Motherboard Spend $200 for a used Z77 LGA 1155 board or newer platform?

[liyi0522]

What do I have from 2 old ATX tower system now:
i7 2600K or i5 2500K
4GB *4 DDR3
2*256GB SATA 3 SSD
ZOTAC GTX 1070 mini
NH-9LX65 cooler
NCASE M1 v6

What do I need is an overclockable lga 1155 mini ITX motherboard and a SFX-L PSU.
Z77 chipset costs over $200 used
H61 chipset (cannot overclock) costs $50

If I go for newer platform, I will need MB, CPU, DDR4, maybe M.2.

I am late for this SFF game. It's my first SFF build, and I will only use this computer for office work and light 1080P 60hz gaming (World of Tanks, Diablo 4 in future).

 

[NateDawg72]

$200 is a lot for a used board, is that ebay prices?

You may want to consider posting on community sales / trade forums to see if you can find a person who won't rip you off. Somewhere like reddit hardwareswap or the forums here.

If you can't get a decent price on a board I'd recommend getting the pennies together for a new platform. It's a real shame to put hundreds of dollars into platform that is well past its prime. I'll send you a DM.

 

[murderbymodem]

You'll likely need new memory anyway, as most ITX boards only have 2 DIMM slots and your current DDR3 ram is 4 sticks of 4GB each. So unless you want to be limited to 8GB of memory, just go with a new motherboard and 2x8GB of DDR4.

SATA SSDs can be re-used and you can always just add an M.2 later, M.2 SSDs are super fast and totally worth i, but I wouldn't worry about that and focus on a more modern CPU/Motherboard/DDR4 right now if your funds are limited.

 

[liyi0522]

You'll likely need new memory anyway, as most ITX boards only have 2 DIMM slots and your current DDR3 ram is 4 sticks of 4GB each. So unless you want to be limited to 8GB of memory, just go with a new motherboard and 2x8GB of DDR4.

SATA SSDs can be re-used and you can always just add an M.2 later, M.2 SSDs are super fast and totally worth i, but I wouldn't worry about that and focus on a more modern CPU/Motherboard/DDR4 right now if your funds are limited.

Current budget newer platform will be AM4 socket (B450 + Ryzen 5 1600AF + 8GB *2 DDR4). It will cost more than $300 and almost same performance. B550 chipset will be soon available, DDR5 and AM5 will be come next year. My budget platform will be outdated in less than 12 month.

 

[murderbymodem]

Current budget newer platform will be AM4 socket (B450 + Ryzen 5 1600AF + 8GB *2 DDR4). It will cost more than $300 and almost same performance. B550 chipset will be soon available, DDR5 and AM5 will be come next year. My budget platform will be outdated in less than 12 month.

You're comparing a new budget processor to an old high-end processor, so of course it will be almost the same performance. At minimum you're going to spend $50 for a H61 ITX motherboard and $50 on 2x8GB DDR3 so you can have 16GB of ram and not constantly be running out of memory while running a game and a web browser at the same time.

so that's paying $100 for an outdated motherboard platform and outdated memory, vs investing $300 into a new budget platform that could eventually be upgraded to a Ryzen 3600 when you have some more money.

If you want to wait for AM5 and DDR5, just keep using your ATX towers for now and hold off on your Mini-ITX build, but if you keep waiting for the newest thing you'll never build a new computer. There's always something new coming eventually, it's only "outdated" when it can no longer serve your needs. It sounds like you wanted a smaller computer, so you picked up the NCase. Even if you still get the same performance, you're going to be saving desk space and making your computer more aesthetically pleasing. That's a lot of what SFF is all about.

As an example, my next build is going to be moving my living room TV computer from an NCase M1 into a Sliger Console. The Console case is smaller and doesn't support large coolers. Thus I'm replacing the i7 8700K currently in the computer with an i5 9400F. I'm literally downgrading the hardware, but the new case will free up more space in my entertainment center. Welcome to SFF.net lol

 

[liyi0522]

You're comparing a new budget processor to an old high-end processor, so of course it will be almost the same performance. At minimum you're going to spend $50 for a H61 ITX motherboard and $50 on 2x8GB DDR3 so you can have 16GB of ram and not constantly be running out of memory while running a game and a web browser at the same time.

so that's paying $100 for an outdated motherboard platform and outdated memory, vs investing $300 into a new budget platform that could eventually be upgraded to a Ryzen 3600 when you have some more money.

If you want to wait for AM5 and DDR5, just keep using your ATX towers for now and hold off on your Mini-ITX build, but if you keep waiting for the newest thing you'll never build a new computer. There's always something new coming eventually, it's only "outdated" when it can no longer serve your needs. It sounds like you wanted a smaller computer, so you picked up the NCase. Even if you still get the same performance, you're going to be saving desk space and making your computer more aesthetically pleasing. That's a lot of what SFF is all about.

As an example, my next build is going to be moving my living room TV computer from an NCase M1 into a Sliger Console. The Console case is smaller and doesn't support large coolers. Thus I'm replacing the i7 8700K currently in the computer with an i5 9400F. I'm literally downgrading the hardware, but the new case will free up more space in my entertainment center. Welcome to SFF.net lol

I kinda regret to get ncase m1, it can fit bigger cooler for high end rig. Since it will be my budget build and use old parts, I should get sentry 2.0.

 

[murderbymodem]

I kinda regret to get ncase m1, it can fit bigger cooler for high end rig. Since it will be my budget build and use old parts, I should get sentry 2.0.

Another advantage of buying new budget parts as opposed to old high-end parts is it would run cooler. 1600 AF is a 65w chip as opposed to the 2600k and 2500k at 95w. NCase M1 has advantages like being able to fit a nice tower cooler and mount some 2.5" and 3.5" drives if you need them.

I don't think you'll be able to get a Sentry 2.0 unless you get lucky and find one used. They don't have a date on when/if they'll make another batch of them. The alternatives are the Sliger Console and Sliger Conswole, or the Fractal Node 202 which is cheaper but doesn't have great cooling. I think there are Chinese clones of the Sentry 2.0 on sites like Taobao as well.