Please rate this Mini-ITX build!

[glasslich]

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

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z87I-DELUXE Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($179.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($249.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($44.99 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: Raidmax 630W Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $883.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-15 20:50 EDT-0400)

 

[dashboy1998]

Do NOT use/get Raidmax PSUs they're so bad.

 

[Rammy]

Pretty decent overall.

-Caviar Black drives are quite expensive, and no faster than the equivalent Blue or Barracuda. I'd personally save money here to use it on the PSU, or something else.
-PSU isn't great, it wouldn't be a popular choice. Going modular in that case is a decent idea given the PSU position, but it'll cost you if you want modularity and quality. You can afford to drop the wattage to 500-550W though.
-No CPU cooler included, so you'll have to factor that into the overall cost. In an Elite 130 you are fairly limited in this regard.
-If you are going for pure games performance, you can do better for the money. Going to a cheaper i5, cheaper motherboard, and pushing more money into first PSU, then graphics, is likely to net you better FPS overall.

 

[glasslich]

I like what you are saying Rammy, could you elaborate with an actual build recommendation for me? My budget cannot exceed $700-800

 

[glasslich]

Btw, the reason I chose the processor and the mobo that I did was for overclocking in the future.

 

[glasslich]

Also, can someone speak to the difference between the GTX 760 vs. ATI R9 270x?

 

[dashboy1998]

The GTX 760 does better in most games but they both trade depending what game.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-280x-r9-270x-r7-260x,3635.html

 

[Rammy]

Er, well I can't really beat your original build for $700 when your original build cost $900 lol.

This is about as close as I can get, and at stock speeds it'll basically match your original system for $170 less-
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($249.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($44.99 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $717.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-16 17:35 EDT-0400)
The PSU is excessive in terms of capacity, but it's a quality semi-modular unit at a very reasonable price, and it means you can more or less add any graphics card you like.
If you need Wifi, you can pick up a suitable motherboard for under $100 (B85N-Wifi would be my pick)

If you want to spend more, and get the best gaming performance, you are best to put as much as you can into graphics. A GTX770/R9 280X is perfectly achievable on your budget range, and if you go by your original ~$900 price tag, you can just about squeeze in a GTX780. You can spend more on the processor for say a 4570, but depending on the price differences it's usually not worth it.


I'd pretty much echo what Dashboy said about the GTX760 vs 270X. The GTX760 is generally the superior card, but the 270X is supposed to be a good bit cheaper, and has a few advantages in things like BF4. Pretty much all AMD cards are selling at inflated prices though, the 270X "launched" at $200 and you'll be hard pushed to get one for much cheaper than that, even though they've been out for 5months+, which means the price gap isn't all that big and popular models like the Gigabyte and MSI versions can be fairly sparse.