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Can you review please?

U

UnlikelyKiller

Junior Member
I've not built a computer this decade, but my laptop just died, sooo....

Looking at the forum rules, here's the answer to the requested questions.
1. I'll be using the PC mostly as a plex media server, some photoshop, some gaming. The PC is going in the place the laptop was, won't fit a mid tower case.
2. Generally trying to keep the price down, no real set budget, but I don't want to blow my budget on something I don't need, and I don't want to hamstring the PC over $10
3. US
4. N/A
5. Not really a fanboy, but I do want to keep the power usage and sound down if possible.
6. I have a 1080p IPS monitor/keyboard/mouse that I will be keeping
7. as with the power usage statement above, not planning to OC
8. 1080p
9. plan to built w/in next month or so
10. was thinking windows 10

PS: I have some ancient artic silver thermal paste, is it still good?

This is where I'm at:

Thermaltake Core V1 Extreme Mini ITX Cube Chassis
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133260

TOSHIBA P300 HDWD130XZSTA 3TB 7200 RPM 64MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822149633
I have an external usb 3.0 drive, don't know if this is really necessary

EVGA GeForce GTX 950 02G-P4-2951-KR 2GB GAMING, Silent Cooling Gaming Graphics Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487156

Cooler Master GM Series G550M - Compact 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Modular PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171098

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C9D-16GXM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231568

ASRock H97M-ITX/ac LGA 1150 Intel H97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157526

Intel Core i5-4590S Haswell Quad-Core 3.0 GHz LGA 1150 65W BX80646I54590S
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116992

Crucial BX100 2.5" 250GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) CT250BX100SSD1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148945

While I think all of these components will play nicely, can someone confirm this? Also, do I need to worry about LGA1150 v. 1151 for future purposes? Thank you for your assistance.
 
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You'll probably want a gold rated PSU, and one more reputable then CM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=17-151-124

An after market cpu cooler will also be a lot quieter then the stock unit

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6J32S73121 (you might need ram without a tall heatsink to fit a wider cooler, not sure)

A higher quality graphics card with more memory would also give your build more longevity.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7164&cm_re=gtx_960_4gb-_-14-487-164-_-Product
 
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Core V1 is good but be sure to explore other options too. It's great for cooling a powerful mini ITX setup but yours doesn't use all that much power. Check out Fractal Design Node 304 and Cougar QBX. Also, Silverstone ML07 is great if you want a slim HTPC-style PC.

WD green would be plenty fast for media storage duty, and it should run quieter than a 7200 RPM drive.

GTX 950 is a nice card for gaming on medium settings, and also great for HTPC duty. And perfect for an ITX case, given the low power draw.

PSU - Performance wise that's fine but it uses dubious quality capacitors. I'm also not a huge fan of Bronze efficiency in an ITX setup. I'd recommend EVGA 550 G2 for Core V1 or any other case that can fit a modular ATX unit comfortable, or SX-500LG for the cases I mentioned. (Make sure to run the EVGA one without ECO mode enabled, i.e. the fan ought to spin in a tight ITX setup so you don't build up heat pockets.) All of these are a little overkill, you could easily get away with a 300W unit - but there aren't really any units that are cheaper and less powerful but also modular and as good quality as these two.

RAM - Good

Motherboard - Good, hopefully it'll still be available when you're building. We're already seeing a shortage of some LGA1150 models now that LGA1151 has been out for a while. You could also consider a H170 ITX board with DDR4 and an i5-6500.

CPU - I'd pick the standard part rather than the marginally low power S-model. i5-4590 $200

Cooler - the stock cooler should be fine. If you want to make sure it runs quiet even at constant 100% load, grab an Arctic i11 (for Core V1 or Node 304) or Prolimatech Samuel 17 + Arctic F12 Pro PWM fan (for Cougar or Silverstone).

SSD - Good.
 
I agree (for the most part) with lehtv.
I think 16Gb of ram is overkill, and having had some experience with Micron/Crucial SSD's I'd skip anything BX100 (discontinued).
 
Burpo said:
I agree (for the most part) with lehtv.
I think 16Gb of ram is overkill, and having had some experience with Micron/Crucial SSD's I'd skip anything BX100 (discontinued).
Click to expand...

Burpo, the BX100 is a current (budget) model. It's the MX100 that was discontinued (along with the M500 and M550 before them) for the MX200 series.

So, BX100 - cheaper, lower-end, no power-backup caps / MX200 - power backup caps, faster controller, SLC cache feature.

Edit: I wouldn't hesitate to buy a new-old-stock M500 or M550, if they are as cheap or cheaper than a BX100. If nothing else, for the power back-up caps.

Edit: Here's a couple of Hot Deals that you should probably jump on, for a GTX950, and a 1TB BX100:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2451666
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2451680
 
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Ok, I took your suggestions, this is where I'm at now:

Thermaltake Core V1 Extreme Mini ITX Cube Chassis
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811133260

Seagate NAS HDD ST3000VN000 3TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178392

EVGA GeForce GTX 950 02G-P4-2951-KR 2GB GAMING, Silent Cooling Gaming Graphics Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814487156

SeaSonic SSR-450RM 450W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._re=SeaSonic_SSR-450RM-_-17-151-124-_-Product

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C9D-16GXM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231568

ASRock H97M-ITX/ac LGA 1150 Intel H97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157526

Intel Core i5-4590S Haswell Quad-Core 3.0 GHz LGA 1150 65W BX80646I54590S
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116992

Mushkin Enhanced Reactor 2.5" 256GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...e=mushkin_enhanced_256-_-20-226-688-_-Product

ARCTIC Freezer i11 CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ARCTIC_Freezer_i11_CPU-_-35-186-093-_-Product
 
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