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Forget big. For this challenge, I’m going small. My goal: to create a kick-ass gaming rig on a Mini-ITX motherboard. That means I need a discrete graphics card, a mobo with a full PCI-E x16 slot, a desktop processor, and plenty of storage. I also need a case that can hold it all elegantly, a PSU to power it, and enough airflow to make sure the rig doesn’t melt. Finally, it has to look good.
Why a Mini-ITX gaming rig vs. a traditional desktop? For starters, I wanted to see what kind of performance is possible from a small formfactor PC. More importantly, why wouldn’t I (or anyone else) want a rig that’s easy to move from room to room, or take on the road for a LAN party?
Case/PSU Silverstone SG07 w/ 600W PSU $210
Mobo Zotac H55ITX-A-E LGA1156 $165
Optical Drive Silverstone SOD01 Slimline DVD Combo Drive $85
GPU 1GB Gigabyte GTX N460OC-1G1 $230
In many ways, building a small formfactor PC is a distillation process. You can’t afford to include anything nonessential, but you can’t strip away anything you’re going to need.
Choosing the right kind of chassis for an SFF build is paramount. I chose Silverstone’s SG07 case because it offers plenty of cooling, an integrated 600W PSU, and room for two 2.5-inch drives, one 3.5-inch drive, a slimline optical drive, a Mini-ITX motherboard, and a full-size GPU, all in a package that measures just 7.5x8.65x13.75 inches. Plus it looks great.
I paired this enclosure with a Socket 1156 Zotac H55 motherboard with a PCI-E x16 slot, integrated Wi-Fi, and plenty of USB and SATA ports. This gives me room for a quad-core Core i7 CPU with Hyper-Threading, up to 8GB of RAM, one kick-ass GPU, an SSD or two, and a big ol’ storage drive. That’s all you need for a kick-ass gaming machine.
Because of the SG07’s cramped quarters, it’s trickier to build in than a more conventional chassis. Certain steps are out of order compared to a traditional build; others are skipped entirely. For this build you’ll need the parts listed above, plus a Philips-head screwdriver, some zip ties (optional), and a 2.5mm hex-head wrench (recommended for the last step).
The SG07 requires significant disassembly before you can start your build (below). Start with the rear of the case facing you. Remove the three screws holding the top cover on, and then pull toward your body and up to remove the cover.
Silerstone's SG07, fully disassembled and ready for our build.
Remove the large case fan by unscrewing the three screws that keep it in position. Lift away. (Note that it will still be attached to the rear fan switch via a cable—you can remove the switch mechanism by unscrewing its two mounting screws). Remove the optical drive bracket by unscrewing the four screws holding it in place. The optical bezel is held on by a screw on the left side; remove it also. Take out the two screws holding the hard drive bracket, and then remove the bracket by lifting up and clockwise. We’re going to pull out the integrated PSU’s power cables so they’re ready to use when we need them.
Last step: the motherboard I/O shield. Remove all the little metal port protectors from the outside of the shield. Once all the ports are freed, insert the motherboard I/O shield into the case. Remember, it goes on the inside of the case, facing out. Press it firmly outward until it is seated evenly. Now, you’re ready to
start building.
Since the inside of the SG07 is so cramped, you’ll want to install the CPU, heatsink, and RAM onto the motherboard before you put it in the case. Place the motherboard on a flat surface, then unclip the CPU retention bar and flip it back. This will lift up the load plate. Carefully remove the plastic socket cover, being careful not to touch any of the pins in the socket.
Hold the CPU parallel to the socket and carefully lower it into place. The notches on the CPU should line up with the corresponding ones on the socket. When the CPU is in place, lower the load plate over it, then secure the arm in its clip (below).
If the load plate doesn't close smoothly, don't force it. Make sure the CPU is oriented correctly.
For this build, we’re using the stock Intel cooler that comes with the CPU. Although it’s not as overclocker-friendly as an aftermarket cooler, it doesn’t have any compatibility issues with our mobo/case combo. The stock cooler should have thermal pads preinstalled; you can use those or replace them with your own favored thermal paste. (We prefer Arctic Silver 5.) For this demonstration, we’re using the stock pads (below).
Make sure all four of the heatsink’s pushpins are prepared by turning them away from the direction indicated by the arrows. Align the pushpins with the four mounting holes on the motherboard and guide the pins into their respective mounting holes. Once the heatsink is sitting loosely on the CPU with pins in place, press down firmly on two pushpins on opposite corners of the heatsink until each clicks and the cooler is secure. Repeat for the other two pins (below). The heatsink should be firmly attached without wiggling. Connect the cooler’s power connector to the motherboard’s CPU_FAN header.
