Mini ITX £1500+ Build

[Omseik]

Hi everyone,

I just sold my gaming laptop and now I want to build a PC in a Phanteks Evolv shift mini ITX case.

However, I don't have an amazing knowledge about which of the CPUs to choose or motherboards...

 

So what I 100% want:

• The Phanteks evolve shift case
• GTX 1080 Ti (don't know exactly which brand and model), should I get something with back exhaust? 

What I don't know and need help with:

• CPU, I see the i7 8700k everywhere, but do I need 6 cores?
• CPU Cooler, I know that the 120mm water coolers are bad, but what else I can do? 
• Motherboard. The one I choose just looks cool. I don't know anything else
• Case Fans? I'm sure I need airflow in this case, and I'm not sure if the default fans which comes in the case will be amazing, so what can I get?

 

I aim to play AAA games like (Assassin's Creed Origins/Odyssey, Cyberpunk 2077, Farcry 5, Rainbow Six Siege, etc)

 

I have this list for now which is over £1500 but I hope on Black Friday I may get some deals. If not. I will pay the full price. (I still want to stay at 1500, so Id like to hear suggestions on what to change)

 

 

EDIT: I will play on a 1440p ~144Hz monitor. I know that I can't play all the games at 144, but everything over 60 is fine. I need 144hz for shooters.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor	£383.99 @ Aria PC
CPU Cooler	Corsair - H60 (2018) 57.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	£69.94 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard	Asus - ROG Strix Z370-I Gaming Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard	£192.40 @ Alza
Memory	Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	£127.19 @ Aria PC
Storage	Samsung - 970 Evo 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	£64.79 @ Aria PC
Storage	Western Digital - BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	£69.08 @ Amazon UK
Video Card	EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB FTW3 GAMING iCX Video Card	£708.11 @ Amazon UK
Case	Phanteks - ENTHOO EVOLV SHIFT Mini ITX Tower Case	£89.82 @ Ebuyer
Power Supply	Corsair - SF 600W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply	£96.83 @ Ebuyer
Other	Phanteks PH-LEDKT_COMBO RGB LED Strip Combo Set	£14.48 @ AWD-IT
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£1816.63
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-11-04 02:08 GMT+0000

 

 

 

Edited November 4, 2018 by Omseik
Added monitor information

[Guest]

Are you wanting that case because of the looks ? Or is desk space an issue ? Nothing wrong with the case itself but you might have thermal issues with those components. 

 

 

[LukeSavenije]

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/LBJjsZ

 

[Omseik]

1 minute ago, lee32uk said:

Are you wanting that case because of the looks ? Or is desk space an issue ? Nothing wrong with the case itself but you might have thermal issues with those components. 

 

 

100% looks. That's why I'm thinking to get a GPU with exhaust to get the heat out on the top, the CPU will have a water cooler which has the exhaust on the bottom and will have 2 (or 3, depends how I fit them) to pus air inside from the front of the case.

 

Should this help for thermals?

However, I don't know what GPU to get, and many people complain that these are very noisy because they have only 1 fan (like 1080ti founder edition)

[Omseik]

9 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/LBJjsZ

 

that looks cool.

Do you consider that that cooler good enough? I don't have experience with such small heatsinks 

 

EDIT:

Im fine doing over 1500, I may also get some offer on black Friday. So I guess I will still go for an M.2 and a black WD

[LukeSavenije]

Just now, Omseik said:

that looks cool.

Do you consider that that cooler good enough? I don't have experience with such small heatsinks 

it cools my 8600k on 4,4 ghz. I would say it's a good cooler for most chips. but I run a atx case, not a mini-itx

[Omseik]

3 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

it cools my 8600k on 4,4 ghz. I would say it's a good cooler for most chips. but I run a atx case, not a mini-itx

I can fit 2 fans on the right side of the case (the blue part in the attachment) and the intake air is coming from the yellow "spaces". What fans should I get to deal with the air pressure ? Noctua?

And if I don't have a water cooler, I can fit a fan on the bottom to get rid of the hot air

[LukeSavenije]

noctua does make great fans if you like the color. if you like something more black, get some be quiet fans

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Omseik said:

100% looks. That's why I'm thinking to get a GPU with exhaust to get the heat out on the top, the CPU will have a water cooler which has the exhaust on the bottom and will have 2 (or 3, depends how I fit them) to pus air inside from the front of the case.

 

Should this help for thermals?

However, I don't know what GPU to get, and many people complain that these are very noisy because they have only 1 fan (like 1080ti founder edition)

From what I have seen you will have issues with a 1080 ti and 8700K in this case. The video below is using the same cpu and a hybrid 1080 ti and he mentions that there is some throttling. If he takes the front panel off the issue goes away.

 

 

There is the taller Evolv Shift X as well which seems to be able to fit a 280mm AIO.

 

You could also consider going with a Ryzen R5 2600 as that would run a lot cooler than the 8700K and is still a 6 core cpu. The 120mm AIO would then be ok for that cpu.

 

[Omseik]

6 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

From what I have seen you will have issues with a 1080 ti and 8700K in this case. The video below is using the same cpu and a hybrid 1080 ti and he mentions that there is some throttling. If he takes the front panel off the issue goes away.

 

 

There is the taller Evolv Shift X as well which seems to be able to fit a 280mm AIO.

 

You could also consider going with a Ryzen R5 2600 as that would run a lot cooler than the 8700K and is still a 6 core cpu. The 120mm AIO would then be ok for that cpu.

