New PC

[Kafein]

Isnt that significantly more expensive

It's usually free, or cheap. A great option if you want a good PC but are not confident about building it. Of course it's like dating, if you never try you will never get confident. Did I just make an analogy between building a PC and dating? I'm amazing!

Custom built PCs are also tested at least a little bit so you won't get completely broken parts. Furthermore by definition this option means you can't fuck up and choose incompatible parts.

The advantage of building it yourself is mainly that you know how to improve it later, one part at a time. That's how most of the PCMR has what they call "frankenputers".

[Mr_Oujamaflip]

Build your own. It'll be a better choice.

[Casimir]

Thoughts?

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790 (3.6GHz) 8MB Cache
Case
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Case (White)
Motherboard
ASUS® MAXIMUS VII IMPACT: Mini-ITX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, WIFI
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960 - DVI, HDMI, 3 DP - 3D Vision Ready
Free Item
FREE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT Game with Select GTX 9 Series GPUs!
1st Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
Corsair H55 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler

[Christo]

Mini-ITX

why

[Casimir]

Mobility, I am going to be moving alot and have limited space

[Senni__Ti]

Thoughts?

Too much nope.

Where are you getting it from?
If your are building it, use pcpartpicker.

list of things:
- Overkill on the motherboard compared to the other components, especially the CPU.
- 4790 doesn't overclock, motherboard chosen is designed to OC.
- Nondescript kingston RAM (probably high latency)
- Kingston SSDs are cheap and nasty, Samsung 850 EVOs are much better (slightly more expensive), even crucial's BX100 or MX200 are better.
- Nondescript HDD = bad, WD blue/black or Seagate baracuda with a decent cache size (64/32mb) is what to aim for.
- Super low end PSU, doesn't match the budget at all.
- Watercooler not necessary for a non-OCable CPU.
- Nondescript GTX 960, generally you want a decent aftermarket cooler, ASUS/MSI/EVGA.
- 4GB VRAM, on the 960 you won't notice the difference between the 2GB version. (Low memory bandwidth, 1080p card, 2gb+ is generally more useful for higher resolutions).

Also that case isn't that small, you can go smaller.

Your build with some small alterations (nothing huge, core is the same):
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/Rh4XBm
£968.05

Cheaper, should be just the same in performance (i5, 2GB VRAM):
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/7QTvFT
£829.92    

Alternative super powered, in a tiny form factor (970, i5):
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/4GWMxr
£899.92    

You can pick and mix between them, partpicker will let you know of any compatibility errors.
I didn't choose any AMD GPUs due to heat output + tiny cases = bad idea.
Though they are certainly possible. (you'd want a back blower style cooler)

Aria PC seem to be doing a sale on 250GB Samsung 850 EVOs, at £64 it's a steal. (usually 80ish)

[Casimir]

Too much nope.

Where are you getting it from?
If your are building it, use pcpartpicker.

list of things:
- Overkill on the motherboard compared to the other components, especially the CPU.
- 4790 doesn't overclock, motherboard chosen is designed to OC.
- Nondescript kingston RAM (probably high latency)
- Kingston SSDs are cheap and nasty, Samsung 850 EVOs are much better (slightly more expensive), even crucial's BX100 or MX200 are better.
- Nondescript HDD = bad, WD blue/black or Seagate baracuda with a decent cache size (64/32mb) is what to aim for.
- Super low end PSU, doesn't match the budget at all.
- Watercooler not necessary for a non-OCable CPU.
- Nondescript GTX 960, generally you want a decent aftermarket cooler, ASUS/MSI/EVGA.
- 4GB VRAM, on the 960 you won't notice the difference between the 2GB version. (Low memory bandwidth, 1080p card, 2gb+ is generally more useful for higher resolutions).

Also that case isn't that small, you can go smaller.

Your build with some small alterations (nothing huge, core is the same):
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/Rh4XBm
£968.05

Cheaper, should be just the same in performance (i5, 2GB VRAM):
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/7QTvFT
£829.92    

Alternative super powered, in a tiny form factor (970, i5):
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/4GWMxr
£899.92    

You can pick and mix between them, partpicker will let you know of any compatibility errors.
I didn't choose any AMD GPUs due to heat output + tiny cases = bad idea.
Though they are certainly possible. (you'd want a back blower style cooler)

Aria PC seem to be doing a sale on 250GB Samsung 850 EVOs, at £64 it's a steal. (usually 80ish)

Nice cheers for the feedback

[Casimir]

Was looking at this as it's a discounted pre-built. Any idea on the difficulty building in a mini case?

