Building a small form factor gaming PC.

[SuBw00FeR]

Hey guys, very soon i'll be selling off my laptop in order to build a small form factor gaming PC, I'm after a decently powerful PC as i'll be playing all sorts of games on it. I'm new to building small form factors just after a couple pointers, I'm from Australia and therefor an restricted in what sites I can order from, I'm aware that NCIX now ships internationally but I checked out the prices and it's just not worth the shipping cost to here, anyway, my choice of provider is www.pccasegear.com.au they're relatively cheap, and very good customer service. Here is what I have so far:

Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX DTX Case USB3.0 - $125

Silverstone Strider 550W Gold ST55F-G - $139

- $399 (Cheapest reference cooler I could find)

Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB3 - $89

Intel Core i5 3570K - $229

Corsair Vengeance CML16GX3M2A1600C10 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 - $95

Seagate Barracuda 1TB ST1000DM003 - $75

Depending how much spare cash I have at the time, I'm also going to add a NZXT Kraken 40 and an SSD.

My main issue is with A) The power supply, is it enough? (I will be O/Cing once I have the Kraken in) and B) is there a smaller case? (Keeping in mind I have to use PCCaseGear not NCIX (Sorry Linus/Slick!) I'm after the smallest possible I can get while fitting everything in, the 7970 I went with reference so it can just exhaust all the heat out, and draw air straight from the side of the case in the Node 304, I'm thinking this is a good case for the way I want it setup. Any other changes or misfits that people can see just point it out, thanks! :)

[Beausiph]

I may have this wrong (Someone correct me if I am), but I don't believe H61 has overclocking capabilities. I would look into Z77. To my knowledge the Asus P8Z77-I is the only m-ITX with proper OC support: http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=71116 I have the board and LOVE IT. It does add a little bit to your build though.

I'm running a 3770K and the board mentioned above, and 550-Watt is perfect for me. So, you'll be fine :)

Everything else looks incredible.

[SuBw00FeR]

Ahh true, it completely didn't even cross my mind to get a motherboard that has good OC support. It's not too much more, I'll probably go with that. It's here at PCCaseGear for $215.

Also I'm not sure why but the link to the 7970 didn't show up in the original post lol, and that's Here It's the cheapest reference card I could find, as I want it to suck the air from the side intake on the node 304, and exhaust it out the back. I'm also getting the 2TB drive instead of the 1TB, editing doesn't seem to work atm on the forums.

[TicTac]

PC CASE GEAR FOR THE WIN AUSTRALIA FOR THE WIN!

[Beausiph]

Ahh true' date=' it completely didn't even cross my mind to get a motherboard that has good OC support. It's not too much more, I'll probably go with that. It's here at PCCaseGear for $215. Also I'm not sure why but the link to the 7970 didn't show up in the original post lol, and that's Here It's the cheapest reference card I could find, as I want it to suck the air from the side intake on the node 304, and exhaust it out the back. I'm also getting the 2TB drive instead of the 1TB, editing doesn't seem to work atm on the forums.

It really is a great board! Asus' software works really well too.

[leo]

hey If I can suggest you some modification :

550w is enough for your config , but I would suggest an seasonic ( seasonic g series 550w for exemple , can go up to 650w will keeping 80 gold )

and using 4x4 instead of 2x8 for the ram , I heard 8gb one have hard time reaching good latency .

In addition to that , my brother had a node 304 , He had really hard time fitting him computer in ( had to take a smaller gpu ) so he went with node 605 like me , really nice case

[27-bit]

I may have this wrong (Someone correct me if I am), but I don't believe H61 has overclocking capabilities. I would look into Z77. To my knowledge the Asus P8Z77-I is the only m-ITX with proper OC support: http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=71116 I have the board and LOVE IT. It does add a little bit to your build though.

I'm running a 3770K and the board mentioned above, and 550-Watt is perfect for me. So, you'll be fine :)

Everything else looks incredible.

ohh man i wish i could get this board its sooo good!! good luck with it:)

[SuBw00FeR]

@leo Can't do the 4x4 as it's an ITX board, only has 2 slots, the Seasonic g series is 160mm in Length, which will just touch the graphics card, that's probably why your brother had trouble with the node 304, if you have an extended graphics card, you need a smaller PSU which is why I went with the Silverstone Strider, as it's a 140mm PSU.

@Beausiph looks like that's the way to go, cheers. :)

[leo]

oh , I failed :) ( I tough you were going to use m atx wich has 4 ram slot.

