Spec me a small desktop

[The Halk]

I have a spare 7700K. I'll buy a samsung 960 m2 for it.

Other than that nothing else. It's for my elderly father as his tatty old dell is well overdue a replacement.

I'd like it to be as small as possible and I've never done anything small so I've not the faintest idea of the right components.

I'd like it to have 16GB of RAM and it'll be an m2 drive so whatever is chosen will need to have a slot for it.

If a discrete graphics card can be added without increasing the size of the case then great. He'll just be browsing the web, installing any spyware he comes across and sneakily looking at porn thinking nobody knows. Browsing youtube, etc etc.

It'd be great if it was (I don't know the name of the form factor) those flat cases that dell are keen on. A mini tower is probably out of the question.

Just something small, and I'd like to spend as little as possible since no matter what it is with the m2, 16GB of ram and the 7700K it'll fly!

Thank you!

 

[mickyflinn]

Use the intergrated gpu, do you need a cpu cooler ? need more storrage etc.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Gigabyte GA-B250N-Phoenix WIFI Intel B250 (Socket 1151) DDR4 Mini ITX Motherboard= £109.99
• 1 x EVGA 450BT 450W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply= £37.99
• 1 x Team Group Elite 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C16 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (TPKD416GM2400HC16D= £119.99
• 1 x CoolerMaster Elite 110 Armour Edition Mini-ITX Cube Case - Black= £32.99

Total: £312.06 (includes shipping: £11.10)
​

 

[tamzzy]

Why not get a cheap workstation pc from the bay for £100-150? Much cheaper no? I very much doubt that a 7700k is required for such usage described

 

[The Halk]

I'd like this to be as fast as possible for him. Will skip the GPU. The 7700K I have lying around here and it's been lying around for months so it's a good way of getting rid of it.

Will that PSU fit in that case? I thought I'd need some kind of very small one. And yes there will need to be a CPU cooler. No storage needed, I'm making him use the cloud so he can't lose things.

 

[tamzzy]

The 7700K I have lying around here and it's been lying around for months so it's a good way of getting rid of it.

sell it on MM? lol, and then buy a cheap quad core system on MM too? i'm sure £450 would give a very nice 2nd hand build. i question the need to buy new, given the anticipated light usage

 

[tamzzy]

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Aerocool CS101 Micro ATX Case - Black= £26.99
• 1 x Silverstone Strider SST-ST30SF V2.0 SFX Series - 300 Watt '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply= £48.95
• 1 x MSI B250M-Pro VH Intel B250 (Socket 1151) DDR4 Micro-ATX Motherboard= £54.95
• 1 x Kingston Fury White 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C15 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (HX424C15FW2K2/16)= £169.99
• 1 x Noctua NH-L9x65 Low Profile Performance CPU Cooler= £44.99

Total: £358.17 (includes shipping: £12.30)
​

case is oos at ocuk currently but can be found elsewhere
case uses low profile pci-e cards, so if needed could lump in a gt1030 for gpu prowess if required

 

[The Halk]

That looks the job - case is ideal, he can lay it flat and sit the printer on top of it, or stick it on the floor. Memory is steep. I think I'll cheap out and get a single 8GB stick and I can add another if he struggles - I didn't realise 16GB of DDR4 was as expensive. I'll possibly change the motherboard for one of the other near identical ones with a different video out configuration - I need to work out what we're doing with that. I'll add an 960 EVO 250GB. And maybe a 1030.... although having looked at it integrated CPU graphics aren't anything like as bad as I thought so not right away.

Thanks!

 

[mickyflinn]

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Aerocool CS101 Micro ATX Case - Black= £26.99
• 1 x Silverstone Strider SST-ST30SF V2.0 SFX Series - 300 Watt '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply= £48.95
• 1 x MSI B250M-Pro VH Intel B250 (Socket 1151) DDR4 Micro-ATX Motherboard= £54.95
• 1 x Kingston Fury White 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C15 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (HX424C15FW2K2/16)= £169.99
• 1 x Noctua NH-L9x65 Low Profile Performance CPU Cooler= £44.99

Total: £358.17 (includes shipping: £12.30)
​

Dont bother with the 1030 no point really for what hes doing igpu will do fine, the ram i specced was in stock at the time which was a shame . Not sure you need such an expensive cpu cooler also case is out of stock.

 

[tamzzy]

Dont bother with the 1030 no point really for what hes doing igpu will do fine

yeah, hence not specced igpu is more than sufficient

the ram i specced was in stock at the time which was a shame

£120 for that - must be a misprice by ocuk lol

Not sure you need such an expensive cpu cooler

op needs a cooler, guess he can get a cheaper one, but it's gonna get noisy, being in a small case

also case is out of stock

case is oos at ocuk currently but can be found elsewhere

i know

 

[The Halk]

Yeah the GPU is already dropped. The RAM, m.2 and the CPU are what're going to cost me. Since I already have the CPU I can't be bothered selling it and buying a new one, so I'll use it. The m.2 does make things faster (he'll probably not notice the benefit) but there's no real saving by dropping to just an SSD.

The cooler I'm wondering if there's anything bigger that might go in that case. I'd like to avoid it being noisy if at all possible.

 

[tamzzy]

The m.2 does make things faster (he'll probably not notice the benefit) but there's no real saving by dropping to just an SSD.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Crucial MX300 275GB SSD SATA 6Gbps 3D Nand 7mm Solid State Drive (CT275MX300SSD1)= £85.99
• 1 x Samsung PM961 Polaris 256GB M.2-2280 PCI-e 3.0 x 4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £98.99
• 1 x Samsung 960 EVO Polaris 250GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £109.99

Total: £303.67 (includes shipping: £8.70)​

​

slight price difference, the pm961 is basically the oem version of the 960evo (2 years warranty though on the pm961)

The cooler I'm wondering if there's anything bigger that might go in that case. I'd like to avoid it being noisy if at all possible.

the case fits 80mm coolers on the spec sheet
My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Cryorig C1 Top Flow CPU Heatsink with 140mm Fan - White Frame= £64.99

Total: £73.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)​

​

this may fit, but i wouldnt want to chance it and spec something that may not fit

 

[The Halk]

Yeah, I'd sooner not save the tenner and just go for an m.2

I'll grab that cooler I think, try to get the PC completely quiet if possible....

 

[The Halk]

I've now put the order in. Thank you for your help folks.

The case is out of stock so I'll get it elsewhere and it'll arrive a few days later, which means i'll be able to replace the cooler if it turns out it won't fit on the motherboard around the ram etc.

 

[tamzzy]

Nice, tell us how the build goes