New Mini-ITX Build

dannyd20

I posted earlier in the year about a new PC build and got some solid advice from deconduo ... now I'm looking for more help with different requirements - a new Mini-ITX Build for my gf's parents.

Target Spend: €400

Requirements:
Small form factor PC with optical drive (Mini-ITX)
19 – 22” monitor
No software / keyboard / mouse required

Usage:
Office suite, Word, Excel, Internet browsing, blogging, light image editing
Light gaming – windows games - solitaire, mah-jong, pinball etc, some flash games
Storage for music & pictures

Here is what I have come up with - smashed the budget by nearly €100! - any comments or suggestions appreciated!

Case: Antec ISK 310-150, Silver/Black, mini-ITX Case with 150W PSU - €77
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=31526&agid=1199&lb
Board: Gigabyte GA-H67N-USB3-B3 H67 Motherboard - €85
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=48258&agid=1605
Chip: Intel Pentium G620, S 1155, Dual Core 2.60GHz, 3MB Smart Cache, 65W - €54
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=47350&agid=1617
RAM: 4GB-Kit G-Skill Ripjaws PC3-10667U CL9 - €24
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=29670&agid=1192
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint M8 500GB, SATA II (HN-M500MBB) 6,4cm (2,5") - €109
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=49224&agid=682
DVD: LiteOn DS-8A5S SATA Slim - €23
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=44947&agid=699
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster B2230H - €115
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=32765&agid=603

dannyd20

I originally selected components I thought would give reasonably good performance, but I decided to see how cheap I could build

Anyone got any input on the AMD E350 board/chip/graphics combo? It's got AMD Radeon HD 6310 so probably more than enough. I reckon 200W should be okay too?

Case: Chieftec FI-01B, 200W TFX, Mini-ITX €47
http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=50870&agid=1199
Board with Integrated Chip & Graphics: ASRock E350M1/USB3, integrierte AMD E-350, Mini-ITX €93
http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=45459&agid=1660
RAM: 4GB-Kit G-Skill Ripjaws PC3-10667U CL9 €24
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/artic...9670&agid=1192
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm 500GB 3.5" €0
Spare from existing machine
DVD: LiteOn DS-8A5S SATA Slim €23
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/artic...44947&agid=699

eth0

E-350 would be fairly brutal performance

You should be able to tear an optical drive out of an old laptop that packed up

Serephucus

It's cheap builds like that that benefit most from SSDs. If you could chuck a 64GB one in there, it would be a huge boost to general snappiness. The E-350 should handle anything non-gaming fine. Might struggle a little with heavy Photoshop, but it's a very nice bit of kit, I have to say.

Voodu Child

I would go with your original CPU but pair it with a cheap H61 itx board. There's a couple there for €62-63

The advantage of the E-350 is
-lower power consumption
-better GPU.

But the trade off is that it's woefully underpowered.

The low end SB CPUs are very efficient anyway. And GPU is pretty much irrelevant for non-gamers.

eth0

What about the A8-3800, any good?

tons of contradicting reviews on the internet about it. the alternative would be a similarly priced i3 or i5, but I really don't like what intel are doing with this Intel Insider DRM scheme they have on those CPU's

dannyd20

Thanks for the ideas

I have a SSD in my desktop and it is great but one for this build would cost over €90 so doesn’t really fit the budget. Took a look at the AMD A8 series – they look decent but being quite new are still expensive and there doesn’t seem to be much availability.

Thing is, the ‘brutal’ performance of the E-350 might be enough for this build – it is a ‘Windows desktop’ not a high performer. The other thing is that the AMD system will have lower power consumption and less thermal problems, particularly in a small case.

However, I like VC’s suggestion and logic, so I am leaning towards the H61/G620 combo which comes in about €20 more expensive than the E350.

eth0

You could pick up a second hand ssd off ebay or adverts. Not as fast as a new one but probably still faster than a hdd and quieter and less power

Now I'm thinking of getting a F1A75-I & A8-3850 because the 3800 is rare as hens teeth. I could possibly undervolt it if I have to. I have the ISK 300-150 case so I'm limited to 150w PSU.

