Help With A Computer Case.

So, recently I have been looking into building a PC, and I had a friend on mine run through the things I'd need for something reasonably powerful. As well as this, I got a new computer table, with a cabinet for a tower. The problem starts there. You see, because of how they measured the cabinet, it is actually much smaller than advertised, so the case I was initially going to get is just too big for it.
That's why I'm here, I need to know the absolute minimum dimensions of the tower for the parts I'm looking at.

Here's a list of the parts I'm looking at;

CPU: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...ue&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=A1AUCPBF2P18HS

RAM: http://www.amazon.co.uk/HyperX-FURY...=UTF8&qid=1449001815&sr=1-5&keywords=8gb+ddr3

Motherboard: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...ue&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_4&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

Power Supply: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-Bui...849&sr=1-1&keywords=corsair+power+supply+750w

HDD: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...ue&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_3&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

Disc Drive: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-SH-...TF8&qid=1449002424&sr=1-1&keywords=disc+drive

GPU: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Radeon-GDDR...rs&ie=UTF8&qid=1451740138&sr=1-2&keywords=gpu
(This last one, being a complete idiot, I don't know if that'll actually work with everything else, as it was not my first choice)

Any and all help is appreciated.

 

I am at the cottage for the remainder of the week if you can wait till Monday I'll gladly have a look at all your parts and let you know what I think and what case to go with till then I am sure some other opinoated IT nerd is willing to chip on

 

Well the most important pieces of hardware to consider is the motherboard and PSU (Power Supply). If you can find a case that your motherboard and PSU will fit into, then you can build your computer from there. So you're going to need to take a look at all the computer cases available that fit into the cabinet's true dimensions to get an idea of what you'll be able to use. Most desktop motherboards are designed to fit into any tower case, so compare the dimensions of your PSU and the dimensions of the cases your considering once you have a list of cases that will fit into the cabinet.

To add to this, your minimum dimensions are greatly determined by the dimensions of your power supply as that is typically your largest component in the tower, typically sitting at the bottom, or hanging from the top (determined by the tower case you choose). Expansion cards (graphics, network, USB, etc) for slots such as PCI are usually standard size and will also fit into your tower case with ease as long as your motherboard has the slots required for them.

 

@The7thSeal You're a good friend of mine and I don't wanna see you go down the AMD path. They have severe Frame issues when playing a game. IMO, I would drop the r7 250 for the GTX 750 Ti but it's really your choice a good case that I've seen is this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811854003

 

Like the suggestion. I'm not a wholesale fan of AMD either but if he's still looking to go with AMD I think a R7 265 would be the closet comparison to the GTX 750 Ti in both terms of price and performance. As for the case it's solid and I often see it used a lot in tech builds online.

 

The problem is AMD has great hardware but terrible drivers so it just kinda makes itself null and void. I got the GTX 960 and it runs almost all if not all of my games maxed with no problem. I'll always try to steer people away from AMD die to their performance issues. I think if he goes with either card he is safe from bottlenecking as most of the stuff is budget, Intel is a lot of money but an I5 is pretty good in Moderate budgets. I have An FX-6300 and no complaints, they make good processors, that's all I can say.

I hear that case has really good airflow, pretty basic and good cable management and overall is simple but nice. I'm looking to get that when I rebuild mine. For his ram he could get ballistix they're a good bang for buck, I personally just think he is making the computer for light gaming use though. From the look of the specs

 

As an NVIDIA user and user of the GeForce Experience software, it's not really that much better on this side of the fence. NVIDIA tends to ruin some of their drivers by prematurely releasing them (and no, I'm not in any beta programs for NVIDIA), sometimes resorting back to the old ways of Windows where restarts seem to be the only way for some of their drivers to work correctly, while past drivers have worked without restarting the computer. GeForce Experience sometimes has a hard time with recognizing what driver version is installed, so it uses the last known driver version. It only started doing that recently because of NVIDIA's faulty driver releases as of late. Check out their support forum, and I'm not the only one complaining about NVIDIA's lack of proper testing when they release faulty drivers.

 

@Vashnik I've been hearing a lot about that actually. I'm not entirely certain what games it is that are having such horrendous impact with the GeForce experience, or even just drivers Even though I would take Nvidia over AMD I will admit the GeForce experience is clunky, catalyst feels clunky too. I used to have an AMD Based card. (7k series I think. Can't remember that computer was trash.) another thing I've hear a lot of problems with is Windows 10 and Nvidia drivers. I've been hearing that's a nightmare.

