Building a light gaming HTPC around this motherboard

[guidinggod]

What I'll be using it for:

- Light gaming (Counterstrike GO and FIFA 2015 & some older titles)
- As an HTPC to run my library of ripped BLURAY movies, music etc
- Some video encoding and daily general use.
- It will be connected to an A/V Receiver via hdmi.

Ideally, I'm hoping the games I mentioned along with HTPC and encoding stuff can be handled by onboard graphics and I won't need a video card at all.


What I have:

- ASROCK H97M-Pro4 motherboard
- Core i5-4460 cpu
- external bluray drive
- Win 7 OS
- Sony 1080p LED TV to serve as monitor.

What I need: PSU, RAM, CASE, SSD, HDD, Wireless KB/Mouse, Video Card (if absolutely necessary)

Where: USA

When: Looking to build now.

Preferences: Only pref. is the case be small, maybe cubed (not looking for a traditional upright tower pc type enclosure).

Overclocking: No

Budget: $350 w/out vid card (if necessary then $450 with vid card)

Put this together, so far a little over budget.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/VLnXhM

Any thoughts appreciated

 

[mfenn]

Your picks are good, though the Air 240 isn't *that* small (12"x10" cross section). The Haswell IGP can run both CS:GO and FIFA 2015 acceptably with lowered details, but don't expect superb framerates or to be able to turn everything up.

As price:
- You can save about $8 by picking the RAM up from Newegg.
- You can save $43 AR by grabbing a CX430 for $20 AR from Newegg.

 

[guidinggod]

Your picks are good, though the Air 240 isn't *that* small (12"x10" cross section). The Haswell IGP can run both CS:GO and FIFA 2015 acceptably with lowered details, but don't expect superb framerates or to be able to turn everything up.

As price:
- You can save about $8 by picking the RAM up from Newegg.
- You can save $43 AR by grabbing a CX430 for $20 AR from Newegg.

Damn, that CX430 is a ridiculous price - I'm partial to Seasonic in general but for $20 I don't think I can do better. Down to about $332 with that and the RAM. Thanks!

re the IGP, I'm not looking to max out all the settings, just smooth frame rate at 1080p and low to mid settings. Haswell's 4600 should handle that, yes?

I agree about the case. Like the look of the Node 804 but its not much smaller and is more expensive. I wish I had a mini-itx m/b to start with so could have gone smaller. Will look around some more.

 

[mistersprinkles]

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/mistersprinkles/saved/LypD4D

Case/PSU/GPU/Storage for $392.

I killed the SSD to make this possible, but this machine will be capable of REAL, respectable gaming at 1080P. GTX 570 performance levels.

You don't want to buy an SSD and sacrifice gaming performance in the process. IMO, integrated graphics, even on the best APU, are not ready for any but the most casual of gamers. You want a discrete card. The 750Ti is that card.

 

[Charlie98]

You don't want to buy an SSD and sacrifice gaming performance in the process. IMO, integrated graphics, even on the best APU, are not ready for any but the most casual of gamers. You want a discrete card. The 750Ti is that card.

When I first got my 2500K (HD3000 graphics) I ran Modern Warfare 1 & 2 with it, until I could save the money up for a decent GPU. To my surprise it actually worked pretty well in what are fairly GPU intensive games... certainly not by 'Gamer' standards, but it got me in the door for the 3 months before I got my card.

Weighing the choice between an SSD or GPU, I would take the SSD every time... it's far easier to add a GPU at a later date, assuming the iGPU just didn't live up to the task, than it is swapping in an SSD. Just my .02 worth...

 

[guidinggod]

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/mistersprinkles/saved/LypD4D

Case/PSU/GPU/Storage for $392.

I killed the SSD to make this possible, but this machine will be capable of REAL, respectable gaming at 1080P. GTX 570 performance levels.

You don't want to buy an SSD and sacrifice gaming performance in the process. IMO, integrated graphics, even on the best APU, are not ready for any but the most casual of gamers. You want a discrete card. The 750Ti is that card.

