Hi Folks, the build bug hit me something awful recently and I've decided I'd like to modernize my PC.
Approximate Purchase Date: Holidays 2018
Budget Range: $1000-$3000
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming -> Netflix -> Image Manipulation -> Web Surfing -> Office Use
Are you buying a monitor: Not for phase 1
Parts to Upgrade: CASE, CPU, MOBO, RAM, CPU Cooler, & Fans **Powered by EVGA Supernova P2 850W**
Do you need to buy OS: Yes
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg & Amazon
Location: Boise, ID, USA
Parts Preferences: Intel CPU
Overclocking: Maybe
SLI or Crossfire: No
Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 + 1360x768
Additional Comments: I want to build in a Mini Tower or Cube, I really like the exterior of the Coolermaster Q300L, but the interior is crap, and I've fallen victim to flimsy doors from CM far too many times, so thus far the Fractal Design Meshify C Mini best exemplifies what I'd like: Mesh Front Panel, Window Side Panel, No hard-drive cage or bays to obstruct air-flow, PSU shroud, grommets, Cable ties, hard drives mount to tray, ample space behind tray, and high quality materials; though it suffers in 2 categories: insufficient space above MOBO, and lack of a handle, if you can find better, I'm game. I'm aiming to make a powerful Intel build with a single video card (I keep saying I'll buy 2 for SLI and I never do), ridiculous cooling performance, as much RGB as possible (preferably addressable, compatible with the MOBO header, and able to display more than one color simultaneously). On board Wifi is a must as there won't be enough expansion slots to add a Wifi chip and the landlord would frown at me if I started drilling holes through the walls for lan cables. I'm still on the fence between an AIO and an Air Cooler, the AIOs I looked at seem to have high DOA rates, and a top mounted configuration would conflict with most RGB RAM, Leaving only the front mounted configuration, which would necessitate removing the hard drive bays to install the bottom mounted intake fan (which still likely wouldn't be enough to create positive pressure in the case). Meanwhile I hate working with bulky air coolers, they are a pain to install, I'm well aware of the extra stress they are causing the Mobo, not to mention they come with their own RAM restrictions. In both instances though, I'm willing to replace the stock fans for better cooling performance/RGB enhancements. I'm also aiming for good cable management this time, If I need to purchase custom cables, so be it.
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I recently saw a super tidy mini build and it kicked off the builder bug in me. Not to mention I've suffered a host of problems recently that even required me to do a clean install. Most of it is driver issues (and most of that is Asus's fault for not supplying up to date/working drivers) Lately I've found myself searching more and more obscure corners of the internet for my drivers and it is getting exhausting (especially finding the up to date intel sata controller driver for my fiance's build, that was a nightmare) Speaking of Asus, I'm on the fence about jumping from the ROG ship, I like most of the features on ASUS boards and I've never had one outright fail (Gigabyte I'm looking at you), but their driver support is terrible, and they seem to cut corners in the most illogical places (USB controllers not implementing the full USB 3.0 Standard) So I'm open to suggestions
Here's my current build
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: AMD - FX-8350 4GHz 8-Core Processor (Purchased For $199.99)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - Nepton 240M 76.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (Purchased For $124.38)
Motherboard: Asus - Crosshair V Formula-Z ATX AM3+ Motherboard (Purchased For $254.01)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident X 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (Purchased For $139.99)
Storage: Samsung - 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $116.97)
Storage: Western Digital - VelociRaptor 1TB 3.5" 10000RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $199.99)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB FTW ACX 2.0+ Video Card (Purchased For $649.99)
Case: Cooler Master - HAF X ATX Full Tower Case (Purchased For $179.99)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA P2 850W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $139.99)
Optical Drive: LG - BH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (Purchased For $99.99)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (Purchased For $0.00)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus - PCE-AC68 PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter (Purchased For $97.99)
Case Fan: Cooler Master - Megaflow 110.0 CFM 200mm Fan (Purchased For $16.99)
Keyboard: Razer - Ornata Chroma Wired Gaming Keyboard (Purchased For $88.99)
Mouse: Razer - DeathAdder Chroma Wired Optical Mouse (Purchased For $69.99)
Headphones: Logitech - G633 Artemis Spectrum 7.1 Channel Headset (Purchased For $95.99)
Other: VIZIO E-Series 42” Theater 3D™ LCD HDTV with VIZIO Internet Apps® (Purchased For $529.99)
Total: $3005.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-05-10 02:45 EDT-0400
And here's what I've chosen thus far (subject to change by suggestion):
