HTPC inc VR

Krombopulos Michael

Hi all.

So I want to put a mini pc into my sitting room for movies and casual gaming (Rocket League, 1st Person Shooters and the likes) so looking at Silverstone SG13 case.

I would like to be able to take my Rift Sensors, plug them in and do a bit of VR with family instead of my cramped home office.

1. What is your budget? [~€500]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming/ Media]

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [No]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Have 1 TB SSD brand new]

5. Do you need a monitor? [No]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [4k TV]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.] - No

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [No]

8. How can you pay? [Cash/Card]

9. When are you purchasing? [Over next few weeks/months]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [Can build myself]

I have gone on PCPartPicker and selected some items, but coming in around 650euro before delivery.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/nBG7wh

Should I lower my selection for CPU and GPU?

K.O.Kiki

Your main issue at this budget is going mini-ITX - it's simply too expensive.

Also the 1050 Ti is a bad buy (always has been tbh) and will struggle on a 4k screen.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor (£108.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 AORUS M Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£82.79 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£64.25 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 570 4 GB Gaming 4G Video Card (£109.99 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: be quiet! System Power 9 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£42.71 @ Amazon UK)
Custom: any sub-£40 mATX case
Total: £407.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-02 14:52 GMT+0000

Krombopulos Michael

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Your main issue at this budget is going mini-ITX - it's simply too expensive.

One of the reasons for Mini-ITX is I have a TV unit I was hoping to put this into (with some added cooling fans in the back).

Going bigger means i have to sit it on the floor in front of the TV unit.

If I change the GPU to what you have listed, would it be possible to stretch the budget a little for Mini ITX?

K.O.Kiki

Yeah, that GPU should fit in a Sugo SG13.

Krombopulos Michael

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Yeah, that GPU should fit in a Sugo SG13.

Cheers. This all should work on VR as well

Updated List. Hitting over 600euro so guess I need to check the back of the sofa cushions.
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/ZFr3Rk

K.O.Kiki

Use the bundled cooler & a non-modular PSU - €554: PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor (£108.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard (£104.99 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£64.24 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 570 4 GB Gaming 4G Video Card (£109.99 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Silverstone SG13 Mini ITX Tower Case (£39.95 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: be quiet! System Power 9 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£42.71 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £469.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-02 15:44 GMT+0000

Krombopulos Michael

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Use the bundled cooler & a non-modular PSU - €554: PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor (£108.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard (£104.99 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£64.24 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 570 4 GB Gaming 4G Video Card (£109.99 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Silverstone SG13 Mini ITX Tower Case (£39.95 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: be quiet! System Power 9 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£42.71 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £469.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-02 15:44 GMT+0000

Nice, Thanks for that.

M00lers

Just research whatever CPU cooler you intend to install will fit when using a ATX PSU. Did a build in that case last year.

Krombopulos Michael

M00lers wrote: »

Just research whatever CPU cooler you intend to install will fit when using a ATX PSU. Did a build in that case last year.

I've a Noctua NH-L9i 33.84 CFM CPU Cooler lined up which is low profile and should fit I hope. The wraith cooler that comes with the CPU is too tall for sure.

Inviere

Krombopulos Michael wrote: »

I've a Noctua NH-L9i 33.84 CFM CPU Cooler lined up which is low profile and should fit I hope. The wraith cooler that comes with the CPU is too tall for sure.

I'd also stretch for the modular psu. I did a build in a Sugo a few years back and it'll really stretch your cable management/air flow skills with a non modular psu...

Krombopulos Michael

Inviere wrote: »

I'd also stretch for the modular psu. I did a build in a Sugo a few years back and it'll really stretch your cable management/air flow skills with a non modular psu...

I have a semi modular 650W in my main PC so potentially I could use that in the SG13 and get a standard one for main PC. i'll see what I can manage budget wise.

Krombopulos Michael

So i've had to backtrack a bit. Was playing VR on my main PC and image was laggy. Noted my CPU is maxed out, so im going to upgrade current PC and use left overs to build HTPC at a later date.

Current Spec.

CPU: Intel I5 3570k
RAM: 16gig DDR3
GPU: Nvida GTX 1070
Mother board: Asus P8Z77V_LX

Im thinking now of getting a Ryzen 5 3600x which would require new board and RAM but want to try keep withing 500euro mark. any suggestions?

[EDIT] I would like to avoid having to do BIOS updates to a board as I have no other AMD CPU's etc to do this with.

Serephucus

B450 Tomahawk Max is probably worth a look board-wise then. Will be updated to support 3000 CPUs out of box. Other inventory should be as well by now to be honest, but the '[board] Max' ones were released specifically for this reason.

