Compact VR showcase & development PC

[Samuli]

PC Part Picker List

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($329.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i 57.5 CFM CPU Cooler  ($43.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($142.98 @ Newegg) Note: I need 32gb ram support, wifi and prefer newer ports
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($152.99 @ Micro Center) Note: I will be moving the computer around a lot, so SSDs are worth it for me
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($294.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card  ($322.98 @ Newegg) Note: 970 is enough for me for now, I will get a better card in the next gpu gen
Case: Fractal Design Node 202 HTPC Case  ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Silverstone 500W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply  ($94.99 @ B&H)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-F12 PWM 55.0 CFM 120mm  Fan  ($19.58 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-F12 PWM 55.0 CFM 120mm  Fan  ($19.58 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1701.94 (Will cost 2000~2100€ in Finland)

 

I am making a compact build that I can carry around easily and has enough power to run vr games as well as game development software. My budget is 2k€. I am planning on using Sentry as my case, but Node 202 will have to do, if it is not released soon. I will build the computer in April and start hunt for parts soon.

 

I haven't done mini-itx builds before so any feedback is greatly appreciated. Especially airflow related.

[Streetguru]

28 minutes ago, Samuli said:

PC Part Picker List.

Well depending on how compact you want it and how long you want to wait, as the new GPUs coming in a few months are going to be a good amount faster.

this has a more compact case, and a higher end GPU, CPU is fairly comparable as well, though you might want a larger PC you can properly cool and OC a K chip to 4.5ghz or so, as minimum frame rates are going to be important for VR. Still plenty of room in this build though for that. not sure how well you'd be able to OC in most cases, you'd probably want like a Core 500 because it can use a 240mm radiator

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9ZQMRB
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9ZQMRB/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($244.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Mushkin Stealth 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 Nano 4GB Video Card  ($484.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 110 Mini ITX Tower Case  ($38.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply  ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1003.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-22 17:09 EST-0500

[Samuli]

7 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Well depending on how compact you want it and how long you want to wait, as the new GPUs coming in a few months are going to be a good amount faster.

As I said in the main post I will update the GPU when the next gen arrives and use 970 meanwhile.

 

Your build made quite a few changes and I am curious if I am going into right direction with my build.

Why should I go with older CPU and mobo? I tough newer ones are better. Also I/O were a lot better in the mobo I chose.

Cooler Master Elite 101 is harder to carry around because of its shape and it is still larger than Sentry that I linked in the main post (I will update to Sentry once I can get one).

Also 16gb ram isn't enough for modern game dev, just letting you know. My current game project takes about 12~14 gb ram to open in Unity. Some UE4 examples even require 20+gb ram to even open up. Same goes for ssd vs mechanical drives, mechanical ones are way too slow to work with comfortably.

 

Thanks for the suggestions! I am just a little bit puzzled because your offered build is so dramatically different.

[Streetguru]

1 minute ago, Samuli said:

As I said in the main post I will update the GPU when the next gen arrives and use 970 meanwhile.

It's just a better value overall, though I'd imagine a better CPU would help, because you could go X99, there is an ITX board for it, and then you get more cores/threads

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QzcwXL
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QzcwXL/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor  ($374.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock X99E-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA2011-3 Narrow Motherboard  ($253.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $628.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-22 17:52 EST-0500

 

case is more a different form factor, much shorter but a bit wider naturally, but in any case I can't imagine that you're going to get much CPU cooling in those cases for overclocking.

and are you sure you wouldn't want a 390 due to it's extra VRAM? plus it faster overall.

[Samuli]

7 hours ago, Streetguru said:

case is more a different form factor, much shorter but a bit wider naturally, but in any case I can't imagine that you're going to get much CPU cooling in those cases for overclocking.

and are you sure you wouldn't want a 390 due to it's extra VRAM? plus it faster overall.

My priority is the get a build that I can easily toss into my backbag and carry around the world. Overclocking and hot running gpus aren't really compatible with that plan. Reason why I was looking at Skylake was the power consumption and thermals. Also m.2 is interesting for me, I wish daily that ssds would be faster. Graphics card is a minor part when buying a pc like this, I'll replace it in a few months anyways, I just want the basics to be as future proof as possible.

