Small and Mighty

With a computer centric major, I decided it was time to build a good pc. I wanted a robust PC that could do anything that i needed, but i wanted it to be small and not break the bank. I set out to build a mini ITX computer, that could run 2 monitors, be almost completely silent, and be able to sit on the top of my desk without taking up an excess amount of desk space.

The case is a Fractal Design Define Nano s, having a footprint of less than 112 sq/in, it was the perfect platform to build on. The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-Z170n-WiFi, chosen for its integrated wifi capabilities and fair price. 2 8gb corsair RAM sticks occupy the 2 ddr4 ram slots on the motherboard, bought used from a friend to keep cost down. An EVGA Geforce gtx 770 runs the two monitors and was also bought used to keep the price down. With the money saved on the RAM and graphics card, a intel i7 7700k and a EKWB slim series watercooling kit were purchased. All in all, the computer came in under budget and handles everything i’ve been able to throw at it.

In this project I learned data analysis while deciding which components would be the best for the price. I also learned space management while fitting everything inside the case and designing a cooling loop that would not interfere with the full sized graphics card.