$1200 USD compact PC build

[Guest]

I've just sold my HAF XB EVO build which was way too big for me. I had no space to put it in, so it was taking quite a big area of my rooms floor.

Now I'm looking for something as small as possible, but also would be best if it could be expanded with stuff like my beloved old Creative soundcard.

For now I've fallen in love with Silverstone "The Shoebox" SG13, but it's mini-ITX which means single PCIe slot.

 

1. Would you go with micro-ATX for the sole ability to expand (up to 3 additional PCI/PCIe slots), or go as compact as possible with mini-ITX

2. What case would you choose for the most compact "shoebox" experience with micro-ITX and mini-ITX aswell.

3. How would you improve these 2 builds:
Micro-ATX

mini-ITX

 

[Castdeath97]

Don't get the V300, kingston douche baggingly replaced its NAND to a poorer one right after the review period.

 

The R9 390 usually beats the 970 with a i7 since you get less CPU bound, so get that. Unless you need CUDA of course.

[Castdeath97]

I would go the microATX route unless you need to move the system quite a lot.

[HKZeroFive]

You need a Z170 motherboard, not a H170 motherboard, to overclock that i7 6700K. A better PSU like the EVGA SuperNOVA 550 G2 can be had for the same price. A good air cooler like the beQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 will outperform pretty much any 120mm AIO.

[Guest]

9 hours ago, HKZeroFive said:

You need a Z170 motherboard, not a H170 motherboard, to overclock that i7 6700K. A better PSU like the EVGA SuperNOVA 550 G2 can be had for the same price. A good air cooler like the beQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 will outperform pretty much any 120mm AIO.

The thing is I'm going for the smallest build possible, going with with AIO allows me to have PSU where in big build there would be a huge air cooler.

Could you please recommend me a mobo? I've not found a Z170 board that suits me.

Why is the EVGA SuperNOVA 550 G2 better than Corsair CS Series 650W?

9 hours ago, Castdeath97 said:

I would go the microATX route unless you need to move the system quite a lot.

Well.

Except for that you told me that the stuff I've had for years is bad (The Kingstone SSD) you didn't give me much stuff to work with.

 

What case should I go with for tiniest microATX build?!

[Streetguru]

10 hours ago, PojeBunny said:

 

ITX, I'd stick to an Elite 130 or Core 500 for longer GPU support, the core 500 is a bit bigger but supports up to a 240mm radiator

 

There's also a 390X that's water cooled, dunno if it would fit into the Elite 130, it has a bit of room next to the PCI-e slots

https://pcpartpicker.com/part/powercolor-video-card-axr9390x8gbd5adhe

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/VpzxD3
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/VpzxD3/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($327.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: MSI B150I GAMING PRO AC Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($109.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($61.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($74.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.24 @ Directron)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 390 8GB PCS+ Video Card  ($308.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case  ($42.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1046.17
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-22 19:23 EDT-0400

[Castdeath97]

8 hours ago, PojeBunny said:

The thing is I'm going for the smallest build possible, going with with AIO allows me to have PSU where in big build there would be a huge air cooler.

Could you please recommend me a mobo? I've not found a Z170 board that suits me.

Why is the EVGA SuperNOVA 550 G2 better than Corsair CS Series 650W?

Well.

Except for that you told me that the stuff I've had for years is bad (The Kingstone SSD) you didn't give me much stuff to work with.

 

What case should I go with for tiniest microATX build?!

Someone should seriously consider pinning this, Kingston had replaced the NAND to a much much slower one right after the review period, it's significantly slower now, so please don't use it:

 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7763/an-update-to-kingston-ssdnow-v300-a-switch-to-slower-micron-nand

 

Comparison of Kingston V300 Revisions
Revision	Original (no longer available)	New (currently available)
Pre-Istalled Firmware	505A	506A / 521A
NAND	Toshiba 19nm Toggle-Mode 2.0	Micron 20nm asynchronous
NAND Interface Bandwidth	200MB/s	~ 50MB/s (?)
AS-SSD Incompressible Sequential Read	~ 475MB/s	~ 170MB/s
AS-SSD Incompressible Sequential Write	~ 150MB/s	~ 85MB/s
AS-SSD Incompressible 4K Read	~ 20MB/s	~ 15MB/s
AS-SSD Incompressible 4K Write	~ 110MB/s	~ 65MB/s

[Guest]

Seems like I have the old one, because 450MB/s is easily achievable even on almost full drive.