Hardware advice required

[Cmdr Chemtrail]

Lots of good advice already. I'll just add. Look about for the case you want. A nice spacious one with easy access for the twice a year clean out.

One where you can thread all the cables through the back for extra tidiness and has room for decent size fans on the front and top.
I'd also get a liquid CPU cooler but that's up to you.
An SSD for windows. You'll laugh at how quick it boots up compared to your old pc. Seconds instead minutes lol

I have an idea your old DVD -RW wont work on your new system though. If its from the 8 year old machine that is.

[AndyB]

I have an idea your old DVD -RW wont work on your new system though. If its from the 8 year old machine that is.

not wqithout an IDE to SATA and a sata power to molex adaptor and its hardly worth it as you can get a new DWDRW for not much more than a tenner, here's an example at £12.95 https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-24x ... 56-as.html

[DelayedReaction]

I have an idea your old DVD -RW wont work on your new system though. If its from the 8 year old machine that is.

not wqithout an IDE to SATA and a sata power to molex adaptor and its hardly worth it as you can get a new DWDRW for not much more than a tenner, here's an example at £12.95 https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-24x ... 56-as.html

The dvd-rw is about the newest thing in there, aside from the gpu, it's a sata drive so I imagine that will be fine

[DelayedReaction]

for the Budget he has I would look towards an intel 6th Gen cpu as minimum sitting on a Z170 mobo

something like that

https://www.aria.co.uk/Systems/Bundles/ ... ctId=65686

I'm actually liking the look of that bundle, will have to see what the funds are like on payday to see if I can grab it, or ask a friend to lend me the difference or w/e, I'll think of something

Incidentally, does anyone know what the max capacity of that board is?

[AndyB]

Incidentally, does anyone know what the max capacity of that board is?

GA-Z170-Gaming K3 Specifications
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/produc ... id=5720#sp

Q: did anyone else think on seeing the boards colour scheme that it was an ASUS ROG board? its a dead ringer for my Crosshair fomula V with all that red and black.

[thebs]

Incidentally, does anyone know what the max capacity of that board is?

GA-Z170-Gaming K3 Specifications
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/produc ... id=5720#sp

Q: did anyone else think on seeing the boards colour scheme that it was an ASUS ROG board? its a dead ringer for my Crosshair fomula V with all that red and black.

Asus doesn't own its own ODM (manufacturer) any more, as they sold Pegatron to ASRock in 2010, and ASRock's ODM agreement with Asus was completely terminated by 2012. So Asus has used various ODMs for fabrication since 2010, completely so since 2012, typically the same as many others.

E.g., ECS, FIC and Foxconn are the "Big 3" ODMs that don't sell much under their own name, and are often found "customized" for Asus, Gigabyte and MSI units -- 3 of the biggest Tier-2 OEMs -- and are often not very different as a result.

The only thing that still involves brand name is their support and warranty, although that can be outsourced at any time. Heck, Google's split from Asus after the original Nexus 7 tablet was a perfect example of poor support and lack of in-house fabrication capability.

► Show Spoiler

It's ironic that ASRock now owns Pegatron, being that Asus spun off ASRock as a "cheap whitebox" OEM in the early '00s. Now they've flipped roles, and why I buy ASRock products, instead of Asus.

I.e., unless you're Samsung or Sony (and even sometimes in the case of Sony), insert any Chinese/Tawainese ODM, and they've likely fabbed some products. Even Dell, HP and IBM/Lenovo use them, Dell and HP heavily so, with Lenovo more and more (sans firmware, in fact, that's part of the Lenovo firmware issues these days).

This is just how the world works since the '00s.

E.g., Although a somewhat established brand in other parts of the world, most Americans don't know Huawei has long been the 3rd largest phone ODM, including fabricating many T-mobile and even a few AT&T and Verizon branded phones, not just the regionals/Tier-2 (e.g., Boost et al.). All while Huawei is the #1 ODM for back-end networking equipment in the world, including getting caught "red handed" trying to sell unlicensed HP equipment (they fab for HP) to the Iranians.

I learned a lot from working directly with the ODMs in the '00s as an embedded engineer at several embedded OS and plus niche product vendors requiring custom designs and often bypassing the American distributors.

[thebs]

Look about for the case you want. A nice spacious one with easy access for the twice a year clean out.

A better one is one that has static filters, so one just has to clean the filters every 3 months.

Am I the only schmuck that goes Mini-ITX?

To me, I'm going to use just a single GPU, so it makes little sense to do anything but ITX to me. Then again I'm heavily travel for work, so I like to be able to port any gaming box when I'm going to be somewhere for a few months. An HDMI to the hotel's TV works, although sometimes I bring a 23" 1080p monitor too.

In all cases ...