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor ($346.96 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - MasterLiquid ML240R RGB 66.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($117.62 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG Strix Z370-I Gaming Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($179.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($463.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 1.0TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($399.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB FTW ACX 2.0+ Video Card (Purchased For $649.99)
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C Mini Dark TG MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA P2 850W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $139.99)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home Full 32/64-bit ($119.99 @ B&H)
Case Fan: Corsair - LL120 RGB LED 43.2 CFM 120mm Fan ($32.66 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Corsair - LL120RGB LED (Three Fans With Lighting Node PRO) 43.2 CFM 120mm Fans ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $2651.15
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-05-10 02:35 EDT-0400
In this build the cpu cooler would be mounted on the front in a push configuration exhausting into the case, dual top and rear fans exhaust, and bottom fan intake. But I think this configuration is in dire need of improvement, I believe there are some AIOs with fans that would not run into the RAM in a top-mounted configuration due to a ring shaped rather than square design, but that would largely depend on where the fans sit relative to the RAM, If the RAM is sitting at the apex of the curve of the fan, then the fan might as well be square. Another problem with this build is that it requires me to immediately purchase an expensive M2 SSD that I would prefer to save for phase 2, as it necessitates the removal of the Hard drive cage and thus my existing 1TB HD drive, leaving my 256 GB SSD which is insufficient for a full system, I also have no desire to buy intermediate components that would immediately be replaced in the next phase of the build. This along with the many reports of failing AIOs is causing me to consider an air cooler despite the loss in peak performance.
Final Build:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor ($329.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: NZXT - Kraken X62 Rev 2 98.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($146.89 @ OutletPC)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver - 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste ($5.45 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG Strix Z370-I Gaming Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($189.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($463.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 1.0TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($399.99 @ Samsung)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB FTW ACX 2.0+ Video Card (Purchased For $649.99)
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C Mini Dark TG MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA P2 850W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $139.99)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home Full 32/64-bit ($109.99 @ B&H)
Case Fan: Noctua - NF-F12 industrialPPC-3000 PWM 109.9 CFM 120mm Fan ($22.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Corsair - LL120RGB LED (Three Fans With Lighting Node PRO) 43.2 CFM 120mm Fans ($98.21 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Corsair - ML140 PRO RGB (2 pack w/Lighting Node PRO) 55.4 CFM 140mm Fans ($80.61 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Razer - Ornata Chroma Wired Gaming Keyboard (Purchased For $88.95)
Mouse: Razer - DeathAdder Chroma Wired Optical Mouse (Purchased For $69.99)
Headphones: Logitech - G633 Artemis Spectrum 7.1 Channel Headset (Purchased For $94.99)
Other: NZXT Internal USB Hub ($19.97 @ Amazon)
Other: Noctua NA-FC1 4-pin PWM Fan Controller ($19.95 @ Amazon)
Other: CORSAIR RGB LED Lighting PRO Expansion Kit ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $3051.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-05-14 03:58 EDT-0400
Front mounted Kraken with ML140RGB fans. LL120RGBs as top and rear exhaust. And the Noctua as the bottom intake. Not included in the above list will be a set of individually braided PSU cables.
As near as I can tell through much research this is about the best way to build with a Mini-ITX board (though there are many other choices for individual components with similar performance). Many of the Micro ATX boards were lackluster, and while they generally performed better, they were lacking in several key features. I considered giving up on the Mini case and jumping up to the mid-sized case with a Strix Z370-F which would perform better and present less of a build challenge, but decided for aesthetics and portability reasons to keep it in the mini case.
In my research on Motherboards I learned MSI has much, much better RGB support, they even include headers for corsair components, their overclocking performs on par with Asus as well, However, they rarely even attempt to cool the M2 drives, and when they do (with heat shields) they actually end up heating rather than cooling, so if you're not using an M2 drive definitely pick up an MSI. If I were going all out I'd probably pick up the MSI Godlike. Gigabyte is also an excellent overclocker, but as I myself have experienced and many reviewers commented on, you usually end up RMAing 2-3 boards before getting a working one.
If anyone has questions about the configuration of the many components (I know I did) and are working on their own builds please IM me.
