Mini-ITX plans

[Pitou]

Alright so i'm planning a mini-ITX build for my girlfriend and will be purchasing the parts slowly over the next few months. Please comment and leave suggestions. I will not buying them all from newegg, im just using it as a place to price it and plan since they are a nice medium. I'm trying to keep this under $600 and i dont want super hd graphics. She gets headaces from hd graphics so all i need is the ability to play games like skyrim on medium to low settings with decent fps. She doesnt need a amazing processor or a lot of storage. Ill be using Intel an NVidia for this build, i really don't know those brands that much since i primarily put amd and radeon in my builds. I also want to stay as faithful to Asus as possible since i always use there products and never have an issue with them.

 

Case: Bitfenix Prodigy Midnight Black Steel / Plastic  Mini-ITX computer case - $69.00

 

HDD: Western Digital Blue HDD 1TB - $59.99

 

GPU: MSI Radeon R7 260x - $149.00

 

Optical Drive: Asus Black SATA DVD-Rom - $18.99

 

Mobo: Asus P8H61-I LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI USB 3.0 Mini-ITX Mobo with UEFI Bios - $72.49

 

CPU: Intel Core I3-2120 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz LGA 1155 Duel Core - $124.99

 

Extra Fan: Rosewill RFA-120-WL 120mm - $4.99

 

PSU: Im buying a bran new one off a buddy for $50, its gold standard 450w, forgot the make and model. He used one in his mini-ITX build with the same case.

 

Total: $572 before shipping

[Tmh85]

I'm not really a fan of low end Intel chips so I would upgrade that soon and also maybe try and get a 650TI Boost as it performs much better than a regular 650ti

[zxcvbnmmssdh]

There is no point in getting thermal paste without a aftermarket CPU cooler. Also, I would recomend getting a SSD over a larger HDD, especially if she doesn't need that much space

[Pitou]

I'm not really a fan of low end Intel chips so I would upgrade that soon and also maybe try and get a 650TI Boost as it performs much better than a regular 650ti

yes im not a fan of them too but im trying to keep it under $600 so i would upgrade it to an i5 at a later date, probably around blackfriday, as for the GPU what do you suggest 

[dizmo]

Are you against used CPU's?
There was a guy mentioning he was trying to sell his 3570k. $100. Would be a much nicer chip.

 

I'd also go with an AMD 260x. Much better performance for the same price.

[Pitou]

Are you against used CPU's?

There was a guy mentioning he was trying to sell his 3570k. $100. Would be a much nicer chip.

 

I'd also go with an AMD 260x. Much better performance for the same price.

i'm not against them, just not a fan of them, me and my buddies have bought a couple used cpus and most of them were dead or died within a month. Also thanks for the suggestion ive looked into the lower R9s but not the R7s, kinda forgot they were a thing

[Probenja]

Wouldn't the black prodigy match better the dvd drive? and it also has a front intake fan. Or get an external dvd drive.

[Pitou]

Wouldn't the black prodigy match better the dvd drive? and it also has a front intake fan. Or get an external dvd drive.

it would, probably going with that one, just "likes the white one" ill probably talk her into the black one

[dizmo]

i'm not against them, just not a fan of them, me and my buddies have bought a couple used cpus and most of them were dead or died within a month. Also thanks for the suggestion ive looked into the lower R9s but not the R7s, kinda forgot they were a thing

Haha, yeah. I generally prefer new too. The 650Ti Boost would be faster in games, 260x better at computation, and the 260x would be a touch cheaper (of the 650Ti Boosts I could find).

[venturizhou]

Are you against used CPU's?

There was a guy mentioning he was trying to sell his 3570k. $100. Would be a much nicer chip.

 

I'd also go with an AMD 260x. Much better performance for the same price.

That sounds like a too good to be true price. Even if it is used. Where did you see this? I'm in the market. 

[dizmo]

That sounds like a too good to be true price. Even if it is used. 

Not really. It's old, used computer hardware. Most people really over value what they have.

My dad picked up 2 6970's a few weeks ago for $160. Work like a charm.

[venturizhou]

Not really. It's old, used computer hardware. Most people really over value what they have.

My dad picked up 2 6970's a few weeks ago for $160. Work like a charm.

Please link me then? I would be interested if it was working. 

[dizmo]

Please link me then? I would be interested if it was working. 

I'll see if I can find it after I watch the USA/Russia game.

[Pitou]

Haha, yeah. I generally prefer new too. The 650Ti Boost would be faster in games, 260x better at computation, and the 260x would be a touch cheaper (of the 650Ti Boosts I could find).

After taking a look, the cpu i listed runs for an average of about 80 used, so i might look into that, if i can save about $40 on the cpu i could spring for a hyper 212 because i hate intels stock heatsinc, i have the hyper 212 plus in mine, 8350 black edition overclocked to 4.5GHz running at around 35 Celsius while under heavy usage, you really cant beet that. Maybe ill just spring for a liquid loop for mine and put the plus in hers, i know it will fit, just got to find the intel mount.

[WoodenMarker]

it would, probably going with that one, just "likes the white one" ill probably talk her into the black one

Is she just into white cases or is it the Prodigy specifically?

..How does she get headaches from hd graphics...?

[Pitou]

Is she just into white cases or is it the Prodigy specifically?

..How does she get headaches from hd graphics...?

white cases, but she already agreed to the black one once i pointed out the optical drive wont match

i really have no idea, it might be like people get them from 3D. i hooked her ps3 up with a hdmi to her tv thinking she was lying and within about 30 minutes she got one.

 

im going to be going with the current build posted, ill be buying all the parts over time starting next month because i'm quitting my current job for a new one, so ill probably be poking around the good deals sections. 

[Skylark]

I would get an APU over Sandy-bridge at that price point... Couple that to a 260X and your golden.