Hi folks,

I'm trying to put together a decent gaming PC that fits nicely in the living room. It's my first serious attempt on building my own pc, so if there are some things that I may have overlooked or that are just plain stupid, please tell me :-)
My requirements are:

  • For gaming (HD, no 4k) and occasional netflix streaming
  • I want to put it right next to the tv so it should be as small as possible. I decided to go with the Fractal Node 202 because I like it's simplicity and online reviews are pretty good for it.
  • Also, I'd of course prefer it to be as silent as possible.
  • I don't want to do any overclocking.

I started building that configuration at alternate.de (german hardware online shop with a pc builder tool) and switched over to pcpartpicker to have some price comparison. There are some issues where both tools differ, and now I'm unsure about these issues and need your advice:

  1. CPU: Boxed or Unboxed? Going for boxed + cooler
    Alternate warns when you chose a boxed CPU that the boxed cooler is too weak and advises ordering an additional CPU cooler instead. Is this really an issue or do they just want to sell more?

  2. Power Supply Going for the bare case and an additional 500W PSU
    Alternate claims the integrated 450W power supply in the Node 202 is too weak to handle the graphics card, but pcpartpicker calculates a peak usage of 264W, for which 450W is totally sufficient. What do you think, is 450W suffient or should I go with the bare case and and additional 600W power supply?

  3. Wake on USB
    I want the PC to be able to wake up by pressing the "Power On" button on my wireless keyboard. Is that possible with the ASUS ROG STRIX Z270I GAMING? Accoring to CNET that board supports WOL and "wake on PME". Does PME include USB?

//EDIT: Based on your suggestions I downgraded the Palit 1060 Super Jetstream (300 €) to a hardware identical Palit 1060 Jetstream (275€) and upgraded the mainboard to a Z270 board to avoid compatibility issues with the kaby lake cpu.

//EDIT 2: I decided to go with an additional 500W PSU

This is my setup:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type Item Price
CPU Intel Core i5-7500 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor €201.66 @ Mindfactory
CPU Cooler Scythe SCKZT-1000 24.8 CFM CPU Cooler €26.99 @ Aquatuning
Motherboard Asus ROG STRIX Z270i GAMING Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard €195.81 @ Amazon Deutschland
Memory G.Skill TridentZ 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory €160.71 @ Amazon Deutschland
Storage Intel 600p Series 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive €185.89 @ Mindfactory
Video Card Palit GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB JetStream Video Card €276.94 @ Mindfactory
Case Fractal Design Node 202 HTPC Case €78.91 @ Amazon Deutschland
Power Supply Silverstone 500W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply €87.97 @ Cyberport
Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
Total €1214.81
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-17 17:53 CEST+0200
7 years ago*

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that fits nicely in the living room

how does someone not accomplish this? :P

tiny livingroom or pc built from 70's? xD

View attached image.
7 years ago
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Typically you want a PC to "blend in" with your other components (BR Player, Amplifier, Receiver, etc) in your living room.

7 years ago
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tiny livingroom or pc built from 70's? xD

The latter of course. Boy, I really hope they realease GTA V on punchcard soon :-D

Jokes aside, I meant it more like optically ;-)

7 years ago
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ahh yeah, i gotcha after i googled what the fractal node was. basically just shooting for a small form factor. ^^

7 years ago
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over 300€ for a 1060? You'll fare cheaper with an RX480 then, or RX5xx refresh when they release

7 years ago
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After your post I googled the differnce between the Palit 1060 Jestream (~275€) and the Palit 1060 Super Jetstream and apparently they are identical except that the Super Jetstream is overclocked. So I downgraded to the Jestream. Do you still think it's not worth the money?
I like the Palit because it's supposed to be pretty silent (see this german article if you speak german).

7 years ago
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+1, I run a RX480 and it runs anything I can throw at it on ultra, including Fallout 4 with 100 mods and hd textures.
Exact card I have : RX480

7 years ago
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Because you guys are mentioning RX480, I also want to change my GPU into RX480. Computer shop in my city recommend me to use the red devil. And I see a lot of variation of RX480. What's the difference? And why the shop clerk recommend me the red devil one?

