Compact (ITX) gaming build under £600

[El_Mayo]

Hi guys, planning a new mini-ITX build for gaming for a friend (most taxing game she's gonna play is probably GTA V/Assassin's Creed)

Here's my part list so far

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£143.34 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus H81I-PLUS Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£49.99 @ Novatech)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Red 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£31.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 380 2GB Video Card (£155.99 @ Aria PC)
Case: Thermaltake Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Tower Case (£47.78 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£51.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £517.06

I'm not sure whether to go for Haswell and save a couple £££ or go for Skylake. The person the rig is for won't care either way, doesn't overclock etc. They just wanna use it as a console really.

I don't know any good cases ITX cases but I've heard the Thermaltake V1 is quite good. Has the nice big fan. The smaller the case the better as I don't need a big heatsink or insanely long graphics card

Haven't put an SSD in there as I'll pick one up further down the line (when something goes on sale)

Picked cheapest ASUS board I could find, not gonna overclock anything (so maybe can go cheaper?)

I'm open to any suggestions as long as the whole price doesn't exceed £600. I will also try and get all parts from Amazon as shipping will be free! If anyone's done a similar build feel free to post your spec etc. etc. thanks

 

[alucasa]

May I suggest this PSU instead?

Silverstone SFX 450w

It saves you a lot of cable management.

Or there is a modular version of it for 20 bucks more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256084

 

[El_Mayo]

May I suggest this PSU instead?

Silverstone SFX 450w

It saves you a lot of cable management.

Or there is a modular version of it for 20 bucks more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256084

Hi mate, I know the case takes regular ATX but I don't really know what the deal is with SFX PSUs. They appear to cost a bit more for the same wattage, is that the case? Can you mount those smaller PSUs in any case that takes ATX or would that be too small?

edit: just noticed what you linked would come with an ATX bracket. If you think I can get away with 450W for the build I'll consider either an SFX PSU or go for a semi modular ATX. Don't wanna go too much over £50 for the PSU

 

[alucasa]

Yeah, it will fit in ATX slot. It comes with an adapter.

It is about half size of normal ATX and comes with half-length cables. They are 80 gold PSU and I am using 3 of them right now, solid as rock. The small size and half length cables do save a lot of space in tight ITX cases.

 

[El_Mayo]

Yeah, it will fit in ATX slot. It comes with an adapter.

It is about half size of normal ATX and comes with half-length cables. They are 80 gold PSU and I am using 3 of them right now, solid as rock. The small size and half length cables do save a lot of space in tight ITX cases.

you reckon this is better for saving space than a semi-mod full size PSU?
I can find the 80+ Bronze version for about £50 but the 80+ Gold you linked is £80 according to PCPartPicker

 

[alucasa]

Here is a photo of my current build I am looking on. The mini itx case was designed to take in ATX PSU but I installed the SFX PSU anyway. You can see how much spare space has suddenly opened up. It is up to you but I am a firm believer of these SFX PSUs.

 

[El_Mayo]

Here is a photo of my current build I am looking on. The mini itx case was designed to take in ATX PSU but I installed the SFX PSU anyway. You can see how much spare space has suddenly opened up. It is up to you but I am a firm believer of these SFX PSUs.

View attachment 70413

That looks good! I might not go for that exact one you've got (80+ Gold & modular) cos it's a bit expensive but I will definitely look at SFX PSUs now i know they'll work with any regular ATX mounting spot!

 

[alucasa]

Yeah, the 20 bucks extra might be a bit too much to swallow. The none modular version is a lot cheaper. I ended up using 5 modules out of 6, so you might as well get the non-modular version.

My oldest SFX psu is entering 7th year now and has been powering my media rig all these years (Mini itx setup with 5 HDDs).
There wasn't the modular version back then.

 

[Shou Miko]

That looks good! I might not go for that exact one you've got (80+ Gold & modular) cos it's a bit expensive but I will definitely look at SFX PSUs now i know they'll work with any regular ATX mounting spot!

Why is it I always see ppl going for a CX series PSU from Corsair or finding something that cost next to know like £20~40 and still get I5 with a GFX that can draw some power.

U can get a EVGA 600W 80+ Bronze for £53,44 @ OC UK Link: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/evga-600w-80-plus-bronze-power-supply-100-b1-0600-kr-ca-008-ea.html

or u can get a SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W 80+ Gold for £59,99 @ OC UK Link: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/supe...0-plus-gold-power-supply-black-ca-003-sf.html

 

[El_Mayo]

Why is it I always see ppl going for a CX series PSU from Corsair or finding something that cost next to know like £20~40 and still get I5 with a GFX that can draw some power.

