please. My media center would love that

Nice little build. Any issues with the video card + psu being so close?

 

[internetlad]

I'll keep a full size tower with an i5 and 7950, whisper quiet. This might be cool for somebody, but not for me.

 

[JonnyDough]

[citation][nom]zooted[/nom]Would be nice if they included benchmarks, but overall a nice review.[/citation]

That was my 1st thought as well:

"WHERE ARE THE BENCHMARKS?!!!"

"Gaming machine", hell - a Commodore64 can play games.

 

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]ojas[/nom]@Igor, after looking at the charts you posted in the comments, a thought came to me:How come no one talks of IPC of some sort for GPUs? The 7770 needs a clock speed of 1GHz to catch a 775MHz 6850, for example. Does it mean that the 7770 executes less IPC? Or do GPUs not relate that way?(IIRC it consumes less power even at a higher clock rate, so obviously it's more efficient, just wondering about the clock rate vs delivered performance aspect)[/citation]

Graphics cards have differing core counts. IPC is not worth fitting in. Besides, that isn't how IPC works. You are thinking performance per Hz and confusing it with IPC. For example, the Radeon 7770 has far fewer cores than the Radeon 6850. It technically has inferior IPC AFAIK in the GPU cores themselves, but they are still higher performance (IPC is actually not necessarily directly related to performance; it is only one factor).

 

[sanilmahambre]

BIN is the correct place for INTEL's stock cooler

 

[balister]

You could have saved $20 on the motherboard by going with AsRock B75M-ITX which goes for $90 and has just as many features.

As to case, you could have gone with the Cooler Master Elite 120 which would allow for full height and lenght dual slot cards for a later GPU upgrade for $10 more (which would have been covered by getting the AsRock board).

Also, going with the Cooler Master Elite 120 would have allowed you to spend about $10 less on a normal sized optical drive (5 1/4").

You would have to pick up a PSU (but the CM Elite 120 does take normal ATX PSU), but for $25, you could pick up a good 350W to 400W PSU (which allows for a better GPU down the road).

So, for roughly the same price (about $5 more than your base build), you can have a case that has a larger footprint (about the size of a shoebox), with future upgradeability (with GPU) while using normal off the shelf parts.

 

[omarccx]

Why get 8gb of 1333mhz ram for $40 when you can get 1600mhz for $42. lol

 

[Dangi]

My first tought was APU, but if you can't but it inside and go CPU+GPU, why don't you try FM2 ?

If the idea is a cheap mini-ITX taking an A75 board with Athlon X4 740 65 W ( for some reason doesn't appear on newegg or pcpartpicker ) + 7750 you can shave a few dollars and also increase multithread performance while losing single core performance

 

[Onus]

[citation][nom]balister[/nom]...for $25, you could pick up a good 350W to 400W PSU...[/citation]
Just checking Newegg, I saw no PSUs under $35 (not counting rebates; a crapshoot) I'd want anywhere near my PC if they were plugged in.

 

[balister]

[citation][nom]onus[/nom]Just checking Newegg, I saw no PSUs under $35 (not counting rebates; a crapshoot) I'd want anywhere near my PC if they were plugged in.[/citation]

UL Certification site is your friend. Use that in combination with Tom's own article on finding gems in with the trash. Using the UL site and knowing the list as presented in Tom's article you can find low cost, but good PSUs, it doesn't have to say Antec, Seasonic, or a few others to be a good PSU.

 

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]onus[/nom]Just checking Newegg, I saw no PSUs under $35 (not counting rebates; a crapshoot) I'd want anywhere near my PC if they were plugged in.[/citation]

Antec VP-450 can be had for about $31 at NCIX or CompUSA. IDK about something for $25. Also balister, at the start of your post, you didn't say what motherboard can shave off $20.

 

[spentshells]

Ha I built a sandy i3 8gb of 1600 ram on cfx mobo and a 7850 on a matx and matx case for cheaper get on it toms

 

[themissingpiece]

Heh. Reminds me of the time when i tried to upgrade my Dell 530s, with its low profile form factor. Yeah, gaming on a Pentium Dual Core and a Radeon 5450!