Need help with a portable build.

[Tminus]

 

 

I'm in the US and my budget is flexible. I was considering a gaming laptop but didn't want to compromise and a bunch of money when I have the internals to a decent gaming PC already. (R9380 black edition, i5 2550k)

 

I wanted to take my GPU and processor and trasnfer it into a more portable package. Or upgrade the hard drives and add a wifi card on my current machine. (CM storm scout, hard drives are a disaster.) 

 

Would I be better off building fresh? This PC is pretty old. This is also really daunting considering I've never done a micro ATX build before. I only plan to use one monitor and I don't play much outside of overwatch, WoW, diablo 3, path of exile. 

 

Are there any prebuilt portable options? 

 

[Streetguru]

21 minutes ago, Tminus said:

 

Don't go pre-built

 

You'll want to go ITX for portability, most likely an Elite 130 or Core 500 case

Though you should wait for Ryzen if you're going to get a new motherboard/CPU

[Tminus]

I'm not entirely sure what is going to be worth it more. To keep my current parts or go for a whole new build. I would do this to spend less than 800 USD and somehow get my i5 2550k and the R9280x black edition into a portable form factor. 

 

It needs wifi and ideally a hdmi out port. 

[Streetguru]

3 minutes ago, Tminus said:

I'm not entirely sure what is going to be worth it more. To keep my current parts or go for a whole new build. I would do this to spend less than 800 USD and somehow get my i5 2550k and the R9280x black edition into a portable form factor. 

 

It needs wifi and ideally a hdmi out port. 

The i5 is aging but still alright for most games at 60hz, and you may have issues finding an ITX board, the cases I listed have full sized GPU support and ATX PSU support, you'd just need to change the motherboard to use them

the elite 130 is a bit smaller, the Core 500 supports 240mm AIOs for overclocking, probably get the Core 500, and upgrade to a Ryzen CPU when they launch with a beefy water cooler
 

 

[Tminus]

2 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

The i5 is aging but still alright for most games at 60hz, and you may have issues finding an ITX board, the cases I listed have full sized GPU support and ATX PSU support, you'd just need to change the motherboard to use them

the elite 130 is a bit smaller, the Core 500 supports 240mm AIOs for overclocking, probably get the Core 500, and upgrade to a Ryzen CPU when they launch with a beefy water cooler
 

Honestly I'm down to go for a whole new build. I wanna run those games I mentioned well. I'm not overly concerned with running the latest games at max fps. 

[uzarnom]

hey i recently upgraded my build to m-itx (1155 - ivy bridge).

 

The 2550k should be fine to keep, the main issue is finding a decent board.

you might have better luck finding a nicely priced one because you live in the US

 

for the case how small does it need to be? i'm using the corsair 380t

 

I ended up getting an alienware X51 desktop computer, just so my ITX system would have usb 3, and front headers using some weird pci-mini usb 3 front header thing.

[Streetguru]

3 minutes ago, Tminus said:

Honestly I'm down to go for a whole new build. I wanna run those games I mentioned well. I'm not overly concerned with running the latest games at max fps. 

That would look something like the build below

 

I'd seriously just wait for Ryzen, or buy the Core 500 if you can find a cheap ITX Z97 board

 

maybe upgrade to an RX 480 8gb you find on a good sale in the mean time as well, Ryzen is supposed to come out around the end of February

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/XHGM6X
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/XHGM6X/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($234.78 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($29.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($123.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.33 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 8GB ARMOR 8G OC Video Card  ($219.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 500 Mini ITX Desktop Case  ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $883.05
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-08 04:05 EST-0500

[Tminus]

15 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

That would look something like the build below

 

I'd seriously just wait for Ryzen, or buy the Core 500 if you can find a cheap ITX Z97 board

 

maybe upgrade to an RX 480 8gb you find on a good sale in the mean time as well, Ryzen is supposed to come out around the end of February

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/XHGM6X
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/XHGM6X/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($234.78 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($29.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($123.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.33 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 8GB ARMOR 8G OC Video Card  ($219.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 500 Mini ITX Desktop Case  ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $883.05
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-08 04:05 EST-0500

What is ryzen and why should I wait? 

[Streetguru]

2 minutes ago, Tminus said:

What is ryzen and why should I wait? 

Ryzen is AMD's new CPU archetecture that looks like it'll actually be competitive Vs Intel

 

Mostly you'd get overclocking features on any Ryzen chip, and you could overclock with a Mid range Ryzen board, and we should be seeing more cores/threads at the same price points, like you'd get something like an i7 for the price of an i5, hopefully anyways

 

instead of paying the "intel tax' of requiring a Z series motherboard, and K series chip

Here's a random speculation video, basically, it's worth waiting to see what it offers
 

and some 480 vs 1060 stuff, the 480 has caught up in DX11 and saves you money with free-sync, going forward it looks like it's going to scale better with DX12/Vulkan as well, I'd stick to the 8GB 480 at this point if at all possible