Budget Mini-ITX gaming system [$600]

[ttpm15]

This will be my first ever built, aiming at portability ( i spend about 3 months away from home in a different state, hopefully i can carry it with me as carry on luggage ) and budget.

I'm planning on modding the front intake by removing the front plate and add some mesh intake. A little worry about fitting the huge HIS 7850 inside the case but i seen a picture of the same case with the HIS 7950, i'm crossing my fingers.

Parts list :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H77N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($110.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($63.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $70.00)
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($188.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case (Purchased For $30.00)
Case Fan: Cooler Master SickleFlow 69.7 CFM 120mm Fan ($2.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply (Purchased For $25.00)
Total: $615.93
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-21 09:04 EDT-0400)

just a tad over $600, Hopefully i can get about $40 back from selling Far cry 3 and Bioshock Tomb Raider.

p/s : thanks wkronbaek and other members for helping me choosing the right parts.


UPDATE :
I did some light modding to the case ( cut a big hole on the side for the 120mm fan, allow it to run much quieter and draw more fresh air in.
I'm thinking about doing the same thing for the front except i will add a mesh ( from a mesh trash can ), from my testing ( prime 95 and guiminer for both cpu and gpu usages ) Without the front panel on restricting the airflow my cpu and gpu will run an average 2 degree Celsius cooler.

Air will be drawn in from the front (120mm) and side (120mm) to cool all components, a small 80mm fan is pointed at the cpu to move some fresh air at it.HIS 7850 will get air from the side vent and some from the case and exhaust the hot air out of the back. I mounted my PSU upside down to use it as the only exhaust for the case. So far so good, PSU exhaust is nice and cool. Hopefully with 2 intake and only 1 exhaust, my case will have a slight positive air pressure.

Here is the finish product :
Waiting for the case :


Take the 80mm off and mount it at the hard drive blowing more air directly at the cpu cooler. Mounted a 120mm CM sickelflow in place of the 80mm fan using zip ties and twisty ties.


A closer look at the 80mm fan mod, mounted to the hard drive cage using zip ties and twisty ties.



Top view before some cable management :


Side view showing off the 7850, this case have plently of room to mount a bigger GPU, amazing.


Clean, fairly unrestricted air flow for the motherboard, CPU and GPU fan.


More zip ties, much better cable management, should have enough room for me to add an ssd once i have the money to go that route.


Side hole mod, allow for a much quieter fan

 

full load test with front panel on.

Thinking about adding a much better front intake fan, the included fan is ok ( fairly quite but doesn't draw that much air compare to my sickleflow 120mm ). Then move the included fan to where the 80mm fan is at and get rid of the 80mm fan ( the 80mm fan doesn't push that much air anyway )

I will probably do a front intake mod. Same as the side one, but with a mesh on for better look. Now i need to figure out how to cut a perfect hole and add the mesh ( probably get the mesh from some mesh trash can at the $1 store )
If someone successfully cut a perfect hole for the front intake fan, please let me know some tips and tricks.

[Guest GRRigger]

Why ITX? ITX mobos are way too expensive :/

 

Id rather make mATX, and put better cpu inside. I3 is fine media wise, but it has 2 cores, that is not great for next gen gaming. Remember that multiplayer in BF3 uses 6 cores, in COOP 8 cores. So you need at least 4 or 6 core. 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161406

159 for HIS 7850

[ttpm15]

That 7850 have lower clock speed, i believed that the one i picked enable me to overclock it slightly if the temp is not too high. 

like i say, i flight a lot so i have to try and keep it as small as possible. I was going to get the 3550p but decided not to due to cost. 

[Guest GRRigger]

amd 4core/ 6 core

intel 4 core

 

arent gonna next gens support multi cores? battlefield 3 allready does. and crysis.

[newbie]

3930K for BF3 seem legit.

Dual Xeons for MineCraft

Haha dual Xeon for 200fps with the Optifine package to the max and rain pouring xD

[martinrox1568]

Haha dual Xeon for 200fps with the Optifine package to the max and rain pouring xD

you do know xeons are crap for gaming, right?

[EricX2]

Makes me want to build another itx system.

 

Definitely post a build log. Most of all, have fun!

[guyfromnebraska]

You could go with a 5800k/6800k and an FM2 mitx mobo and then you would have a quadcore. Same price and overclockable.

[samuel]

It's perfect but you should buy a better PSU... That 7850 is a beast overclocker and you need good juice to feed that monster for decent OC! Also a used 2500K would be awesome! 

[Kuzma]

3930K for BF3 seem legit.

Dual Xeons for MineCraft

No, more like 4 way titan SLI for minecraft.

[ttpm15]

AMD was also in my mind when i did the planning part, I decided to go with intel since it doesn't kick out that much heat. I'm not interested in overclocking the cpu since the case is so small and i don't like adding more heat. 

[newbie]

you do know xeons are crap for gaming, right?

Yes I know

[martinrox1568]

Yes I know

just making sure. Just thought with your your post that you didn't

[newbie]

just making sure. Just thought with your your post that you didn't

haha well it's a no brainer to know that

[martinrox1568]

haha well it's a no brainer to know that

haha, your right, just wanted to make sure everyone one mistaked your original post was sarcastic and not serious