Build

First Time Build - Mini-ITX Gaming Box

by derekyan0624

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	16 Comments
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Part List View full price breakdown

CPU

$259.56

Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core
CPU Cooler

$43.78

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing
Motherboard

Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1155
Memory

$165.25

Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600
Storage

$249.99

Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" SSD
Storage

$73.87

Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM
Video Card

Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950 3GB
Case

$74.99

Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower
Power Supply

$106.99

Silverstone Strider Gold 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX
Operating System

Microsoft Windows 8 Full 64-bit
Monitor

$128.99

Asus VS248H-P 24.0" 1920x1080
Keyboard

Corsair Vengeance K90 Wired Gaming

$1113.42
Subtotal:
$10.00
* Mail-In Rebates:
$1103.42
Total:

Details

CPU Clock Rate

3.4GHz

GPU Core Clock Rate

1.2GHz

GPU Effective Memory Clock Rate

1.5GHz

GPU Temperature While Idle

31.0° C

GPU Temperature Under Load

70.0° C

Description

Took me about a month of research to settle on this set. I have never assemble a complete build before so there was some learning curve throughout the process. It took me over 8 hours to compete the build because I ran into different difficulties with this small case.

The graphic card did not fit in with this already small sized PSU so I had to take off the metal bracket that hold the PSU in place to create more room. The biggest difficult with this build is how all these wires get into the way so I have to assemble parts in a particular order to make it work. Also, it is important to get a maximum 140mm in depth PSU at least if you are planning to go with a big GPU, since mine just barely fit the case with it.

I made some attempts for cable management but looks like its too tight to do anything good with it. This PC runs silently unless when I run games like bioshock infinite with it.

So far I am extremely happy with this build. Please leave any comment regarding the build! I will be overclocking the gpu and cpu over this week and post the result.

So far, my GPU is fortunately voltage unlocked and I am able to run at best 1250/1550 so far. The fan does get pretty loud thou.

edit: Looks like I am only able to overclock my cpu upt o 4.3 ghz so far!

Comments Sorted by:

SrgtMacfly 1 point 55 months ago

Glad do see someone finnaly uses this case to game!! I love mITX rigs. I was planning for a very long time to get a node 304 and get mITX rig built, just waiting for the new CPU line

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Divdor 1 Build 1 point 55 months ago

I am really warming up to these little cube builds. Nice Job!

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Noob616 1 Build 1 point 55 months ago

I'm looking at building something very similar: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/Noob616/saved/1rBY

Nice to see more of these builds so I have something to look at for reference.

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Oliver 5 Builds 1 point 55 months ago

Great Choices!

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lenoz 2 Builds 1 point 55 months ago

I call you my case/mobo/SSD friend, although you obviously did something very different to me! Good work on the extra attempts at cable management - having done my build recently you get a definite up vote for that alone as much as anything, you genuinely have done a lot better a job than many people will realise to give you credit for.

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derekyan0624 submitter 1 Build 1 point 55 months ago

Thanks for the comments!

I am checking out your build and it looks very neat and tidy! Great job with that!

Its definitely a lot of fun building this. I started from 4pm and didn't realize it was 12:00 already when I finished.

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randomjester 1 point 55 months ago

Hey derekyan0624, how do you like the Asus VS248H-P monitor for gaming, particularly for FPS games? I'm thinking about getting that same model but probably in the 23" (VS238H-P). Has it been good for gaming or do you wish you would have gotten a different monitor? Thanks

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derekyan0624 submitter 1 Build 1 point 55 months ago

The main reason I got this was because it was at a warehouse sale for less than 150 CAD. Its a decent monitor so far for gaming so I can't complain about it. Quick respond time according to the spec.

I'd say this is on par with other brand of similar spec monitor like samsung or dell. If I had the choice I'd probably went with a Dell one thou.

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Piroko 1 point 54 months ago

Looks great!

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rjc34 1 point 54 months ago

The only minor issue I see is the mobo. Sad that Gigabyte locked the voltage on it! Still, given the airflow and cooler retrictions, you've done pretty well at 4.3GHz on the CPU.

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