7 years ago
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The Red Devil does have a faster clock rate on the chip and memory. The card I have can be overclocked some to match and costs less.
Until I get my SSI, I had to go with the cheapest option, it turned out really good and less than some RX470's run. :)

7 years ago
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I see.. (take notes for references)
Thanks for the info. :)

7 years ago
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You're wecome, I hope you find as good one to fit your needs as well :)

7 years ago
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If money its not a problem, get at least 1 tb ssd.

7 years ago
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Motherboard: Mit der CPU, die du gewählt hast, würde ich eher zu einem Z270-Chipsatz tendieren. Meines Wissens nach ist für die "alten" Chipsätze ein Bios-Update notwendig. Es kommt immer darauf an, was man mit dem Motherboard alles anstellen will, aber du wirst sicherlich fündig bei Produkten, die nochmal einige € weniger kosten - egal welcher Chipsatz.

Boxed/Tray: Mir wurde immer geraten, einen Boxed zu kaufen, auch wenn man einen anderen Kühler nutzen möchte. Preislich gibt es sich zudem meistens kaum etwas. An sich sollte es aber keinen Unterschied machen.

Netztteil: Ich halte 600W für überdimensioniert, kenne jetzt aber auch nicht die genauen Anforderungen. Netzteil und Gehäuse würde ich getrennt kaufen.

Grafikkarte: Wie Tristar meinte, ich würde auf die RX5xx warten und dann schauen, was die Preise sagen. Wenn du Nvidia auf jeden Fall möchtest brauchst du natürlich nicht die anderen Karten in Erwägung ziehen, aber möglicherweise ändert sich trotzdem was am Preis.

7 years ago
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Motherboard: Mit der CPU, die du gewählt hast, würde ich eher zu einem Z270-Chipsatz tendieren. Meines Wissens nach ist für die "alten" Chipsätze ein Bios-Update notwendig. Es kommt immer darauf an, was man mit dem Motherboard alles anstellen will, aber du wirst sicherlich fündig bei Produkten, die nochmal einige € weniger kosten - egal welcher Chipsatz.

Du hast recht mit dem bios update. Kann allerdings nicht viele günstigere Mini ITX boards finden, die mit dem Asus mithalten können. Habe deshalb auf den nachfolger geupgradet.

Netztteil: Ich halte 600W für überdimensioniert, kenne jetzt aber auch nicht die genauen Anforderungen. Netzteil und Gehäuse würde ich getrennt kaufen.

Warum getrennt kaufen? Prinzipiell oder in diesem bestimmten Fall? Zumindest auf pcpartspicker kommt die PSU in den reviews ziemlich gut weg.
Würdest du eher zu 450W oder 500W tendieren?

Grafikkarte: Wie Tristar meinte, ich würde auf die RX5xx warten und dann schauen, was die Preise sagen. Wenn du Nvidia auf jeden Fall möchtest brauchst du natürlich nicht die anderen Karten in Erwägung ziehen, aber möglicherweise ändert sich trotzdem was am Preis.

Werde wohl bei Nvidia bleiben, Habe allerdings auf die baugleiche Jetstream-Variante für 25€ weniger downgegraded.

7 years ago
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Vielleicht hast du das schon gesehen, aber dieses Motherboard ist 60 Euro günstiger und ebenfalls Mini ITX: ASRock Z270M-ITX/ac Intel Z270 So.1151 Dual Channel DDR Mini-ITX Retail.

Getrennt kaufen: Generell. Ich wollte auch keine Kritik an dem bestimmten Netztteil äußern. 500 W halte ich für sinnvoll, 450 W sollte aber auch kein Problem sein, höhere Leistung würde ich tendenziell bei AMD Grafikkarten nehmen. Das aktuell ausgewählte Netzteil kenne ich nicht, wird aber sicherlich seine Sache richtig machen. Wichtig ist heutzutage auf DC/DC-Technik zu achten, um die Spannungsschwankungen auszugleichen, wenn die Last wechselt. Das ist bei älteren Netzteilen nicht immer der Fall.

7 years ago
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looks good to me, except like tristar said i too think 300€ is a bit steep on the gpu.. you may be able to pickup a different version for ~50€ cheaper but same tech even..

7 years ago*
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Yes, he should do that. In Germany the 6GB GTX 1060 starts in the range of 250 €.

7 years ago
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Whatever you do, make sure to add a lot of LEDs to it, and maybe a spoiler. Also you should future proof as much as you possibly can.

7 years ago
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Can I add flames on the side, too? :-)

7 years ago
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If you mean flames on the side of each of the four video cards - then yes.

