Description

I've been looking forward to posting my build here. Had a lot of fun building my first PC. It was supposed to be a cheap iGPU AMD PC.

I first ordered an AMD 6600k but I wasn't happy with the graphics performance and wanted a bit more humph. Sent it back, got a 860k to replace it and got a GTX 750 TI. Really good GPU and I was impressed but again just didn't feel like it was enough. Settled in the end for a R9 285 that cost me 120£ which seems like a good compromise between money and power. Just wish it was 3 or 4GB of VRAM instead of the very-soon-to-be-below-average 2GB.

Same thing happened with the hard drive I had, a 5200rpm. Pretty slow to be honest, sent it back and ended up getting a 240GB OCZ ARC 100 for 59£. I know it's got pretty average scores but oh my god does it make a difference, i'm not going back to a normal hard drive ever again.

Got the 500W power supply in case I get a more powerful GPU in the future. Just wish it was a modular or semi modular because a lot of the cables aren't used but that would've made the build more expensive.

The Case it absolutely brilliant, I've got no complaints in terms of cable management and ease of installation, all the sides pop off and make it really easily. Only minor annoyances are the plastic lid which has a few scratches already and one of the side panels which bends inwards when pressed but doesn't vibrate or make a noise when the computer is on.

I liked the Motherboard but the BIOS is pretty basic without many extras.. One thing which turned out to be the most annoying thing of the whole build - The PCI slot for the graphics card is really close to the CPU and this is well documented online but I thought It wouldn't be much of a deal. I was so wrong. The stock CPU cooler was noisy so I wanted to get an aftermarket one. This was so hard because any of the decent ones would cover the PCI slot. Pcpartpicker wasn't much use either because I checked dozens of coolers that were supposedly "compatible" and looked in the datasheets for dimensions and they weren't. Finally found a good one, the Cooler Master Hyper 103 and I can confirm that it fits with just about enough space to get the graphics card in there and it cools my CPU to 50 degrees Celsius at full load with the fan not even spinning at 100%.

I haven't overclocked anything yet but i'll play around with it soon.

In total my build cost no more than 450£

CPU temps - Prime95 - 50 degrees Celsius

GPU temps - Geeks3D FurMark - 60 seconds test >> 60 degrees Celsius / 120 seconds test >> 70 degrees Celsius

I think that wraps it up, it was a lot of fun building this and I can't wait for my next one. Feel free to comment, constructive criticism is welcome!

P.S. Banana for scale.

Part Reviews

CPU

AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor

Cheap quad core processor for the latest FM2 chipset. A good buy right now and leaves the possibility of replacing it in the future with a better FM2 processor when AMD releases one.

CPU Cooler

Cooler Master Hyper 103 43.1 CFM CPU Cooler

Cools the CPU to 50 degrees Celsius at max load and it's relatively cheap. Plus it fits this annoying motherboard without covering the PCI slot.

Motherboard

MSI A88XI AC Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard

BIOS is simple, not much extra functionality. Latest FM2 chipset so it allows for further upgradability. Major annoyance is how close the PCI slot is to the CPU which makes it hard to pick an aftermarket cooler. Other than that it's a good mobo.

Memory

Kingston HyperX Fury Red 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-1866 Memory

It's RAM, it does the job.

Storage

OCZ ARC 100 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

Looking just at the SSD's performance and the slightly less capacity I'd give it a 3 star. I get about 400MB's READ and 380MB's WRITE but it gets an extra star for the price.

Video Card

Sapphire Radeon R9 285 2 GB Dual-X Video Card

Great graphics card, run battlefield 4 with everything on Ultra. Also everything to max in Cities Skylines but that is easy. It struggles a bit with Total War Attila at Medium to High settings but apparently it is either the poor optimization of the game or the AMD driver is not up to snuff yet. I'll update this info in the future.

Case

Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Desktop Case

Great case. If you wanna get an Mini ITX don't even think twice.

Power Supply

EVGA 500 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply

Does the job and allows upgradability.

Case Fan

Cooler Master R4-BC8R-18FB-R1 21.7 CFM 80 mm Fan

I was gonna get a fan without lights but since the case had a clear top i decided to try it out because the fan is cheap anyway. Still don't know if i'm gonna keep it because the blue light does annoy me a bit, especially at night. Other than that, the fan does the job.

