MINI-PC Build - is this good?

C

Connor Martyn

Member
Hi all!

I'm helping my friend spec a new pc as his has just died... I bought mine from PCS so recommended he did the same. His budget is £1200 and this is what I could come up with (see below). Do you think this is the most optimal 'bang-for-buck' build he can get?

Also:
Is the PSU going to be enough to power all of the components?
Is the GTX 1060 a worthy GPU to have?
What is there on the build that sucks?

The requirements of the build:
1) Be better than his old Alienware X51 (which had a GTX750 Ti).
2) Wifi
3) DVD Drive
4) Somewhat portable (hence the Case/PC size)
5) Run games well...
6) Be in budget at £1200 (or just over).

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Case BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Case (Black)

Processor (CPU) Intel® CoreTMi5 Quad Core Processor i5-6600 (3.3GHz) 6MB Cache

Motherboard ASUS® Z170I PRO GAMING: Mini-ITX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs

Memory (RAM) 16GB HyperX FURY DDR4 2133MHz (2 x 8GB)

Graphics Card 6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1060 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - GeForce GTX VR

Ready!

1st Hard Disk 500GB Samsung 750 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk 1TB WD BLACK 3.5" WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Power Supply CORSAIR 450W VS SERIESTM VS-450 POWER SUPPLY

Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)

Processor Cooling Corsair H55 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler

Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Wireless/Wired Networking 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT + WIRELESS 802.11 A/B/G/N/AC

USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT

PORTS

Operating System Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£89)

Operating System Language United Kingdom - English Language

DVD Recovery Media Windows 10 (64-bit) Home DVD with paper sleeve

Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE

Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Browser Google ChromeTM

Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

(£5)

Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days

Price Ex VAT £1,009.17

Price £1,211.00

Quantity 1

Total Order Price EX VAT £1,009.17

Total VAT Amount £201.83

Total Order Price £1,211.00

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I look forward to any suggestions you all have! :D

Thanks,
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Is the PSU going to be enough to power all of the components?
Click to expand...
The configurator will tell you if it's not. At a glance it looks fine, if the configurator agrees you're alright.

Is the GTX 1060 a worthy GPU to have?
1) Be better than his old Alienware X51 (which had a GTX750 Ti).
Click to expand...
Yes to both. You won't find many benchmarks that include both a GTX 750ti and a GTX 1060 because they're in totally different leagues. It's around the GTX 980 in terms of performance. For example: http://www.techspot.com/review/1173-doom-benchmarks/page2.html You can see the upgrade is pretty huge.
The 1060 is a powerful GPU that should be capable of running most modern games around ultra settings.

What is there on the build that sucks?
Click to expand...
Nothing really. I would suggest a cheaper cooler as the H55 is very noisy, and not really necessary for an i5 6600. The Noctua one should be just fine for temps, much quieter, and cheaper.
You might consider spending the money you save there on the CS650 PSU . It's better quality, probably quieter, modular so fewer unnecessary cables (advantage for small cases, helps with airflow) and would potentially allow for beefier GPUs as future upgrades.

The WD Black, while a very good HDD, won't affect FPS in gaming (SSD/HDD speeds rarely have any impact on FPS, it's mostly for load times). If you wanted to save ~£31 e.g. to put towards the better PSU, you could go for a 1TB regular HDD.
 
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C

Connor Martyn

Member
Oussebon said:
The configurator will tell you if it's not. At a glance it looks fine, if the configurator agrees you're alright.

Yes to both. You won't find many benchmarks that include both a GTX 750ti and a GTX 1060 because they're in totally different leagues. It's around the GTX 980 in terms of performance. For example: http://www.techspot.com/review/1173-doom-benchmarks/page2.html You can see the upgrade is pretty huge.
The 1060 is a powerful GPU that should be capable of running most modern games around ultra settings.

Nothing really. I would suggest a cheaper cooler as the H55 is very noisy, and not really necessary for an i5 6600. The Noctua one should be just fine for temps, much quieter, and cheaper.
You might consider spending the money you save there on the CS650 PSU . It's better quality, probably quieter, modular so fewer unnecessary cables (advantage for small cases, helps with airflow) and would potentially allow for beefier GPUs as future upgrades.

The WD Black, while a very good HDD, won't affect FPS in gaming (SSD/HDD speeds rarely have any impact on FPS, it's mostly for load times). If you wanted to save ~£31 e.g. to put towards the better PSU, you could go for a 1TB regular HDD.
Click to expand...


Right so, this is what we've changed the build to:

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Case BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Case (Black)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-6600 (3.3GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® Z170I PRO GAMING: Mini-ITX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM) 16GB HyperX FURY DDR4 2133MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card 6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1060 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Hard Disk 500GB Samsung 750 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 1TB WD BLACK 3.5" WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling Noctua NH-L9i Low Profile, Super Quiet CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

COST: £1238

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is the build now optimal for the price/performance? The HDD has been kept the same, the PSU and CPU Cooler has been changed.

Thanks in advance!
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
I might be temped by faster DDR4, say 2666MHz. The price increase is £12 more (less than 1% of the build cost) but it can net a couple fps here and there, and sometime pretty large returns (e.g. FO4): http://www.hardwareunboxed.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1570

Apologies for not mentioning before, I forget that it's an option with the mini ITX builds :)
 
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