Appreciate the build - problem for me is that I already have an microATX sized m/b (first post) so I was trying to build around that.

I am a casual gamer I guess, not a competitive everyday gamer and as such mostly play the two games mentioned. I looked at their benchmarks and with somewhat lowered settings they have pretty decent framerates on Haswell HD 4600. I'm thinking if I need more firepower or if I expand my game playing in the future I can just pop in a vid card when I have some extra cash.

Another reason (maybe unfounded these days?) is that a vid card might have associated headaches re driver or hdmi issues sometimes?

I think apart from just the games an SSD would be quite beneficial in other everyday usage.

I'm still looking around for a small-ish microatx case other than that Corsair Air 240

 

[Charlie98]

Another reason (maybe unfounded these days?) is that a vid card might have associated headaches re driver or hdmi issues sometimes?

I think apart from just the games an SSD would be quite beneficial in other everyday usage.

I'm still looking around for a small-ish microatx case other than that Corsair Air 240

Mainstream GPU drivers are pretty solid, at least in my experience. I don't have anything cutting edge, however.

Personally, if I'm building a computer... heck, if I'm buying a prebuilt... it's getting an SSD.

What kind of case are you looking for...? Just cubes? Or will a PC tower work?

 

[mfenn]

Weighing the choice between an SSD or GPU, I would take the SSD every time... it's far easier to add a GPU at a later date, assuming the iGPU just didn't live up to the task, than it is swapping in an SSD. Just my .02 worth...

Agree. For a dedicated gaming machine, I might choose differently, but in this case of "HTPC with some gaming on the side", I'd take the IGP.

 

[guidinggod]

Mainstream GPU drivers are pretty solid, at least in my experience. I don't have anything cutting edge, however.

Personally, if I'm building a computer... heck, if I'm buying a prebuilt... it's getting an SSD.

What kind of case are you looking for...? Just cubes? Or will a PC tower work?

No towers. Was warned against them by g/f. Cubes, desktop htpc type cases like Silverstone Grandia (but those are expensive and might be a prob if I do end up adding a vid card later).

Ordered some of the stuff yest, will hopefully finalize the case and order that today too. Thanks for the input.

 

[Sleepingforest]

What's wrong with towers? Obviously, cases designed to be HTPCs are generally less obtrusive, but there are plenty of discreet, quiet, and small towers (particularly mITX but mATX are pretty small as well in comparison to a full tower).

 

[Charlie98]

No towers. Was warned against them by g/f. Cubes, desktop htpc type cases like Silverstone Grandia (but those are expensive and might be a prob if I do end up adding a vid card later).

Don't know why... a box is a box, just changing the shape doesn't make it any less a box... My standby tower suggestion for an HTPC is the Define Mini; at $100 it isn't cheap, but it about as small as you can get a tower, has sound damping, filters, room for anything you would stick in it, and a front door... making it more or less just a black box in the corner or what have you. I like it so much I have another as my desktop PC case.

Yes and no... That Corsair case you have listed is already $80. While the Grandia is nice, there is the Milo series at a lesser price point. It really depends on what you want... and you usually get what you pay for in cases... features and build material. For $100 you get everything you want in the Grandia GD-05... or, for less money, the even bigger (ATX) GD-09.

Spend the money on the case you want... you have to not only build in it, but look at it for the rest of it's service life. It's like buying a car in a color you don't like... eventually you will kick yourself in the butt, all in the name of saving $20?

 

[guidinggod]

You're right about the looking at it part - Like the Fractal Mini but went with the Grandia GD05, it looks sort of like my A/V Receiver. Total came to about $353 for all of it so I'm happy with that.

Thanks for the opinions, excited to build.

 

[Charlie98]

You're right about the looking at it part - Like the Fractal Mini but went with the Grandia GD05, it looks sort of like my A/V Receiver. Total came to about $353 for all of it so I'm happy with that.

Thanks for the opinions, excited to build.

Right on! Let us know how it turns out!