Build Advice Spec Me a Everything (Complete!)

**Edit**

I've changed the thread title as originally I was asking about a case purchase but I suspect more and more questions are going to arise. I didn't want to start a new thread for each one so modified this one.

**End**

Build So Far

• CPU Ryzen 5 2600 (Scan £144.98 + delivery)
  
• MOBO Asrock B450 Gaming-ITX/AC (Amazon £111.59)
  
• RAM Gskill 3200 RipjawsV 16GB (Amazon £107.99)
• SSD Intel 660p M.2 1TB (Overclockers £139.99 + delivery)
  
• HDD
  
• GPU Sapphire RX Vega 56 Pulse 8GB (Overclockers £299.99 + delivery)
  
• CASE Fractal Define Mini C (Scan £69.98)
  
• COOLING Corsair Hydro H60 2018 (Amazon £55.95)
  
• PSU EVGA 650w G3 Gold (Scan £69.98 + delivery)
  
• MONITOR Acer XF270HUA 27" IPS (Ebuyer £409.98)
  
• KEYBOARD Logitech Prodigy G213 (Amazon £35.99)
  
• MOUSE Logitech Prodigy G203 (Amazon £19.99)
  
• SPEAKERS Edifier Prisma 2.1 (Already Own)
  
• OTHER Razer Sphex V2 Mini Mouse Mat (Amazon £7.99)
• OTHER Anker USB3 8-in-1 Card Reader (Amazon £8.99)
• OTHER Noctua NA-SYC2 PWM Fan Splitter (Amazon £5.31)

TOTAL: £1,488.70

I've finally pulled the trigger and started putting together some bits for a Micro-ATX build to replace the iMac. I want to go down the Micro-ATX route as I dont want a hulking great case after having an all-in-one (ideally I'll hide it under the desk by my feet) but would like the option of using a full size graphics card.

Budget for a case is circa £80 but of course any £££s saved here means more to spend elsewhere.

I've seen recommendations for Corsair Spec-M2 and quite like the look of BitFenix stuff. Fractal also seems to come recommended.

Colour black
Don't care about watercooling/overclocking
RGB lighting and windows not a priority
Will fit something like a 1060/1070ti
Nice and compact to tidy away under desk
£80 budget

 

Fractal Design Define Mini C, nothing close to budget can top it.

Just a point of note:
There are precisely zero X470 MATX boards available, meaning you lock yourself into Intel by going MATX (or suffer the drawbacks of heavily cutdown B450 boards).

 

Looks like it ticks all the boxes. Got the non-windowed version from AWD-IT for £68.99 delivered and will possibly get 5% Quidco cashback. Cheers.

Out of curiosity (as I haven't decided on a platform yet) what's the issue with B450 if I went the Ryzen route?

 

Good call @Anfield, I was looking earlier and thought that case might be good but didn't see prices in my quick flick.
Not sure about B450 limitations, but my other online home (for SFF fixes) liked the Asrock B450M Pro 4. I thought it looked well specced IMHO.
Otherwise, there are some good X470 ITX boards if you can live with a single slot.
Equally, my Asus Prime B250M Plus board is well specced for sky/kaby lake non K chips. It has 2 M.2 slots and a decent PCIe arrangement with 16x + 1x + 4x (full length slot) and 4 RAM slots.

 

Well they are usually built to a low price point, so you get things like no Wifi, ALC 892 instead of 1220 audio, Realtek rather than Intel LAN controller etc.

But the big thing is that the pci-e lanes can't be split on B450 boards, the 16 lanes (or 8 in the case of Raven Ridge) going to the top GPU slot will always go there, so the other pci-e slots have to steal their pci-e lanes from the M.2 slot or worse are tied to chipset, basically any pci-e slot other than the first x16 are dead weights.

Yep, ITX selection is much better at the moment for AMD than MATX.

 

I was looking at the B450M Mortar when speccing up a Ryzen.

From what I could see it was the best VRM selection of the bunch and if you have 1 GPU should be no issue. Yeah you can't use the 2nd PCI-e 2.0x16 slot when you use M.2 slot but I don't think it steals from the primary GPU lanes.

Mind you i'm swimming in mud talking about these sort of things.

True about the audio/wifi etc but i think itx are quite a bit more cashmoney.

 

I'm not overly concerned about PCIe lanes as the intention is to run 1x GPU and 1x M.2 but that's a good shout re: wifi wifi and audio. Thing is the cheapest mITX board is double the cheapest mATX board.

 

Like I said, it can't.
With X470 you have the primary slot running at x16 or it gets split x8 and x8 when needed, but with B450 it is always x16 (except Raven Ridge where its always only x8) and the 2nd slot is left to starve (or steal the lanes from M.2).

This ITX one basically has the lot when it comes to B450 boards:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...ocket-am4-mini-itx-motherboard-mb-57h-gi.html

 

Ah right, gotcha.

Sorry dude, mind a bit frazzled from the house buying ups and downs this week, think my mind has gone on strike

 

I like the look of that mITX board for the Ryzen route. I take it there are no issues dropping that into the mATX Define Mini C?

 

It'll be fine.

 

Well it has been a few days and there's no update on the progress of my case order. I contacted the company and there was apparently a stocking error. Reading some online reviews it turns out this isn't uncommon for AWD-IT. Shame. I've been refunded and have now ordered from Scan. Should be delivered tomorrow.

 

I know, I know, but it's the next cheapest place (case is at least a fiver more everywhere else) so I thought I'd risk it. I could get the windowed version for a little less from Amazon but I'd rather have window-less.

Ninja edit -- update from Scan at 11:52. Order picked. Whodathunkit!

 

I'm about ready to pull the trigger on the motherboard now having decided to go the Ryzen route and looking for a B450 board with wi-fi. The Aorus recommended previously looks a good shout but I'm reading reviews complaining about noisy VRMs and high temps. Browsing Overlockers the other obvious choice is an Asrock board. So do I go Gigabyte or Asrock? Both have pretty much the same spec and cost.

Gigabyte B450-I AORUS PRO WIFI
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...ocket-am4-mini-itx-motherboard-mb-57h-gi.html

Asrock B450 Gaming-ITX/AC
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asro...-am4-ddr4-mini-itx-motherboard-mb-16a-ak.html

 

Personally i'd probably go for the Asrock of the 2.

 

Keep in mind that bit-tech uses an AIO resulting in no CPU cooler providing airflow in the VRM area, so complaints about high VRM temps aren't necessarily all that representative.

But honestly the two boards are so borderline identical it doesn't matter too much which one you pick.

 

Flip a coin on the boards and add a 2600, 16GB 3000MHz RAM and a 500GB 970 Evo SSD and you've got a solid set up.

 

I got the Asrock (arrives tomorrow from Amazon).

I haven't got to the CPU and storage conundrums yet but my gut is saying 2600X (or 2600) and Intel 660p M2 1TB (or Crucial P1 1TB. Or a combination of fast 500GB M2 and slower 500GB SATA to separate OS/games on one and photo/video on the other).

 

The ITX board is tiny! I'm half thinking I should have gone ITX on the case too.