Budget non-gaming mini-ITX build

[Hwulex]

I've been out the PC building game for many years and after going through a few laptops and old office tiny pcs, I want to build something tailored to my needs but with my absence could do with some help on part picking and matching.

 

I'm in Vancouver, BC so mainly shopping in CAD, but also go to the USA regularly enough and have a mail-box so US-exclusive items (or better deals) also an option.

 

Requirements:

Non-gaming. Ever.

Browsing, some web coding, software automation, data-analysis moving in to light data science and machine-learning.

 

I picked up a cheap 1050ti from a friend so my current m73 has a pci-express to 16x riser jerry-rigged to an always-on PSU (paperclip mod). This was kind of proof-of-concept to see if this type of setup would work for me, and it does quite nicely. Problem is my 4K screen recently died so looking to replace that, and figured I might do the whole lot to tidy up the hack-mess I have now. Edit: I will no longer be using this 1x riser because I am building a new ITX system with the 1050, which is what this thread is asking advise about.

 

Already own:

EVGA GTX 1050 Ti 4GB, dual-slot, short (15cm)

 

Current shopping list:

Parts

• ASRock B450 Gaming-ITX/AC
  • Also looked at Asus Prime A320I-K but I'd like USB3.1g2 and the higher MHz RAM on the ASRock better?
  • WiFi is not a requirement, have wired 
  • I like the idea of TB3 but don't seem to get it on almost any AM4 board, let alone mITX + $$$
• AMD Ryzen 3 3200G 4-Core
  • Don't need the graphics as have the 1050
  • Would the few extra $ for Ryzen 5 2600 be worth it? I thought older gen but see the 3200 is a rebadged 2 anyway?
• Timetec Hynix IC 32GB Kit (2x16GB) DDR4 3000MHz CL16
  • Don't need super fast memory, more is better than fast. Seems like a good budget balance
• Samsung 970 EVO Plus 250GB NVMe M.2
  • No gaming, data sets not that big, should be enough. Can add larger SSD if needed (have a few 240GB kicking about)

These run $533 CAD on Amazon.ca, so around that $500 mark sits well for me as another $500 will go on a new 4K screen

 

 

I'm not particularly tied to the idea of AMD, but from reading around and watching LTT the Ryzen seems to have pretty good bang-for-buck. Not sure if most appropriate for data work? I work mostly in Python, eventually some ML which will recruit the GPU.

 

If I went Intel, what CPU should I look at? I found the ASUS TUF B360M-PLUS Gaming LGA1151 on a quick search? Again, like the idea of TB3 but probably not within budget.

 

 

That got longer than expected. Appreciate any advice. Thanks everyone!

[Letgomyleghoe]

You realize your bottlenecking your gpu, that riser is only 1x

[Hwulex]

10 hours ago, scuff gang said:

You realize your bottlenecking your gpu, that riser is only 1x

Yes, of course, that's exactly why I want to now build out this mITX machine. That was just an experiment to see if it would even work, and it does quite well tbh, but now it's time to move on. Also, irrelevant point to this discussion.

[Stormseeker9]

42 minutes ago, Hwulex said:

Yes, of course, that's exactly why I want to now build out this mITX machine. That was just an experiment to see if it would even work, and it does quite well tbh, but now it's time to move on.

Might be better if with a vega integrated instead of using that 1050Ti with riser. 

[ZzLy]

2 hours ago, Hwulex said:

I've been out the PC building game for many years and after going through a few laptops and old office tiny pcs, I want to build something tailored to my needs but with my absence could do with some help on part picking and matching.

 

I'm in Vancouver, BC so mainly shopping in CAD, but also go to the USA regularly enough and have a mail-box so US-exclusive items (or better deals) also an option.

 

Requirements:

Non-gaming. Ever.

Browsing, some web coding, software automation, data-analysis moving in to light data science and machine-learning.

 

I picked up a cheap 1050ti from a friend so my current m73 has a pci-express to 16x riser jerry-rigged to an always-on PSU (paperclip mod). This was kind of proof-of-concept to see if this type of setup would work for me, and it does quite nicely. Problem is my 4K screen recently died so looking to replace that, and figured I might do the whole lot to tidy up the hack-mess I have now.

 

Already own:

EVGA GTX 1050 Ti 4GB, dual-slot, short (15cm)

 

Current shopping list:

Parts

• ASRock B450 Gaming-ITX/AC
  • Also looked at Asus Prime A320I-K but I'd like USB3.1g2 and the higher MHz RAM on the ASRock better?
  • WiFi is not a requirement, have wired 
  • I like the idea of TB3 but don't seem to get it on almost any AM4 board, let alone mITX + $$$
• AMD Ryzen 3 3200G 4-Core
  • Don't need the graphics as have the 1050
  • Would the few extra $ for Ryzen 5 2600 be worth it? I thought older gen but see the 3200 is a rebadged 2 anyway?
• Timetec Hynix IC 32GB Kit (2x16GB) DDR4 3000MHz CL16
  • Don't need super fast memory, more is better than fast. Seems like a good budget balance
• Samsung 970 EVO Plus 250GB NVMe M.2
  • No gaming, data sets not that big, should be enough. Can add larger SSD if needed (have a few 240GB kicking about)

These run $533 CAD on Amazon.ca, so around that $500 mark sits well for me as another $500 will go on a new 4K screen

 

Box

• GEEEK A31 v2 case (stupidly missed out ordering this morning, now gotta wait for next batch)
• GEEEK Custom Flex ATX Modular PSU
• Noctua NH-L9a AM4, 37mm
  • iI needed to fit case

 

 

I'm not particularly tied to the idea of AMD, but from reading and watching LTT the Ryzen seems to have pretty good bang-for-buck. Not sure if most appropriate for data work? I work mostly in Python, eventually some ML which will recruit the GPU.

 

If I went Intel, what CPU should I look at? I found the ASUS TUF B360M-PLUS Gaming LGA1151 on a quick search? Again, like the idea of TB3 but probably not within budget.

 

 

That got longer than expected. Appreciate any advice. Thanks everyone!

Ryzen is fine here. Also, Intel right now is not only bad because their CPUs have bad price/performance, but also because the 1151 socket is at its end of its life and the 9th gen CPUs were the last to be made for it, so basically you'd be investing in a dead platform.

[Hwulex]

12 hours ago, Stormseeker9 said:

Might be better if with a vega integrated instead of using that 1050Ti with riser. 

Really? Integrated performance would be better than the 1050Ti? Just to be clear, I won't be continuing to be using this 1x riser, it will be going in to the PCIe 3.0 x16 in a new AM4 motherboard.

 

Edit: UserBenchmark comparison shows the 1050 advantages are clear.

 

10 hours ago, ZzLy said:

Ryzen is fine here. Also, Intel right now is not only bad because their CPUs have bad price/performance, but also because the 1151 socket is at its end of its life and the 9th gen CPUs were the last to be made for it, so basically you'd be investing in a dead platform.

I'd figured as much. Thanks.

[Stormseeker9]

@Hwulex in that case, no.