But I don't know where to start, I know I want an amd platform and I want to be able to play games on it. Anyone with some suggestions on what motherboard is good for that form factor etc...
Looking at building a SFF Gaming PC...
- Thread starter Alpha_Geek
- Start date
Why AMD? Right now Sandy Bridge is much faster and runs cooler, which is important for a SFF system.
If you must buy AMD, wait for Bulldozer and see how it does for gaming.
If you must buy AMD, wait for Bulldozer and see how it does for gaming.
If you can give us a budget, as well as which titles you're particularly interested in paying now (and in the future), that's a good place to start. 
Zap
Elite Member
- Oct 13, 1999
- 22,377
- 2
- 81
Hello Alpha_Geek, and welcome to AnandTech Forums.
Regarding building a SFF gaming PC, how small do you want it, what's your budget and how soon will you be buying? "SFF" for most people means smaller size than ATX, but there are a few sizes possible. You need to decide on which size (mATX, DTX, ITX) before proceeding.
If you want really small, then you need to go mini ITX, and for that the best choice until AMD's Bulldozer comes out is Intel. The reason is wider selection of motherboard choices, plus they don't run as hot so you don't have to worry about cooling in a small chassis. Bulldozer may or may not change this for mini ITX.
If you want to go smaller than ATX but don't necessarily have to have a shoebox size, then you can go micro ATX. With such a size, AMD can be a reasonable choice.
Regarding building a SFF gaming PC, how small do you want it, what's your budget and how soon will you be buying? "SFF" for most people means smaller size than ATX, but there are a few sizes possible. You need to decide on which size (mATX, DTX, ITX) before proceeding.
If you want really small, then you need to go mini ITX, and for that the best choice until AMD's Bulldozer comes out is Intel. The reason is wider selection of motherboard choices, plus they don't run as hot so you don't have to worry about cooling in a small chassis. Bulldozer may or may not change this for mini ITX.
If you want to go smaller than ATX but don't necessarily have to have a shoebox size, then you can go micro ATX. With such a size, AMD can be a reasonable choice.
I apologize for the vagueness of the question I asked. The reason for AMD is because I have always used AMD, but I am willing to try something new. As far as size, I kind of want a LAN rig that I can bring places with ease. Price, I am looking to stick to around $1000, I would be willing to go a bit more, maybe $200 or $300 more. Games are pretty basic right now, DoWII, WOW, maybe something that would be upgradeable to play the new Knights of the Old Republic coming out later this year.
Doesn't sound like you need anything super small like a mini-ITX case. LAN rigs also don't need to be that small or lightweight, like a Shuttle SFF system. And you absolutely do not need to spend $1,000+ to make a very nice system capable of playing the games you describe and do other typical tasks. I recently built an acquaintance a LAN party system with the following:
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811146065
Airflow through that is really impressive, it's light (<20 pounds assembled), isn't that expensive, and has a handle for carrying ease. Build quality was unremarkable i.e. neither underwhelming nor really impressive. I'd use it again in a heartbeat.
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103871
Seems like everyone else here is on the Intel Sandy Bridge bandwagon but I'm not. SB is substantially more expensive, and if you're an average user, you don't need it. The X4 640 will tear through DoWII and WoW, and Star Wars: The Old Republic is definitely not going to be pushing the hardware envelope.
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102873
The 5770 is still the de facto budget king and again, unless you're going to be playing on multiple monitors or a huge monitor (>1080p), why spend twice as much money on a video card you don't need? GPUs are totally stagnant now, they have been for a year, and they likely will be until the next generation of consoles come out...
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128490
No one really knows how the AM3+ AMD CPUs are going to shake out yet, but if you must buy now, might as well get a board with the usual bells and whistles like USB3 that's compatible with AM3+ chips.
RAM: 4GB or 8GB, whatever you want to spend the money on. You likely don't need more than 4GB, but RAM is dirt, dirt cheap.
SSD : You should definitely get an SSD if you're going to splurge somewhere on this system. If you're installing multiple games on it, you'll need a larger capacity (i.e. >120GB) SSD and those are not cheap.
HDD : You should get a disk that's big enough for what you want to store on it.
PSU: The Antec Earthwatts and TruePower New lines are great, just about anything by Seasonic is great, and the higher-end (i.e. non-Builder Series) Corsair PSUs are great. You won't need more than 400W for this system, but a 500W PSU would still be reasonable.
Optical drive: hell they're all the same Get the least expensive one you can find!
Hope this helps. I know others will chime in arguing for the latest and greatest parts that will blow all of your budget, but I'm ever the frugal advice giver because nothing depreciates in value like computer parts.
