$700 Console Sized PC Help

[SlowedMack]

Hey everybody! My friend is wanting to build a computer, this will be his first build and he is very exited. The only challenging thing is the size of the computer, he has a cubby where he wants to put it in. The size of the cubby is just over a foot on each side. I know they make small cases, but I'm not really that great at finding the "perfect" case. He told me that he just wants a simple looking case with maybe RGB, but its not a requirement. So I was just wondering if anyone had some part suggestions for me to help him out. He wont really need that high end of stuff, he is going to be hooking this up to a tv for the time being, but he wants something that can play 1080p games relatively well while saving as much as he can.

 

Thank you - a friend

[boey]

Putting that PC in a cubby will cause dust buildup extremely fast, and you'd have to tradeoff thermal performance for noise. If he really really wants to fit a pc in there, just get a console. I had a friend who had a Mini-ITX PC, had very good cooling(2 Noctua AF12x25, decent 120mm AIO etc) but because he treated it more like a console than a PC, it choked up within a few months. After like 8 months I took it apart to sell for spare parts(he gave it to me in exchange for building his new PC) and the dust in there was about the same volume as 6 mcnuggets from mcdonald's. 

 

Right now here's how it stands

 

Less price-performance compared to console

Bigger(unless you go for a small case, and that's where you need good airflow which a cubby won't help)

Higher noise(from running fans at much higher rpm to compensate for cubby)

 

Although I'm all for him building his own PC, the situation is that either you get him a $700 PC that overheats and is noisy af because of the cubby, and plays games at like 1080p 144hz at max, or you buy him a $400 PS4 Pro which can likely fit in that cubby, shouldn't be too noisy, is much cheaper and can play AAA titles very well.

 

 

[Votivee]

@fasauceome may be able to provide some insight.

[Pixel5]

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 5 3600X 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor
Motherboard	Gigabyte - B450 I AORUS PRO WIFI Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard	$119.99 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill - Trident Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$129.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Samsung - 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$89.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	Sapphire - Radeon RX 580 8 GB NITRO+ Video Card	$204.99 @ Newegg
Case	EVGA - Hadron Mini ITX Tower Case w/500 W Power Supply	$169.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$714.95
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-02 13:29 EDT-0400

 

this is what i would do with that price and space requirement.

 

keep in mind that going small is a bad idea and he will regret this for eternity as it pushed up the prices for the mainboard and case while taking away from other areas like the GPU where he could get more performance in a bigger case.

[LukeSavenije]

10 minutes ago, Pixel5 said:

this is what i would do with that price and space requirement.

you forgot to include cpu pricing...

 

and i just undercut you by 300 dollars by going with well priced parts, just a little bigger

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$199.00
Motherboard	ASRock - B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$59.89 @ OutletPC
Memory	Team - T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$56.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Patriot - Burst 480 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$44.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	Sapphire - Radeon RX 580 8 GB PULSE Video Card	$169.99 @ Newegg
Case	Thermaltake - Versa H17 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$34.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair - CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$41.89 @ OutletPC
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$652.74
	Mail-in rebates	-$45.00
	Total	$607.74
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-02 13:47 EDT-0400

 

[Fasauceome]

50 minutes ago, SlowedMack said:

but I'm not really that great at finding the "perfect" case

I'm all about the Silverstone Sugo SG13B, it's shoebox sized, with enough room inside for the parts to breathe and for cable managing to not be a pain.

It would fit really well in a foot wide cubby.

[VEXICUS]

1 hour ago, SlowedMack said:

...

 

25 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

...

Me and fasauceome will recommend something like this....

But I'll recommend you to go with ryzen 2600 just because it'll be cheaper after the ryzen 2 launch and it still offers excellent price to performance.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($148.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - B450 I AORUS PRO WIFI Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard  ($119.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Team - T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($56.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: ADATA - XPG SX6000 Pro 512 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($57.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB VENTUS XS OC Video Card  ($264.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Silverstone - SG13 Mini ITX Tower Case  ($50.50 @ B&H) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($41.89 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $741.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-02 14:24 EDT-0400

[Pixel5]

1 hour ago, LukeSavenije said:

you forgot to include cpu pricing...

 

and i just undercut you by 300 dollars by going with well priced parts, just a little bigger

 

yea the cpu is not out yet so the price didnt show up and also thats exactly what i said but not what OP wants.

not going for mini itx instantly cuts case and motherboard cost in half easily but thats not what was requested.

[LukeSavenije]

12 minutes ago, Pixel5 said:

yea the cpu is not out yet so the price didnt show up and also thats exactly what i said but not what OP wants.

not going for mini itx instantly cuts case and motherboard cost in half easily but thats not what was requested.

msrp is set to be 200 dollars

 

and then, still

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$199.00
Motherboard	Gigabyte - B450 I AORUS PRO WIFI Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard	$119.99 @ Amazon
Memory	Team - T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$56.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Patriot - Burst 480 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$44.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	Sapphire - Radeon RX 580 8 GB PULSE Video Card	$169.99 @ Newegg
Case	Silverstone - SG13 Mini ITX Tower Case	$50.50 @ B&H
Power Supply	Corsair - CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$41.89 @ OutletPC
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$698.35
	Mail-in rebates	-$15.00
	Total	$683.35
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-02 15:23 EDT-0400