HTPC/LAN Party Rig Pointers?

Otaku_MasterRace · October 28, 2016

I'm building a new PC to put in my living room and take to my friends' houses. I've been researching many of the individual parts of this build and their compatibility with one another, and am on the whole satisfied with what I have. However, before I buy these parts, I'd like the community's opinion on these parts both individually and as a unit. Recommendations, pointers, criticism and otherwise are all appreciated!

Here is my parts list:

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/fXLfm8

Please keep in mind the purposes of this build when critiquing:

- Portability

- Small footprint

- Gaming(emulation included)

- Local co-op

- LAN parties

In addition, this build is meant to be kept on a budget. Going over the total price as it is currently is not an option for me, and neither is downgrading on the graphics card - I would like future-proofing and solid VR performance.

HKZeroFive · October 28, 2016

Just to get this out of the way, the term 'future-proofing' is a fairly meaningless and overused concept.

Any particular reason for the Z170 motherboard? Are you upgrading to a K-series CPU later on? If not, I'd bump that down to a H110 or B150 ITX mobo and grab a much better quality power supply than the one included with the case.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($204.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i 33.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($38.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($67.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: *Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($38.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: OCZ TRION 150 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING Video Card ($234.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Node 202 HTPC Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair SF 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($30.00)
Total: $885.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-27 23:08 EDT-0400

Otaku_MasterRace · October 28, 2016

5 minutes ago, HKZeroFive said:

Just to get this out of the way, the term 'future-proofing' is a fairly meaningless and overused concept.

Any particular reason for the Z170 motherboard? Are you upgrading to a K-series CPU later on? If not, I'd bump that down to a H110 or B150 ITX mobo and grab a much better quality power supply than the one included with the case.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($204.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i 33.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($38.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($67.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: *Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($38.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: OCZ TRION 150 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING Video Card ($234.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Node 202 HTPC Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair SF 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($30.00)
Total: $885.80

The motherboard was recommended to me by a friend, and I had considered upgrading my CPU later, but you make a fair point and I think I will be downgrading as you suggested. As you can imagine, my main concerns are reliability and wireless connectivity, and I will search for a motherboard accordingly. From the looks of it, this will be able to shift my price enough to compensate for buying a quality power supply. Thanks so much for your advice, it definitely helped!

(also, to address your comment about future proofing, I was more meaning that I want to build a PC I won't have to upgrade for a while without compromising too much on performance and graphics. If that's the idea that you were addressing, then thank you for your input.)