Help needed regarding my first SFF

saranw71

What's an ITX?
Original poster
Sep 6, 2017
1
1
Hi all, this is my first post here after having been following this forum for a while.

I'm fairly comfortable with building a PC, but this is my first time for an SFF. I'd like a PC to replace what I made 6 years ago, that I can carry in a backpack between my house and my GF's, and there are some questions/decisions that I would like to find out here before I start ordering.

Conditions/Expectations

System: i7 7700 (I don't plan to OC), GTX 1080 (I could do with a 1070 but why not?), SSD and some respectably sized media storage.
Environment: Non A/C 33-37 degC room.
Other: minimal modding to the case. This kind of rules out the NFC case IMO.

Plan:
Case: Fractal Design Node 202 vs Silverstone ML08B-H
CPU: i7 7700
M/B: Asus ROG Strix H270i Gaming
RAM: Cheapest 16gb 2400 I can find
PSU: Corsair SFX 600W
Video: Blower GTX 1080, see question#2
Main Storage: either 512gb or 1TB Samsung EVO M2


So the questions are as follows:

1.) Which case? I personally like the Node 202 and it's also smaller, but the ML08 on the other hand is larger which can be beneficial for a first-timer like me. It also is capable of holding a 3.5" HDD which is also a plus. Although, I've seen someone putting a 3.5" HDD where the case fan is on the Node
().
The question is it good thermally (I think it is ok for a blower card) and how much modding is needed? 2.5" 7200 RPM seems expensive compared to SSD. Question 1.5) I also consider the SSHD Firecuda 2 TB is it good?

2.) From what I've read, a blower design should be better thermally for such a small case. Please correct me if I'm wrong so the choices are wider, but if it is the case, then which GTX 1080 card should I get? There are:
EVGA: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/W2mxFT/evga-video-card-08gp45180
MSI: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hntWGX/msi-video-card-geforcegtx1080aero8g
ASUS: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/ymrcCJ/asus-geforce-gtx-1080-8gb-video-card-turbo-gtx1080-8g

3.) CPU cooler. Browsing around PCPartpicker, It seems the Noctua NH-L9i, Cryorig C7 and the Scythe BIG Shuriken V.2 B with removed case filter is popular. Is there any other recommendation that would make the CPU run cool? Also, please recommend a case fan for the GPU.

4.) Small question, is M/B the right choice? Can I do away with the B250i of the same line?

Sorry for the long post and thank you in advance for reading and helping me!

Cheers
 
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