My son and I recently build his first PC. He wanted to start playing games on the computer and other things. I used some spare parts I acquired on a failed Hackintosh attempt earlier this year. He does not need anything too high-end since the games he is interested in playing have low to medium requirements. Here is the parts we used. Many of the parts I got used.
Parts List
- Gigabyte GA-Z170N-Wifi
- Intel i3-6100 CPU
- Cryorig C7 cooler
- Patriot Viper 8GB DDR4 ram (2x4GB)
- Crucial MX100 512GB SSD
- Hitachi HGST Deskstar 2TB Coolspin
- eVGA GeForce 750Ti 2GB GPU
- Fractal Design Define Nano S case
- OCZ ModXStream 500W PSU
- Cooler Master Devastator 3 mouse and keyboard combo
You can find most of these parts on Amazon.
The Fractal Design Nano S Case
The Fractal Design Define Nano S is a very nice case. It is a bigger case than the usual cases for mini-itx motherboards but I don’t mind it. There is plenty of room for multiple hard drives, wire management, and fans.
The case had plenty of room for more goodies, cable management, and additional hard drives.
Motherboard Features
The motherboard, for a mini-itx, has plenty of features. It has 2x HDMI ports that support 4K resolution and 2x Intel LAN ports. Be careful with the CMOS battery on these types of motherboards. It’s the typical type of battery but it does not sit on the motherboard. Wires come out of the board and taped onto the battery. If you lose the wires, you will need to replace the wire and battery altogether unless you know how to make the wire yourself.
The back panel had plenty of connectivity options.
Power Consumption
The 500W power supply is more than enough to power the i3-6100 processor, eVGA 750Ti video card, as well as the rest of the components. I don’t plan to over clock the CPU or GPU. At load and playing Overwatch, the power consumption floated between 78-88W. The semi-modular is a big help with cable management as well.
I recorded the build and uploaded it on Youtube. You can check it out. A couple years later I built a much more powerful machine for myself with the Ryzen 3900X quarantine build. And if you need a place to put your tower, here’s how I built a DIY computer stand.
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