[Nightmare798]

Thoughts?

This thing could practically tear down mountains with its raw performance. Might also consider purchasing vishera-FX 6k series instead of i7. 6 core processors can weight themselves in gold lately, and gta 5 already takes full advantage of eight core processors. But i7 also seems to be pretty reassuring choice.

Its a golden rig if you can fit that in 1000 euros, but dont expect it, considering he is czech. The prices here are awfully steep, especially for pc hardware.

[Mr_Oujamaflip]

Was looking at this as it's a discounted pre-built. Any idea on the difficulty building in a mini case?

Depends how upgradable you want. mITX is a problem cos you can usually only use the small profile graphics cards which are worse. Mine is a mATX which is like medium size. I used a MSI z97 gaming 5 mobo which has 4 ram slots and 2 pce slots so I can add in a second graphics card or more ram without any issues and it's still half the size of my old PC. Only issue then is the graphics cards like the MSI 970 or the ASUS Strix 970 didn't fit as they were too wide so I was stuck with EVGA (which is better than expected, fortunately).

In terms of putting it together my case was really easy to take apart and the cabling has not been an issue at all (except the USB3 cable is a bit crap, keeps unplugging from the motherboard)

Otherwise been pretty happy with it.

[Senni__Ti]

Was looking at this as it's a discounted pre-built. Any idea on the difficulty building in a mini case?

How much of a discount? (Might be worth it if it's a deal)

It's not that difficult, pretty similar to building in a normal case, just requires better planning of parts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG-GEXQAs44

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txMj_WYLzPA

Depends how upgradable you want. mITX is a problem cos you can usually only use the small profile graphics cards which are worse. Mine is a mATX which is like medium size. I used a MSI z97 gaming 5 mobo which has 4 ram slots and 2 pce slots so I can add in a second graphics card or more ram without any issues and it's still half the size of my old PC. Only issue then is the graphics cards like the MSI 970 or the ASUS Strix 970 didn't fit as they were too wide so I was stuck with EVGA (which is better than expected, fortunately).

In terms of putting it together my case was really easy to take apart and the cabling has not been an issue at all (except the USB3 cable is a bit crap, keeps unplugging from the motherboard)

Otherwise been pretty happy with it.

The cases selected can support full sized graphics cards (300mm roughly) (motherboards don't restrict GPU length)
He's right about ITX, you are pretty screwed in the future upgrading wise. (only 2 RAM slots, max 16GB and 1 GPU)
The bitfenix case is an odd one, it mounts the motherboard horizontally, which is why it's still a biggish case. (and why it's mITX)

How small do you want/need it to be?

[Mr_Oujamaflip]

That wasn't the issue, it was height. The pipes on the side of the MSI and the ASUS were pressing up against the casing so it couldn't closed properly. Turns out a lot of smaller cases don't advertise the height of graphics cards supported and it took a while before I found anywhere that did.

[Casimir]

How much of a discount? (Might be worth it if it's a deal)

It's not that difficult, pretty similar to building in a normal case, just requires better planning of parts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG-GEXQAs44

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txMj_WYLzPA

The cases selected can support full sized graphics cards (300mm roughly) (motherboards don't restrict GPU length)
He's right about ITX, you are pretty screwed in the future upgrading wise. (only 2 RAM slots, max 16GB and 1 GPU)
The bitfenix case is an odd one, it mounts the motherboard horizontally, which is why it's still a biggish case. (and why it's mITX)

How small do you want/need it to be?

Yeah the discount wasn't that great looking at the cost of it on price picker, guess it came with an OS and some peripherals as well but doesn't really make up for the added cost.

The size constraints aren't set i was just looking for something that is easily portable for taking it to lan parties / moving room to room daily / taking as hand luggage on a flight (bad past experience with baggage handlers).

I haven't built a pc before so I aint sure starting witha mini case would be the best idea, but the saving is making me consider it! 

[Senni__Ti]

Won't you need to move the monitor aswell?
(not forgetting keyboard/mouse)

Might be worth considering a laptop if you move around a lot.

[Casimir]

Yeah but i already have a nice monitor which is pretty lightweight, would also just plug it in via hdmi to a tv.

I have 2 gaming laptops both of which have developed problems in under 2 years, either heating problems, psu faults or hard drive failure.  I just am not confident is laptop tech and repairing them is much more of a hassle.