Itty Bitty Build - critique please

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CMadki4

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I'm going to piece together a mini PC from stuff I have and will acquire over the next week or so. I'm going for compact here, not all out performance, which will be painfully obvious by the hardware selection. Let me know what you think. Thanks!

My questions arise in regards to the power supply and the actual capabilities of the final machine.


  1. According to an online power supply calculator I'm looking for a minimum of 111W power supply, but 160W+ is recommended. This points me to mini-box.com and their picoPSU-160-XT. That pretty much squares that way unless you all have anything to add on that front. Can I get away with less? 120W or 150W perhaps?
  2. The other thing I'm wondering is how capable will this actually be at running the games I list? I don't need all the eye candy turn on/up. Smooth frame rates are more important. Playing at 1080p would be ideal but realize I'm limited. And I only play games periodically anymore. I don't need the latest and great on this particular machine. Just enough to enjoy a few games here and there.
  3. Would it be worth while in regards to the games to switch from the i3 2100T to something like an i5 2400S?


1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

  • MS Office 2013, periodic gaming (Fallout 1/2, DoW, Skyrim, Portal 1/2, etc.), web browsing
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

  • In addition to existing hardware: $80
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

  • Aurora, Indiana
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

  • Power supply (picoPSU)
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

  • i5 xxxx? Just (sold my i3 2100T)
  • ASRock H67 Mini ITX USB3.0
  • Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB DDR3
  • Kingston HyperX 120GB SSD
  • HIS HD 7750 low profile
  • Mini aluminum case (scratch built case)
6) Will you be overclocking?

  • No.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?

  • 1920 x 1080, ASUS V242H 24" (23.6")
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

  • Buying now, building later
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.

  • Already have the motherboard
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

  • Win7 64bit w/ Win8 upgrade DVD
 
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Since that graphics card has no supplementary power connectors, it'll be able to draw a maximum of 75W (from the PCI-e slot).
Your CPU had a TDP of 35W, and you don't have much else, so 160W should be alright.

I can't really speak with any confidence about those Pico-PSUs because I've never used one or heard much about how well they perform, but assuming that they are half decent quality then I would say you'll be OK.
Alternatively, there are a few others that offer 200W:
http://www.mini-box.com/PW-200M-DC-DC-power-supply
http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/it.A/id.301/.f
Again, I can't vouch for them.

Everything else looks OK. If you wanted a little more performance you might be able to up the CPU to something like an i3-3240T and still be at 35W. Check Ivy Bridge compatibility for your motherboard.
If you wanted more on the graphics front a 7750 might be a nice idea.
 
I like the 200W DC-DC power supply you linked, but unfortunately it is OOS. And even it was in stock the total sum of the DC-DC PSU and AC-DC PSU required to make a complete kit would be about $100! Ouch. Painful for such a little unit.

I was actually looking at that card before I had a member here offer me the HD6670 for cheap. Pardon the Newegg link, but wanted to show a side-by-side comparison of the HD7750 low profile cards available and ask: why such variation in price for essentially the same card? Cooling seems to be the biggest difference.

Regardless, based what I've been reading the HD6670 would be completely sufficient for what I want to do. Hopefully. Like I said, I don't game much anymore these days.
 
Just thought I'd update that the machine in question is built and running (currently on test bench). Works like a champ. I'll need to get a kill-a-watt meter and see what the actual power draws are at idle/load.
 
When you do receive the M3A2 Mini, I would be interested in reading an update with your build pics, temperatures, general thoughts, etc.
 
PTNL said:
When you do receive the M3A2 Mini, I would be interested in reading an update with your build pics, temperatures, general thoughts, etc.
Click to expand...
I won't "receive" it per se. I'll have to machine it first ;) But I've got a long list of M3A2 Betas to make first. My M3A2 Mini will be slightly different than the "production" model since I'm trying to use scrap pieces of aluminum from some other projects.
 
Just a quick update, sorry for the crappy phone pics. I'll take better ones later and post in the case mod gallery with a completed worklog (abridged).

I finished making the case. Just need to wrangle the cables. Small case, not really extra room for even small bunches of cables.

Temps are fair. I'm going to add a 140mm fan on the side panel. I'll experiment with intake/exhaust. With how the GPU is tucked in there I'm actually thing exhaust will be the most beneficial.


 
How well might my sig rig handle Gamecube games (Dolphin)? I'll be tinkering with that tonight if I can find the time.
 
Danny Bui said:
Looking good!
Click to expand...
Thank you!

How about the whole Gamecube/Dolphin thing? Are you able to comment on that?

I know it is heavily CPU dependent, so I've been browsing possible i5 replacement. A 3350S or 3550S perhaps. Think I would see any significant gains with such an upgrade?
 
Danny Bui said:
Can't comment since I don't ____ emulators.
Click to expand...
Don't what emulators? Use? Condone? ;)

How about all around performance increase in gaming and Solidworks? If I can snag one for sub $150 and sell the i3 2100T for a few, would that be a venture worth pursuing?
 
The i5 3550S I was watching is no longer available. However, upon some light interwebs reading I found this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i5-3570-low-power,3204.html
Despite being 77W rather than 65W, the i5 3570K is more efficient in some cases. Am I interpreting this incorrectly?
idle%20power.png

load%20power.png

If that's the case, would it not make more sense to go with the i5 3570K rather than the i5 3550S?

Keep in my mind my system specs and power supply limitations.

System Specs:

  • i5 3550S? i5 3570K? ....?
  • ASRock H67M-ITX
  • HyperX 4GB DDR3 (2x2GB)
  • HyperX 120GB SSD
  • 160XT-picoPSU w/ 192W brick
  • HD7750 1GB low profile
 
Anyone? I've got my eye on several used CPUs so time is of the essence. ;)
 
As long as you don't try to overclock the 3570k much, I think you'd be fine (going by those chart numbers)
 
I generally don't trust anything by Tom's Hardware unless it's been back up by 2 or more credible sources.

However, in general, yes you might see roughly the same power usage with a higher clocked CPU since the higher clocked CPU can finish the task faster and therefore go back to idle speeds faster. Whereas a lower clocked CPU may take up so much time doing a task that it negates all of the power savings.
 
DraginDime said:
As long as you don't try to overclock the 3570k much, I think you'd be fine (going by those chart numbers)
Click to expand...

Danny Bui said:
I generally don't trust anything by Tom's Hardware unless it's been back up by 2 or more credible sources.

However, in general, yes you might see roughly the same power usage with a higher clocked CPU since the higher clocked CPU can finish the task faster and therefore go back to idle speeds faster. Whereas a lower clocked CPU may take up so much time doing a task that it negates all of the power savings.
Click to expand...
I guess I'm looking for the warm fuzzy feeling of "this little 160W picoPSU will power an i5 3570K + HD7750 with no problems at all. Plus, you're handsome."

Can I start feeling warm and fuzzy or are the power demands of such a system going to be a little too close for comfort for the 160W picoPSU?
 
Update: I just went with the i3 3220. Should have enough *umphf* to handle most GC games.
 
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