Need advice on whether this build works.

[evilcorsair]

Basically put, I'm a gamer looking to build the smallest and lightest gaming PC I possibly can. This is for university (in the UK) and so I need that portability for transport. (I was considering getting a gaming laptop instead, but I'm still not sure what route to go down, whether I really need the extra portability of a laptop.)

I've never built a system in my life, the most I've done is replaced the RAM and added a hard drive into my current gaming laptop. However, I've done the research and came up with a build that I THINK should work. If anyone can offer any advice (on whether it'll work at all, or on changing out parts) I'd appreciate it.

I've linked all the components to the site that I plan on purchasing them from.

Case: Silverstone SG07
(includes 600W 80-plus bronze rated PSU)

Motherboard: ASRock Z68M-ITX/HT

CPU: Intel 2550k

RAM: 2x4GB Corsair 1600MHz Vengeance LP

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM
(in addition to a Seagate Momentus XT 500GB that's in my laptop right now)

GPU: 2GB Sapphire Radeon 7850 OC

Optical Drive: Sony Slim Blu-Ray Reader

OS: W7 Home Premium Retail

Cables:
1 SATA+molex to mini-SATA power and data (for the ODD)
3 SATA 2/3 (for my HDDs and planned future SSD, couldn't find if these are included with the mobo or anything else)

I already have a monitor, mouse, keyboard and headphones that I plan on using with this.

I was also planning on buying an aftermarket CPU cooler to get the CPU running cooler for overclocking, but it's hard to tell if any of them will fit.

Also, is something like an anti-static wrist strap to prevent ESD really necessary? Or is it definitely a good precaution to take?

Thanks in advance for any help/advice you can provide.

 

[nsafreak]

You're cramming an awful lot of hardware into a tiny space and to be honest I'm not entirely certain that a large card like a 7850 would fit into that case or even on that motherboard with the small amount of space between the PCIe slot & CPU socket along with the RAM slots. You might want to consider a micro ATX case instead of an ITX something along the lines of a Lian Li such as this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112299 .

 

[evilcorsair]

You're cramming an awful lot of hardware into a tiny space and to be honest I'm not entirely certain that a large card like a 7850 would fit into that case or even on that motherboard with the small amount of space between the PCIe slot & CPU socket along with the RAM slots. You might want to consider a micro ATX case instead of an ITX something along the lines of a Lian Li such as this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112299 .

The case will fit the card in. It'll fit cards in up to 12.2" long, and I've seen plenty of articles putting it together with a card such as the GTX 470 in. So, I'm confident that the card will fit in the case and the motherboard.

The reason I've chosen mITX is because of the tiny size of the cases. The volume of even the smallest viable mATX cases I could find is still twice as much as the volume of the SG07, and I'm really going for maximum portability here.

Hell, I'm still not even sure about getting this desktop over a gaming laptop, considering I've also got to transport a keyboard and monitor. That should give you an idea of how much space I'm trying to save here.

 

[richaron]

lol I might be living in the dark ages, but I always thought you need a 64bit OS to address more than 4GB ram?

That card being OC'd will put off more heat than reference (of course) & the fan/heatsink is custom, it will be recycling a lot more heat inside the case than reference. It might be worth considering a reference design with a slight overclock.

On a side note, I'm planning on cram my full ATX system into the smallest case I can find. Just for the sake of it. If you think you've got enough airflow then give it a blast and see how she goes.

Edit: after a closer look i can't can't see any problem, i didn't see the huge exhaust fan on top.

Edit2: after actually reading your post...
-I would get an aftermarket cooler too, but way easier after you got your box & can measure it.
-Normal people would recommend an anti static band, I've never used one but there are some tricks to reduce risk.
-A SSD windows drive will make a more noticable difference than almost anything else you can spend money on.

 

[evilcorsair]

lol I might be living in the dark ages, but I always thought you need a 64bit OS to address more than 4GB ram?

That card being OC'd will put off more heat than reference (of course) & the fan/heatsink is custom, it will be recycling a lot more heat inside the case than reference. It might be worth considering a reference design with a slight overclock.

On a side note, I'm planning on cram my full ATX system into the smallest case I can find. Just for the sake of it. If you think you've got enough airflow then give it a blast and see how she goes.

Edit: after a closer look i can't can't see any problem, i didn't see the huge exhaust fan on top

I will be installing the 64-bit W7. I'm getting the retail pack that includes both.

The fan on top is actually an intake fan, meant to blast the motherboard (particularly the CPU) with air. I don't think airflow will be a problem, it's got enough ventilation on it that all the exhaust air from the CPU and GPU should be pushed out of the case quickly, in theory. In any case from reviews of the case that I've seen running high end gaming GPUs (and therefore hot ones) they've been really good temps.

I was considering getting the standard Sapphire 7850, but the OC one is less than £10 extra and from what I can tell it means that I know I'm getting a card that can OC. I wouldn't like to be unlucky and get hit with a card that can manage stock clocks and nothing higher. In any case the main reason I'm going with this particular card is that there's only three different 7850s in stock on the site (two are both Sapphire, with one being the OC card) and the Sapphire card appears to have a far beefier dual slot cooler on it, rather than the other one that just appears to be reference.

 

[richaron]

hmmm, I should edit my posts BEFORE you read & reply to them...

Ok cool it's probly easier to filter one top fan & let it bleed out the sides. I like the idea of positive pressure cases, and looks liike this is designed for high end. I think it looks good but I'd put a ssd in there from the start

 

[evilcorsair]

hmmm, I should edit my posts BEFORE you read & reply to them...

Ok cool it's probly easier to filter one top fan & let it bleed out the sides. I like the idea of positive pressure cases, and looks liike this is designed for high end. I think it looks good but I'd put a ssd in there from the start

My biggest problem is that I'm on a budget, I'm really straining it as it is. Perhaps I'll get something like a 60GB SSD, install Windows on it and use the rest as a cache drive using Intel SRT?

Anyone got any sort of idea how well Intel SRT works? Also, any suggestions for suitable SSDs that are around 60GB in size? I was looking at the Intel 520, seeming as it's a really reliable drive.

I'm now considering dropping the 2TB HDD, I could just run off my 500GB Momentus XT for now

 

[richaron]

Yeah I decided on 60GB Vertex 3 drives just for my OS. It's speedy for $100 & I'm holding off on mechanical drives till the prices drop a bit more. Can't help with Intel stuff.

tomshardware did a good roundup of small SandForce drives here.

 

[evilcorsair]

Yeah I decided on 60GB Vertex 3 drives just for my OS. It's speedy for $100 & I'm holding off on mechanical drives till the prices drop a bit more. Can't help with Intel stuff.

tomshardware did a good roundup of small SandForce drives here.

My concern with SandForce drives is all the stories out there about their reliability, particularly OCZ...excluding the Intel 520, they all seem to have fairly high failure rates. But thanks for the link, I'll take a look later. I'll probably end up splashing out the extra £30 or so (compared to other 60GB SSDs) for an Intel 520 just for the peace of mind of Intel's reliability.

 

[DSF]

Have you considered going with the OEM version of Windows 7 to save some money for other parts?

 

[mfenn]

Parts list looks compatible, but you can easily shave money off the build:
- Drop the i5 2550K to the i5 2500K
- Drop the 2TB drive to a 1TB drive (or none since you have the Momentus XT)
- Drop the OC of the GPU to the cheapest 7850 you can find
- Drop the BD-ROM to DVD-RW
- Drop the retail version of Windows 7 to the OEM version