Mini ITX Build. Suggestions/Feedback?

[TheRoid]

Helping a friend with a Mini-ITX build capable of running graphically demanding games at relatively high settings and editing music/video. Any feedback or suggestions would be much appreciated.

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219)
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H5 SF (see bundle*)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard (see bundle*)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($47)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($249)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 460 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($135)
Case: Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case (see bundle*)
PSU: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($63)

*Motherboard, Case, and CPU cooler available in a bundle on newegg.com for $215

Does this look good? Thanks

[Cows For Life]

Helping a friend with a Mini-ITX build capable of running graphically demanding games at relatively high settings and editing music/video. Any feedback or suggestions would be much appreciated.

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219)
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H5 SF (see bundle*)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard (see bundle*)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($47)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($249)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 460 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($135)
Case: Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case (see bundle*)
PSU: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($63)

*Motherboard, Case, and CPU cooler available in a bundle on newegg.com for $215

Does this look good? Thanks

Get a better motherboard and budget for more GPU. That motherboard has known throttling issues and that is a low end GPU which won't be running graphically demanding games at high settings assuming 1920x1080.

[Shadow Fox]

Helping a friend with a Mini-ITX build capable of running graphically demanding games at relatively high settings and editing music/video. Any feedback or suggestions would be much appreciated.

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219)
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H5 SF (see bundle*)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard (see bundle*)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($47)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($249)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 460 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($135)
Case: Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case (see bundle*)
PSU: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($63)

*Motherboard, Case, and CPU cooler available in a bundle on newegg.com for $215

Does this look good? Thanks

Might be able to save a bit by downgrading the 1TB SSD down to a 250-500Gb SSD, then getting a 1 or 2 TB HDD.

GPU I'd say put some extra money into. GPU is going to be a huuuge throttle on that system. If you're able to squeeze it, upgrade it to a RX480 (Or GTX1060. A little bit more than a RX480, but a little bit more power as well. Both are able to run majority of most games at 1920x1080 without too much issue around the 55-70 range.)

470 for a single display at 1920x1080 would probably be okay, too. The 460 is just more entry grade, not so much of a performance card.

If you could give a bit of a budget limit, we could help you a bit more!

Get a better motherboard and budget for more GPU. That motherboard has known throttling issues and that is a low end GPU which won't be running graphically demanding games at high settings assuming 1920x1080.

I can't say I've seen any reports on this, looking around at Newegg, Amazon or PCPartPicker. Would be curious to read, or if chipset/bios updates fixed the issues?

On Spec sheets, seems a really solid motherboard for a Mini-ITX, though.

[Sorshen]

Downgrade the SSD to a 250/500Gb version and get a GTX 1060 6Gb (~$240) and EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold ($63)

[TheRoid]

Sorry, leaving out the budget was a dummy move. Shooting for around $1K.

Reviews seemed solid for the motherboard and the combination of CPU cooler, Case, and Motherboard eased my concerns about everything fitting together since the build is very tight as is. If the motherboard is truly an issue, do you know of any better options with a corresponding cooler?

- - - Updated - - -

Played around with a few things. How does this look?

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($215)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($90)
Motherboard: MSI B150I GAMING PRO AC Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($107)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($50)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($80)
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($35)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB WINDFORCE OC 6G Video Card ($250)
Case: Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case ($70)
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($70)

[Sorshen]

You need a Z motherboard to take advantage of the CPU and ram. You went a bit overkill with the cooler too (unless you're trying to have 4.5GHz++ daily overclock).

Here's my suggestion...

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/DchPQV
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/DchPQV/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($134.99 @ B&H)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($86.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB WINDFORCE OC 6G Video Card ($234.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV ITX Mini ITX Tower Case ($54.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $971.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-28 15:49 EST-0500

All those should fit in either case.

[Cows For Life]

I have the bigger brother board (Z170N G5) to the Z170N-WIFI mentioned. I remember reading the review on SCPR where they tested both boards and found the WIFI to behave abnormally. Of note if you're overclocking, the Z170N-WIFI does not have any cooling on its VRM components, not even bare heatsinks.

[Sorshen]

Hmm, you're right, I missed the lack of VRM heatskings.

[Kagthul]

Hmm, you're right, I missed the lack of VRM heatskings.

Lets just start with - whats the budget here?

[Sorshen]

Lets just start with - whats the budget here?

He said it's

Shooting for around $1K.

[Kagthul]

He said it's

missed that somehow.

given that budget, i'd go with something like this:

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/YD3Fbj
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/YD3Fbj/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG C7 40.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($29.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($157.95 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 16GB (1 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($85.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB SC GAMING Video Card ($259.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV ITX Mini ITX Tower Case ($68.94 @ Jet)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($62.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $990.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-28 19:08 EST-0500

Im actually surprised Gigabyte botched the Z170N-WiFi so badly - ive had both the Z87N-Wifi and Z97N-Wifi (in my current rig) and both were awesome (and a way better deal than the Gaming-5 of those eras). But the Gaming-5 is still solid, just more than i'd like to pay.

As for the WiFi being spotty - you have to use the antennas. Crammed in there with all that stuff, they couldnt give it powerful internal antennas. You HAVE to use the antennas. My Z97N-WiFi gets signal ~50ft from the router no problem, and its the same exact WiFi chipset on the newer board. Without the antenna, though? Same room it can barely pick up signal.

Case choice is highly subjective, and the Enthoo Evolv ITX is on the "big" side of mITX (still smaller than an mATX mid-tower, but not nearly as small as a Silverstone RAVEN or similar micro-case)... but it is a dream to work in. I re-cased into this thing a few months back and its been amazing.