Opinion on Mini ITX build?

[Audronius]

Hello,

Planning a mid-range build to replace my gaming laptop, want to go with mini ITX for sure.
Any opinions on the below please? Want to make sure I'm not missing any easy upgrade, bottlenecks, value for money or the like.
Seriously appreciate any input! <3

Case
THERMALTAKE CORE V1 GAMING CASE (BLACK)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 10-Core Processor i5-14400F (Up to 4.7GHz) 20MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® STRIX B760-I GAMING WIFI (Mini-ITX, LGA1700, DDR5, PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 6E)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4070 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CX SERIES™ CX-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 50 RGB 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)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
ONBOARD Wi-Fi 6E
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 3 to 5 working days
Price: £1,490.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[TonyCarter]

What's the PC for (gaming, video editing, day trading, LLM)?

What monitor (make & model, or resolution & refresh rate)?

What's your max budget?

Why an ITX build specifically (as it creates some compromises, and can limit upgradability).

 

[Audronius]

What's the PC for (gaming, video editing, day trading, LLM)?

What monitor (make & model, or resolution & refresh rate)?

What's your max budget?

Why an ITX build specifically (as it creates some compromises, and can limit upgradability).

Appreciate the response!

The PC will be general use mainly - daytime work (I'm in IT but only cloud based light apps) and occasional gaming. No editing/rendering, LLM, trading or any other 'special' use really. For reference, currently using this Lenovo for the same purpose with upgraded RAM & storage.

Current main monitor is 24" 1080p 144z AOC, should bump it to 1440p but keeping 24" as I need three screens for work and table real estate is limited.
Same reason for ITX build - size of the apartment (London..) and the desk as a result. Was initially even looking into Fractal Ridge but worried about overheating issues.

Max budget could go a lil bit over £1600 give or take.

 

[TonyCarter]

Sorry, didn't see you'd replied.

If there's any gaming involved, then I'd suggest a switch to a RMx PSU, as it has components/protections against the power spikes that have been seen in the RTX30/40 series GPUs (and AMD GPUs), that can increase instantaneous power draw by 2-3x. The CX/CV models are really for office PCs as they don't have these protections, and are built for steady, constant power draws of about 30%-50% of their capacity.

That cooler is insufficient for that CPU - which has a max power draw of about 150w - so you'd need a cooler beefy enough to handle 150w (or you'll have the fan ramping up and down constantly to max RPM to try and control the cooling).

Personally I'd go for an AMD build, as they're much more efficient (i.e. about 50% of the power/heat)...but they tend to be a bit more expensive.

Give me a minute and I'll post what build I'd recommend if I went Intel / AMD.

Found out why I hate ITX builds...too many config conflicts when selecting parts (i.e. case requires small PSU, but small PSU not compatible with motherboard and suitable motherboard is £200 more)...

 

[TonyCarter]

AMD first (because the Intel configurator is being awkward)...

Case
FRACTAL RIDGE Mini ITX Case (WHITE) - your preferred case
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core CPU (4.0GHz-5.2GHz/38MB CACHE/AM5) - much more efficient than the Intel
Motherboard
GIGABYTE B650I AORUS ULTRA (Mini-ITX, AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6E) - motherboard that supports the small PSU that the Factal Ridge requires
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB) - no change
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4070 - HDMI, DP, LHR - no change
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW) - changed to a much faster boot/app drive
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW) - similar performance to the Samsungs, but cheaper and better endurance
Power Supply
CORSAIR SF850L 850W 80 PLUS® Gold Certified High Performance SFX-L PSU - the only PSU that will fit in that case (and beefier, better components, quieter)
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead) - no change
Processor Cooling
be quiet! Pure Rock LP - the best performer that will fit in that case
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING - no change
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD) - no change
Wireless Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5 GbE LAN PORT + Wi-Fi 6E - no change
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS - no change
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED - no change
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language - no change
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED - no change
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required) - no change
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE - no change
Browser
Microsoft® Edge - no change
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) - upgraded to the full year for £5
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI) - no change
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 3 to 5 working days - no change
Price: £1,639.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-sff-gaming/gghhBY8w0M/

 

[TonyCarter]

The Fractal Ridge case will be fine for cooling...with the right CPU in it. A hot CPU like any of the 13/14th gen i5 upwards require better cooling (beefy tower cooler, or small liquid cooler)...but that case doesn't have the space for one of those (and the good ones aren't even offered on the Intel configurator).

Have tried different components, but can't get it to do what I need to with the Intel configurator, as I get a message that the case needs the small PSU, but when I select the small PSU it says it won't fit "because it needs the small PSU".

If I try to add a cooler that's sufficient for the Intel CPU I get a warning that it won't fit in the case...and nothing smaller will handle the 150w max TDP. I'd want a Deepcool AG400/AG620 in there.

This is what I'm trying to match...but with a smaller case...

Case
CORSAIR 3000D AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE - can't get anything to fit on the SFF/ITX builder, so it may need a call to PCS themselves to work out why the smaller PSU it asks for cannot be selected
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 10-Core Processor i5-14400F (Up to 4.7GHz) 20MB Cache - no change
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B760M-PLUS WIFI (mATX, LGA1700, DDR5, PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 6) - lowest level I'd go for a gaming PC (Prime are for office PCs)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB) - no change
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4070 - HDMI, DP, LHR - no change
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE) - no change
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW) - changed to a much faster boot/app drive
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW) - similar performance to the Samsungs, but cheaper and better endurance
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET - about the minimum I'd go with this CPU / GPU combo
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core) - no change
Processor Cooling
DeepCool AK620 ZERO DARK High-Performance Dual Tower CPU Cooler - about the minimum I'd go with this CPU
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING - no change
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD) - no change
Network Card
ONBOARD LAN PORT - no change
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT) - no change
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS - no change
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED - no change
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language - no change
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED - no change
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required) - no change
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE - no change
Browser
Microsoft® Edge - no change
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 3 to 5 working days - no change
Price: £1,567.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z790-ddr5-pc/49TeRASqZK/