I'll post pictures after build.
Approximate Purchase Date: Holidays 2018
Budget Range: $1000-$3000
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming -> Netflix -> Image Manipulation -> Web Surfing -> Office Use
Are you buying a monitor: Not for phase 1
Parts to Upgrade: CASE, CPU, MOBO, RAM, CPU Cooler, & Fans **Powered by EVGA Supernova P2 850W**
Do you need to buy OS: Yes
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg & Amazon
Location: Boise, ID, USA
Parts Preferences: Intel CPU
Overclocking: Maybe
SLI or Crossfire: No
Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 + 1360x768
Additional Comments: I want to build in a Mini Tower or Cube, I really like the exterior of the Coolermaster Q300L, but the interior is crap, and I've fallen victim to flimsy doors from CM far too many times, so thus far the Fractal Design Meshify C Mini best exemplifies what I'd like: Mesh Front Panel, Window Side Panel, No hard-drive cage or bays to obstruct air-flow, PSU shroud, grommets, Cable ties, hard drives mount to tray, ample space behind tray, and high quality materials; though it suffers in 2 categories: insufficient space above MOBO, and lack of a handle, if you can find better, I'm game. I'm aiming to make a powerful Intel build with a single video card (I keep saying I'll buy 2 for SLI and I never do), ridiculous cooling performance, as much RGB as possible (preferably addressable, compatible with the MOBO header, and able to display more than one color simultaneously). On board Wifi is a must as there won't be enough expansion slots to add a Wifi chip and the landlord would frown at me if I started drilling holes through the walls for lan cables. I'm still on the fence between an AIO and an Air Cooler, the AIOs I looked at seem to have high DOA rates, and a top mounted configuration would conflict with most RGB RAM, Leaving only the front mounted configuration, which would necessitate removing the hard drive bays to install the bottom mounted intake fan (which still likely wouldn't be enough to create positive pressure in the case). Meanwhile I hate working with bulky air coolers, they are a pain to install, I'm well aware of the extra stress they are causing the Mobo, not to mention they come with their own RAM restrictions. In both instances though, I'm willing to replace the stock fans for better cooling performance/RGB enhancements. I'm also aiming for good cable management this time, If I need to purchase custom cables, so be it.
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I recently saw a super tidy mini build and it kicked off the builder bug in me. Not to mention I've suffered a host of problems recently that even required me to do a clean install. Most of it is driver issues (and most of that is Asus's fault for not supplying up to date/working drivers) Lately I've found myself searching more and more obscure corners of the internet for my drivers and it is getting exhausting (especially finding the up to date intel sata controller driver for my fiance's build, that was a nightmare) Speaking of Asus, I'm on the fence about jumping from the ROG ship, I like most of the features on ASUS boards and I've never had one outright fail (Gigabyte I'm looking at you), but their driver support is terrible, and they seem to cut corners in the most illogical places (USB controllers not implementing the full USB 3.0 Standard) So I'm open to suggestions
Here's my current build
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: AMD - FX-8350 4GHz 8-Core Processor (Purchased For $199.99)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - Nepton 240M 76.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (Purchased For $124.38)
Motherboard: Asus - Crosshair V Formula-Z ATX AM3+ Motherboard (Purchased For $254.01)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident X 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (Purchased For $139.99)
Storage: Samsung - 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $116.97)
Storage: Western Digital - VelociRaptor 1TB 3.5" 10000RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $199.99)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB FTW ACX 2.0+ Video Card (Purchased For $649.99)
Case: Cooler Master - HAF X ATX Full Tower Case (Purchased For $179.99)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA P2 850W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $139.99)
Optical Drive: LG - BH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (Purchased For $99.99)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (Purchased For $0.00)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus - PCE-AC68 PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter (Purchased For $97.99)
Case Fan: Cooler Master - Megaflow 110.0 CFM 200mm Fan (Purchased For $16.99)
Keyboard: Razer - Ornata Chroma Wired Gaming Keyboard (Purchased For $88.99)
Mouse: Razer - DeathAdder Chroma Wired Optical Mouse (Purchased For $69.99)
Headphones: Logitech - G633 Artemis Spectrum 7.1 Channel Headset (Purchased For $95.99)
Other: VIZIO E-Series 42” Theater 3D™ LCD HDTV with VIZIO Internet Apps® (Purchased For $529.99)
Total: $3005.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-05-10 02:45 EDT-0400
And here's what I've chosen thus far (subject to change by suggestion):
