Is this a good mini-ITX build?

Erik132

Beta member
Messages
3
Location
Norway
Hello, first time writer, long time reader here. :) Currently I am using a "gaming" laptop Alienware m11Xr2 and I must say it is pretty bad and I need a new rig. I go to a weekly lan party with my friends so I need a portable gaming rig, I was thinking about buying Lenovo y510p with 750m SLI, but my mind changed when I saw a couple of mini-ITX builds that have full sized GPUs, long story short after surfing the web in and out this is the rig that I came up with, any suggestions how to improve it by not making it more expensive or is it good? :rolleyes:

I am going to put in a 512GB SSD, but I dont have the money now :)

BitFenix Prodigy Black
Intel Core i5-4570
Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 - 1TB
GIGABYTE GA-Z87N-WIFI 1
Corsair 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Vengeance
Corsair Cooling Hydro H60
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX650 V2
MSI GeForce GTX 770 Twin Frozr - 4GB
 
Yep, looks like quite a good build. It should be noted that while the bitfenix prodigy is a very well laid out case, the build quality is terrible. My friend used one for an ITX build, and I'm scared to touch it because it's so flimsy. Those handles flex like crazy if you actually try to pick the thing up. I doubt they'd actually break unless your pc was especially heavy or you jerked it around hard, but I'd rather not be paranoid about an expensive gaming rig being dropped. At least the other handles would give it plenty of shock absorbtion if that did happen.

Just figured I should warn you, since nobody seems to mention that in reviews. Overall, it's really not bad, and there aren't a lot of other options for portable, high end ITX builds.
 
Last edited:
Thanks a lot! I looked into other mini-ITX cases like the cooler master 120 elite, the problem is with most small cases that a solid 650W PSU won't fit in, and it does in the BitFenix one, but I'll look into it some more cases :)
 
Using a full sized PSU, video card, water cooling, and you're defeating the purpose of a small mother board. To have a compact system. Besides did you know most ITX pci-e x16 slots run in x4 mode? Self defeating...
 
Using a full sized PSU, video card, water cooling, and you're defeating the purpose of a small mother board. To have a compact system. Besides did you know most ITX pci-e x16 slots run in x4 mode? Self defeating...

It's still significantly smaller than a mini atx build, and you end up with a much better case layout. Also, it really isn't fair to make that generalization just based on form factor. The number of pci express lanes is usually based off what the chipset is capable of. ITX is becoming increasingly popular for enthusiast-level builds, so there are a lot of well specced boards out there now. I actually looked up the spec page for the one mentioned in the op:

1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16
(The PCIEX16 slot conforms to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)
 
Last edited:
I can't fit in a full sized mobo in the BitFenix Prodigy or similar size case, atleast I dont think I can. Also I wasn't really aiming for a mini-ITX mobo, it's more about keeping the case small, but having the computer be able to handle demanding games.
 
Back
Top Bottom