First Mini PC Build

[xTimelordx]

Like the title says, I decided to build my first mini PC and wanted some opinions on my choices, I have done my fare share of browsing and I think this setup will do for now.

Budget was aiming for $550 so I came in just under that in total, also managed to find all of my items on amazon with prime and newegg. (not including shipping and mail-in rebates)

Without further ado, here's my list.

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/xxcMpb

I am open to any changes you guys think would be better but I still don't really want to be going over $550.

 

[James Mason]

have to use the Permalink not the address bar.

 

[xTimelordx]

have to use the Permalink not the address bar.

My bad!

List has changed a little but this is the current one.

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/xxcMpb

 

[Guest]

Do you already own the 270X? It requires a lot of power, the 500W PSU will not cut it. You should go with Skylake/DDR4 instead of the older Haswell/DDR3 and a higher wattage power supply. Also added a SSD for the OS boot drive.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H170M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($97.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($33.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($35.49 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($41.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2GB Dual-X Video Card
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 700W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($47.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $403.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-11 13:57 EDT-0400

 

[James Mason]

Do you already own the 270X? It requires a lot of power, the 500W PSU will not cut it. You should go with Skylake/DDR4 instead of the older Haswell/DDR3 and a higher wattage power supply. Also added a SSD for the OS boot drive.

a 270x doesn't draw that much power, PCP has it estimated right, the system would only be using about 300Ws, with a 500w PSU that's still plenty of overhead.

Going with a skylake i3 and ddr4 will be a pretty big improvement though.

 

[xTimelordx]

Do you already own the 270X? It requires a lot of power, the 500W PSU will not cut it. You should go with Skylake/DDR4 instead of the older Haswell/DDR3 and a higher wattage power supply. Also added a SSD for the OS boot drive.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H170M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($97.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($33.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($35.49 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($41.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2GB Dual-X Video Card
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 700W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($47.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $403.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-11 13:57 EDT-0400

Wasn't going to add a SSD yet but I was expecting it to be more expensive. Also, the motherboard on your list doesn't seem to be that great, not to many good reviews that I'm seeing for it. Was thinking the current PSU was going to be fine with my setup seeing as I have a few watts to spare after everything is in. Would also love to go to a DDR4 just want a different board than the one on your list. I also do not have a 270x yet but have been looking at one for a little bit now.

 

[CV_Taihou]

Something like this could work well. Just toss in your choice of GPU and you're good to go

i3-6100 Mini ITX

 

[xTimelordx]

Something like this could work well. Just toss in your choice of GPU and you're good to go

i3-6100 Mini ITX

Was planning on going with the 6100 after comparing the two CPU's, although I still need a new motherboard since the asrock h170m doesn't have the greatest of reviews. Think a MSI b150i would do just fine with my system?

 

[CV_Taihou]

Something like this could work well. Just toss in your choice of GPU and you're good to go

i3-6100 Mini ITX

Was planning on going with the 6100 after comparing the two CPU's, although I still need a new motherboard since the asrock h170m doesn't have the greatest of reviews. Think a MSI b150i would do just fine with my system?

Not really a fan of B series boards. If you can get an H170 it's the best locked chipset available

 

[xTimelordx]

Something like this could work well. Just toss in your choice of GPU and you're good to go

i3-6100 Mini ITX

Was planning on going with the 6100 after comparing the two CPU's, although I still need a new motherboard since the asrock h170m doesn't have the greatest of reviews. Think a MSI b150i would do just fine with my system?

Not really a fan of B series boards. If you can get an H170 it's the best locked chipset available

Not sure what h170m board I was looking at but I can't find it now with the crap reviews, so I've come down with this new list, the new GPU is a lot cheaper with pretty much the same perks.

This is my newer list: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/C34YJV

 

[Guest]

I found a better rated H170 motherboard for you.
Also don't go with NT series RAM for gaming, go with something better like G.Skill Ripjaws 5 or Kingston Fury.
I assume you want one slot free so you can upgrade to 16GB later.

Try this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($113.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston FURY 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($29.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($35.49 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($41.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R7 370 4GB Nitro Video Card ($138.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $536.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-12 13:17 EDT-0400

 

[xTimelordx]

I found a better rated H170 motherboard for you.
Also don't go with NT series RAM for gaming, go with something better like G.Skill Ripjaws 5 or Kingston Fury.
I assume you want one slot free so you can upgrade to 16GB later.

Try this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($113.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston FURY 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($29.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($35.49 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($41.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R7 370 4GB Nitro Video Card ($138.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $536.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-12 13:17 EDT-0400

Other than more/less ports the boards are almost the same but the h170n is about $30 more, also I had a 8gb v series stick in there but the kingstons look better anyways.

Also guys I've started looking into the radeon rx 480 that's supposed to be coming out soon, I'm thinking just to go with the SSD for now and use a external HDD I have on hand until I get a larger SSD and splurge for the 480 instead of the 370, thoughts?