About the 304 I dont know what were the problem , he just told me he raged like 3h on it before buying the same case I have

[Beausiph]

@Beausiph looks like that's the way to go' date=' cheers. :) [/quote']

Good to hear! :)

[SuBw00FeR]

Bumping my thread just for another question, trying to decide between the Node 304, or the BitFenix Prodigy, I want it to be as small as possible, looking at the sizes of them though they're pretty similar right? the Prodigy is basically the node 304 turned on it's side yeah? Which do you think would be better to get? Or is there another mini-ITX case I should be looking at?

[Guest]

Bumping my thread just for another question' date=' trying to decide between the Node 304, or the BitFenix Prodigy, I want it to be as small as possible, looking at the sizes of them though they're pretty similar right? the Prodigy is basically the node 304 turned on it's side yeah? Which do you think would be better to get? Or is there another mini-ITX case I should be looking at?[/quote']

My immediate vote goes to the Prodigy but that's fairly bias because i've wanted to build in one for ages...

[SuBw00FeR]

I don't mind biases, because they're usually for good reasons. :P

I also wouldn't mind something with a window, either side or top even, would be cool.

[HunterTheHusky]

So far it looks great! Remember to keep cable management in mind and remember to have plenty of pictures in the build log part of the forum, when you start that is. xP

[SuBw00FeR]

Oh hell yeah, Loveeeeeeeeeeeee pictures of builds/build logs! :D

​I'm not the best at cable management, but I'll definitely try. I've done alright in my current PC.

[Winther]

If you are going for a really small formfactor then the Node 304 is smaller, and could probably be more silent

Prodigy: 250 x 404 x 359mm

Node 304: 250 x 210 x 374mm

(W x H x D)

which means that the Node 304 is half the hight but the other numbers are pretty much the same.

but to be honest the prodigy looks awesome, and who here havent wanted to build in that sexy case! :P

also, if you ever want to do a custom WC loop, you could do that in the Prodigy.

[feteru]

You should definitely go for the Silverstone SG05, it's awesome. It comes with a 450W SFF power supply, which should be enough to handle any modern single graphics card system, and it is pretty much the smallest you can go with mini-ITX and still fit decent hardware. You might have to switch out the Kraken for something 120mm like a Kuhler 620 though, but it's definitely worth it.

[Mightybaal]

I just got my prodigy case ordered yesterday from casegear. Im going to do an orange and black build. ITs an upgrade so will take time to get matching components but once an orange water cooling loop gets installed in it with the bitfenix lights and some mdpc sleeving i reckon it will look awesome.

[Criss00zx]

I would go with the Node 304 if you are looking for a sff case. I know it's more difficult to work with because it's size, but you can put a lot of hardware in that mini box.

[SuBw00FeR]

I'm still tossing up between all the cases D: I've still got some time before I build it, leaning towards the SG05 atm though.

[vanwazltoff]

here is my node 304 review, pictures coming soon, make sure you watch power supply lengths!!!

http://linustechtips.com/main/forum/member-reviews/7083-fractal-node-304-mini-itx-review

[vanwazltoff]

I may have this wrong (Someone correct me if I am), but I don't believe H61 has overclocking capabilities. I would look into Z77. To my knowledge the Asus P8Z77-I is the only m-ITX with proper OC support: http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=71116 I have the board and LOVE IT. It does add a little bit to your build though.

I'm running a 3770K and the board mentioned above, and 550-Watt is perfect for me. So, you'll be fine :)

Everything else looks incredible.

you want to get a z77 itx board if you plan on overclocking

[vanwazltoff]

my node build, poor lighting

[Cazushio]

i dont think a 7970 will fit in a sg05.

i would go with a cm elite 120 (smaller then node 304, a lot cheaper aswell) and remove the drive bays and put a h80i there.

save some money and get the gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI

[SuBw00FeR]

i dont think a 7970 will fit in a sg05. i would go with a cm elite 120 (smaller then node 304' date=' a lot cheaper aswell) and remove the drive bays and put a h80i there. save some money and get the gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI [/quote']

Yup, I'll be changing to the Gigabyte board, PCCaseGear didn't have this board before (Unless i'm blind?) Also gonna go with the CM Elite 120, completely bypassed that case, not sure why, and it's really good. I'm also going to go with a GTX 660 instead of the 7970 (Trying to save at least a little bit somewhere.) Should still run everything I want it to really well. Thanks for all the tips guys. :)