Would love your help for Mini PC

[Lepasconnu]

Hello there,

I have finally decided to go through with my old dream of buying a real built with love PC.
I would love to know what I could build for approx' £500, here is a bit of context to help you help me:

-I live in a flatshare, therefore I have no desk, I currently have my laptop always plugged on to my TV, I play from my sofa (And I love that)

-that is why I am thinking about a mini-pc, to set it next to my TV without it taking too much space.

-NOW, would I be able to have my TV as a screen for a mini-pc? as I don't really want and I don't have the space to buy a proper screen.

-I mostly play GW2, and sometimes a bit of skyrim. I don't need to be able to play in Ultra (I guess my budget wouldn't be enough anyway), but if I can have gw2 and Skyrim at a quite high quality without struggling, I'd be more than happy.

I think that's it, let me know if you need more information, I'd be glad to provide.

Thank you,

Lepasconnu

 

[SlimCini]

The gaming mini PC section starts at £544 and that is one that comes with no GPU so you've got no chance at your budget I'm afraid.

 

[Lepasconnu]

The budget can change, I will just have to save money for a bit longer.
What interests me most at the moment is whether or not I could plug my TV to the PC, or if I absolutely needed a proper screen?
If anybody were to show me a mock setup, that would be amazing, would allow me to get an idea of price and what type of product I should be on the look for.

Thank you,
Lepasconnu

 

[Rakk]

What interests me most at the moment is whether or not I could plug my TV to the PC, or if I absolutely needed a proper screen?

There should be no problem using your TV as a monitor, presuming its got a relevant port that can be used (I'd expect an HDMI port on the TV if its a new-ish TV).
TV's often wont display quite as nicely as monitors and sometimes it can be a pain to sort out the scaling but it should work fine.

 

[Lepasconnu]

Great thank you very much for your reply.
If I were to start a list of components, would somebody be able to let me know if I am going in the right direction?
I have never looked so deeply into computers, and I want to, for my first real purchase, do things right.

Thank you,
Lepasconnu

Edit: here is what I have been looking at.


Case
COOLERMASTER ELITE 130 CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i3 Dual Core Processor i3-6100 (3.70GHz) 3MB 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
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 750 Ti - 2 x DVI, mHDMI - 3D Vision Ready

1st Hard Disk
1TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE

2nd Hard Disk
500GB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 16MB CACHE

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

Processor Cooling
INTEL STANDARD CPU COOLER

Power Supply
CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY

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

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

Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language

 

[SlimCini]

£800 would get you a balanced 2Gb 960 build:
Case
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Case (Black)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-6400 (2.7GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z170I PRO GAMING: Mini-ITX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB HyperX FURY DDR4 2133MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
1TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 40 Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£19)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
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
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
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
Quantity
1

Price: £800.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-skylake-sff-gaming/ttVpjbmnrz/












£1000 would get you a balanced 970 build:
Case
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Case (Black)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-6600K (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z170I PRO GAMING: Mini-ITX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB HyperX FURY DDR4 2133MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 2 x DVI, HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
Free Item
FREE TOM CLANCY'S: THE DIVISION with select GTX 9 Series GPUs!
1st 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
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 40 Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£19)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
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
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
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
Quantity
1

Price: £995.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-skylake-sff-gaming/Ox5DcZoxT3/

 

[Lepasconnu]

Thank you Slim.
I have saved the specs and will have a better look later on today.

Alright, I have decided to go for the £800 pc, thanks again for your help

 

[Lepasconnu]

A quick check to see if everything looks good.

Hiya everyone,
I am a bit overexcited and hasty to order the following.
But I know that I have to keep cool and look at everything first to make sure it has everything I need.

Therefore I would be really glad if any of you could let me know what you think about the following, (I only play Guild Wars2, and a bit of BF4).
I will probably upgrade it when TES6 comes out, but that's another story.

Alrighty, here's the spec sheet, Thank you in advance for your help!

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)
8GB HyperX FURY DDR4 2133MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
1TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 40 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
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
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 10 (64-bit) Home DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
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
Quantity
1

 

[SlimCini]

Looks good.

 

[Lepasconnu]

Thanks Slim, I used the specs you sent me earlier, fitting my budget perfectly. I just upgraded the CPU a bit.