Looking around on forums I see people have this kind of set up. The PSU would be pulling nothing else but a SSD and possibly a RS-232->PCIe card

Should I chance it?

Solitaire

Unless you're gaming, a cheap Sandy+H61 is the way to go for mITX at the moment. Although if heavier apps are to be used, it might be a good idea to stretch to an i3 for the HyperThreading.

dannyd20

Purchase imminent on this build - any comments welcome! Planning to use the integrated HD3000 graphics and a spare 500gb HDD I already have.


Intel Core i3-2125 Box, LGA1155 €126,52
Gigabyte H61N-USB3, Intel H61, ITX €74,60
Lian Li PC-Q07B - Mini-ITX Tower-Cube - black €44,87
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA €15,98
4GB-Kit G-Skill Ripjaws PC3-10667U CL9 €22,59
be quiet! Pure Power 350 Watt / BQT L7 €37,03

Total €321,59

Genghiz Cohen

Slightly better for the same price.
i3 2130

dannyd20

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

Slightly better for the same price.
i3 2130

The 2130 has 0.1Ghz faster clock speed but only has HD2000 graphics whereas the 2125 has HD3000.

http://ark.intel.com/compare/59080,53428

Genghiz Cohen

dannyd20 wrote: »

The 2130 has 0.1Ghz faster clock speed but only has HD2000 graphics whereas the 2125 has HD3000.

http://ark.intel.com/compare/59080,53428

Looking at this image, for there really is a noticeable boost between 2000 and the 3000


I was working off cpubenchmark.net.
i3 2125
i3 2130

Sister site puts numbers to the difference
2125
2130

Serephucus

Stick with the 2125. For what you're using it for, it's the better option.

Might as well stick in 8GB of RAM also.

dannyd20

Well it arrived! I got some good help and advice from the forum so I thought some of you might be interested to see how it went!


Here is what I ordered:
4GB-Kit G-Skill Ripjaws PC3-10667U CL9 22,59 €
be quiet! Pure Power 350 Watt / BQT L7 37,03 €
Gigabyte H61N-USB3, Intel H61, ITX 74,60 €
Intel Core i3-2125 Box, LGA1155 126,52 €
Lian Li PC-Q07B - Mini-ITX Tower-Cube - black 44,87 €
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA 15,98 €

Sum: 321,59 €
Shipping costs by DHL-Normalversand: 30,00 €
Total: 351,59 €


Here is the timeline:

Wed 4 Jan- Online Order
Thur 5 Jan- Bank transfer
Tue 10 Jan- HWVS received payment / order dispatched DHL
Mon 16 Jan- Shipment delivered by An Post

So I put it together last night, it took a bit less than 2 hours to unpack/assemble, and a bit more than 2 hours to install/configure.

Here are some pics:

The stuff


Seating the board, chip + Ram


Wiring up


Assembled with PSU outside case (bit of work to do with the cables!)


Alongside my own rig (the Lian Li is about a quarter the size of the CM690)


Powered up with cables tidied a little


Cool enough with the PSU out


Fully assembled


Not bad!


A bit warmer when fully assembled and closed up


Rear panel


Comments:
Overall I am happy with the build. I have put together numerous ATX/mATX PCs over the years and this was much more challenging to assemble. However, the Lian Li case made light work of what could have been much trickier task. Doing it again, I would spend the extra €20 or €30 and get a modular PSU to make cable management a little easier. I am impressed with how quiet it is, the HDD is by far the loudest component even with the noise dampening rubber mounts. I have some more work to do with it in terms of configuring and installing software but from what I have seen so far it will more than meet requirements. Thanks to all who helped!

M00lers

Very nice, I love SFF builds, would love to throw one together sometime.