Proposed Mini-ITX Build! (Barebones based)

Milton_Moore27 · February 5, 2015

So!

An idea popped into my head when I was looking at laptops. I got the idea to do an all MSI Intel based Mini-ITX travelling PC build. This would be primarily used for LAN parties and would fit in at a university for the nerds like me who don't party. It would be primarily used to play games like CS: GO, LoL, RuneScape, and possibly some of the AAA titles, many played at 1080p-1440p (possibly even 4K for those "less demanding" games). For the 1080p rig, here's the choice:

Barebone case: MSI Nightblade. It looks cool, has a 600W 80 Plus Gold PSU inside, 12 USB ports (6 are USB 3.0, I think.), support for a full sized GPU, but it has limited space for a liquid cooling unit, or even a high performance air cooler. A K series processor might not be the best idea, but could be proposed.

RAM: I want to keep the black and red color scheme with this proposed project, so I've decided between G. Skill Ripjaws, G. Skill Sniper, or Corsair Vengeance. All of these will be minimum of 1600MHz, but I'd like to test out 1866 memory. Amount proposed needed: 8GB (2X 4GB)

Storage: Due to lack of space inside of the case (and due to other biased reasons), an HDD will be a little on the unpractical size (to me). So an SSD will be used. Which one? Whichever is cheaper, but preferably a Samsung or a Crucial drive. For capacity, most likely a 512GB drive, which will give enough room for music, videos, the AAA titles, and many of the smaller applications.

GPU: In order for 4k gaming in CS: GO and LoL, a flagship card MIGHT be needed for 60 fps gaming. Basically, an MSI GTX 970 or equivalent AMD card. For 1080p gaming, the new 960 would suffice.

CPU: This is where it gets tricky. Overclocking or none? If Overclocking is neccessary, an i5 4690K will be used and cooled by the Cooler Master Seidon 120V. If not, either an i5 4690 will be used. An i3 could also be substituted, but there might be a performance bottleneck for gaming over 1080p resolution.

Opinions? Add criticism and new ideas.