[Rykoshet]

Ok, so I originally posted on the wrong forum (overclockers.com!!!, lol)

So I'm planning an i5-2500 or BD m-ITX build for the summer. The goal is to have a small, space-saving box, but I am still open to m-ATX if it's much, much smarter.

I plan on using this case, but I am 100% open to new ideas, especially small, good m-ATX cases:

http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=035189

The goal is to put an i5-2500(or k), an aftermarket heatsink and fan, one (or two

) GTX460 or 6850, 8GB ram, and one (or two) hard drives. Will this be fine with the stock 450W PSU, if I only go for one GPU?

How much more do you think I'm going to pay for a m-ITX build over a m-ATX build? I'll forgo some space-saving if it means a hundred or two hundred dollars saved in cases and mobos.

What about the heat? My region gets really hot sometimes, 30+ degrees indoors in the summer, and I worry about the components being in such a small area with not the best ventilation. Is there anything I can do? I'll have 3-year warranties on most pieces, but I'd rather play it safe.

Thanks everyone. I'm totally new to m-ITX's and need help from the pros. The point of this rig is to be out of sight behind the monitor, and be much cheaper and much more powerful than a Sager laptop, so I can't go against those principles. Also going to be running one or two virtual machines...

Any help you can offer me (even telling me it won't work) is greatly appreciate. Thanks again.

 

[soilentblue]

you should be fine on a good 450w like seasonic or something with just one of those gpus. here's a good thread on mini-itx vs m-atx

http://www.overclock.net/htpc/525322...-mini-itx.html

i would go matx myself and i've been planning on doing it for a while anyway.

 

[Mitche01]

well for a start I have never seen a mini-itx (i assume thats what you mean by M-ITX) build that can have 2 graphics cards in it. The motherboards only ever have 1 PCI-e slot, you could go GTX590 or HD6990/HD5970 but to be honest that is kind of defeating the point of such a small (17"x17") form factor to start with!.

I would say go Micro ATX and you could get a Coolermaster Eltie 341 (great Micro ATX Case)

Mini-ITX are great for file servers (i even have one system running as a Media PC) but they are not really for gaming, in my opinion!

Good luck

 

[Jen]

link doesnt work for me , wish i could see the case your deciding on

hugs

Jen

 

[Jen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mitche01 well for a start I have never seen a mini-itx (i assume thats what you mean by M-ITX) build that can have 2 graphics cards in it. The motherboards only ever have 1 PCI-e slot, you could go GTX590 or HD6990/HD5970 but to be honest that is kind of defeating the point of such a small (17"x17") form factor to start with!. I would say go Micro ATX and you could get a Coolermaster Eltie 341 (great Mixro ATX Case) Mini-ITX are great for file servers (i even have one system running as a Media PC) but they are not really for gaming, in my opinion! Good luck

i have seen some very powerfull m-itx systems and have owned a few. it can be done without going to large. silverstone sg05 case is very ideal for high end m-itx systems without sacrificing video card performance

Jen

 

[Phobos223]

Check out this case bro. I Actually did a ITX build for a friend with this case, and you can fit a Corsair H50 perfectly in the top. Case is a bit pricey, but the end result was awesome. Tiny, compact, and nice and cool. Also you can fit a decent sized GPU in here. (I used a HD5550 just for HTPC 1080p playback, passively cooled). The end result was nearly silent out in the open, and on the stereo rack you cannot even notice the sound

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-265-_-Product

For sure ITX will cost a bit more, but if you wanna go small it's the only way. A Micro ATX system will defintiely give you tons of more options, but at 2x the size.

Really the only expensive part is gonna be the motherboard, which will run you around 1.5-2x as much... But really were talking only like $50 or so

These are really nice:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-709-_-Product

 

[Rykoshet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soilentblue you should be fine on a good 450w like seasonic or something with just one of those gpus. here's a good thread on mini-itx vs m-atx http://www.overclock.net/htpc/525322...-mini-itx.html i would go matx myself and i've been planning on doing it for a while anyway.

I was really really leaning m-atx, but then I saw RagingInferno's post...

http://www.overclock.net/small-form-...e-sg07-i5.html

I think I may be leaning towards this, though it's probably not the smarter choice...

I'm guessing the lifetime of the machine will drastically be reduced when the parts are in such a cramped space?

 

[Rykoshet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jen link doesnt work for me , wish i could see the case your deciding on hugs Jen

http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=035189

Sorry.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phobos223 Check out this case bro. I Actually did a ITX build for a friend with this case, and you can fit a Corsair H50 perfectly in the top. Case is a bit pricey, but the end result was awesome. Tiny, compact, and nice and cool. Also you can fit a decent sized GPU in here. (I used a HD5550 just for HTPC 1080p playback, passively cooled). The end result was nearly silent out in the open, and on the stereo rack you cannot even notice the sound http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-265-_-Product For sure ITX will cost a bit more, but if you wanna go small it's the only way. A Micro ATX system will defintiely give you tons of more options, but at 2x the size. Really the only expensive part is gonna be the motherboard, which will run you around 1.5-2x as much... But really were talking only like $50 or so These are really nice: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-709-_-Product

That's a really nice case. It's probably smarter to use that, but I was thinking the smaller SUGO, that comes with a 450W PSU already...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-171-_-Product

Too small?

