mATX Mid-Gaming Build

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type Item Price
CPU Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8 GHz 6-Core Processor $303.95 @ Amazon Australia
Motherboard Asus - ROG Strix H370-I Gaming Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard $197.00 @ Skycomp Technology
Memory Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory $203.69 @ Amazon Australia
Storage Samsung - 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive $139.00 @ BudgetPC
Video Card MSI - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8 GB Video Card $599.00 @ Umart
Case NZXT - H400i MicroATX Mini Tower Case $179.00 @ BudgetPC
Power Supply Corsair - RMx 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply $138.00 @ Umart
Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
Total $1759.64
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-07 02:03 AEDT+1100

Hey guys, Looking to save up to get a mid-gaming rig by end of 2019. I usually play CSGO, Rocket League, OW and various other games like GTA5, Witcher 3, XCOM2, MGS5, PUBG. I have a 120HZ monitor so my main goal is to try to keep at 120 FPS at the highest quality levels (if possible) for current and future games. My 960 at the moment currently doesn't cut it enough.

Budget is roughly $1500.

Ignore the MSI model of the 1070 TI, I'm probably gonna wait for some OzB deal before getting the GPU and then the rest can follow.

Just wondering if the above part list is alright? Thanks guys!

Comments

  • Yes, but it will possibly be very different by the end of 2019.

    • Any ideas what could have improved drastically by then in the tech world?

      • Last I heard we're getting reasonably close to the next generation jump for AMD, and from what I've read…it's gonna be interesting to say the least.

      • Nothing drastic but some parts maybe approaching end of line or replaced with newer models

      • 1070 ti is also technically obsolete TODAY. RTX 20* series were recently released.

      • Second TightBottom - tech moves so fast that while you can have a budget in mind, and start looking at parts and part trends / announcements now, I wouldn't spend too much time researching the details now.

        If nothing else (e.g. no new parts announced, released), prices can change drastically due to supply/demand.

        Off the top of my head, next gen of AMD graphics cards on their Navi architecture is due this year (first half even), Intel and AMD might also come out with new CPUs (though unlikely - but could see price-drops mid-year), and RAM and SSD prices are always fluctuating.

        • I'm currently using the i5-4590 and I was kinda disappointed the i5-8400 isn't much more of an upgrade and it'll cost $300. Say I'm gonna buy this build tomorrow, it wouldn't be worth it would it

  • Do you after itx or mATX?

    • mATX case

      • +1

        Grab an mATX motherboard, it will be cheaper.

        • Strangely enough none of the compatible mATX motherboards have inbuilt wifi

  • +1

    Looks good, if I were to upgrade it would look very similar.

  • i spent half as much on a mITX case, bitfenix i think it was, and i could have fit a bigger motherboard in, and not have to rely on the mITX mobo. my mITX build is approaching 4 years now, and it has held up awesomely over that time. but ive got lga 1150 chipset and im limited to ddr3 ram, so i couldnt upgrade either, and my next build will have to be a complete new build.

    CES is this month and AMD will release news on their cpus and gpus. i'd hold out until then, as you'll get something better for the long life of your build.

    • Yeah, you're right especially given I'm not in the exact rush to get this new build soon. I can see if I stick to these parts after 10 months into 2019, I'll be behind already!

      I might actually get the h200i case since I'm looking at something small enough to really easily grab and move around comfortably…

      • yeah the size is great. no more full towers for me. i think mine weighs 10kg. there are a few tight spaces while building, and i do need to be mindful of gfx card length. there are also small form factor (SFF, 140mm) PSUs, such as Seasonic FOCUS series SSR-650FM

        • How feasible is relying on case GPU size limit? Say you have 20mm clearance on your GPU on paper, does it translate to the ease of installing it in?

          • @penguin286: 20mm will be very tight - won't be fun. You may not have sufficient room and need to spring for aftermarket cables

          • @penguin286: as zeggie says, its not fun. your fingers arent 20mm, so you might need a small child to plug it in and take it out.
            ive got just enough space where the cables from my PSU dont interfere with my GPU. and im limited to 28cm graphics cards. above and below the card are fine.
            check out some of the mITX builds on youtube (if you havent already) and see if they have any numbers to compare with.
            the purpose of a desktop pc is that you dont move it around so much, so maybe just forget about that aspect of your build and get something thats just small and suitable for the space it takes up.

  • Will be a sweet build and should last a good amount of time. To be honest, mid-range gaming builds like this are the way to go at the moment, because high end graphics cards are so exorbitantly priced ATM and most games cannot take full advantage of them, or even the high end CPUs. By the time software can take real advantage of the new hardware, the market will be totally different.

    Only thing I'd say is try and increase the storage. I have a similar spec'd machine with the same 500GB SSD and I am fast running out of room as others in the house play different games on it. With some AAA titles seemingly being 80GB+ now, I wish now that I had spent the extra and bought an 1TB or 2TB on special.

