Could Someone Please Review my Build?

[DressToImpress]

two things you gotta watch out for though. will your GPU fit? some ITX cases are built so house GPUs (such as the Bitfenix Case) however, many ITX cases are meant to be a small form factor HTPC or something, which dont usually use GPUs.

 

the other thing is air flow. the smaller the case, the less airflow it may have (again, this isnt the case with every single case, but some of them, and especially the lower quality ones) add onto that all your cramped components which could be putting out a good amount of heat (it is a gaming rig after all) and you get a nice little mini oven (hyperbole, but you understand my point)

 

i recommend the Bitfenix case because a lot of LAN gamers use and recommend them. its been put through its portable gaming tests and been approved.

 

 

It's this simple. You can have portability, or you can run on ultra settings. For your budget, you're not getting both.

 

Within a micro ITX or ATX case, you're not going to be able to fit those components you've listed. Not only are the parts too big to fit, but you don't have enough power to run it. Even if you could somehow fit it all in, and you'd have to break the laws of physics to do that, it wouldn't even run anyway because that PSU is a piece of junk. If you want something the size of a console, buy a console. The only PCs that are console sized are either pitifully weak or ludicrously expensive(oiver fifteen thousand dollars)

 

Forget about portability, if you're going to get PC like performance, it's not going to be portable. If you want portable, it's going to be pitifully weak. If you want to run on ultra settings, I'll lay out this build. If you want portable, get a PS4.

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1k0BR

 

THIS will do what you want it to do. Forget portability, unless you're willing to spend at minimum $6000, you're not getting portability.

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1k0KL

 

And THIS is what I use currently. Look at my AWESOME optical drive! it's the highlight of the entire build!

 

 

if your buying new, you might as well get Haswell though. same price, slightly better performance, no reason not to.

 

also you dont need a full Tower. you can get a Mid Tower and be fine, save some cash and size and if you really wanna bring it somewhere, youll have a much easier time carrying a mid size tower then a full tower.

 

 

also you havent explained why you need portability? is it for LAN parties? or is it so you can bring it to college? or what? what do you plan on doing with the PC?

 

 

Yes, I'll be scaling down from the HAF at the next possible time. It's been good but it's just too unwieldy.

 

I know what you all mean, but what about the Alienware x51?

It's tiny, powerful, yet overpriced ;c

Basically I would like to build my own x51 if possible.

http://cdn3.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/2961377/alienware-x51-main_large_verge_super_wide.jpg

Edited July 24, 2013 by DressToImpress

[DressToImpress]

Sorry, double post.

 

Edited July 24, 2013 by DressToImpress

[Vindekarr]

Look mate, I'm an engineer by trade. The most basic three rules of engineering are as follows, 1: The customer is always wrong and their ideas are almost always either in breach of the laws of physics, modern science, or even common sense. 2: The smaller you have to make it the more useless it is and the more it costs. Big stuff is always better because it's easier to make 3: The smaller it is the more it costs.

 

To make the Alienware tiny but powerful, it HAS to be overpriced. Whenever you scale something down, be it a car's engine or a computer's graphics card, you lose power and effectiveness. You can compensate for this, but the result will be hideously expensive. I'm unfamiliar with US pricing, but where I come from, matching an X51's power will break the bank AND the bank next to that. It'd help if I knew what sort of budget you're working with, because a powerful ITX computer will normally cost around $5000 and still not run games on ultra.

 

Portability and power are incompatible irreconcilable mutually exclusive bad bed-mates.

 

The other thing you need to bear in mind is there's a new era of technology about to start. Games will soon almost double in system requirements and the build you're making won't even go past "low" It's basically going to spell the end for ITX systems. The only thing that's going to have the raw brawn to run next-gen PC games at their best is a midi-tower.

Edited July 25, 2013 by Vindekarr

[hoofhearted4]

i think $5000 is a bit of an over estimation, but ill blame it on you being an Aussie haha.

 

heres the thing. you can build a nice ITX PC. you can build a nice gaming LAN PC. but you cant have it the size of a console. a good GPU will not fit in those small little thing ITX cases. you either need an ITX case built for gaming (again Bitfenix Prodegy, and there are others) which are still small and portable, but not thing like a console. or you can just get a small Mid Tower case. which will be less portable, but still managable.