I personally haven't had any issues so I cannot complain about it, but when I was running an AMD GPU my experience wasn't very desirable. It'll all come down to user experience really, I feel like they might be rolling things out for the upcoming Pascal? I think? Series.

 

When Windows 10 was only available via Tech Preview, NVIDIA had some awesome driver releases for Windows 10. So it's not really Windows 10, just NVIDIA likes to prematurely release updates before they've been properly tested under normal conditions. It's really not the GeForce Experience, but just the sorry excuse of "Quality Assurance" NVIDIA has these past few months. I use Windows 10, the only major gripe I have about it is the fact we can't control what updates we install, not without using a Windows Update diagnostic tool to hide updates.

Anyways, we're getting off topic with the AMD vs NVIDIA talk.
@The7thSeal Were you able to compile a list of cases that would fit into your cabinet?

 

@Vashnik I'm still on Windows 7 it's my preference, I don't feel the need to upgrade to anything new yet. Nothing is popping out at me, DX12 has no games yet. I'll wait for a game on DX12 I want.

 

@Vashnik I've been able to narrow it down a bit. I've been mainly eyeing up this;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...ue&ref_=ox_sc_sfl_title_2&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
Mostly because it's cheapish and has gotten great reviews from the vast majority.
@Guts unfortunately, the case you suggested is too big for the computer cabinet. And yes, I want the PC for light gaming for the most part, and didn't particularly want to break the bank with it, which sadly the GPU you suggested would. Thanks for looking out for me though.

 

@The7thSeal that case actually is a pretty solid one. The psu is tucked at the bottom (I don't like the mounted top thing, but my tower is like that. Can't do anything about it. ) it's got 4.5 stars as well. So customers also like it, my main concern is that they don't give any info on your mobo on Amazon but I can just check the site. Also your processor and ram are the same links. Not sure if intentional or not.

 

@Guts that wasn't intentional. Have fixed it now.

 

@The7thSeal do you have a method of getting Windows onto your new hard drive? You can migrate it but you'll need to buy a few cables or you can download it, the OEM disc is about $140 USD not sure about pounds. Ubuntu is a free alternative.

 

@Guts I've got a USB with Windows 10 ready to install. All told, should work fine if I followed the instructions correctly.

 

@The7thSeal You should be good to go whenever you get the parts in. Enjoy your first build.

 

The Windows 10 tech preview is free, it just has to stay in the tech preview channel until a proper license is purchased. It's the best free alternative for PC gaming when you don't have a legitimate version of Windows handy when you build the PC and you just want to start playing games as soon as possible. It's what I did with my PC since I knew a lot of the games that I would be playing would require WINE at the very least. You can then change the license key if you want to leave the Tech Preview program (Win + Pause/Break; Change product key).

 

The first question I would have for you is what do you plan on doing with this build?

as for the part themselves I have a media centre that uses the same exact CPU and it works well for streaming ETC.... Haven't used it for gaming but I am sure it be fine...

The FM2+ MOBO are very small compare to the AM3+ model's and can fit in a small type cases... just look for anything that is
micro-ATX compatible and can fit with your PSU

Keep in mind if you get this type of CPU with your MOBO you will not be able to utilize the Video output on the MOBO itself as you need a APU not a CPU for those outputs to work (you should be fine because you are getting a Video card but just thought I would let you know that the vid output on the mobo itself will not work with this type of CPU).

I Have that exact ram in my build's I have at home and I have yet to have any issues.....

- If this is a new build I would add an SSD for your OS/Games installs and keep the HDD for movies ETC You can get cheap ones for like 100$ and it makes your computer a bit faster...

As for the Video Card I prefer NVIDIA over AMD personally thats not to say the AMD does not make good Vid cards but I just like NVIDIA more....

a GTX750 TI for cost would be the way to go if you wanted a decent cheap vid card...

Other then that build away young padawan and have fun with it!

PS if you need to migrate data from one pc to the other why not physically plug your new HDD/SDD to the old box download AOMEI and migrate it? AOMEI is a wonderfull tool !!

 

Since you picked a micro ATX board, here's a few suggestions of cased that are of like size.
(Note: you can get a larger ATX compatible case, you'll just have more empty space in the case)
Antec VSK-3000:


Cooler Master Selencio 352:


Fractal Design Core 1300:


Fractal Design Core 1500:

 

I have always used Antec for some reason that I dont know why...... familiarity i guess. but heard good things about Fractal and Cooler Master. Maybe try those out on my next build as the last Antec I bought It came in bent and had to use some "persuasion With a Hammer" to get my PSU to fit lol