The H55-based Zotac board supports dual-channel DDR3/1066 or DDR3/1333 in its two DIMM slots. For this build, we’re using two 2GB DDR3/1333 DIMMS, for 4GB total. Since you’re populating both slots, you don’t have to worry about setting things up incorrectly.
Just open the two brackets on each slot, and make sure the RAM is oriented correctly—match the notch in the DIMM with the notch in the slot. Press down on the corners of the DIMM until it seats and the retention brackets lock into place (below).
Comments are closed on this article
novatvstdios
December 23, 2010 at 4:31pm
Ingredients
- Case/PSU Silverstone SG07 w/ 600W PSU $210
- Mobo Zotac H55ITX-A-E LGA1156 $165
- CPU Intel Core i7-870 $290 why? but oh ok..
- Cooler Stock Intel cooler $0
- RAM Corsair TW3X4G1333C9A 4GB Kit DDR3/1333 $90
- Optical Drive Silverstone SOD01 Slimline DVD Combo Drive $85
- Hard Drive 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black 7,200rpm $180 GTFO -> $90
- Solid State Drive 120GB Corsair Force F120 $300 lol, but why? NO -> $0
- GPU 1GB Gigabyte GTX N460OC-1G1 $230
- OS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (OEM) $99
- Misc 90-degree SATA data cable and zip ties $4
Ceadderman
December 22, 2010 at 4:41am
WTH?!!!
Okay, I get that Intel is your preferred platform BUT...
I can put together and AMD kit and have a screaming fast ITX form factor Gaming Rig with these components:
LIAN LI PC-Q08B Black Aluminum Mini-ITX Tower - $120
ASUS M4A88T-I Deluxe AM3 AMD 880G HDMI USB 3.0 Mini ITX AMD Motherboard -$125
CORSAIR HX650w PSU - $120
AMD Phenom II X4 925 Deneb - $160
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - $120
Western Digital VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX - $280
ASUS DRW-24B1ST - $17
XFX Radeon HD 5870 2GB - $380
Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit - $100
Total = $1422
Don't need a 90 degree SATA cable cause ASUS includes them. But since the ASUS MoBo only has 3 SATA connections I would go with the 600 GB Velociraptor which is more than enough room for the OS and any game you would play at a LAN Party. The Llian Li Tower has removable HDD bays top and bottom(in this scenario the lower bay) for the Uber monster 5870s' length. Boot speed is lost over function in this system. And 650w should be more than enough to run it all.
And for the money saved you could get a really nice monitor that makes your bros drool. The slim drive was a nice touch but standard Optical drives serve better functionality however. The price is just right as well. And if I want to I could pick up a H70 cooler and mount it to the top 120mm fan mount to offset the heat output from the 5870. And still have room to spare.
Some of us don't have $2k burning a hole in our pockets though. So the Velociraptor can be swapped for a reasonable 64mb Cache TB drive(Hitachi makes a nice one, or Samsung) the 5870 can be swapped out for a 44** series card to Hybrid XFire with the onboard Video as well.
You don't need the latest greatest Intel parts to make a solid gaming rig. In fact there are not many Games or Apps that take advantage of more than 2 or 3 cores so even the CPU can be dialed back and nobody would know the difference unless they had both systems running side by side. DDR5 is great and all but if you want that then swap out to the 5770 slimline card.
ifailatliving
December 21, 2010 at 11:44am
calm down fellas, this website is just trying to sell some products. go elsewhere for information, this here is an adsite
Walnut
December 21, 2010 at 9:40am
Damn you guys build expensive computers. Show us more awesome budget rigs like that $500 Crysis machine a couple years back. Anyone can throw together a $1500 machine-- it's not hard at all to buy high end parts. I'd be much more interested in seeing builds that don't cost so much but still perform well.
Also, your comment form is terrible. It turns off Chrome AND FF spellcheck, right click menus don't work, and it keeps hanging up my browser.
MrPC2010
December 21, 2010 at 7:12am
Why a SSD on a budget PC ? It's not like not having one will affect gaming performance... SSDs are only for enthousiast PCs until they get a LOT cheaper and bigger. As for the HDD, why not a 500gb ? Way cheaper and it's enough for most people use.
500 GB WD CB HDD 7200 RPM, less than 70$ Canadian.
No SSD, -300$
You just saved 410$...
