Mini itx build windows/steamOS

[Andro77]

Hi all

In my younger years I used to build my own PC's. Not very well though, looking back on it. Cheap case, no real thought into cooling, real dust traps. Often had to leave the side of the case off to tap components to get them working. Mind you this was back in the dialup days before YouTube could show me the errors of my ways. Anyways left for the Mac team as they could accomodate my ignorance better. Well I'm very over apple these days, and also quite over the consoles as well. A lounge room gaming pc is the go, and am very excited what steam may offer in the future. So after some research was contemplating either and raven Rz01 Intel build or a GD09 AMD or Intel build. AMD is very tempting to me, for the price, but by what I'm reading, the AM3+ socket is a dead end for any upgrades. An APU seems like too much of a compromise to me.

This keeps leading me back to an 1150 build.

I am thinking of using a top of the range Mini ITX board with an i3 and a discrete graphics card. Then when the next gen i5 or i7 processors are released upgrading then and selling the i3. I gather this is possible if I have the correct board?

This will only be for gaming and Kodi genesis streaming etc.

does anyone else make a case that might compare to the raven in its, well, good looks?

Using the full atx GD09 I guess I'd have more expansion options.

Before I ramble on too much, if I wanted this to be steam only when valve eventually gets there arse into gear, what hardware would you all recommend. Sticking with an Intel build, nvidia or AMD gpu's etc. Am I better off going full atx?

Thanks

Andrew.

Ps sorry if this post was a bit all over the place. My first post so I have too many questions in my head.

Ps my budget is not high end to start with. I'm more of an upgrade over time person rather than lashing out at all at once.

[zappian]

Budget?

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($104.95 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: ASRock B85M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($67.98 @ Newegg) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($74.98 @ OutletPC) 

Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.00 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card  ($199.00 @ NCIX US) 

Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case  ($86.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Power Supply: SeaSonic 400W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($44.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Total: $626.89

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-13 18:10 EST-0500

[Andro77]

Initial build cost will be 7 to 800. I'm in Australia where an i3 costs 150 to 170$. Raven case is about 100 here.

[zappian]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($146.00 @ Centre Com) 

Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($135.00 @ CPL Online) 

Memory: G.Skill Value Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($84.00 @ IJK) 

Storage: Hitachi Travelstar Z5K500 500GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($54.00 @ Umart) 

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card  ($299.00 @ CPL Online) 

Case: Cooler Master Elite 110 Mini ITX Tower Case  ($45.00 @ CPL Online) 

Power Supply: Corsair 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($69.00 @ IJK) 

Total: $832.00

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-14 10:20 EST+1100

 

Australian prices are horrible sorry.