[Streetguru]

2 hours ago, Samuli said:

My priority is the get a build that I can easily toss into my backbag and carry around the world. Overclocking and hot running gpus aren't really compatible with that plan. Reason why I was looking at Skylake was the power consumption and thermals. Also m.2 is interesting for me, I wish daily that ssds would be faster. Graphics card is a minor part when buying a pc like this, I'll replace it in a few months anyways, I just want the basics to be as future proof as possible.

Power consumption under a typical gaming load with a 390 is going to be within 50W of a 970 thermals are within a few degrees with any decent cooler, in addition you can load up a GPU tweak utility and potentially just undervolt the card as seen here, to make it way more efficient if the silicone can handle it

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/msi-afterburner-undervolt-radeon-r9-fury,4425.html


And if the GPU isn't really your priority, why not get a Broadwell CPU with some decent speed memory? You'd be able to game reasonably because of how strong the iGPU is there, and you'd have an even lower power PC overall with that option.

 

 

And do you already have a solid display set up for productivity? though I suppose you travel a lot so probably not.

[Samuli]

On 23.2.2016 at 11:17 AM, Streetguru said:

And do you already have a solid display set up for productivity? though I suppose you travel a lot so probably not.

I have a good productivity setup at home, including monitors, keyboards and such. For traveling it is usually pretty easy to find a monitor to borrow and I will have Oculus with me anyways, so I can use vr desktop if anything else fails.

 

Thanks for the undervolt trick, I didn't realize how effective it can be.

 

GPU has some priority because of the vr, but GTX970 is enough to run vr decently for now. I am trying to make a small as possible build that still runs vr, enables me to work on games and isn't overpriced unupgradable laptop. My needs are a bit weirder than your average mini-itx "console killer", the suggestions so far have been nice.

 

i7-5820K + ASRock X99E-ITX/ac without overclocking seems to be quite close to i7-6700 + ASRock Fatal1ty Z170. I am not sure if it is worth the difference in price, here in Finland the former is 200€ more expensive. 2 more core would be nice, but higher single thread performance and lower power consumption have their plusses as well.

[Streetguru]

7 minutes ago, Samuli said:

I have a good productivity setup at home, including monitors, keyboards and such. For traveling it is usually pretty easy to

Those cards are about the absolute minimum though, I don't think either are really going to be great for VR or anything, you could always save some cash now unless it's a priority and put it towards the next generation GPUs coming in a few months

 

also there's this, from Steam VR anyways

 

http://www.pcper.com/news/Graphics-Cards/Valve-releases-SteamVR-Performance-Test-Your-Rig-Ready

 

Overall the 5820K option would be a bit better for productivity, easily worth it if you can fit it into the budget
 

 

[Samuli]

22 hours ago, Streetguru said:

Those cards are about the absolute minimum though, I don't think either are really going to be great for VR or anything, you could always save some cash now unless it's a priority and put it towards the next generation GPUs coming in a few months

I make vr games as my job and have both Oculus and Vive at work. 970 is fine for now, it is better to save money for next generation. Even 980Ti feels underpowered for vr if you try to make games look like current AAA titles. Most games target 970, you can't even release games into Oculus store if they don't run 90fps with 970. And for development, I can handle low framerates so that isn't an issue.

 

The "Most compact gaming pc" is outdated soon, there are smaller cases coming in a few months. I will just use larger case like Node202 meanwhile, but I want to be able change the parts into a smaller case. Even Sentry at less that 7 liters is quite bulky in practice, but I don't want to start building a custom case.

 

5820K seems like the best fit for CPU currently. Do you have any recommendations for low profile CPU cooler? I didn't find anything that would fit Sentry (<48mm) with a quick search, I'll keep digging.

[Streetguru]

32 minutes ago, Samuli said:

I make vr games as my job and have both Oculus and Vive at work. 970 is fine for now, it is better to save money for next generation. Even 980Ti feels underpowered for vr if you try to make games look like current AAA titles. Most games target 970, you can't even release games into Oculus store if they don't run 90fps with 970. And for development, I can handle low framerates so that isn't an issue.

 

The "Most compact gaming pc" is outdated soon, there are smaller cases coming in a few months. I will just use larger case like Node202 meanwhile, but I want to be able change the parts into a smaller case. Even Sentry at less that 7 liters is quite bulky in practice, but I don't want to start building a custom case.