With the GPU being "flush" against the side, pulling in cool air, it never overheats. In fact, a good, small Mini-ITX ensures all three full sides of direct, cool air over the drives, CPU and GPU components. I own no less than ten (10) different Mini-ITX solutions, a good half dozen gaming oriented.

The following three (3) are the most cost-effective in my experience, although several new products are on the market I've yet to try ...

► Show Spoiler

CoolerMaster Elite 120 - 8 x 9.5 x 16" (210 x 240 x 400mm)
For all-around gaming with plenty of space, using a standard ATX PSU, the Elite 120 works fine for everything I've thrown at it, even a four (4) 3.5" file server. It takes a very long GPU, a full size ATX, is semi-tooless while fitting (1) exposed 5.25" (for a full DVD/BD-RW) + (3) 3.5", and even includes two (2) dual-2.5" to 3.5" adapters so one can put (4) 2.5" drives in (2) 3.5" bays.



Coolermaster Elite 110 - 8 x 10 x 11" (210 x 260 x 280mm)
The Elite 110 is even more portable, while still using a full ATX PSU and being fairly roomy, but it only takes an 8" (200mm) long GPU, so keep that in mind. You'll either be stuck with a shorter nVidia GTX x50/x60 series, or something like the only 6.7" (170mm) long Gigabyte GTX 970 4GiB GDDR5 Mini-ITX edition. Despite it being shorter, I personally own that GTX 970 card, and it works just fine.

The Elite 110 and 120 can be had for sub-$30 on-sale (sans PSU, as they'll take any).


SilverStone SG05 series - 7 x 9 x 11" (180 x 220 x 280mm)
Now for the really small, light and portable (but more cramped when it come to running cables), there is the (now discontinued, but seemingly still available) SilverStone SG05 series. I highly recommend you buy it with the 80%+ efficient, 450W SFX PSU, as good SFX power supplies are not cheap, and it's a good one. I also have used a SilverStone 600W SFX PSU, but found both the SandyBridge i5 + GTX 660 Ti and Haswell i7 + GTX 970 fine with just the 450W. Although it's smaller than the Elite 110, it can take just over a 10" (250mm) long GPU, and I fit in a 10.3" (although I had to gut it to angle it in). It also takes a slimline 5.25" DVD/BD-RW, although that's really going to limit the SFX PSU to 450W (the 600W likely won't work with a 5.25" slim mounted).



I highlighted the "effective cooling" with the SilverStone SG05 in an impromptu, 5 minute video from my hotel room. I filmed it because I had numerous friends complaining about overheating with lesser CPUs and GPUs than I have. I've since upgraded this older i5-2500K + GTX 660Ti 2GiB to an i7-4790K + GTX 970 4GiB and have 0 heat issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkpV7MnwVVE

[JustSomeGuy]

Those boxes do look interesting, the thought of an mini-ITX build has passed through my mind a couple of times. I've only done ATX builds so far, and having a small case like that on desk would be nice change to those behemoths under the table.
It almost looks like that those cases take in a normal ATX PSU which would be helpful, and that GPU placement actually looks good, but I don't see any air filtering which would be nice.. So much easier to clean the filters than the card itself.

How about noise levels? In a large well padded case which is under the table, the noise levels are very very low even when putting both CPU and GPU to work. I assume the mini-ITX noise levels will be higher even if the components do get cool air easily, as the case has no paddings and when it sits on table. I guess it's a tradeoff, can't have everything in a small neat box

[thebs]

Those boxes do look interesting, the thought of an mini-ITX build has passed through my mind a couple of times. I've only done ATX builds so far, and having a small case like that on desk would be nice change to those behemoths under the table.

I use a 42" 3D TV, so my 8" (210mm) high CoolerMaster Elite 120 fits in between two (2) of the tables (3-levels) of my corner TV stand.

It almost looks like that those cases take in a normal ATX PSU which would be helpful,

All of the products in the Elite 100 series do, and are tall enough that you can usually fit a fan of 4-5" (100-120mm) tall, depending on the case and PS. The shorter the Mini-ITX case, the shorter the CPU fan allowed.

Otherwise, if you need a 7"+ (180mm+) tall cooler, you're really losing a lot of the benefits of Mini-ITX, and should just go MicroATX instead. I mean, there are Mini-ITX cases out there that have more room, but they are almost as big as MicroATX, so it defeats the purpose. MicroATX allows up to 9.6"/250mm depth (8"/203mm is typical), which means four (4) DIMM slots are common, whereas 6.7"/170mm almost always has only two (2) DIMM slots (only the 4/8-core Atom C-series seems to have 4 in my experience).

SilverStone also has the newer SG07, SG08 and SG13 units that are 7.5-8" (190-210mm) tall, and take a full ATX PSU. Otherwise the 7" (sub-180mm) tall SG05 series I have ends up with about the same clearance being that it uses a small SFX PSU.

and that GPU placement actually looks good, but I don't see any air filtering which would be nice.. So much easier to clean the filters than the card itself.