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor ($346.96 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - MasterLiquid ML240R RGB 66.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($117.62 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG Strix Z370-I Gaming Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($179.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($463.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 1.0TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($399.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB FTW ACX 2.0+ Video Card (Purchased For $649.99)
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C Mini Dark TG MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA P2 850W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $139.99)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home Full 32/64-bit ($119.99 @ B&H)
Case Fan: Corsair - LL120 RGB LED 43.2 CFM 120mm Fan ($32.66 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Corsair - LL120RGB LED (Three Fans With Lighting Node PRO) 43.2 CFM 120mm Fans ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $2651.15
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-05-10 02:35 EDT-0400
In this build the cpu cooler would be mounted on the front in a push configuration exhausting into the case, dual top and rear fans exhaust, and bottom fan intake. But I think this configuration is in dire need of improvement, I believe there are some AIOs with fans that would not run into the RAM in a top-mounted configuration due to a ring shaped rather than square design, but that would largely depend on where the fans sit relative to the RAM, If the RAM is sitting at the apex of the curve of the fan, then the fan might as well be square. Another problem with this build is that it requires me to immediately purchase an expensive M2 SSD that I would prefer to save for phase 2, as it necessitates the removal of the Hard drive cage and thus my existing 1TB HD drive, leaving my 256 GB SSD which is insufficient for a full system, I also have no desire to buy intermediate components that would immediately be replaced in the next phase of the build. This along with the many reports of failing AIOs is causing me to consider an air cooler despite the loss in peak performance.
Final Build:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor ($329.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: NZXT - Kraken X62 Rev 2 98.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($146.89 @ OutletPC)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver - 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste ($5.45 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG Strix Z370-I Gaming Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($189.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($463.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 1.0TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($399.99 @ Samsung)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB FTW ACX 2.0+ Video Card (Purchased For $649.99)
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C Mini Dark TG MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA P2 850W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $139.99)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home Full 32/64-bit ($109.99 @ B&H)
Case Fan: Noctua - NF-F12 industrialPPC-3000 PWM 109.9 CFM 120mm Fan ($22.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Corsair - LL120RGB LED (Three Fans With Lighting Node PRO) 43.2 CFM 120mm Fans ($98.21 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Corsair - ML140 PRO RGB (2 pack w/Lighting Node PRO) 55.4 CFM 140mm Fans ($80.61 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Razer - Ornata Chroma Wired Gaming Keyboard (Purchased For $88.95)
Mouse: Razer - DeathAdder Chroma Wired Optical Mouse (Purchased For $69.99)
Headphones: Logitech - G633 Artemis Spectrum 7.1 Channel Headset (Purchased For $94.99)
Other: NZXT Internal USB Hub ($19.97 @ Amazon)
Other: Noctua NA-FC1 4-pin PWM Fan Controller ($19.95 @ Amazon)
Other: CORSAIR RGB LED Lighting PRO Expansion Kit ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $3051.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-05-14 03:58 EDT-0400
Front mounted Kraken with ML140RGB fans. LL120RGBs as top and rear exhaust. And the Noctua as the bottom intake. Not included in the above list will be a set of individually braided PSU cables.
As near as I can tell through much research this is about the best way to build with a Mini-ITX board (though there are many other choices for individual components with similar performance). Many of the Micro ATX boards were lackluster, and while they generally performed better, they were lacking in several key features. I considered giving up on the Mini case and jumping up to the mid-sized case with a Strix Z370-F which would perform better and present less of a build challenge, but decided for aesthetics and portability reasons to keep it in the mini case.
In my research on Motherboards I learned MSI has much, much better RGB support, they even include headers for corsair components, their overclocking performs on par with Asus as well, However, they rarely even attempt to cool the M2 drives, and when they do (with heat shields) they actually end up heating rather than cooling, so if you're not using an M2 drive definitely pick up an MSI. If I were going all out I'd probably pick up the MSI Godlike. Gigabyte is also an excellent overclocker, but as I myself have experienced and many reviewers commented on, you usually end up RMAing 2-3 boards before getting a working one.
If anyone has questions about the configuration of the many components (I know I did) and are working on their own builds please IM me.
I'll post pictures after build.