Comments

  • 56 months ago
  • 10 points

banana for scale is best object for scale

  • 56 months ago
  • 4 points

Gotta admit, I had a chuckle when I saw it.

  • 56 months ago
  • 3 points

Brilliant use of budget, +1 for the banana lol

  • 56 months ago
  • 1 point

Thanks man, it took a bit of time and patience to get the parts right but it was all worth it. Had a look at your builds, they look really really good. In terms of looks my favourite is the Bowser's Red Box, was wondering why you didn't put an SSD and graphics card in it?

  • 56 months ago
  • 1 point

Aww thanks for the compliments! Bowser's Build was a special scenario; it was strctly a streaming box and needed to be small/travel capable, hence the Corair 380T, mITX mobo and 4790k CPU. He said onboard graphics would be enough for what he was doing and that he would upgrade to a discrete graphics card later when he saved up some more money. An SSD wasn't a necessity but in retrospect it probably would have been a good thing to squeeze into the budget, I think SSD's are a must for most custom builds these days lol

  • 56 months ago
  • 1 point

could you stream and record CoD and CS:GO??

  • 56 months ago
  • 1 point

Personally I don't have CS:GO but I don't see why it wouldn't. Online the benchmarks point to 160-200 fps average with everything on ultra which would leave plenty of room for streaming and recording while playing.

  • 56 months ago
  • 1 point

Thank you!!

  • 13 months ago
  • 1 point

Ryzen 7 1700 (or 1600 if you broke), are 580 8gb (or 570 4 if you broke), 8 gbs of DDR4-3000 or more memeory (1 stick), and a cooler master elite 110 and a ATX psu at least 500 watsa from Coolermaster, EVGA, and Seasonic. And a 500 gigabyte ssd m.2 from Westenr Digital

  • 56 months ago
  • 1 point

Very good looking build! How are your frames in games? And that SSD looks radical for price.

  • 56 months ago
  • 1 point

I've only got a few games. It plays battlefield at 1080p on ultra no problem. Plays insurgency and cities skylines ultra as well. It doesn't perform so well with Total war attila but i think it's either poor optimization of the game or the drivers aren't good yet. The SSD does a great job for the price.

  • 56 months ago
  • 1 point

Nice, though don't be too concerned with R9 285. It may be only 2GB but the colour compression really does work. I tested this card in 1440p on Titanfall and its blows away it GTX 960 competition in pure performance, even R9 280 left trailing which has 3GB onboard.

Overall, very nice. And nice to see someone use the correct AMD processor with Discrete Graphics, too many people buying A10 7700K or A10 7850K and then installing a pointless graphics card.

Good choice of parts especially case, I have done an Intel G3258 with R9 270X and an FM2+ A8 APU dual Graphics in same case, loads of room to work in. And 103 is a decent little performer for a tiny cooler.

Also OCZ SSD is not too bad, performance wise you wouldn't know difference between that any other really on day to day use. Shiedplus Warranty is pretty decent for 3 years.

Great job on your first PC +1

  • 55 months ago
  • 1 point

Was the MSI motherboard compatible with the 860K out of the box?

  • 55 months ago
  • 1 point

very nice, i would like to see benchmarks of the 860k + 285 combo

  • 54 months ago
  • 1 point

Greetings. First of all, I like your build. I would like to know about your experience with the MSI a88xi mobo. I made a Kaveri build a while ago, but recently I got my hands on a AIO cooler, so I decided to overclock my unit. So disappointed about the lack of VID control on the motherboard BIOS. I feel that the default Voltage is already too high, and by upping the Multiplier, I get really crazy numbers. Cannot keep a stable overclock not even at 4.0 gzh (no turbo, all the saving features disabled) The CPU throttles on PRIME after a while, and by Using AMD overdrive to undervolt just little bit, I start to get frreze screen crashes. How about you? Thank you in advance

  • 46 months ago
  • 1 point

im guessing you are a 9gager. but you forgot to put the potato at the end..!

  • 45 months ago
  • 1 point

Nice, I got the same case wrapped in carbon fiber vinyl !