U can get a EVGA 600W 80+ Bronze for £53,44 @ OC UK Link: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/evga-600w-80-plus-bronze-power-supply-100-b1-0600-kr-ca-008-ea.html

or u can get a SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W 80+ Gold for £59,99 @ OC UK Link: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/supe...0-plus-gold-power-supply-black-ca-003-sf.html

Hi mate, do you reckon the build I've posted so far will draw more than 450W? I'm leaning towards the smaller SFX power supplies anyway, but the ones you linked are a fair bit more (after you add £10 shipping) for wattage I'm not sure I'll need

 

[GhostRyder]

Hi mate, do you reckon the build I've posted so far will draw more than 450W? I'm leaning towards the smaller SFX power supplies anyway, but the ones you linked are a fair bit more (after you add £10 shipping) for wattage I'm not sure I'll need

Nah, I think you will be fine with a 450watt sfx psu in that build. You can assume 250watts max output (under like furmark which is unrealistic) for the gpu, then that leaves 200 for the rest of the system which is plenty for even an overclocked processor.

 

[El_Mayo]

Nah, I think you will be fine with a 450watt sfx psu in that build. You can assume 250watts max output (under like furmark which is unrealistic) for the gpu, then that leaves 200 for the rest of the system which is plenty for even an overclocked processor.

Hi mate, this is what the part list looks like now

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£143.34 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus H81I-PLUS Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£63.65 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Red 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£31.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£54.90 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 380 4GB SOC Video Card (£174.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Tower Case (£33.75 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Silverstone 450W 80+ Bronze Certified SFX Power Supply (£51.95 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: Fractal Design FD-FAN-SSR3-80-WT 20.2 CFM 80mm Fan (£5.49 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £560.04
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-27 22:01 GMT+0000

I've moved away from the 2GB version of the R9 380 because I heard 4GB is better than 2GB *even* at 1080p
I've gone with an ASUS board solely because of the Fan Xpert 3 software which I know works quite nicely with my current board for controlling fan speed. Anyone know if MSI/AsRock bundle any similar software with their boards?

 

[GhostRyder]

Hi mate, this is what the part list looks like now

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£143.34 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus H81I-PLUS Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£63.65 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Red 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£31.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£54.90 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 380 4GB SOC Video Card (£174.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Tower Case (£33.75 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Silverstone 450W 80+ Bronze Certified SFX Power Supply (£51.95 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: Fractal Design FD-FAN-SSR3-80-WT 20.2 CFM 80mm Fan (£5.49 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £560.04
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-27 22:01 GMT+0000

I've moved away from the 2GB version of the R9 380 because I heard 4GB is better than 2GB *even* at 1080p
I've gone with an ASUS board solely because of the Fan Xpert 3 software which I know works quite nicely with my current board for controlling fan speed. Anyone know if MSI/AsRock bundle any similar software with their boards?

That should all work fine together.

As far as fan control softwares, both msi and asrock have similar fan control setups where you can adjust them as needed based on temps. I think they all do a fine job at it personally.

 

[El_Mayo]

That should all work fine together.

As far as fan control softwares, both msi and asrock have similar fan control setups where you can adjust them as needed based on temps. I think they all do a fine job at it personally.

awesome! had to rejig a few things and I only just realised that I'd need to be able to connect the pc wirelessly. A wifi H97/Z97 mini-ITX board has about a £60 premium on a cheap H81 micro-ATX so I've gone with a micro ATX motherboard and case now and chucked in a wifi PCI card. saves a fair bit

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£142.97 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-DGS R2.0 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£37.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Red 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£31.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£53.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 380 4GB SOC Video Card (£174.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Thermaltake Core V21 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£45.44 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£40.98 @ Amazon UK)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN881ND 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£12.95 @ Aria PC)
Total: £541.23

 

[DarthBaggins]

What about a 120GB SSD for your OS? think it would be w/ in your budget

 

[El_Mayo]

What about a 120GB SSD for your OS? think it would be w/ in your budget

fully planning on getting one in the future, it's for new PC gamer so i told her see how she gets on with loading times and if she's okay with em she can pass on an SSD. If this were my rig theres no way i don't chuck a 512GB one in there!

 

[DarthBaggins]

lol ok yeah I would say keep it simple for a newcomer for now

 

[peche]

take a watch ...
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/Peche/saved/#view=Zrqv6h

Regards.

 

[El_Mayo]

take a watch ...
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/Peche/saved/#view=Zrqv6h

Regards.

While that is nice it falls out of the budget although I didn't know you could get an AIO under £50 now! now i'm tempted to get one for myself

 

[peche]

While that is nice it falls out of the budget although I didn't know you could get an AIO under £50 now! now i'm tempted to get one for myself

were are you from ?
list is based on USA

 

[El_Mayo]

were are you from ?
list is based on USA

UK haha. altho that just proves how fucking expensive parts are here (((

 

[alucasa]

And, well, VAT doesn't help that, either.

 

[El_Mayo]

And, well, VAT doesn't help that, either.

Next time I go to America I'm hauling back a whole rig sans case in my hand luggage! back on topic i think the build list is pretty good right now and I'm probably gonna pull the trigger and order next week

 

[MxPhenom 216]

SSD for the OS, not game loading times. I wont build a system without an SSD now.

 

[peche]

UK haha. altho that just proves how fucking expensive parts are here (((

i can pick up a new list for you bassed on UK sites....
parts are even expensive here in CR