The only reason I would see to get a bigger HDD would be if you want to watch a lot of HD videos/movies but then, you probably want a bluray player...
eday_2010
December 21, 2010 at 7:11am
How About How To Build The Ultimate Small-Form-Factor Video Editing PC? I know a lot of people use their computers for games, but a lot of us also use them for video editing since HD camcorders are becoming more popular. What's the best program to use to edit video and makea Blu-ray? What graphic card will help with editing the most? What kind of hard drive is the best to house the video you are working on? And can it fit into a small form factor case? This is what I want to know!
Ceadderman
December 22, 2010 at 4:54am
I think what he pieced together would serve the function you're asking about. After all he's got an i7-950 in that as well as a GTX460. About the only way you could do better would be to get a dedicated(GDDR5) Workstation Graphics card. And those are not cheap. A mid level WSG card can set you back at least $1000. Not sure that you would want something so small and then have something so wallet taxing in it getting degraded by the heat. Of course you could always go lower range if it's personal editing but you get what you pay for in this area.
nickb64
December 20, 2010 at 7:26pm
It's an 1156 i7, so it can only take advantage of dual channel RAM.
andyk192
December 20, 2010 at 6:03pm
Is it me or does it seem like the person who built this payed a little too much for the parts. For example, the Hard drive, listed as costing $180 is about $90 on newegg. And the SSD is about $240 on newegg. Also the graphics card in this setup should be no more than $200. Thats getting close to $200 that could have been saved. I also wonder if the fact that dual channel memory is being used with an i7 could be bringing down performance.
Danthrax66
December 20, 2010 at 3:36pm
That extra 5 ms isn't going to make any difference in gameplay, it just gives you an excuse for sucking. "It wasn't my fault I'm playing over wireless." QQ
Ceadderman
December 22, 2010 at 5:08am
True Lag can happen and you don't notice it. But I bet if you run dedicated WiFi the only time you notice this lag is when some doosh uses bots. Of course you're going to get owned. You're up against 4+ threads of CPU working in milliseconds what it takes you a second or more to accomplish.
Can you get anymore argumentative though?
frewster
December 20, 2010 at 1:43pm
Why not? It's a nice feature, and it's not like the board doesn't have a gigabit ethernet port anyway. I've played games on wifi for years and haven't noticed lag once.
igoka
December 20, 2010 at 1:28pm
Hmmm ? You have built 1700$ Gaming PC just to get lag from WiFi connection ? Genius !
Ceadderman
December 22, 2010 at 5:03am
My Gaming Rig is 100% WiFi on DSL. I don't notice any lag whatsoever.
Crosshair IV Formula
955 BE MBox(C3) Phenom II
8GB Corsair Dominator (Quad Channel) AMD Kit
XFX 5770 Juniper XT
ASUS PCE-N13 300Mbps 802.11 b/g/n Wireless Adapter.
Now I could use a nicer Wireless Router, but if there is any lag I haven't seen it. I play on Steam quite a lot and my DL times for new games isn't long at all. I'd have to keep track but I don't think that I've had to wait longer than an hour to download a game.
Airheadq
December 20, 2010 at 6:10pm
Have you ever even tried playing games on wifi? If you never tested it then how can you bash it? There is a huge market for gaming laptops and they all have wi-fi in them. I personally play games on wi-fi and with wireless N, its a breeze. I even do wireless LANs since so many have wi-fi.
rawrnomnom
December 20, 2010 at 1:20pm
Why not go with a 6870 for the same price, the performance is a good bit better than the 460 for the same price, and it consumes less power.
nedwards
December 20, 2010 at 2:18pm
The 6850 hadn't come out when this story was written (it originally appeared in the magazine).
dentaku
December 21, 2010 at 6:43am
May I suggest building an audio/music making PC someday.
The computers musicians use are quite different than gaming PCs or even the graphics/video PC Loyd built a while ago. It's not all about sound quality anymore. In fact, that's not important at all when you're like me and you don't actually record anything. Many people make music completely digitally and never actually record audio.
It's all about fast machines with good audio interfaces that give you the least latency possible with nice stable drivers (official 64bit Win7 drivers usually).
Look on any forum that deals with music and computers and it's all about latency and making sure you have no other useless junk running on your computer.
For those who DO record audio on their machines it also helps to have a nice quiet computer of course with big fast drives and lots of inputs and outputs. Lately I've been hearing of people replacing their drives with SSDs because the huge bass in clubs messes with the gforce protection on regular drives.There are companies that sell PCs optimized for music and some even stuff then inside keyboards like Open Labs http://www.openlabs.com/ but most people just build their own.
I don't know if any of the regular MaxPC writers are into this kind of stuff but It would be nice if you could get someone who uses Ableton Live, Reason etc. to build you a 64bit Win7 MUSIC MAKING PC and write an article about it.