    Maybe also increase to 650/700W power supply to make sure you can cover any GPU you might want to update to in the future.

    • +1 650w power supply. More future proof.

      Only the 2070 in nvidia's current range would be supported.

      • PCIe 3.0 m/b, ample case clearance and ample power supply output; he should be able to run anything in the nV 20xx range? Happy to be corrected.

        Wallet compatibility still remains the biggest factor GPU selection however…

        • If you want to risk running a card under minimum specifications provided by the manufacturer be my guest.

    • Shoot yeah, I'm already having to chuck games outside my 256gb SSD…

  • I did notice that the motherboard doesn’t support DDR4 3200 speed so will automatically underclock it to a speed it supports

    • Oh right! Ops

      Do you reckon 2800 Ram is enough?

      • If it’s cheaper then go for it

        I don’t think you’d even notice the difference in clock speeds, even if you got the 3200 and it underclocked it

  • Pretty sure you can't buy the graphics card:
    https://www.umart.com.au/goods.php?id=40840

    Says discontinued.

    • Yeah not a problem, I'll probably be grabbing a different 1070TI/1080 down the track or a 11 series one. I just hope it's enough for a 1080p Ultra 120FPS for most games besides the crazy awesome looking ones. And if possible future proofing for a 1440p if I upgrade my monitor.

      • +1

        Have you seen the RTX 2060 announced yesterday? Performs 5-10% better than the 1070 TI.

        Pretty sure pricing will start from AUD $500, as the founders edition is AUD $600.
        (here is some information - https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/01/nvidias-geforce-rtx-2060-a…)

        • Yeah brilliant, think the 20XX will be the series I'll look to upgrade with. Even the 2070 is not much more expensive than the 1070TI.

  • As far as out of the box builds go (no overclocking or tinkering around), that's a pretty nice setup!!
    I'd definitely up the PSU to more than 650w.
    If you can wait for the GTX1100 series which I think is launching in Jan (don't know when it'll be in AU stores) then you'll have a better variety of cards to choose from.
    Also, Ryzen will launch a 3rd gen in Q2-Q3 this year which will shake up CPU prices again.

    If you're willing to tinker and/or overclock, I have the following suggestions to save a bit of coin to dedicate your budget elsewhere:
    -Save $179 from the case - if you don't care about aethetics, use a barebone case - buy a board of MDF or pine from Bunnings for $5, and mount your motherboard on that with motherboard screws (Centrecom are usually nice enough to give you 6 for free). You can buy a switch from Jaycar for $1-$2 to turn on your PC.
    I'd reallocate this money to an even better graphics card.

    -Save $50 and buy a Ryzen 2600 - Stock speeds are at 3.4ghz and I believe it turbos to 3.9ghz. IIRC, you can overclock to 4ghz on a stock cooler.
    When the CPU is overclocked (albeit to 4.2ghz), performance is on-par with the i5-8400:
    https://www.techspot.com/review/1614-ryzen-2600/page3.html
    https://www.techspot.com/review/1627-core-i5-8400-vs-ryzen-5…
    I'm not sure if it's on-par when it turbos to 3.9ghz though.

    • I heard from a friend that Ryzen could bring annoying problems that Intel simply wouldn't. Otherwise the Ryzen 5 2600 was my choice, any of that is true you reckon?

      Btw I have never overclocked before so I'm not sure I'll ever dare go down that route hmmm!

      Cheers for your input btw!

      • Your friend is correct - the two main annoying things I can think of are:
        -Depending on your motherboard, you'll need to flash the latest BIOS/UEFI so it can detect the Ryzen 2 CPU.
        I bought a 2200G and slotted my CPU straight into a Gigabyte AB350N motherboard and it wasn't being detected. After some googling, I found out you need to put in a Ryzen 1st Gen chip, flash it, and then put a Ryzen 2nd Gen chip in. I managed to flash it without putting the 1st Gen chip in there (I can't remember how though). It's not a big deal, but it's a PITA to deal with when you just want it work OOTB.
        (Centrecom charge $30 to do this for you, if you ceebs)

        -Because it knows to turbo to 3.9ghz, screwing around with all the voltages and timings just to extract an extra 300mhz is also a PITA. You'll have noisy fans and blow out warmer air.

        Like I said, as far as an OOTB build goes, you've got a pretty good set up listed there, but the option is there to reallocate portions of your budget to other components/

  • if you wanna cut some costs down, when I built my pc I bought a be quiet! Pure Power 10 power supply for around the $90-$110 mark (there are 500 and 600w variants within this range). It's silver rated and semi modular tho, it's been working very well. Even tho my build was essentially a matx one, I ended up putting it in an ATX case bc the smaller cases were more expensive :/

    OH and chuck a Toshiba P300 2TB in there and ur set, its quiet cheap, like $79? but has the rpm comparable to Seagate Barracudas (i believe?)

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