 

 

i repeat, why do you want portability, and specifically "a PC built like a console"? will you actually be moving it a lot? does it need to fit in a small space? are you so fanboy of consoles that building a PC unlike one scares you? (trolol on purpose) or are you so nervous of building one, that you think small is easier? if this last one is the case, i can tell you it doesnt make a different. If anything, bigger is easier. more room to work with lol.

Edited July 25, 2013 by hoofhearted4

[Vindekarr]

Yeah, it's local prices. You CAN get a good micro-ITX machine here but they're horribly expensive. What you CAN get are cases made of lightweight car industry materials. Antec makes this lovely little standard tower with handles and wheels that doesn't weigh much.

 

That's my big advice to you, Dress. Have a look at some Standard ATX towers. You'd be amazed how small and portable some of them are, especially the ones with wheels.

[DressToImpress]

Look mate, I'm an engineer by trade. The most basic three rules of engineering are as follows, 1: The customer is always wrong and their ideas are almost always either in breach of the laws of physics, modern science, or even common sense. 2: The smaller you have to make it the more useless it is and the more it costs. Big stuff is always better because it's easier to make 3: The smaller it is the more it costs.

 

To make the Alienware tiny but powerful, it HAS to be overpriced. Whenever you scale something down, be it a car's engine or a computer's graphics card, you lose power and effectiveness. You can compensate for this, but the result will be hideously expensive. I'm unfamiliar with US pricing, but where I come from, matching an X51's power will break the bank AND the bank next to that. It'd help if I knew what sort of budget you're working with, because a powerful ITX computer will normally cost around $5000 and still not run games on ultra.

 

Portability and power are incompatible irreconcilable mutually exclusive bad bed-mates.

 

The other thing you need to bear in mind is there's a new era of technology about to start. Games will soon almost double in system requirements and the build you're making won't even go past "low" It's basically going to spell the end for ITX systems. The only thing that's going to have the raw brawn to run next-gen PC games at their best is a midi-tower.

 

 

i think $5000 is a bit of an over estimation, but ill blame it on you being an Aussie haha.

 

heres the thing. you can build a nice ITX PC. you can build a nice gaming LAN PC. but you cant have it the size of a console. a good GPU will not fit in those small little thing ITX cases. you either need an ITX case built for gaming (again Bitfenix Prodegy, and there are others) which are still small and portable, but not thing like a console. or you can just get a small Mid Tower case. which will be less portable, but still managable.

 

 

i repeat, why do you want portability, and specifically "a PC built like a console"? will you actually be moving it a lot? does it need to fit in a small space? are you so fanboy of consoles that building a PC unlike one scares you? (trolol on purpose) or are you so nervous of building one, that you think small is easier? if this last one is the case, i can tell you it doesnt make a different. If anything, bigger is easier. more room to work with lol.

 

 

I would like to make it small because I travel a lot, but I think I found the perfect case.

 

I do know it is expensive, but I'm willing to spend it.

 

Here's a link to the product's page: http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt_portfolio/pc-tu200/

 

It's a rather small Mini ITX case that supports a full size (300mm) GPU, is very light (3.15kg), is made entirely of aluminium and has a handel on the top!

 

Here is my build currently (still subject to change): http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1krMA

Please note I will be using this for more than just gaming.

 

Yeah, it's local prices. You CAN get a good micro-ITX machine here but they're horribly expensive. What you CAN get are cases made of lightweight car industry materials. Antec makes this lovely little standard tower with handles and wheels that doesn't weigh much.

 

That's my big advice to you, Dress. Have a look at some Standard ATX towers. You'd be amazed how small and portable some of them are, especially the ones with wheels.

 

Could you please send me a link to that Antec one with wheels?

[hoofhearted4]

if you can, try and get a bigger SSD to put your OS and other stuff on it. unless you plan on doing video editing and code compiling, you dont really need a 4770k and as i said you can save some money by getting a 4670k. that money saved can go into a bigger SSD :smile:

 

this new case is much better imo

Edited July 25, 2013 by hoofhearted4

[DressToImpress]

if you can, try and get a bigger SSD to put your OS and other stuff on it. unless you plan on doing video editing and code compiling, you dont really need a 4770k and as i said you can save some money by getting a 4670k. that money saved can go into a bigger SSD :smile:

 

this new case is much better imo

 

Windows only takes about 20gb doesn't it?

 

I plan on installing Windows and Ubuntu (Dual Boot) on the SSD, then have all the files on the hard drive.

