Building a Computer

93Flareside

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Hey all,

So, I've never built a computer before and I'd like to change that. My motivation? This case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112393

Capture.JPG


What's a good Mini-ITX motherboard? Processor I know I have to follow the socket type(which I believe is 1155). Other than that, I'm not too sure. I'd want this machine to be able to encode DVD and Blu-Ray as well has handle 1080 no problem. I'm not a gamer so I don't necessarily need 1GB of video memory. Quiet is key.

Also, CPU's don't usually come with fans and heat sinks, right? What should I look for in those?
 
For CPU you can go with either current gen (Ivy Bridge) or previous gen (Sandy Bridge). 1080p can be handled by pretty much any CPU from the past 3-4 gens w/o much effort. I run Sandy i5 on my media server and it has little problem transcoding 1080 for my tablet and such so you should be fine with at least that (i3 would likely also work).

Most CPUs come with coolers OOTB (fan and heatsink) but for a custom build like this you may have to get something else as I'm not sure stock cooler would work here. You don't need to worry much about the video card, IIRC all sandy and ivy i5s have on board video right on the CPU.
 
Also, CPU's don't usually come with fans and heat sinks, right?

Most CPU's do come with a stock heat sink and fan.

Although this case is very cute, but I wouldn't spend that much money on it. If your looking for Mini-ITX motherboards have a look at the Barebone computers at Newegg.
 
I like trains.
 
What sort of budget are you looking at here?

Edit: I threw together a A10-5800k system for around $800. Assuming you need both a boot SSD and a 2tb storage drive.
 
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What's a good budget? I was thinking 600-700us$
 
Monitor, keyboard and mouse are not needed.

I've got a VGA/dvi 21.5 aoc 1080p display...

SSD I will need. I've had the Samsung 840 in my laptop since early January. So far so good.
 
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do you have to have that case? :p

I can easily do 600-700 with a normal case... but $225 on a mini-itx case......

Edit: Just noticed, that case only has a single 3.5 drive mount. You can go for a SSD or a spinner, not both.
 
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Frosty Tech have loads of reviews of cooling products
http://www.frostytech.com/

A usb hdd docking station is a great help for working with hard drives.
 
Frosty Tech have loads of reviews of cooling products
http://www.frostytech.com/

A usb hdd docking station is a great help for working with hard drives.

Ehhhhh

He's obviously going for looks (case), a docking station is not really a very elegant solution.

But hey, if he wants it I'll fit it in. With USB3 / eSATA it's not like a dock is really that much slower anyway.
 
Ehhhhh

He's obviously going for looks (case), a docking station is not really a very elegant solution.

But hey, if he wants it I'll fit it in. With USB3 / eSATA it's not like a dock is really that much slower anyway.

What I meant was, if your getting into the rig buildin' business, it a great tool to to have around. Especially when upgrading or when things go wrong........
 
What I meant was, if your getting into the rig buildin' business, it a great tool to to have around. Especially when upgrading or when things go wrong........

Oh, gotcha - agreed on that point, a dock is a very useful tool to have lying around.
 
do you have to have that case? :p

I can easily do 600-700 with a normal case... but $225 on a mini-itx case......

Edit: Just noticed, that case only has a single 3.5 drive mount. You can go for a SSD or a spinner, not both.

I thought I saw a slim disk drive mount. So, if I MUST have two drives, ssd and hdd, I guess I could get an external blu ray.

I don't really need two drives as all my videos and crap are on a 1.5TB drive connected to my netgear router.



And yes, that case is mandatory. I like trains. :|

I do agree, that case is a bit expensive. FOR A CASE.
 
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Allright, here's what I'm looking at

Case:
Crazy Train thing
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112393
$229.99

Motherboard:
MSI FM2 Mini-ITX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130664
Cheapest FM2 Mini-ITX (There were only two >.>
$89.99

CPU:
AMD A10-5800k
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113280
The A10 is the best way to get an acceptable GPU with a decent CPU. Period.
$129.99

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231455
OR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231476
The A10 GPU is made significantly faster by fast RAM, so 1866 is sort of the minimum here. I'd go for 2133 if you can. I like G.Skill.

Drives:
Samsung 840 120GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147188
$94.99

Seagate 1tb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840
$79.99

Grand total (With the 2133 RAM): $689.94 before shipping.

While you're not going to whip up Crysis 3 anytime soon, the A10 has a surprisingly capable GPU (7660D) that is fine for running most games. It'll run BF3 or Skyrim just fine.
 
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That's a pretty cool build for the budget considering the extra expense for the case, how many people can say they have a $700 gaming computer that also is a choo-choo train? :lol:
 
That's a pretty cool build for the budget considering the extra expense for the case, how many people can say they have a $700 gaming computer that also is a choo-choo train? :lol:

Right, I actually didn't think I'd be able to come in under 700. It's a sweet little PC.
 
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