ITX System for work

Chris_R. · June 1, 2021

Motherboard prices are varying wildly, some B series are as much as Z series. Prefer Asus but they are soo expensive and have bad reviews for their Z itx boards. (Talking about intel side, extremely unfamiliar with AMD)

MUST be ITX.

Trying to fit everything into a silverstone SG13 case, it seems to be the smallest I can find.

Budget (including currency): $500 - $800

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Youtube Music streams, very light 3D and 2D gaming. Internet browsing.

Existing parts list: R7 260X 2GB to run the light 2D / 3D games if it's even needed

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/C3BYF8

CPU: Intel Core i3-10100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($150.00)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i 33.84 CFM CPU Cooler ($44.95 @ Amazon)

Motherboard: ???
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory ($55.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($64.98 @ Amazon)
Case: Silverstone SG13 V2 Mini ITX Tower Case ($67.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GM 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $453.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-06-01 11:59 EDT-0400

aisle9 · June 1, 2021

What are you putting a Noctua on an i3 for? Stick with the stock cooler and put that money towards 16GB of RAM. The Samsung NVMe is also way overkill, and you can get 500GB NVMe drives that you'll never notice the difference with for the same or less.

For what you're describing, some of your choices don't seem to make sense, as noted above. You can either upgrade elsewhere or save money by going with, for example, Team Group RAM, the Intel stock cooler and an Adata or Inland SSD.

Chris_R. · June 1, 2021

3 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

What are you putting a Noctua on an i3 for? Stick with the stock cooler and put that money towards 16GB of RAM. The Samsung NVMe is also way overkill, and you can get 500GB NVMe drives that you'll never notice the difference with for the same or less.

For what you're describing, some of your choices don't seem to make sense, as noted above. You can either upgrade elsewhere or save money by going with, for example, Team Group RAM, the Intel stock cooler and an Adata or Inland SSD.

Thank you! I think it is just inexperience those are great suggestions! Do i3's still come with stock coolers?

PorkishPig · June 1, 2021

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

CPU: Intel Core i5-11400 2.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($188.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: ASRock H510M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1200 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($82.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($67.95 @ Amazon)
Case: Silverstone SG13 V2 Mini ITX Tower Case ($67.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GM 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply ($69.98 @ Amazon)

Total: $572.88

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-06-01 12:22 EDT-0400

aisle9 · June 1, 2021

Just now, Chris_R. said:

Thank you! I think it is just inexperience those are great suggestions! Do i3's still come with stock coolers?

Yep, same old blob of extruded aluminum, but for an i3, that's enough. If you look at an i5 instead, then an aftermarket cooler is a good idea because the higher-end chips will run at crazy TDPs if given the chance. But for what you're describing, there is absolutely no reason to spring for an i5 or higher.

The sick, sad truth about RAM is that the NAND, the part that matters, all comes from one of three places. DDR4-3000 RAM is almost certainly using the same Hynix NAND when you're paying $45 for 8GB of OLOy or $55 for 8GB of Corsair LPX. RGB and overclocking ability on the high end are where the price difference starts to be worth it--assuming you want RGB RAM or need DDR4-5000 for some reason.