Making a portable gaming rig.

[Beanboy128]

Budget (including currency): ~$1000 (USD)

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Rainbow Siege, ARK, Overwatch, Minecraft, Adobe suite.

Hey y'all. I'm looking to build a sub $1000 gaming rig with a small form factor for taking to college. I already have a  1060 so for these games on decent settings at 1080p it will work fine. I also have a decent CPU cooler.  I'm thinking this case (I know It's not budget but I really like it.) I would like some RGB on the inside other than fans but if it won't work I'll manage. Are there any suggestions as far a processor, motherboard, power supply, RAM,  etc?

 

[tarfeef101]

Few things:
1) when going SFF, everything matters. so tell us what specific model of 1060 and cooler you have. it will impact compatibility a lot

2) that case is not small. trust me, I owned one til a couple weeks ago. I liked it, for sure. I even used it when in school, when I had to move every 4 months. I also have a LAN rig in a Dan A4 SFX and an HTPC in a K39 (aliexpress case). Those are portable. The 280x, much less so. 

 

Given your budget, I'd suggest something like the nzxt h1 or cooler master nr200. those cases are actually small, and unlike many smaller enthusiast ITX cases, are affordable. the key reason these sort of cases are so much better for moving a lot vs the 280x are:
1) it doesn't take up like, a whole carseat worth of space

2) because they're so tightly packed, you don't have to worry about stuffing packing material inside to stop parts from shaking around

3) you can feasibly just put them into a lightly padded bag (i used a messenger bag marketed for cameras for my LAN rig) and not have to bring around a bulky case box

4) they really are just WAY smaller. i cannot stress how much tinier even my nr200p is vs my 280x was. 

[IkeaGnome]

5 minutes ago, Beanboy128 said:

Budget (including currency): ~$1000 (USD)

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Rainbow Siege, ARK, Overwatch, Minecraft, Adobe suite.

Hey y'all. I'm looking to build a sub $1000 gaming rig with a small form factor for taking to college. I already have a  1060 so for these games on decent settings at 1080p it will work fine. I also have a decent CPU cooler.  I'm thinking this case (I know It's not budget but I really like it.) I would like some RGB on the inside other than fans but if it won't work I'll manage. Are there any suggestions as far a processor, motherboard, power supply, RAM,  etc?

 

A lot of MATX or ITX cases with clear or glass side panels will be fairly expensive. I do have a case that I used with a 2070 and an i9. It's a lot smaller than the Corsair. It's kind of cheeply made. It's all acrylic and aluminum. You build the case as you put the parts in it. Once it's together it's really sturdy. 

https://www.geeekstore.com/shop/a60-plus-mini-itx-case/

[Grabhanem]

The 280X isn't exactly small form factor - if you want something really compact, I'd recommend something like this:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$319.99 @ Newegg
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-L12S 55.44 CFM CPU Cooler	$49.90 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI B450I GAMING PLUS MAX WIFI Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard	$122.99 @ Amazon
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$86.99 @ B&H
Storage	Kingston A2000 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$115.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	PNY GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6 GB Video Card	Purchased For $0.00
Case	Silverstone RVZ03W-ARGB Mini ITX Desktop Case	$147.55 @ Amazon
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA GM 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply	$105.37 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$948.78
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-01-22 16:18 EST-0500

 

I went 3700X because I assumed you might be doing some light workstation stuff in college, and RVZ03 for the RGB - you could go with something like a Node 202 if you wanted something a bit cheaper.

[Beanboy128]

2 hours ago, Grabhanem said:

The 280X isn't exactly small form factor - if you want something really compact, I'd recommend something like this:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$319.99 @ Newegg
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-L12S 55.44 CFM CPU Cooler	$49.90 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI B450I GAMING PLUS MAX WIFI Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard	$122.99 @ Amazon
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$86.99 @ B&H
Storage	Kingston A2000 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$115.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	PNY GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6 GB Video Card	Purchased For $0.00
Case	Silverstone RVZ03W-ARGB Mini ITX Desktop Case	$147.55 @ Amazon
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA GM 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply	$105.37 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$948.78
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-01-22 16:18 EST-0500

 

I went 3700X because I assumed you might be doing some light workstation stuff in college, and RVZ03 for the RGB - you could go with something like a Node 202 if you wanted something a bit cheaper.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kq4mRT

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($324.95 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  (Purchased For $0.00)
Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix B450-I Gaming Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard  ($276.32 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6 GB SSC GAMING Video Card  (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox NR200P Mini ITX Desktop Case  ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair SF 600 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply  ($142.49 @ Amazon)
Total: $938.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-01-22 18:57 EST-0500

 

 

Does this look good? I have a CPU cooler and I forgot to mention I have a hard drive already. It says there could be a bios issue with the motherboard and the CPU. Is this a problem?

[IkeaGnome]

8 minutes ago, Beanboy128 said:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/wqkyZZ

 

Does this look good? I have a CPU cooler and I forgot to mention I have a hard drive already. It says there could be a bios issue with the motherboard and the CPU. Is this a problem?

There shouldn't be a bios issue. If there is, just follow these steps. You can flash the BIOS on that board without a CPU. Scroll down towards the bottom and look for Q Flash Plus

https://www.aorus.com/blog/How-to-Update-Your-BIOS-Part-2.php

[Grabhanem]

18 hours ago, Beanboy128 said:

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kq4mRT

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($324.95 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  (Purchased For $0.00)
Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix B450-I Gaming Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard  ($276.32 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6 GB SSC GAMING Video Card  (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox NR200P Mini ITX Desktop Case  ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair SF 600 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply  ($142.49 @ Amazon)
Total: $938.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-01-22 18:57 EST-0500

 

 

Does this look good? I have a CPU cooler and I forgot to mention I have a hard drive already. It says there could be a bios issue with the motherboard and the CPU. Is this a problem?

I'd avoid the B450i Strix - the B450i Gaming Plus Max guarantees the correct bios for Ryzen 3000 and is actually a better board overall for significantly cheaper. Other than that, it looks good, although even if you're keeping your old HDD for storage, I'd recommend adding a boot SSD.