EVGA Hadron Air mITX build (needs GUTS)

dailydodge

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Jul 15, 2014
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Hey helpful Tom's Hardware folks! So for his Christmas gift I just let my brother take home my old-ish gaming PC because I recently built myself a new one. Thing is, I had also recently started to use the older PC not only as a pretty great media PC (twitch, youtube, netflix) but it was also perfectly suitable for most games when my family was visiting and someone in my room wanted to toss around some Chivalry or Counterstrike or something.

So I have a pretty good idea of how I want this next media/medium-duty gaming PC to work out: 1080p with good FPS for most modern games, small form factor, and affordable considering I've already thrown more cash than I'd care to admit at my main rig.

I've already bought:
  • · EVGA Hadron Air mITX case
    · EVGA mITX CPU cooler (100-FS-C901-KR); Newegg reviews are saying this cooler is a dog but I don't really want to take my chances with this case and this PC isn't going to move much, if ever
    · EVGA slim slot-load DVDRW drive for Hadron Air case
    · Intel 530 Series 240GB SSD (for OS and i already have another HDD i'm going to use in here for extra space if needed)

I would really like to build my Mobo+CPU situation around the MSI R9 270X which is only $180 on Newegg right now, and a lot of the builds I'm seeing are mostly i5-4690k's which i already have in this main gaming rig but would be major overkill for this build IMO. So what Mobo+CPU would you guys recommend?

I'm fine with Intel, thinking an i3 would probably work OK but i'm also open to a super-cheap AMD solution to just lessen the blow on my wallet...i'm not going to overclock this thing AT ALL so i'm thinking going light with AMD for both GPU and CPU might work out just fine

BUT

i think the case+cooler combination only works with EVGA's mITX motherboard, which would completely suck because those things are $200 which would look really stupid if i had a derpy little AMD mid-range card and an i3 crammed into it, can anyone confirm this?
 
Solution
partpicker usually does a good job with compatibility


PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pT8dt6
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pT8dt6/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 285 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $417.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-18 02:02 EST-0500
What is the budget? You didn't give one so....


PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3jt6P6
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3jt6P6/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570S 2.9GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 285 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $442.96
 


Trying to keep it under $800, $370 of which is already gone so $430 left for Mobo, CPU, GPU and RAM; you're right i'm sorry i should've provided this info in my OP

i've always kinda recoiled away from ASRock but seems like they've really made some good plays in the gaming market recently, so it might be a good budget solution for me

how can i check its compatibility with the case?

thanks for the reply
 
partpicker usually does a good job with compatibility


PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pT8dt6
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pT8dt6/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 285 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $417.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-18 02:02 EST-0500
 
Solution