Hi guys,

I've been living off of an underpowered ultrabook for the last three years, and I'm now finally settling down into my current digs with some permanence, so I've been thinking about putting together a new gaming system. The thing is, life changes and I don't see myself gaming much hunched over a desk in the dark like I used to in college, nor do I really have the space in my flat for a dedicated PC desk area.

So, I've been casting my eye to a living room setup. The thing is, a regular console would probably suffice OK, but I can imagine occasional needs for some word processing, light photo editing, and other non-console games like ArmA3. I've looked at some pre-fab builds like the Alienware Alpha, and most of these seem underpowered and overpriced for what they deliver, or are otherwise unobtainable where I live in Europe.

My basic requirements are something small and inconspicuous that I can jack into my 42" 1080p TV over HDMI and run most current games at very high settings, but is also reasonably future-proof. I'd like to keep my budget around 1000 EUR/USD maximum. I'm biased towards Intel and NVIDIA. I've been reading a lot about mini-ITX form factors, but wonder how these do for heat dissipation in such small cases? How about accommodating full-sized graphics cards?

I build my last gaming PC in early 2011, so I'm a little out of touch with the state of the art now. Anyone have any ideas to get me rolling, especially in what levels of CPUs and graphics cards I should be looking at?

IMO just get a standard ATX. Are you really that limited in space?

You can go mini-ATX yes but as you have mentioned, heat dissipation might be a problem. Why not get a standard-sized PC? That way, you can mount a few more fans and get really good airflow into your system?

I suppose you need the full setup except for a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, yes? Under 1,000 EUR might be a challenge, especially if you want good future-proofing.

Thanks for those points. The question is not so much a limitation of space, more aesthetics; my living room layout is a little spartan, so I'm trying to avoid a big humming PC tower in the middle of my floor. Something I can tuck onto a shelf or behind the TV would therefore be ideal.

I pulled together a parts list on PCPartPicker. I think this covers all of the bases and squeaks in just under my budget, not counting OS or peripherals, which is okay for me.

What do you think?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (€214.75 @ Mindfactory)
Motherboard: Asus Z170I PRO GAMING Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard (€158.06 @ Mindfactory)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (€52.90 @ Mindfactory)
Storage: Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive (€76.88 @ Mindfactory)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (€328.18 @ Mindfactory)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 110 Mini ITX Tower Case (€51.15 @ Mindfactory)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (€103.96 @ Mindfactory)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)
Total: €985.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-21 12:09 CET+0100

Yeah, I hate ambient noise interfering with the quiet parts of a movie, too. Of course, I've never had a PC in the same room as a home theater either.



The Jedi Master

That looks like a solid and well-balanced component list. You should be able to play most modern games on a single monitor with pretty much all the eye candy on.

My only recommendation would be to add a 120GB SSD drive for the OS. They've come down in price and it's nice to have that really quick boot-up compared to a HDD (even 7200). If money is a constraint you can get away with a 60GB SSD.

Not too sure about the SSD recommendation. With a Hybrid drive, it'll prioritize constantly-accessed stuff so after a few boot ups, it'll start to prioritize OS. Hybrid vs. SSD startup would probably be a few seconds difference so depending on the budget, might not be worth it.

Having said that, I know 250GB SSDs can be around £40-55 so IMHO that's quite cheap. I would put games on the SSD for faster loading times though. As you'll "load" a good few levels during one gaming session (one PC startup), might be a good idea to put games on the SSD.