 

5820K seems like the best fit for CPU currently. Do you have any recommendations for low profile CPU cooler? I didn't find anything that would fit Sentry (<48mm) with a quick search, I'll keep digging.

The asrock board should come with a very low profile cooler, however it'll probably be very loud

 

any of the noctua low profile coolers should work

[Samuli]

1 minute ago, Streetguru said:

The asrock board should come with a very low profile cooler, however it'll probably be very loud

 

any of the noctua low profile coolers should work

The cooler that comes with the board is around 60mm and at least pc part picker doesn't give me anything valid: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QzcwXL Is it not just showing all the valid options?

[Streetguru]

14 minutes ago, Samuli said:

The cooler that comes with the board is around 60mm and at least pc part picker doesn't give me anything valid: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QzcwXL Is it not just showing all the valid options?

That's a really tiny space...These should fit anyways

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhl9a

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhl9i

[Samuli]

3 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

That's a really tiny space...These should fit anyways

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhl9a

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhl9i

Neither of those fit LGA2011-3 Narrow socket as far as I understand?

[Streetguru]

3 minutes ago, Samuli said:

Neither of those fit LGA2011-3 Narrow socket as far as I understand?

right that thing, Make zip ties your friend, or maybe notcua has some way to mount it. You could always shoot for a case that supports radiators of some kind. Going to end up larger though.

[Samuli]

1 minute ago, Streetguru said:

right that thing, Make zip ties your friend, or maybe notcua has some way to mount it. You could always shoot for a case that supports radiators of some kind. Going to end up larges though.

Yea. I think I need to downgrade to 6700 or something that I can make to support lower fans. Noctua only has mounting kits for square ones, not narrow. I don't want to mess around with custom solutions in a build that needs to endure traveling.

[Streetguru]

14 minutes ago, Samuli said:

Yea. I think I need to downgrade to 6700 or something that I can make to support lower fans. Noctua only has mounting kits for square ones, not narrow. I don't want to mess around with custom solutions in a build that needs to endure traveling.

Well there's this option from Puget, dunno if the parts are available from a third party or how you'd even go about ordering from them, but the ITX rig here comes with it's own carry on bag

 

Sure you can't just live with a different case so you end up with the better CPU?

16:15

https://youtu.be/Yltr5GkxJTI?t=958

[Samuli]

5 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Sure you can't just live with a different case so you end up with the better CPU?

Small form factor is more important to me. Hmd and keyboard both also take significant amount of space from a backbag and I'd like to pack clothes and stuff with me also.

[Streetguru]

1 hour ago, Samuli said:

Small form factor is more important to me. Hmd and keyboard both also take significant amount of space from a backbag and I'd like to pack clothes and stuff with me also.

Sure you don't just want to buy one of the laptops with a desktop 980 in it?

[Samuli]

21 hours ago, Streetguru said:

Sure you don't just want to buy one of the laptops with a desktop 980 in it?

You can't upgrade / repair those very well and I don't want to pay extra for a screen, keyboard and battery that I won't use. I'd love to be able to build a pc out of laptop parts that isn't a laptop. The upcoming Razor laptop with external GPU is interesting, I will definitely look how they evolve for future.

[Streetguru]

1 hour ago, Samuli said:

You can't upgrade / repair those very well and I don't want to pay extra for a screen, keyboard and battery that I won't use. I'd love to be able to build a pc out of laptop parts that isn't a laptop. The upcoming Razor laptop with external GPU is interesting, I will definitely look how they evolve for future.

If MSI makes one they might have the graphics card on a PCI-e slot and give you a guarantee in some cases that they'll upgrade the GPU when newer compatible ones come out.

 

or maybe that was just with the titan SLI mechanical keyboard beast thing

 

it should have upgradability

 

Found the one with the desktop 980, it truly is just a beast of a machine, if you can handle the price

https://us.msi.com/product/notebook/GT72S-Dominator-Pro-G-Dragon-6th-Gen-GTX-980.html#hero-overview

http://event.msi.com/gt72mxm/

 

 

 

But like if you get a laptop whenever you sit down somewhere with a monitor you'll have better productivity with having 2 displays to work with.

 

Here's a review of one with a desktop 980 in it

http://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/2142-gt72-dominator-pro-gtx-980-notebook-benchmarked