7 years ago
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Der Vorteil eines boxed GPUs ist daß Du dann Garantie von Intel erhältst. Bei Tray CPUs hast Du nur Gewährleistung durch den Händler.
Der mitgelieferte Kühler wird sicherlich für den Betrieb reichen, aber auch lauter sein als ein anderer.
Edit: Wozu braucht man 32GB RAM?
Das 450W Netzteil sollte reichen. Es sollte Dir aber bewußt sein daß beim Gaming eine Menge Hitze in der Kiste generiert wird.
Edit2: Vergiß nicht zu überprüfen wie die Garantie bei den Komponenten ist, da gibt's durchaus große Unterschiede. Bei manchem Hersteller sogar keine ;)

7 years ago*
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Der Vorteil eines boxed GPUs ist daß Du dann Garantie von Intel erhältst. Bei Tray CPUs hast Du nur Gewährleistung durch den Händler.

Das ist ein Punkt den ich bisher noch überhaupt nicht bedacht hatte...

Edit: Wozu braucht man 32GB RAM?

Weiß ich auch nicht so genau. Schaden kann es zumindest mal nicht :-D
Ob ich am Ende tatsächlich 32GB nehme weiß ich nicht,aber mir gefällt es die Möglichkeit zu haben :-)
Außerdem ist der Tridentz mit €4.95/GB für 32GB nicht viel teurer als die meisten 16GB angebote

Das 450W Netzteil sollte reichen.

Danke!

Edit2: Vergiß nicht zu überprüfen wie die Garantie bei den Komponenten ist, da gibt's durchaus große Unterschiede. Bei manchem Hersteller sogar keine ;)

Wie gesagt, die Garantiesache hatte ich bisher noch gar nicht im Blick, danke!

7 years ago*
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Boxed / Tray: Usually the price difference isn't big. Therefore I'd recommend to get the boxed version just to have another in case of any issues.

Power supply: 450-500 W should be enough. They also shouldn't be overpowered (pun intended). But I'd check reviews for the integrated PSU, since custom ones might not be that efficient and reliable as branded.

Motherboard: Did you check if there are already ITX fitting Z270?

Further German build configurators: Caseking, Dubaro
Good German price comparison for hardware: Geizhals

7 years ago
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Boxed / Tray: Usually the price difference isn't big. Therefore I'd recommend to get the boxed version just to have another in case of any issues

Will do, thanks!

Power supply: 450-500 W should be enough. They also shouldn't be overpowered (pun intended). But I'd check reviews for the integrated PSU, since custom ones might not be that efficient and reliable as branded.

I think I'll go for the Sil­verS­to­ne SFX SST-SX500-LG (500W) instead of the integrated, mostly because it has a 80+ Gold Rating and that additional 50W. What do you think about that, is that a good decision?

Motherboard: Did you check if there are already ITX fitting Z270?

I did now, and I upgraded to the Asus ROG STRIX Z270i GAMING

7 years ago
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Boxed CPU, Intel doesn't include standard coolers anymore anyway, but you get 5 years waaranty instead of 1, for about €5.

As far as the PSU, 450W should be enough, but it depends how much you want to add in the (near) future.

Since nobody commented this: Why 32GB RAM? I know DDR4 isn't cheap, and 16 is already considered more than enough.
8GB could run most, if not every, game, but not much at the same time as a big game.. 16GB can run any game, plus a lot of background programs. 32GB seems a bit overdone.

7 years ago
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Boxed CPU, Intel doesn't include standard coolers anymore anyway, but you get 5 years waaranty instead of 1, for about €5.

Good to know, will do!

As far as the PSU, 450W should be enough, but it depends how much you want to add in the (near) future.

I don't plan to upgrade anytime soon.

Since nobody commented this: Why 32GB RAM? I know DDR4 isn't cheap, and 16 is already considered more than enough.
8GB could run most, if not every, game, but not much at the same time as a big game.. 16GB can run any game, plus a lot of background programs. 32GB seems a bit overdone.

LittleBibo1 commented on this in german ;-)
Well, tbh that one is more like a wish, I havent really thought about RAM yet. I think 8GB is not nearly enough for anything today. 16GB would be sufficient, but the Tridenz goes for €4.95 / GB (=158€) which is still cheaper or unsignificantly more expensive than most 2x8GB bundles.

7 years ago*
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