mini pc or desktop spec

C

craigyb

Member
i like the idea of a mini pc and the case looks nice plus it will fit nicely. they isnt much difference in the price and since i wont be overclocking or tampering with the insides by adding any new hardware in the future i wonder if a mini pc is ok. i notice not many people buy them and wonder if mini pc's have a higher chance of breaking or maybe are noisier. pc is just for gaming btw

Case
Thermaltake Armor A30 Gaming Case
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8H77-M: M-ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, CrossFireX™
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
Processor Cooling
Arctic Cooling Freezer 11 LP - Low Profile CPU Cooler (£12)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 60 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 2010 Professional Edition
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,078.00 including VAT and delivery.

full desktop


Case
InWIN MANA-136 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-M: MICRO-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 60 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 2010 Professional Edition
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,075.00 including VAT and delivery.

to bring it down i could dispense with the caviar black and have...

2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE
&
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan

it says i only need a 450 psu, it that correct?

thanks...
 
Last edited:
steaky360

steaky360

Moderator
Moderator
I think the main reason most people don't choose mini-PC's is because of lack of compatibility, if you are building a gaming rig then there is a good chance the modern graphics cards (etc.) may not actually fit inside your case. That's before you get to issues with cooling etc. I'm not saying that a mini-PC is not the way to go however, I know that PCS offer some kick-ass mini PC's which will easily chew up all modern games.

If the configurator suggests you only need a 450W PSU then that should be all the rig requires, if you were to try and upgrade it in the future however the power requirements may change. Might be worthwhile getting a stronger PSU straight off to save you having to upgrade that in the future should you want to add any additional components in the future.
 
C

craigyb

Member
thanks for the reply.

it looks like the 670 fits ok and thats what i want and hopefully the Arctic Cooling Freezer 11 LP does a good job. if the build is good then i can opt for the original spec and all will be well :)
 
C

craigyb

Member
this one looks good, the psu is just about enough. i know it doesnt have a cooler like the other one and therefore may run hotter and noisier. i think i may be on my own with this one :)

Case
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Case (Black) + 450W PSU
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770S (3.1GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8H61-I R2.0: Mini-ITX, LG1155, USB 3.0, SATA 3GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)

Price: £1,059.00 including VAT and delivery.
 
Toxophilix

Toxophilix

Bright Spark
craigyb said:
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770S (3.1GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8H61-I R2.0: Mini-ITX, LG1155, USB 3.0, SATA 3GBs
Click to expand...
Not sure an 'S' variant i7 is the best choice for gaming. I would have thought a full-on 3570 (as in your first two specs) would do better. Though maybe not, if the 3770S runs cooler.

Regarding the motherboard, you really want 6GBs SATA to exploit your SSD.

As to mini gaming rigs in general, when ordering recently I went for a full tower because of:

a) better cooling (hopefully)
b) greater ease of fitting upgrades (certainly)
c) mindless attachment to tradition

If you are not bothered about b) and don't suffer from c), a mini could make sense. Have to say I like the look of the mini HAF case.
 
C

craigyb

Member
final spec (honest)

Case
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Case (Black)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8H77-I: Mini-ITX, LG1155, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
Corsair H40 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£39)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)

just one question.....do i need Corsair H40 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler? I couldnt have the other one, it said 'heat pipe design this cooler will not fit on Mini-ITX boards' am sure it didnt say that yesterday or will the stock intel cooler be enough?
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
just one question.....do i need Corsair H40 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler? I couldnt have the other one, it said 'heat pipe design this cooler will not fit on Mini-ITX boards' am sure it didnt say that yesterday or will the stock intel cooler be enough?
Click to expand...
What are your options apart from the H40 and stock intel cooler?
 
C

craigyb

Member
those are my only 2 options. cant have the arctic cooling freezer since 'heat pipe design this cooler will not fit on Mini-ITX boards' which is weird as it didnt say that before
 
I

ilike2burnthing

Gold Level Poster
If you choose the BitFenix Prodigy mini-ITX case then you must have a mini-ITX motherboard (P8H77-I) and on that you can't have the Arctic Cooling Freezer.

If you choose the Thermaltake Armor micro-ATX case then you must have a micro-ATX motherboard (P8H77-M) and on that you can have the Arctic Cooling Freezer.

To be able to have a non-stock cooler you have to pay £9 more to get a micro-ATX (because you also have to jump up to a 600W PSU) than you do to get a mini-ITX, which is handy because while the P8H77-M seems to be a better motherboard than the P8H77-I, it's for things like supporting up to 32GB RAM instead of 16GB, supporting CrossFireX and Intel HD, having 10 instead of 8 USB 2.0 slots, etc. just stuff that would probably never be needed.

So just stick with the BitFenix and the mini-ITX (P8H77-I) and it's up to you if you want a stock cooler or the £39 Corsair cooler. The BitFenix Prodigy is very highly rated, especially for cooling - http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/09/06/bitfenix-prodigy-review/4 - so I think you'd be fine with the stock

Also, I'd up the RAM to 1866MHz, it's only an extra £2 and you will get a fairly decent performance boost for the price - http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/memory/display/ivy-bridge-ddr3_4.html
 
C

craigyb

Member
thanks for the tip. have decided to go with the stock cooler and change the case to the COOLERMASTER 120 (since its smaller) i just went with 1600MHz since people on here say its negligible but will change it, could have 8GB KINGSTON HYPERX BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2400MHz for a few more pounds also
 
C

craigyb

Member
i agree the prodigy is a better case but the coolermaster is still pretty good considering its size and of course size matters :)

will probably go for that and order it tommorow. thanks for the help
 
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