New htpc/small pc for light gaming

jozi

Building a new pc for a friend which has to be quite small, capable of playing games and for use as a htpc.

Here's the spec we're thinking of going with, would like some advice on where we can improve things or cheaper/beter alternatives. This is basically the max his budget comes to, cheaper is better.

Case: Silverstone SG06BB-450 USB 3.0 Sugo Black Mini ITX with 450W PSU
Mobo:ASUS Z87I-PRO Mini-ITX Intel Z87 Motherboard S1150 - Random mobo I picked, he wants as many usb ports as possible and connectivity for surround sound and wifi also.
CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz he wants something fast and powerfull, I just picked a random i5 core that seemed a decent price.
Heatsink: Thermalright AXP-200 - Randomly picked also, anything better out there that will be quiet, will this fit with the case?
RAM: Corsair Memory XMS3 8GB
HD: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SATA 3
Optical: Pioneer BDR-TD05RT Internal BluRay Writer

Do I need a special sata cable for the slim drive like this?
Gaming, will the on-board gfx be good enough for games like ut 2k4, pro evo 2013?
Also, need advice on ram, I was thinking 1x stick of 8gigs incase he ever wants to upgrade to a 2nd stick - will prob get this from memoryc.com if cheaper.

Serephucus

Motherboard is overkill for a machine like that, go for something like this instead:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-h87i-intel-h87-s-1150-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-raid-pcie-30-(x16)-dport-dvi-i-hdmi-mini-itx

No idea on the Pro Evo game, but UT04 will easily run at full tilt on integrated graphics. I've run UT3 on integrated before. :P (Not very well mind you)

jozi

Serephucus wrote: »

Motherboard is overkill for a machine like that, go for something like this instead:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-h87i-intel-h87-s-1150-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-raid-pcie-30-(x16)-dport-dvi-i-hdmi-mini-itx

No idea on the Pro Evo game, but UT04 will easily run at full tilt on integrated graphics. I've run UT3 on integrated before. :P (Not very well mind you)

Thanks. Thought the mobo might be overkill. That one is on pre-order though, anything else suitable?

PES spec: Core 2 Duo E4700 2.6GHz, GeForce GT 240, 3gig - should run it I guess?

Serephucus

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-h87i-plus-intel-h87-s-1150-udimm-sata-iii-6gb-s-sata-raid-pcie-30-(x16)-d-sub-(vga)-dvi-d-hdmi-

There ya go.

Just ran UT3 there. 720p, medium settings, 60-70FPS on my 4700MQ (similar graphics).
Edit: UT04 - 1680x1050, maxed out, 100FPS average.

jozi

Serephucus wrote: »

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-h87i-plus-intel-h87-s-1150-udimm-sata-iii-6gb-s-sata-raid-pcie-30-(x16)-d-sub-(vga)-dvi-d-hdmi-

There ya go.

Just ran UT3 there. 720p, medium settings, 60-70FPS on my 4700MQ (similar graphics).
Edit: UT04 - 1680x1050, maxed out, 100FPS average.

Thats probably more than he will play but good to know it will run, so I can put him of using a gfx card.

Is 300watt psu sufficient or will I stick with the 450watt one just incase a gfx card finds its way in there?

Could someone tell me which ram to go for as there's so many different DDR3 types.

Serephucus

Unless there's a massive difference, I'd stick with the 450W. It'll power most single GPUs out there, so he'll pretty much be able to put whatever he likes in there (maybe not the very highest card, etc. but anything lower) if he wants to.

As for RAM, whatever's cheap. Makes no odds. (As long as it's desktop DDR3, obviously)

bucks73

I have the USB2.0 version of that case and use the exact same sata cable for the optical drive. Originally had 4GB of the XMS3 in there but now use 8GB of low profile Vengeance instead.

Only have an i3-540 so had the stock cooler for a while and use a Silverstone low profile cooler now but has made no difference. Was thinking about trying the Noctua low profile cooler on it but may wait as I'm going to be changing case soon as I want more storage space.

You may notice I'm saying low profile a few times, there really isn't much space in there.

The case on its own with a modular power supply may give a bit more room.

jozi

There's about 20 quid difference between the 450 and 300watt versions, not a whole lot really.

How did you find the case, was it quiet enough with the stock fans?

