Resell And Rebuild?

[goinundercover]

My old, trusty, worked on PC has had a nice run. I was thinking about selling it and using the money to build a mini itx rig.
Current PC (to sell):
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L Rev. 1.0
CPU: Intel Core2Duo e8600 Wolfdale, OC'd @4.0ghz
CPU Cooler: Hyper 212 + with additional 120mm Fan for a Push/Pull Cooling Configuration
Ram: OCZ Reaper HPC 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
GPU: EVGA GTS 250 (1gb)
5.25": 2x DvD Drives
HDD: WD Green 750GB 5400rpm
PSU: Tuniq 550w 80 Plus Bronze Certified
Case: NZXT Apollo

New Setup:
MOBO: MSI FM2-A75IA-E53 Mini ITX FM2 Motherboard
CPU: AMD A10-6800K 4.1GHz Quad-Core Processor
Ram: Kingston Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
GPU: Sapphire HD 7850 (1GB) <-Using this atm
5.25": Not available on Node 304
HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM
PSU: CoolMax 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case

1. How much of an upgrade is this, really?
2. Worth it IN YOUR OPINION? (no money saved/used)
3. How much of a performance improvement am I looking at if I XFire the APU and 7850?

[Fading Saint]

personally i'd go with one of the new haswell 4th gen i5. Always go intel unless you need to to do hardcore video editing/rendering which would require alot of computing power, for games i would just go with an i5

[goinundercover]

Well, I've planned to order everything from newegg. New setup, including a Ivy i5 3570k, because that a10 6800k is a little bit low on cpu power imho.

MOBO: ASRock H61MV-ITX LGA 1155 Intel H61
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz
Ram: Kingston HyperX Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
GPU: HD 7950 (Will buy later, no $ ;/)
HDD: Western Digital WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB
PSU: COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS-550-PCAR-E3 550W
Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case

Total price shipped, w/o gpu: $529.57. Hopefully this price remains stable or lowers within the next 24 hours :3. Lotta coupons used this weekend xD

[Dick_McSlick]

Well, I've planned to order everything from newegg. New setup, including a Ivy i5 3570k, because that a10 6800k is a little bit low on cpu power imho.

MOBO: ASRock H61MV-ITX LGA 1155 Intel H61
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz
Ram: Kingston HyperX Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
GPU: HD 7950 (Will buy later, no $ ;/)
HDD: Western Digital WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB
PSU: COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS-550-PCAR-E3 550W
Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case

Total price shipped, w/o gpu: $529.57. Hopefully this price remains stable or lowers within the next 24 hours :3. Lotta coupons used this weekend xD

I'd up the power supply up to a 600, maybe a 650. I was sort of confused with psu's, so I got a 700 just to be safe and if I wanted to do any overclocking, I have the ability to do so. Just my 2 cents, but hey, that's a solid build :3

[soulharvester]

500 is actually fine for most builds these days unless you have a ridiculously power-hungry GPU, or are using SLI or Crossfire. Though most people go with 600 or more just to be on the safe side, so not actually an incorrect/bad suggestion.

Just make sure you get a good PSU, and not some cheap IED from china, the one you picked should be fine, Though I'd personally prefer modular (Especially since you're going with a Mini-ITX build lol), and get something with specified to run the 12volt rail at 45 amps as some of the newer GPUs require (though not the 7850).

edit: This PSU is semi-modular and should work for your build.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-po ... ply-cx500m, Pretty good sale at the moment too.

[goinundercover]

If only y'all replied a day earlier. I sold my desktop for a (stupidly amazing) 540 bucks, and here's what I ordered a couple hours ago (I think just a mobo change):

Spoiler

1 x ($219.99) Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turb $219.99
1 x ($124.99) MSI Z77IA-E53 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s U $124.99
1 x ($69.99) Western Digital WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB - OEM $69.99
1 x ($64.99) COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS-550-PCAR-E3 55 $64.99
1 x ($54.99) Kingston HyperX Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 S $54.99
1 x ($54.99) Fractal Design Node 304 FD-CA-NODE-304-BL Black Al $54.99
($-29.00) DISCOUNT FOR PROMOTION CODE$-29.00

Total price was $604 USD. And then, there's 40 bucks in rebate. So it's actually $564.

