Small gaming PC case

[thelawnet]

I want to build a budget gaming PC. I'm looking at the Geforce GTX 750, but I'd like the option in future to upgrade to beefier cards if needed.

I need the space for a single SSD + single hard drive, no optical drive.

I think a thin vertical PC would suit my space (corner of the room next to TV cabinet).

Any recommendations?

[CA_Steve]

Maybe you could measure the space and provide the dimensions...otherwise this could turn into a game of Go Fish.

[Olaf van der Spek]

Fractal Design Core 1000: http://www.fractal-design.com/home/prod ... 000-usb-30

[thelawnet]

The space is a little flexible. I measured where the subwoofer is now, behind that there is a space 21cm deep, 43 wide, and the sub is 36cm high. (I'd like it to hide behind.)

On the side of the TV cabinet I have a space 50 cm wide, 13 cm deep, with no limit on height.

But I could probably move the subwoofer forward a little, creating a few cm more depth. And maybe move the cabinet over a few cm, to make some more depth.

But kinda those parameters.

[Abula]

Kinda small, slim and vertical, i would go with SilverStone RVZ01: A Mini Raven, pair it with an Asus motherboard (asus H97i) and Silverstone NT06-PRO that should fit very well, and add an Asus GTX750ti, should be a pretty decent setup.

[thelawnet]

OK. I like the RVZ01.

There is also the slightly cheaper ML07, which is very similar, but doesn't come with any case fans fitted.

Does it matter?

Also is the stock CPU cooler ok?

[Pappnaas]

No, stock cooler is not OK.

Which CPU will you be using?

Going with the raven will leave you with 83 mm max cooler height and you have to pick a cooler not impeding the pci-e slot. This depends on the layout if the main board chosen.

And be aware, SFX PSU only or some kind of pico PSU like solution.

[thelawnet]

I will probably go for a G3258. Apparently the stock cooler is 50mm high.

Is that a problem?

[Pappnaas]

50mm is not a problem. But this is spcr and since you ask here I assume you want a silent PC.

And stock cooler might not be overly loud and could be tolerable when idle but it won't be as quiet as a good 3rd party cooler.

So what does make noise in your planned setup?
- PSU
-CPU cooler
-case fan(s)
-HDD
AFAIK there are fan less GT750 cards out there, so no noise from that.

So better pick some parts and give us a list, so we can start a build plan.

[CA_Steve]

Actually, the stock cooler might work ok for a stock 53W Pentium (it mostly sucks for i5 and i7). If money is tight, you could try it and see if it works well for you. As mentioned, it really depends on the rest of the build and other airflow.

[thelawnet]

The PC is for my son and it's going to go in the living room. I figured on the G3258 on the basis that it's so cheap that he can always upgrade it with his own money.

I don't like noisy fans, my case fans are I think around 1000rpm 120mm. My cpu fan is running 2021rpm stock Intel with the Q9550 I bought 6 years ago. GPU fanless. So there is a level of noise, but I'm ok with it. I don't think I've ever noticed a problem with hard drive noise. That's my PC, six inches from me.

This new PC will be six feet away, maybe behind a subwoofer, so I'm not really thinking too much about noise. But I've never actually bought a gaming card so I don't know if they tend to be noisy.

My parts list:

case fan - stock, but maybe I need a third fan
cpu cooler - stock G3258
PSU - Silverstone Strider ST45SF
HDD - Caviar Blue 1TB
Gfx card - I'm probably going to skip this for now, my son is going to buy his own - I will buy everything else and then he can pick this out. But it could be anything between the Geforce 750 (non TI) and the R9 280(x). I'm kinda hoping the Geforce 960 will be a compelling part to buy in January (Probably gonna be too expensive though). I'm not really keen on the heat, and drivers I'd get from AMD.

[edh]

If you want REALLY small and can wait for the next batch to be produced then there is the NCASE M1. It's a community project and based upon demand so the more people who register interest early will bring the next batch forwards.

[thelawnet]

I think I prefer the Silverstone styling. It's cheaper, too.

[ggumdol]

Though it's up to your personal preferences, in general, I don't think it is economical to invest much money in reducing noise in a living room PC which is located relatively far from users. In order to suppress the MOST dominant noise factor, I suggest that you buy a really quite, preferably fanless, GPU, e.g., Palit KalmX 750Ti. If you can afford to invest more into the PC, the second best place is PSU or case fans, because they are relatively much more exposed as compared with, e.g., CPU fans.

If you are keen in compact living room PC, I suggest you have a look at Lian Li PC-TU100 chassis, which I've been using for a while. Since maximum expansion card length of PC-TU100 is 193mm which is longer than that of Palit KalmX750Ti, I think it can surely be a good-looking and compact living room PC.

Actually, the PC-TU100 configuration in my signature can be verbatim copied, to whichi you just need to add Palit KalmX 750Ti because I indeed thought through the configuration based on my longstanding (?) experience in silent computing.

[Abula]

If you are liking the RVZ01, check PCper Silverstone Raven Z RVZ01 Mini-ITX Case - The Steam Machine Chassis, they use the Silverstone cooler that imo its a very nice match for the case, the CPU cooler doesnt allow to have the top fan, so you can move it toward the GPU area that comes with one but allows two fans, now this could allow you to use a fully passive GPU since you will have good direct airflow from the case fans to the GPU, but i would suggest to go with a motherboard that shoudl allow you to control them easily, and for 3pin voltage controlling fans... Asus is one of the best options, personally i think the ASUS H97I-PLUS is a very nice mini ITX motherboard that has fanXpert2 (or 3) and has 3x motherboard fan headers, so it should easily allow you to control the CPU and the two GPU case fans.

One thing you do need to cross check is the CPU cooler and the socket placement, as not all mini ITX have the same placement, in some cases this will not allow you use certain coolers. The stock should work with any motherboard as it only uses the cpu socket area, but personally i dont like them noise wise. But this is very important, for example the Silverstone cooler seems to fit fine on near the PCIe placement, like MSI/Gigabyte, but the Asus is more centered, so might not be ideal, but i would prefer the Asus motherboard and choosing another cooler if needed.

I think its wise to wait for the GTX960, and if you can for the release of the AMD R390X, even if you go nvidia, it should make nvidia keep the prices down of the new releases... maybe new cards or pricing could happen depending on AMD release.