Will the heatsink I listed work or should I be looking at one of these:
Noctua NH-L9i Low Profile CPU Cooler for Intel LGA 115x All
Cooler Master GeminII M4 RR-GMM4-16PK-R1 CPU Cooler for All intel/AMD CPU's Low Profile
Scythe SCBSK-2100 Big Shuriken 2 Rev.B Low Profile CPU Cooler
Silverstone SST-NT06-PRO Nitrogon CPU Cooler LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011

bucks73

Case is very quiet. Used to have a fan less GT430 in it and you wouldn't hear a thing for HTPC duties but for gaming the stock cooler could be heard but wasn't loud by any means.

That Noctua you listed above would definitely fit and is highly recommended and I'm still tempted to get it. All of them should fit no problem.

Overall it's a quality case, the reason I'm changing as I want to add another HDD and SSD. The one thing that might bug you or your friend is the blue power LED on the front...it is very bright and you can't dim it.

jozi

Sounds pretty good to me. I like the case myself, would nearly be tempted myself!

I might go with the Scythe Big Shuriken 2 because it looks like a better performing heatsink for more or less the same cost as the Noctua. I think it fits also, Silverstone list 82mm clearance and the heatsink is listed at 58mm (70mm incl fan?) so it should fit. I'm assuming the fan would be mounted to blow up instead of down?

uberpixie

You should consider an AMD a series fm2 APU. Have a small spare box running a 5800 black edition and it is well capable for light gaming: tomb raider, deus ex hr, civ v at 720p. Boards are not too pricey either.

Cuts down on the need for a graphics card initially and you can always add a better one later.

Case choice: I went with the sugo 05 which has an intake grill on the front as this has better airflow that the models with a solid front panel. Worth considering. Stuck with the stock amd
Cooler and noise is not too bad considering the case is mostly grill with no noise proofing :-)

jozi

Does the AMD offer better performance or are they close to comparable? He's quite happy to pay for the setup discussed in the thread.

I had seen the 05 but neither of us really like the fan on the front and prefer the 06's design. Going by spcr there's little difference between the 2x cases.

uberpixie

jozi wrote: »

Does the AMD offer better performance or are they close to comparable? He's quite happy to pay for the setup discussed in the thread.
.

The Intel is the faster chip, however the AMD has better onboard graphics.

In day to day usage you would not be able to tell the difference: the AMD faster in games due to the better onboard (especially if you pair it half decent ram, at least 1866Mhz+ or better).

for a HTPC even the AMD is overkill..... Either chip is going to play back movies well.... A lower powered Intel Pentium will do movie playback without breaking a sweat.

If your mate plans to add in a full gfx card later on if he wants to game a bit more, or will be ripping/encoding stuff a lot, stick with the intel.

jozi

I've always builth pc's for him with a gfx card and the intention of gaming but in reality I doubt he plays much games (hope he's not reading this ) Thats why I don't think he will need a gfx card, but he wants the option to get one...

Is there a significant saving to be made by switching the mobo/cpu/ram for amd (compatible) stuff?

uberpixie

jozi wrote: »

I've always builth pc's for him with a gfx card and the intention of gaming but in reality I doubt he plays much games (hope he's not reading this ) Thats why I don't think he will need a gfx card, but he wants the option to get one...

Is there a significant saving to be made by switching the mobo/cpu/ram for amd (compatible) stuff?

Not huge: the amd 5800k or 6800K are £50 and £40 cheaper than the intel you are looking at, motherboard prices are roughly the same.
The AMD 5600K is very good value @ £70 (pretty much half the price of the intel...)

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/cpu/46817-amd-a8-5600k/
(This will give you an idea of the performance)

The real saving with the AMDs are not having to buy a cheap gfx card on top of the cpu to get some light gaming in.
If you have any notion of adding a gfx card: go with the intel. The intel paired with a gfx card will be much faster than the AMD A series paired with a gfx card.

jozi

We stuck with what we got and ordered a few mins ago.

How are those amd chips for cooling and playing hd movies, I asume they handle it just fine?

jozi

Got this builth lastnight, slight oversight in that the mobo doesn't have wireless so we'll have to get a wifi card...

Neat little case, not 100% happy with cable routing but it's as good as it will be.

I can't believe how fast it booted in to win7! 15-20second with all drivers installed!