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811146065
Airflow through that is really impressive, it's light (<20 pounds assembled), isn't that expensive, and has a handle for carrying ease. Build quality was unremarkable i.e. neither underwhelming nor really impressive. I'd use it again in a heartbeat.
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103871
Seems like everyone else here is on the Intel Sandy Bridge bandwagon but I'm not. SB is substantially more expensive, and if you're an average user, you don't need it. The X4 640 will tear through DoWII and WoW, and Star Wars: The Old Republic is definitely not going to be pushing the hardware envelope.
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102873
The 5770 is still the de facto budget king and again, unless you're going to be playing on multiple monitors or a huge monitor (>1080p), why spend twice as much money on a video card you don't need? GPUs are totally stagnant now, they have been for a year, and they likely will be until the next generation of consoles come out...
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128490
No one really knows how the AM3+ AMD CPUs are going to shake out yet, but if you must buy now, might as well get a board with the usual bells and whistles like USB3 that's compatible with AM3+ chips.
RAM: 4GB or 8GB, whatever you want to spend the money on. You likely don't need more than 4GB, but RAM is dirt, dirt cheap.
SSD : You should definitely get an SSD if you're going to splurge somewhere on this system. If you're installing multiple games on it, you'll need a larger capacity (i.e. >120GB) SSD and those are not cheap.
HDD : You should get a disk that's big enough for what you want to store on it.
PSU: The Antec Earthwatts and TruePower New lines are great, just about anything by Seasonic is great, and the higher-end (i.e. non-Builder Series) Corsair PSUs are great. You won't need more than 400W for this system, but a 500W PSU would still be reasonable.
Optical drive: hell they're all the same
Get the least expensive one you can find!Hope this helps. I know others will chime in arguing for the latest and greatest parts that will blow all of your budget, but I'm ever the frugal advice giver because nothing depreciates in value like computer parts.
If you do decide to go mini-ITX or even mATX in a smaller case than that incredibly ugly beast recommended by Gigantopithecus you may want to consider an Athlon II X4 600e. It's only 2.2GHz but also only 45w TDP compared to the Model 640's 3.0GHz & 95w.
Search carefully and you'll find it on a certain well-known Auction Site for around $80 shipped. They're used and come without HS/F but I know from experience they work fine. The vendor appears to have several of them which come on the market one by one. He also has Athlon II X3 400e for $60 shipped.
The BigKat Online Retailer has Phenom II X4 905e for $95 shipped, also Phenom II X3 700e & 705e. They are also listed on the Auction Site. There is a thread about thie 905e on AnandTech's Hot Deals Forum. There are posts discussing the situations where one wiould benefit from this CPU, also they discuss one very good reason to buy from that well known Auction Site rather than directly from the Retailer. That reason also holds for the Athlons I mentioned above.
Have fun with your build.
you may want to consider an Athlon II X4 600e. It's only 2.2GHz but also only 45w TDP compared to the Model 640's 3.0GHz & 95w.Search carefully and you'll find it on a certain well-known Auction Site for around $80 shipped. They're used and come without HS/F but I know from experience they work fine. The vendor appears to have several of them which come on the market one by one. He also has Athlon II X3 400e for $60 shipped.
The BigKat Online Retailer has Phenom II X4 905e for $95 shipped, also Phenom II X3 700e & 705e. They are also listed on the Auction Site. There is a thread about thie 905e on AnandTech's Hot Deals Forum. There are posts discussing the situations where one wiould benefit from this CPU, also they discuss one very good reason to buy from that well known Auction Site rather than directly from the Retailer. That reason also holds for the Athlons I mentioned above.
Have fun with your build.
ZoNtO
Diamond Member
Just be careful that whatever graphics card you decide to run fits inside your case width-wise and length-wise. I've been stuck with a 3850 for years because newer cards a few mm too long...
With a $1000 budget would I be better off getting a laptop or would I get better performance for gaming out a desktop with this budget? And do you guys trust websites such as ibuypower.com for gaming desktops?
Last edited:
Zap
Elite Member
- Oct 13, 1999
- 22,377
- 2
- 81
Desktop will give you better gaming value for the buck. Example with prices pulled off the top of my head:
Core i3 2100 $125
H61 motherboard $60
4GB DDR3 $40
1TB 7200RPM HDD $65
DVD writer $20
cheap case $40
decent PSU $60
mouse/keyboard $60
20" monitor $110
Windows 7 $100
Radeon 6950 2GB $300
That is a whole system, keyboard/monitor/mouse/Windows included. There isn't a $1000 notebook that can touch it in gaming performance. Heck, I don't know if there is ANY notebook that can beat it. Would take several thousand dollars to match it using those huge DTR notebooks with dual graphics cards.
I do not have an opinion on ibuypower. I build my own (as well as building for others).
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