Could also drop to a 3600. It can be overclocked to be identical to a 3600X (and higher), so no need to spend the extra on the X chip.

cherryghost

CCLOnline offer free motherboard upgrade if you buy a Ryzen 3rd gen chip with them also. And their prices are decent. So with them you'd have a vast array of options from budget boards to high-end ones.

Krombopulos Michael

Serephucus wrote: »

B450 Tomahawk Max is probably worth a look board-wise then. Will be updated to support 3000 CPUs out of box. Other inventory should be as well by now to be honest, but the '[board] Max' ones were released specifically for this reason.

Could also drop to a 3600. It can be overclocked to be identical to a 3600X (and higher), so no need to spend the extra on the X chip.

Looked at the board and looks decent. My Define R5 case has 2xusb2 and 2xusb3 front I/o so just need to double check there are headers for these

Krombopulos Michael

cherryghost wrote: »

CCLOnline offer free motherboard upgrade if you buy a Ryzen 3rd gen chip with them also. And their prices are decent. So with them you'd have a vast array of options from budget boards to high-end ones.

Have you a link as took quick look at the site and didn't see anything about free motherboard upgrade

cherryghost

Krombopulos Michael wrote: »

Have you a link as took quick look at the site and didn't see anything about free motherboard upgrade

Just have a look at any Ryzen board, promotion is below

Krombopulos Michael

cherryghost wrote: »

Just have a look at any Ryzen board, promotion is below

Ah yes, see that now. Once I confirm there is 2x USB2 and 2x USB3 headers for the front panel of my case, I can get the motherboard.

Krombopulos Michael

Also recommended to me is the ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming ATX Motherboard

Krombopulos Michael

So ordered

Ryzen 5 3600
Patriot Viper Steel 16GB (2x 8GB) 3600MHz DDR4
ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming ATX Motherboard

Was ordering with CCL Online but got messed about with payments so cancelled them and went elsewhere.

Should have all for this weekend, and then my old I5 3570k and RAM can go into a HTPC.

cherryghost

Looks good. Let us know how you get on

Krombopulos Michael

cherryghost wrote: »

Looks good. Let us know how you get on

Cheers. Looking forward to the upgrade. The only thing I need to watch for it I plan to use my existing installation of Windows for the time being, which I have saw online can be a little flaky when switch to Ryzen.

Once I back everything up in a few weeks :rolleyes: i'll do a clean install.

Then its either finding a HTPC case for my old Asus P8Z77V_LX board or get an ITX board for my current i5 3570k and build my HTPC with that.

Anima

Any particular reason you went with that motherboard? Looking at buying a similar build but was just going for the Tomahawk Max.

Krombopulos Michael

Anima wrote: »

Any particular reason you went with that motherboard? Looking at buying a similar build but was just going for the Tomahawk Max.

I went though multiple sites such as below for reviews

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/msi-b450-tomahawk-vs-asus-rog-strix-b450-f-gaming.3501849/

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/b5rin5/asus_rog_strix_b450f_gaming_vs_msi_b450_tomahawk/

Both had pros and cons, but what ended up selling it for me, the ASUS has Display Port and extra M.2 slots which suits my build better for future upgrades. Plus MSI were having issues when Ryzen launched, so I was a little hesitant about that board, but lots of very positive reviews since.

If you don't need the extra M.2, you could save about 14euro going with the Tomahawk MAX

Krombopulos Michael

So upgraded main PC on Sat Morning. Was planning a quick swap of the board, but after seeing the dust, I pretty much stripped it bear and did a clean out.

New parts went in fine, however I was expecting to see some motherboard screws in the box with the new board, however it only had the m.2 stand-off and screws.

Board was easy to work with and clearly labeled, with headers for AIOs etc for future upgrades.

Old board/RAM/CPU is now sitting on my desk waiting for a new home, so time to decide how to build it into a HTPC.





1.jpg
2.jpg
3.jpg

Anima

A spinning harddrive, how quaint :pac:

Krombopulos Michael

Anima wrote: »

A spinning harddrive, how quaint :pac:

Yup. Have SSD for the OS and some steam games, and rest of my games go on the mechanical drive

K.O.Kiki

Krombopulos Michael wrote: »

New parts went in fine, however I was expecting to see some motherboard screws in the box with the new board, however it only had the m.2 stand-off and screws.

FYI but motherboard screws almost always come with the case, not the mobo.

Krombopulos Michael

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

FYI but motherboard screws almost always come with the case, not the mobo.

I've had the same case for so long, I didn't remember that. So when I get a new case for the old CPU/Mobo, ill have the screws then