Looking at making an Micro or Mini ITX PC

[dyllan]

So my goal is to fit as much power into the PC as possible, I want to get a 4770k in there hopefully with some level of water cooling (can be sacrificed if anyone has ideas for a good air cooler in a small case) for over clocking. Hopefully try and get a 770 or 780 in there as well, now I understand this and cooler depends greatly on the case and that's fine. I just want something small and powerful with okay cooling. Nothing particularly special. Ive never made a Micro or Mini form factor PC before and that's why I'm here, so I will list out my goals and I would love if you guys could tell me if I'm being realistic or not

CPU - I7 4770k
Cooler - Maybe h75 (recommendations absolutely welcome)
Power Supply - Corsair CS450M (recommendations welcome here as well!)
Motherboard - I have no idea what is actually a good Micro or Mini ITX board.
RAM - 8 or 16 gig Corsair Vengeance CML4GX3M1A1600C9
SSD - Samsung 840 Pro 256 or 512 GB
GPU - MSI GTX 770 or 780, not afraid to try a AMD card but I've never had a bad experience with Nvidia either
Case - I have no idea of what case I should go with either, again I'm new to this form of computer and help is much appreciated!

None of that is set in stone except maybe the graphics card (I want big bang out of it) and CPU for the same reason, everything else is open for change! Thanks guys and hope we can get something together here.

 

[Theocnoob]

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811205011
^This is the best mini ITX case IMO. EVGA Hadron. Includes a tiny 500W 80+Gold PSU. Enough for pretty much any build. Fits a 10.5" GPU, which is the length of a reference 780.

You can fit a small tower cooler in there and squeeze out a decent overclock.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132039
^Maximus VI impact. Coolest ITX board out there. Has a robust VRM section despite tiny size. You can go with a lower end ITX board but if it is only 4 phase or so, will limit your overclock. Also, most ITX boards do not have a decent VRM heatsink like this one does.

The Samsung 840 Evo is only a bit slower than the 840 Pro and is significantly cheaper. You can get a pretty chunky Evo for cheap.

No need for 16GB of RAM although if you can afford it you should go for it. Make sure the RAM is 1.5V or less. Higher RAM voltage is "not recommended" for Haswell CPUs.

 

[dyllan]

My only concern about that case is that it does not have a cut out for aftermarket cpu coolers, I assume this really only makes it difficult to install in the case itself, or would it actually block you from installing an aftermarket cooler altogether?

 

[Theocnoob]

My only concern about that case is that it does not have a cut out for aftermarket cpu coolers, I assume this really only makes it difficult to install in the case itself, or would it actually block you from installing an aftermarket cooler altogether?

You just mount the cooler before installing the motherboard in that case. That's what you should be doing all the time. Cut outs are only useful for changing or replacing a CPU cooler. Once a cooler's on, with good thermal paste, there's no reason to remove it.

 

[dyllan]

Awesome man, thank you very much!

Would the EVGA MITX heatsink be any good? Ive only actually had experience with the hyper 212 evo myself.

 

[Evilsizer]

if going with air cooling i would say this case is going to be better layout.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811345016
as it has a rear 120mm fan, the evga doesnt and has top fans. while the evga comes with a psu, if it goes out getting a replacement wont be easy. the case i linked to takes standard ATX psu's so replacements wont be problem. on top of that should you for any reason need a psu larger then 500watts. Getting one in ATX FF is going to be alot easier and cheaper.

This one would be another choice as well.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139033

its just me, but when looking at going with my next mitx setup. i was thinking of one of those two cases. there was another i can not seem to find on the NG.ca site, was a BitFenix but possibly a mATX case. it had room for a top mounted 240mm rad. if you just stick with air cooling, these two cases would be top of my list.

 

[Theocnoob]

The 250D, I agree, is a great case, and yes, a standalone PSU would be better. I was just suggesting the best "Tiny" ITX case I knew of because most people, when they go ITX, are thinking "as small as possible".

 

[ATMINSIDE]

This should help you a bit:

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/atminside/saved/4vLn