Hey guys, long time no see.
For the past couple of months I've been trying to sort out a laptop. Now I've realised that I won't get what I want for my budget, so here I am! With a bit of a challenge...
The one thing I still need is semi-portability (moving it all a few times a year and taking it on the train), so the only way I can do this feasibly with a desktop is with a Mini PC. Now, I know very little about these pint-sized marvels, so I don't know what is/isn't possible.
Here's what I've got to work with:
-£830 ($1345), absolutely no more, preferably less.
My biggest desire is to play Skyrim at absolute max settings. So Ideally I need -
-A decent GPU - 560 ti would be nice, 570 would be even nicer but I don't think possible.
-A nice fast CPU - was looking at the 2630QM for a laptop, so something similar. I don't know what kind of motherboards are available and searching hasn't helped a lot, so I don't know whether the sockets/CPU are the same as a standard desktop.
-8GB Ram would be hot but so much has changed since I last looked at RAM that I really need some advice.
-Single HDD with room for an SSD in the future.
This is one case that I've found that appears to fit the bill but I'm by no means stuck to it - Lian Li PC-Q08B Frankly if I could find smaller, that'd be even better. But I think I may be tight for space already.
Also I'm in the UK so I can't buy from Newegg, Tiger Direct etc.
I think really, I've been out of the loop for a long time (you can tell by my sig), so I just don't know where to begin. Especially now that I'm after a mini itx. Any help would be really greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
So here's one quick build I threw together with not 100% certainty of compatibility:
Motherboard - Zotac Z68ITX-A-E
CPU - i7-2600K - Maybe I can save a bit here?
GPU - EVGA 560Ti DS SuperClocked
HDD - WD Green, 1TB
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 8GB
PSU - OCZ ZS 550W - If this is overkill this would be a good place to save money I think?
Hs/Fan - Cooler Master Hyper TX3 - I don't think this will fit! Maybe I'm stuck with the stock fan.
Cheapo Akasa AK 455 paste.
Case - Lian Li PCQ08B
So, does this all work or have I made any grave errors? Also, that case is still too large... but I can't seem to find any smaller that will work. Maybe I should take up welding and make my own...
For the past couple of months I've been trying to sort out a laptop. Now I've realised that I won't get what I want for my budget, so here I am! With a bit of a challenge...
The one thing I still need is semi-portability (moving it all a few times a year and taking it on the train), so the only way I can do this feasibly with a desktop is with a Mini PC. Now, I know very little about these pint-sized marvels, so I don't know what is/isn't possible.
Here's what I've got to work with:
-£830 ($1345), absolutely no more, preferably less.
My biggest desire is to play Skyrim at absolute max settings. So Ideally I need -
-A decent GPU - 560 ti would be nice, 570 would be even nicer but I don't think possible.
-A nice fast CPU - was looking at the 2630QM for a laptop, so something similar. I don't know what kind of motherboards are available and searching hasn't helped a lot, so I don't know whether the sockets/CPU are the same as a standard desktop.
-8GB Ram would be hot but so much has changed since I last looked at RAM that I really need some advice.
-Single HDD with room for an SSD in the future.
This is one case that I've found that appears to fit the bill but I'm by no means stuck to it - Lian Li PC-Q08B Frankly if I could find smaller, that'd be even better. But I think I may be tight for space already.
Also I'm in the UK so I can't buy from Newegg, Tiger Direct etc.
I think really, I've been out of the loop for a long time (you can tell by my sig), so I just don't know where to begin. Especially now that I'm after a mini itx. Any help would be really greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
So here's one quick build I threw together with not 100% certainty of compatibility:
Motherboard - Zotac Z68ITX-A-E
CPU - i7-2600K - Maybe I can save a bit here?
GPU - EVGA 560Ti DS SuperClocked
HDD - WD Green, 1TB
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 8GB
PSU - OCZ ZS 550W - If this is overkill this would be a good place to save money I think?
Hs/Fan - Cooler Master Hyper TX3 - I don't think this will fit! Maybe I'm stuck with the stock fan.
Cheapo Akasa AK 455 paste.
Case - Lian Li PCQ08B
So, does this all work or have I made any grave errors? Also, that case is still too large... but I can't seem to find any smaller that will work. Maybe I should take up welding and make my own...