Parts ready for my first build. Rocking mITX. Greatly appreciate any input before I order.

[Puddle]

With great daring and a flair for the egotistical, my first post is all about me!

 

I've been saving up most of my pay-cheques for a long time, longer than I had intended to, which has enabled me I've ended to purchase something far better than I'd originally planned. In some ways I'm glad I waited as it's led my down the wondrous route of a mITX gaming machine which is where all of the grooviest PC builders hang out. 

 

I've made some... interesting choices so please cast your experienced eye (or eyes, I discriminate against neither cyclops or those with binocular vision) and point out any potential flaws. 

 

PCpartpicker link: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/131eH

 

Proposed parts:

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 

 

Cooler: Thermalright APX-100

 

RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance 

 

Storage: Plextor M5S 128GB (might get 256GB) SSD

               WD Scorpio Black 750GB 2.5" HDD

               Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" HDD (running externally for backups of my important stuffs)

 

Video Card: EVGA GTX 770 (blower style, yo)

 

Silverstone SUGO SG05 w/450W PSU

 

Monitor: Dell U2412HM

 

Keyboard: Ducky Shine II white LED w/ Cherry MX Blacks (wanted browns but they stopped producing them and it came down to blacks/white led or blues/blue led. They were pretty hard to get in the UK even when they were still being produced and it was luck that I checked up on stock when I did as I was going to buy it at the same time as my parts. I do type pretty heavy and I do like blacks, but I am coming from a shitty laptop keyboard so it'll be a big change)

 

Mouse: Perrix MX-2000 (a larger sized mouse looks comfortable, basically the run of the mill Avago ADNS-9500 laser but only £24.99 compared to something like the £60 Mionix)

 

Probably will buy some thermal compound not sure what the stuff with the CPU cooler is like.

 

Budget-wise I can spend more to improve areas (as you'll see below) but I'm not exactly anxious to spend money. I don't particularly see much benefit in a z77/z87 board and 3770k/4770k as the overclock will be pretty limited by power draw, but please disabuse me of this notion if you think it'll bring significant gains.

 

I was toying with idea of a GTX 780 and 1440p screen but I'm not sure it's worth the premium. There's been some problems I've had to deal with before I could get this going which, whilst meant I saved more, has only left me with three months before I get back into education and go to university. I probably going to end up barely gaming whilst I'm there so it makes little sense putting in an extra £400 for the card/monitor upgrade and a 24" screen will most likely be enough coming from a tiny laptop! Besides, I might be pushing it with the 780 on that 450w, even in the Xeon does save some power.

 

The EVGA 770 has allegedly got the internals of the Titan/780 cooler but a cheaper plastic shroud. It seems to have caused some complaint but apart from the gold bit I don't mind the plastic cooler, probably matches the aesthetic of the SG05 more anyway (although that awesome cooler does draw you towards a 780). I mostly concerned with how quite the blower cooler is (Titan-esque cooler seems much quieter than the old 680 reference blower) as I want this build to be as silent as is possible, which I why I'm not going for Silverstone's modular SFX PSU as there are many complaints about the fan being noisy. 

 

If there's room I might put a 120/140mm fan on the CPU cooler if the 100mm fan is too noisy. 

 

Hopefully I can order parts tonight/tomorrow morning! 

 

Ramble over. 

[asusfan]

Looks good, however will the CPu be good enough for high end gaming?

 

I know a Z77 board would cost a lot more, like the Asus P8Z77-I DELUXE or the Evga Z77 Stinger are basically the best 2 Z77 m-itx m/boards out there.

 

make sure your memory is compatable with your m/board (look at users manual)

 

apart from that looks good..

[Puddle]

The processor is clocked only slightly lower than an i7 3770, 3.3 GHz and 3.7 GHz boost, and has no iGPU but otherwise is the same. Unless you think I'll fall behind by not overclocking a 3770k to something like 4/4.2 GHz (Planetside 2 aside) I'll probably stick. 

 

Memory should be compatible. I searched forums pretty thoroughly as the compatibility list is supposed to be rubbish compared to what actually works. I had to order the RAM early as it had estimated delivery of 1-2 months but was about £30 cheaper than it is now so it's not all bad!