The CoolerMaster Elite 100 series and the SilverStone SG05 series only comes with front filters at best (some Elite models none at all). However ... have you seen the magnetic filters that are out there that work with just about any case?

E.g., these US$25 Elite 110 set and US$34 Elite 130 set (been meaning to try the 130 on the 120). They go on the outside, are quite effective, and are extremely easy to clean. They also sell just the side one alone for under US$10 too.

How about noise levels? In a large well padded case which is under the table, the noise levels are very very low even when putting both CPU and GPU to work.

Noise of a sub-1,000rpm 120-140mm fan is nothing compared to a 3,000rpm+ 80mm fan, and yet moves just as much, if not more, volume, depending on depth.

I assume the mini-ITX noise levels will be higher even if the components do get cool air easily, as the case has no paddings and when it sits on table. I guess it's a tradeoff, can't have everything in a small neat box

I don't hear my box.

BTW, everyone seems to say things like you do ... until I actually bring one of my boxes to a gamer outing. Assumptions != reality.

Especially because I often have far better specs than many of them do in their full cases, no one says jack anymore. Seeing, and hearing (lack thereof), is believing. Less volume means less fans required to get more airflow per case volume resulting in lower sound and lower temperatures. Heck, there's a lot less empty space for things to echo too.

But I have a lot of embedded experience, from sealed NEMA 4X enclosures with 5.25" (6x8") and 3.5" (4x6") SBCs that take +24V (instead of +12V) from external city lighting (e.g., tall street and parking lights) to even standard nano and pico boards that you find in countless OEM products today. E.g., Gigabyte BRIX, Zotac ZBox, and other variants, in addition to the well-known (and overpriced) Intel NUC.

You literally only need one (1) large fan at the front for the drives, and the GPU takes are of itself, because it's sitting right up against the panel. I kid you not, my GPU in an ITX with that cool intake right there registers 10C+ cooler than anyone ATX system I've ever seen tested, and they had side fans that only added +10db (as much as +30db if they had high air-flow 80mm)!

The Elite 120 does come with a shallow, low-rpm 80mm fan near the CPU, but I often remove it as it's a PITA, and just use a better, after-market CPU cooler. It then pulls cool air from the other side, away from and not sharing with the GPU.

Oh, and BTW, when I say "better" understand I'm using these measly US$10 Thermaltake CL-P0556 fansinks that are only 60mm tall, with 92mm ball bearing fans, in my LGA-115x systems[/url] -- yes, even LGA-1156/1155/1150 compatible (haven't tried 1151 yet). I picked up four (4) at MicroCenter for sub-US$10/each in Atlanta, while Amazon has them for under US$13/each w/free Prime shipping. Yes, they cool even tat top-tier 4.0GHz i7-4790K just fine.

Just do not confuse them with the LGA-775 units (CoolerMaster CL-P0497) that aren't compatible. They look similar, but aren't the same.

[JustSomeGuy]

However ... have you seen the magnetic filters that are out there that work with just about any case?

E.g., these US$25 Elite 110 set and US$34 Elite 130 set (been meaning to try the 130 on the 120). They go on the outside, are quite effective, and are extremely easy to clean. They also sell just the side one for under US$10 too.

I have not seen those before, they sounds like an excellent invention, making the cleaning even easier than filters that are build in to some cases which require you to flip the case on it's head in order to get that filter out.
If (when) I do get around to build mini-ITX system, I will definately get filters like that. A bit strange that they do not mention on the page that they are magnetic. Or then the next thickness of my glasses is a guide dog.

BTW, everyone seems to say things like you do ... until I actually bring one of my boxes to a gamer outing. After that, especially because I often have far better specs than many of them do in their full cases, no one says jack anymore. Seeing, and hearing (lack thereof), is believing.

I have not seen (or heard) a running mini-ITX system yet, so I made assumptions.
Sometimes I go and test things new to me myself rather than searhing the web for info, and this is one thing I do want to try out. Thinking that the next system I build for myself could be the one.

Less volume means less fans required to get more airflow per case volume resulting in lower sound and lower temperatures. Heck, there's a lot less empty space for things to echo too.

Right, I did not count in the much smaller volume of the case. Didn't think it all the way through I guess.

You literally only need one (1) large fan at the front for the drives, and the GPU takes are of itself, because it's sitting right up against the panel. I kid you not, my GPU in an ITX with that cool intake right there registers 10C+ cooler than anyone ATX system I've ever seen tested, and they had side fans that only added +10db (as much as +30db if they had high air-flow 80mm)!

Allright allright, I'm sold already

Thanks for the tips, appreciated.