 

[Mitche01]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jen i have seen some very powerfull m-itx systems and have owned a few. it can be done without going to large. silverstone sg05 case is very ideal for high end m-itx systems without sacrificing video card performance Jen

Hi Jen,

Sorry - to make my point clear - OP mentioned about using 2 GPUs - this is not possible as far as I am aware (please correct me if I am wrong) as there is only ever 1 PCI-e 16x slot on the mini-itx mobos.

 

[rui-no-onna]

microATX allows more room for expansion. With Mini-ITX, you're pretty much limited to 1 GPU. If you can live with that, then you shoukd be fine. A decent 450W PSU should have no problem with single GPU configurations unless you're talking about the GTX 480 or higher.

Nowadays, there's barely any price premium comparing M-ITX with mATX. I was speccing out a couple of builds for myself and the mATX ended up being more expensive (mostly coz of the case). Motherboards, pricing is almost on parity.

My favorite case for use in M-ITX gaming rigs is the Sugo SG05BB-450. The SG07 and PC-Q08 are way too big for me.

 

[Rykoshet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mitche01 Hi Jen, Sorry - to make my point clear - OP mentioned about using 2 GPUs - this is not possible as far as I am aware (please correct me if I am wrong) as there is only ever 1 PCI-e 16x slot on the mini-itx mobos.

I was thinking the 2 GPUs if I went the m-ATX route, with the money I'd save. 2 GTX460s 1GB can be had for $260!!!

Sorry about the confusion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rui-no-onna microATX allows more room for expansion. With Mini-ITX, you're pretty much limited to 1 GPU. If you can live with that, then you shoukd be fine. A decent 450W PSU should have no problem with single GPU configurations unless you're talking about the GTX 480 or higher. Nowadays, there's barely any price premium comparing M-ITX with mATX. I was speccing out a couple of builds for myself and the mATX ended up being more expensive (mostly coz of the case). Motherboards, pricing is almost on parity. My favorite case for use in M-ITX gaming rigs is the Sugo SG05BB-450. The SG07 and PC-Q08 are way too big for me.

Sweet, that's the one I'm planning on getting!

 

[Phobos223]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rykoshet That's a really nice case. It's probably smarter to use that, but I was thinking the smaller SUGO, that comes with a 450W PSU already...

Reason I pick this Lian Li case was because it is small, but not to small, as you can fit a good sized GPU in there as well as an H50 to liquid cool it. Sucker runs silent and you will never have to worry about heat

 

[Phobos223]

Yea that Sugo is pretty sweet, never seen that one before. Sucks you only have the 1 fan though... but that really not that big of a deal since all that mesh will give you plenty of airflow

 

[Rykoshet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phobos223 Yea that Sugo is pretty sweet, never seen that one before. Sucks you only have the 1 fan though... but that really not that big of a deal since all that mesh will give you plenty of airflow

That's a good idea. I'm just worried that an H50 and a PSU will push the price up higher than it needs to go

With a 3-year warranty on the CPU, maybe I should just say "screw it, if it breaks, it breaks?"

Then again, I bet I could OC a 2500K to 5Ghz with the H50...

 

[Phobos223]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rykoshet That's a good idea. I'm just worried that an H50 and a PSU will push the price up higher than it needs to go With a 3-year warranty on the CPU, maybe I should just say "screw it, if it breaks, it breaks?" Then again, I bet I could OC a 2500K to 5Ghz with the H50...

Either way with a decent low profile cooler and some good air flow in the case, it's not gonna burn up. As far as 5Ghz go, I dunno about that but I like your enthusiasm

For sure though, the H50 in that Lian-Li case is probably the best ITX cooling one can get without getting to large

Besides the cooling of the H50, for an HTPC you really wanna keep it quite, and with a low rpm fan that H50 is hard to beat

 

[RonindeBeatrice]

Important to note, that at this moment (and no solid news otherwise) there is virtually no overclocking the i7 2500k on an mitx platform, so you'll be pouring it down the drain to consider an extravagant cooling solution with the current state of things.

There's nothing wrong with pouring it down the drain however, in hopes that the Z68 boards arrive in the mitx form factor soon.

 

[Phobos223]

The Asus ITX board I mentioned earlier does have some decent OC options, so you will be able to crank it up a bit, but obviously not as much as a micro atx.

 

[Rykoshet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonindeBeatrice Important to note, that at this moment (and no solid news otherwise) there is virtually no overclocking the i7 2500k on an mitx platform, so you'll be pouring it down the drain to consider an extravagant cooling solution with the current state of things. There's nothing wrong with pouring it down the drain however, in hopes that the Z68 boards arrive in the mitx form factor soon.

Fair enough, I wasn't going to OC anyway, until I heard people reaching 5Ghz on stock coolers...

I'll probably wait for Bulldozer though...that a cheap Llano laptop and I'm set for the next 4 years

 

[Phobos223]

Bulldozer in an HTPC would be taking "overkill" to an entirely new level

But I like it!

There are also some sweet AMD asus ITX boards that can roll a Thuban X6. Little cheaper than Intel setup and plenty of power to go around.

 

[Rykoshet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phobos223 Bulldozer in an HTPC would be taking "overkill" to an entirely new level But I like it! There are also some sweet AMD asus ITX boards that can roll a Thuban X6. Little cheaper than Intel setup and plenty of power to go around.

True, but an extra 30W and not as good gaming performance = Sad

Mainly the extra 30W (and heat).

It's not an HTPC though, small like one, but a full-power rig for one or two games a year, VM, line-in recording from my amp, and all the other goodness of a full-sized atx machine.