 

I just saw as well few builds with holes in the front panel.

I don't want to do that, so I will consider a different CPU. However, Rysen R6 2600 is ~25% slower, but cheap as well. So I'm not sure what to do. Any other CPU your recommend? 

What is the limit for a 1080ti to don't get a bottleneck?

[Guest]

Just now, Omseik said:

I just saw as well few builds with holes in the front panel.

I don't want to do that, so I will consider a different CPU. However, Rysen R6 2600 is ~25% slower, but cheap as well. So I'm not sure what to do. Any other CPU your recommend? 

What is the limit for a 1080ti to don't get a bottleneck?

The 8700K will be faster at 1080p but if you are going with a 1080 ti then you should be aiming for a 1440p or 4K monitor. The gap gets smaller when you move up in resolution.

[Omseik]

Just now, lee32uk said:

The 8700K will be faster at 1080p but if you are going with a 1080 ti then you should be aiming for a 1440p or 4K monitor. The gap gets smaller when you move up in resolution.

Oh yeah. I want to play in 1440p at 144hz. forgot to add that to my main post.

I know I will not play all the games at 144, but everything over 60 is fine. I need the 144hz for competitive games

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Omseik said:

Oh yeah. I want to play in 1440p at 144hz. forgot to add that to my main post.

I know I will not play all the games at 144, but everything over 60 is fine. I need the 144hz for competitive games

Then you should be fine. The R5 2600 is a good cpu. It will also save you quite a bit of money 

[Omseik]

1 minute ago, lee32uk said:

Then you should be fine. The R5 2600 is a good cpu. It will also save you quite a bit of money 

Do most of the current games still use only 4 cores? or they moved to 6-8? 

What about R7 2700x? is still £100+ cheaper than the 8700k. Do i need it?  Will that power help me future proof the PC ?

[Prof. Lucifer]

Don't get 2700x get the 1800x, it's cheaper with similar performance.

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Omseik said:

Do most of the current games still use only 4 cores? or they moved to 6-8? 

What about R7 2700x? is still £100+ cheaper than the 8700k. Do i need it?  Will that power help me future proof the PC ?

If you are just gaming i.e No Video editing/Rendering or twitch streaming etc then the 6 core R5 2600 will be good enough. The AM4 platform is supported to 2020 so you still have a good upgrade path in the future.

[Omseik]

6 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

If you are just gaming i.e No Video editing/Rendering or twitch streaming etc then the 6 core R5 2600 will be good enough. The AM4 platform is supported to 2020 so you still have a good upgrade path in the future.

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Also, anything better than the founder edition 1080ti with a rear exhaust?

 

 

EDIT: you already told me about the 120mm coolers, I forgot i was talking to you.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Omseik said:

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Also, anything better than the founder edition 1080ti with a rear exhaust?

 

 

EDIT: you already told me about the 120mm coolers, I forgot i was talking to you.

If you don't mind 2nd hand maybe look for one of the Hybrid 1080 ti's like the one in the Youtube video. You can still buy them new but they are a bit overpriced when compared to a new RTX 2080. The cheapest EVGA one seems to be around £800 which is expensive for a 1080 ti.

 

 

[LukeSavenije]

3 hours ago, Omseik said:

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Also, anything better than the founder edition 1080ti with a rear exhaust?

 

 

EDIT: you already told me about the 120mm coolers, I forgot i was talking to you.

not a big fan of blower style fans, but it might be the best option here. the seahawk x, sc gaming 2 acx hybrid, ftw 3 hybrid and aorus waterforce are good hybrid cooler cards. otherwise the asus turbo, gigabyte turbo, or msi aero oc are examples of blower cooled fans. this is why I love ATX

[LukeSavenije]

and before I forget to say, zen 2 is lauching next year, so if you can wait a while with some components, you may get that. but for now, get a 2700 non x becouse it's still unlocked and only misses some turbo, which you probebly don't even need here.

[Omseik]

On 11/4/2018 at 5:07 PM, lee32uk said:

If you don't mind 2nd hand maybe look for one of the Hybrid 1080 ti's like the one in the Youtube video. You can still buy them new but they are a bit overpriced when compared to a new RTX 2080. The cheapest EVGA one seems to be around £800 which is expensive for a 1080 ti.

 

 

Yeah... I think I will pass. I have friends with bad experiences with 2nd hand cards from eBay in UK.

 

On 11/4/2018 at 7:18 PM, LukeSavenije said:

not a big fan of blower style fans, but it might be the best option here. the seahawk x, sc gaming 2 acx hybrid, ftw 3 hybrid and aorus waterforce are good hybrid cooler cards. otherwise the asus turbo, gigabyte turbo, or msi aero oc are examples of blower cooled fans. this is why I love ATX

Everything noted. 

 

On 11/4/2018 at 7:22 PM, LukeSavenije said:

and before I forget to say, zen 2 is lauching next year, so if you can wait a while with some components, you may get that. but for now, get a 2700 non x becouse it's still unlocked and only misses some turbo, which you probebly don't even need here.

I guess Zen 2 will still use the same socket AM4.

And if I get the 2700x (not sure if £40 is worth 15% increase in performance) instead of 2700 non x, the selling value should decrease the same way (probably) and don't lose that much when I will upgrade (if I decide to).

0.5 Ghz on 8 cores should make a difference. I think.