Potential New ITX build

[Selmak The TokRa]

Budget (including currency): ~USD $1500-$1700

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: XCOM 2, Civilization 6, Cities: Skylines, Humankind when that's released

Other details:

 

I currently have an ATX system in a Fractal Design Focus G case with an R5 3600, 2060 Super 8GB, and 16 GB of RAM among other components that I built in May of 2020, but there's a potential that I might move soon, but temporarily (think of it as a "house-sitting" kind of deal) for now and in the future when I finally land a full-time job, I might have to move more permanently again, and the permanent move thing might hopefully happen sooner than later, but while I'm going back and forth between home and the other place, moving my ATX build and dual monitor setup back and forth all the time isn't going to be real practical due to it being that size, and I am really warming myself up to the idea of building a more portable ITX form factor build that I can more easily take with me when I have to move some place. I've pondered downsizing my current system, but in the short-term, I don't really know if that's practical as I'd still be back home enough that I'd want to have my current system intact and readily available to use, and while I could upgrade my laptop as my 2019 Dell G5 with a 1050 ti isn't really a good laptop for the kind of gaming performance I'd want to get out of it and my model has other problems, I really like the idea of building a PC for the second time because that sounds a) more fun, and b) better from a price-to-performance standpoint than a new laptop and I'd probably have to spend $1500-$1700 on a new laptop to get the performance out of it that I wanted anyway. 

 

My current parts list I'm considering:

 

CPU: Either an i5-11400 or an R5 5600X

CPU Cooler: Scythe Big Shuriken 3

Mobo: I liked the Gigabyte B450 Aorus Pro WIfi mobo in my current system mainly because of the G-connect adapter thingy that came with it, and I'm really not too picky about overclocking or anything like that, so I'd really prefer to go with a Gigabyte AM4 or LGA 1200 mobo for this build (but I'm not married to it)

RAM: 16 GB (is 32 GB a must for modded Cities: Skylines?)

Storage: A 1 or 2 TB M.2 NVME SSD as the boot drive. Don't really want to put that many SATA SSDs or HDDs in because of space and cable management considerations.

GPU: A 3060 probably (but am open to other suggestions)

Case: The Lian Li TU150 is one I'm really leaning towards right now. I want a small case that has decent ventilation and a window if possible but I am still open to other suggestions. Has NZXT fixed the issue with the H1 being a fire hazard? 

Power Supply: Some SFF PSU from Corsair probably. Definitely want a fully modular one in any case (see what I did there?). Would 600 Watts be enough?

 

My main requirement for this build is that it's an ITX form factor build. It would mainly be used for gaming. 

 

 

 

Anyway, feedback on this parts list would be appreciated, and other in-budget parts suggestions would be welcome as well. 

 

 

[Selmak The TokRa]

Hi all, I am planning on potentially doing an SFF build in the near future and was wondering what the smallest SFF case was that could meet the requirements

I specified in the title of this post. I'd prefer not to spend more than $200 on the case itself.

 

As far as the CPU/GPU combo goes, I'm debating between either an 11400 or 11600K if I went Intel  or between an R5 3600 or an R5 5600X if I went AMD, and for GPU probably an RTX 3060 or a 6800XT if the latter could be had for a more reasonable price, so ideally I'd want to find the smallest possible case that could a) support an air cooling solution for the CPU, and b) fit the GPU comfortably without suffocating it

 

(The build itself would mainly be for gaming)

[Slottr]

A lot of those don't really come with SFF builds. If you require all of the above, the smallest case I'd get is the NR200P

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Define full size gpu?

2 slot and reasonable length, a (now fireless) H1 might do it

maybe a Sugo sg13?

[Selmak The TokRa]

1 minute ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Define full size gpu?

2 slot and reasonable length, a (now fireless) H1 might do it

maybe a Sugo sg13?

Is the 3060 normally 2 slot? Because that's what I'd be going for GPU-wise (probably)

 

They fixed the H1 so it's not a fire hazard anymore?  

[Helpful Tech Witch]

1 minute ago, Selmak The TokRa said:

Is the 3060 normally 2 slot? Because that's what I'd be going for GPU-wise (probably)

 

They fixed the H1 so it's not a fire hazard anymore?  

They fixed the riser, yeah.

I really don’t know, it depends on what cards exist tbh, I’ve not payed attention to any card variety reviews so far, there’s no point

[Selmak The TokRa]

Planning on potentially building an SFF PC here soon due to portability considerations as I'll probably move away from home in at least a part time "house sitting" kind of role (would be a more long-term-ish thing) and moving my current full-size system around constantly won't be practical.

 

The CPU I have in my current system is an R5 3600.

 

Do I just get a second R5 3600 for the second system or is the 5600X enough of a performance upgrade from the 3600 to be worth the extra cost?

If I go with an Intel CPU, which I'm sort of leaning towards right now anyway, do I go for the i5-11400 if I can get it for under $200 USD or is the i5-11600K the better option for what would be a mainly gaming focused build?

 

Which of these CPUs seems like the best option, and if the R5 3600 isn't the best option, which of the 11400/11600K or 5600X offers the best performance bump for the price?

[RONOTHAN##]

The 11400 is probably your best bet, as it outperforms the 3600 for less. The problem is finding an Intel ITX board that doesn't throttle performance. It probably makes the most sense to get a Z590/Z590 board for the peace of mind.

[King of Memes]

31 minutes ago, Selmak The TokRa said:

Hi all, I am planning on potentially doing an SFF build in the near future and was wondering what the smallest SFF case was that could meet the requirements

I specified in the title of this post. I'd prefer not to spend more than $200 on the case itself.

 

As far as the CPU/GPU combo goes, I'm debating between either an 11400 or 11600K if I went Intel  or between an R5 3600 or an R5 5600X if I went AMD, and for GPU probably an RTX 3060 or a 6800XT if the latter could be had for a more reasonable price, so ideally I'd want to find the smallest possible case that could a) support an air cooling solution for the CPU, and b) fit the GPU comfortably without suffocating it

 

(The build itself would mainly be for gaming)

This isn't quite the smallest, but I'd honestly go for the meshlicous unless you absolutely need something smaller. 

[Selmak The TokRa]

Planning a new SFF build and was wondering if the 6700 XT would be worth it if I could manage to find it cheaper than the 3060 or if the 3060 is so much better than the 6700XT that it would be worth it to pay extra for the 3060?

 

Ray tracing isn't something I really care about too much.

 

The kinds of games I'd be playing on the build would be games like XCom 2, Humankind when that comes out, Civ VI, Cities: Skylines, etc. 

[AlTech]

If you don't care about ray tracing, the 6700XT destroys the 3060. If you ever see a 6700XT cheaper than a 3060 then I'd say pick the 6700XT instead.

[Kilrah]

Merged all your threads, please keep it in one place for the whole build so people have the big picture to help.