500 is actually fine for most builds these days unless you have a ridiculously power-hungry GPU, or are using SLI or Crossfire. Though most people go with 600 or more just to be on the safe side, so not actually an incorrect/bad suggestion.

Just make sure you get a good PSU, and not some cheap IED from china, the one you picked should be fine, Though I'd personally prefer modular (Especially since you're going with a Mini-ITX build lol), and get something with specified to run the 12volt rail at 45 amps as some of the newer GPUs require (though not the 7850).

edit: This PSU is semi-modular and should work for your build.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-po ... ply-cx500m, Pretty good sale at the moment too.

Looked at that PSU. Long PSUs in the Node 304 case make longer GPUs a problem. The one you picked is too long and will be a pain in the ass or impossible to add a (future) HD 7950. The CM one is 140mm, and the Corsair is 160mm. I only have 1 HDD, so I can pile up all the wires on top of the psu or something.

And I have a 1gb GTS 250 laying around. Fittin that in for awhile. Should be sufficient for TF2.

[soulharvester]

Ah, yeah. not really all that familiar with Mini ITX builds, gonna be a bit of a challenge with the lack of space, best of luck.

[goinundercover]

I shall write a little build log when the time comes, for all you geeks to read :3.

[soulharvester]

Actually, I'm wondering why you're doing a Mini ITX build, honestly.

The parts seem a little bit cheaper, but that's because the Mobo and Case are a cut-down version of the full thing. Sure, It'll do the job for now, but you're limiting your access and upgradability in the future. Though I suppose that doesn't matter much if you're not planning to upgrade.

[goinundercover]

Actually, I'm wondering why you're doing a Mini ITX build, honestly.

The parts seem a little bit cheaper, but that's because the Mobo and Case are a cut-down version of the full thing. Sure, It'll do the job for now, but you're limiting your access and upgradability in the future. Though I suppose that doesn't matter much if you're not planning to upgrade.

Good question. I could have probably built a full size ATX for cheaper than the ITX, but I had many reasons.

- Needed an upgrade from my C2D's 45nm cores and cpu bottlenecking in games. My previous comp also had a budget mobo with old DDR2 and one PCI-e x16 v2.0 slot. It was getting old, and would soon become useless considering the pace of improving technology.
- My father really hated the size of the full ATX computer I had. It took up too much space.
- It also ran pretty hot, and my father usually sits right behind the computer (Where my outtake fan is). He always complained about the heat and noise of it.
- Smaller form factor for better portability. I sometimes hop over to SpicyCandy's house (or vice versa) and have a mini TF2 fest. My Sandy Bridge Intel HD 3000 Acer laptop really isn't fit for games.
- For upgradability (spoiler added for neatness):

Spoiler

- I don't need an i7 for games, and I don't do much video editing. The i5 fits the need and the budget, and is OCable for a little bit more future-proofing.
- 16GB of ram is rarely used up in today's usage. Only applicable usage I can think of is server hosting. But this is a game/school computer, and all the games I played didn't even pass 4GB of used ram in my old DDR2 system. 8GB should be good enough for the upcoming years.
- Motherboard is pretty good compared to my previous fifty dollar option. Z77 chipset allows for RAM and CPU oc, and has WiFi+BT. Didnt skimp out on this one, really.
- CM 550w PSU is the same wattage as my old Tuniq 550w. I figured if people ran one GTX 670 on a 450 SFX psu, this would be no problem. Not planning any SLI/XFire setup due to budget and mobo limitations.
I think I went over everything. I can always fit in at least 1 more HDD and another SSD if I really wanted to up my storage/boot. Mini-PCIe / m-SATA slot is also available if I want to do anything with that.

I hope my thinking is correct. I was looking for a budget, cool running, gaming rig that can handle some schoolwork also. My father and a buddy of mine kept telling me "NO AMD", and I ended up with a emptier wallet and an i5. I'll be going off to college soon, and portability is a plus. I don't really see ITX lacking anything much besides SLI/Crossfire(don't care for), and maybe ram slots. Kiinda rambled a bit, but I hope this answers your question.