Trying to salvage a PC for my friend (Mini-ITX)

[Axelond]

So I have some random bits and pieces left of my last PC and the one before that and I am wondering if I can put these together and what I should replace need.

Budget: Just keep it low/mid for the parts I need.

Resolution: 1920x1080
Games / Settings Desired Not looking for any heavy games, maybe some wow but mostly movies and chrome
Country: Sweden (Just link amazon and I will find it)
Do you need an OS? No
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)? Nope.


Parts that can be reused:

These are from my previous build and work great.
Asrock Z68M-ITX/HT (Mini-ITX)
Intel Core i5 3570K 3,4 GHz
GTX 560 Ti

Would like some input on these parts:
Vengeance® Low RAM: Profile White — 1.35V 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 I only have one of these, the other one broke so is it fine to run windows on 4GB RAM?

Storage: Samsung HD501LJ 500GB 7.2K SATA 3.5" HDD

PSU: Corsair cmpsu-520hx I haven't used this PSU in over 2 years but I am pretty sure it worked fine when I used it last.

Cooler: I only have a stock intel cooler because my water cooler is being used by my current rig.


What I need if you don't think I should replace one of the above parts:

Mini ITX Case
Upgrade from stock intel cooler?

[Master Guns]

My suggestion is to get a better GPU and upgrade to 8GB of RAM. 4GB of RAM just doesn't cut it these days for pretty much anything.

[Denpepe]

Why not get a HDD like this one http://www.amazon.com/Blue-SATA-7200...KNGDMB484VVMY9 double the storage for half the price and good quality

[Evildeffy]

So I have some random bits and pieces left of my last PC and the one before that and I am wondering if I can put these together and what I should replace need.

Budget: Just keep it low/mid for the parts I need.

Resolution: 1920x1080
Games / Settings Desired Not looking for any heavy games, maybe some wow but mostly movies and chrome
Country: Sweden (Just link amazon and I will find it)
Do you need an OS? No
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)? Nope.


Parts that can be reused:

These are from my previous build and work great.
Asrock Z68M-ITX/HT (Mini-ITX)
Intel Core i5 3570K 3,4 GHz
GTX 560 Ti

Would like some input on these parts:
Vengeance® Low RAM: Profile White — 1.35V 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 I only have one of these, the other one broke so is it fine to run windows on 4GB RAM?

Storage: Samsung HD501LJ 500GB 7.2K SATA 3.5" HDD

PSU: Corsair cmpsu-520hx I haven't used this PSU in over 2 years but I am pretty sure it worked fine when I used it last.

Cooler: I only have a stock intel cooler because my water cooler is being used by my current rig.


What I need if you don't think I should replace one of the above parts:

Mini ITX Case
Upgrade from stock intel cooler?

The system looks fine, including the GPU for a bit of play, it'll run high settings with shadows turned down no problem in WoW.

As far as the RAM goes... it's got lifetime warranty, just RMA it and you'll have it back in a week from Corsair a completely new kit.
4GB is enough to do Windows stuff, it will be tight on WoW and I do recommend 8GB so he can multitask as well.
If that kit cannot be RMA'ed then I suggest the following RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tactical DDR3 1600MHz CL8 1.35V VLP

Case: Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV ITX
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

The case is nothing short of one of the best mITX cases I've worked with.

As for the rest of the build... it's seriously fine to do the things you mentioned, he will be happy with it.

[Kagthul]

If you're on a budget, i'd recommend the Coolermaster Elite 130 - its a solid little case and is usually about 30-40$.

The Phanteks looks nice, but its a bit pricy for a budget/freebie build.

[Axelond]

Thanks for the help guys, I got the thing running just putting everything together ghetto style, no monitor jump booted. and everything was spinning and it looked like it was booting fine.

Good suggestion on the RMA I hadn't even considered it before, I will look into getting it done.

[Evildeffy]

If you're on a budget, i'd recommend the Coolermaster Elite 130 - its a solid little case and is usually about 30-40$.

The Phanteks looks nice, but its a bit pricy for a budget/freebie build.

Except here in the EU it's closer to € 45,- (Dutch prices, among the cheapest in the entirety of Europe) or $ 51,-
Where the OP is from (Sweden) it's even more with an average of 500 SEK which equates to ALMOST $ 60,-

Import duties/taxes suck ass.

[Deleted]

Yeah usually on the cheap side, the Coolermastery elite 110 and 120 advanced are ~ 40-50euro, . The 110 might be small for your 560ti or the power supply. Then you got coolermaster 130, fractal design node 304, enthoo evolx itx, corsair 250D etc. On some of those you will need a low profile aftermarket cpu cooler tho for that. Depending on how much you want to spend and what case you can get a coolermaster gemini, cryorig c1, noctua nh-l12 etc.

Other than that the specs you got a good for a little pc, the cpu is definately good enough for all games only the gpu is a little weak atm.

[Afrospinach]

Yeah usually on the cheap side, the Coolermastery elite 110 and 120 advanced are ~ 40-50euro, . The 110 might be small for your 560ti or the power supply. Then you got coolermaster 130, fractal design node 304, enthoo evolx itx, corsair 250D etc. On some of those you will need a low profile aftermarket cpu cooler tho for that. Depending on how much you want to spend and what case you can get a coolermaster gemini, cryorig c1, noctua nh-l12 etc.

Other than that the specs you got a good for a little pc, the cpu is definately good enough for all games only the gpu is a little weak atm.

I would recommend the 130 over the 120, it is a much better designed case. I have(had) the gemini in the 120, and the fan fights the PSU fan. Turn the PSU upside down and you lose all that exhaust. I then installed a seidon AIO, but I had to do it with a hacksaw. The 130 has a different layout and AFAIK will natively allow a 120mm AIO radiator to be mounted.

Assuming the price difference is a few bucks, I would get the 130 every time. The gemini was not a great deal better than a stock fan, if you want performance out of this case you will probably have to look at AIO units, I am not aware of any spectacular such low profile air coolers, most of them are a wash with the stock cooler.