 

As for the processor, I might do some video editing but the main reason I want to get a really good one is because I'm going to make a game in Unity 3D which (I think) requires a good processor. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

 

Also, personally, I prefer the old case, but I need one that supports a full size GPU, and this was the nices one I could find.

 

One last thing, on the case's website it says it supports up to a 140mm PSU. Is the PSU I have now 140mm or less?

 

Thank you.

Edited July 25, 2013 by DressToImpress

[hoofhearted4]

ha i wish it only took up 20GB. i think a super fresh install with nothing in it takes up about 20GB by itself, give or take, idr. i have a Win7 x64 Pro in its own partition on my SSD, its taking up ~48GB. Im not perfect, but i keep my C: drive pretty damn clean. ive installed just about everything ive had the option with either on the other partition on my SSD (D: Drive) or on my HDD (F: Drive). i CClean regularly and have deleted the hyberfil.sys which can fill up your C: Drive very fast. havent done anything with my page file though. that might cut down on some room. needless to say, you should plan on 60gb for Windows alone. you never wanna cut it down to within a few GBs. give yourself at least 10GB of room...Linux Distros dont take much room by themselves so your set there. i would honestly invest in a 128gb. youll have plenty of room for Duel boot and then some applications on top of that all on the SSD. its worth it trust me.

 

i have a 128gb SSD. and for me, it wasnt enough. ideally id have something in the 500GB range, and someday i will. itll give me plenty of room for multiple OSes (something i want to dabble in) as well as sticking Virtual Machines on there and still plenty of room for the games i have that arent on Steam (roughly 100GB or so) and applications and whatnot.

 

 

and if you feel like you are going to Use the processor then absolutely go for it. i just wanted to point out, that Hyperthreading is unnecessary for gaming and any normal use of a PC. and only things such as i mentioned are things that can really take use of hyperthreading or more then 4 cores.

 

lastly, yes that PSU should just fit. HOWEVER, that PSU isnt modular. even in a mid or full size case, its recommended to get a Modular PSU. Modular means you only use the cables you need. if you look at your PSU, all your cables are coming out of a hole in the back. this means that any cables you dont need will still be there. this takes up room in your case, and can contstrict air flow and it can be difficult to manage all those cables. this is amplified 10 fold by the fact you have a small case. you will almost certainly NEED a modular PSU.

you may have to do a little research on a PSU that will fit your case (remember, even if the PSU fits, the cables will add another inch or two) reading the Case site, it says Standard ATX PSUs will fit. so you might get away with something like this or this. but im not 100% sure. your best bet on knowing 100% what PSUs are good for that case, is to find a thread on a forum about someone who has that case, and ask them. im sure Lian-Li has forums or if not, id recommend OC3D.net. there are tons of PC gurus over there, many of whom im sure have built an ITX gaming PC, they might be able to help you a little better with specifics.

Edited July 25, 2013 by hoofhearted4

[Werne]

Windows only takes about 20gb doesn't it?

Windows 7 uses 23.7 GB upon fresh installation on my PC, once you get the drivers and basic stuff (antivirus, web browser, etc.) set up it takes up about 27-28GB And then you need at least 15-20% free space on your partition, with only a basic setup it would require a 40GB SSD just for Windows alone, and that is if you plan to install only the basic stuff and leave it as-is without using it.

 

Ubuntu, on the other hand, I'd say about 12-15GB is pretty good for a root partition, you can mount a HDD partition for /home so you have a lot of storage. Or just leave home on root and mount important folders like Music and Videos from the HDD through fstab using the bind option, it'll load up the ~/.config and ~/.local from the SSD, making the login and program startup significantly faster by doing so.

 

In any way, add another 10-12GB for Ubuntu to 40 I mentioned already and you need an SSD with at least 64GB.

 

As for the processor, I might do some video editing but the main reason I want to get a really good one is because I'm going to make a game in Unity 3D which (I think) requires a good processor. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

Unity 3D require at least (but won't run well on) Pentium IV, on Pentium IV it's as slow as sloth and tends to crash a lot. But for running it, along with Compiz 3D effects, my C2D E4500 and Radeon 4350 with proprietary drivers are making it fly. It's only CPU-demanding if you use open-source drivers, and even that can be handled by my CPU.

 

One last thing, on the case's website it says it supports up to a 140mm PSU. Is the PSU I have now 140mm or less?

Yup, it says standard ATX PS/2 size is supported by the case, and your PSU fits the description.

Edited July 25, 2013 by Werne