Building Mini ITX HTPC Steam Box Please Help With Parts Picked Out on $1000 Budget

[skippyboy92362]

Well our old AMD AM3+ HTPC Steam Box took a dump this last weekend after 3 years of use and narrowed it down to the motherboard. With the lack choices for AMD AM3+ Mini ITX or micro ATX boards it is time to move on and build a new box. The case and power supply I have chose is the only brands I use on builds but I'm open to all suggestions on the other parts. We mainly PC game and stream some movies to our 52 inch Samsung Led TV. There will be no over clocking with this PC were just building it for 5 years of longevity with room for upgrades when needed.

LIAN LI PC-Q33WB Black Aluminum Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case $124.99

SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold (SS-650KM Active PFC F3) 650W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active $109.99

GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 (rev. 1.0) LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard $149.99

Intel Core i3-6100 3M 3.7 GHz LGA 1151 BX80662I36100 Desktop Processor $129.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000) Intel Z170 Platform / Intel X99 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-3000C15D-16GVRB $94.99

EVGA GeForce GTX 960 04G-P4-1962-KR 4GB SC GAMING, Only 6.8 inches, Perfect for mITX Build Graphics Card $203.99

CRYORIG H7 Tower Cooler For AMD/Intel CPU $34.50

Total is $848.44

I have a couple new Samsung 250 GB 850 Evo SSD Drives for the OS and several new 1 TB Western Digital Blue drives around for quick upgrades or repairs for friends and family. I always get them on sale when I can.

The only questions I have is with some left in the budget should I get a M2 250 GB sata drive or just stay with the EVO? Possibly also moving up to the Intel Core i5-6500 6M Skylake Quad-Core 3.2. I could also do both and a little to the budget since I have storage drives.
Thanks guys.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

A 250Gb x4 NVM-e M.2 SSD is worth thinking about.

some changes with nearly everything.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.98 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.50 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($117.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($87.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($199.45 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB Superclocked Video Card ($199.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Lian-Li PC-Q33WB Mini ITX Tower Case ($131.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1047.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-25 15:56 EST-0500

I might consider a different case.

 

[skippyboy92362]

I never thought of moving down to that board but there really isn't that much difference between it and the G1. I was also looking at a different case
LIAN LI PC-Q36WA Silver Aluminum Computer Case. Yes I have looked at EVGA power supply's but if you do the research SeaSonic makes a lot of power supply's for different manufactures. I'll stay with SeaSonic plus even though I'm not over clocking I have some headroom at 650 watts even if 550 watts is plenty according to the power supply calculator. I'm still not convinced to go with a M.2 SSD yet. The i5-6500 is in. Dropping the i3.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

I never thought of moving down to that board but there really isn't that much difference between it and the G1. I was also looking at a different case
LIAN LI PC-Q36WA Silver Aluminum Computer Case. Yes I have looked at EVGA power supply's but if you do the research SeaSonic makes a lot of power supply's for different manufactures. I'll stay with SeaSonic plus even though I'm not over clocking I have some headroom at 650 watts even if 550 watts is plenty according to the power supply calculator. I'm still not convinced to go with a M.2 SSD yet. The i5-6500 is in. Dropping the i3.

This is the case from your original post LIAN LI PC-Q33WB Black Aluminum Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case $124.99
did you change your mind? The EVGA PSU is made by Super Flower. That's as good as it gets.

I would not go with an 'ordinary' M.2. SSD unless it was to save space. The NVMe at 32Gb/s can be 3 to 5 times faster than a SATA drive. The motherboard is good enough for what you want unless there is some special feature on the G1 that you must have.

If you abandon the M.2, then you can either save a bit more or spend more on the other components.

 

[skippyboy92362]

Well there has been some major changes all around. When you have 2 teenage boys who like to game on steam I had to step it up a little. To cut cost there was nothing wrong with the old Lian Li PC-V354 case I just got busted by the wife on trying replace it. I'll remove all the old components, clean it, and replace the fans with 4 Cougar 120mm fans.

New components.

Motherboard dropping the mini ITX and going with a 1151 micro ATX since it will fit in the old case.

ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VIII GENE with a Intel Core i5-6600K 6M Skylake Quad-Core 3.5 GHz on a combo deal for $478. Giving us a little more expansion for upgrades.

Memory is G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000 $94. Nothing changed really here.

Graphics card EVGA GeForce GTX 960 04G-P4-3969-KR 4GB FTW GAMING w/ACX 2.0+, Whisper Silent Cooling w/ Free Installed Backplate Graphics Card $245. This seems to be the sweet spot with graphics, and I could step up to a GTX 970 and still be in budget.

Power Supply EVGA 120-G1-0650-XR 80 PLUS GOLD 650 W Fully Modular NVIDIA SLI Ready and Crossfire Support Continuous Power Supply $90. I could still get away with 550 watts, but 650 watts leaves room for upgrades. I'm going to give EVGA a shot and see what happens.

Staying with the CRYORIG H7 Tower Cooler For AMD/Intel CPU $34.50.

Still under $1000 but just might go with a 970GTX which would put the build around $1100. Still with in reason for a nice little Steam HTPC box.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

I would not use the EVGA G1. It is good, but it is not high-performance. It's a great 'tractor' PSU, but you need a 'race car' PSU. Get the G2 or the B2, or the GS.