Noobie here, your advice is much appreciated

[matts78]

Dear all,

First post, I am hoping I am posting it to the proper forum.

I spent a lot of time reading a lot on this forum here for the past several days but the more I learn the more questions I have.
Apologies, but it is all a bit overwhelming for a beginner.

I would like to build a mini-ITX HTPC, a very powerful one that can run both OSX and Windows.

I have been thinking of following configuration:

Case
Fractal Node 202 + SFX 450W PSU

CPU
Core i7-6700K


Is there a mini-ITX mainboard with working WiFi?
A mini-ITX board that could be used for over-clocking?

I understand from this forum that the Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5 has WiFi working by default, but this is ATX.

If there's none with working WiFi, what is the "best" (fastest, most compatible, sound!) mini-ITX board?

Regarding WiFi - I assume I need this?

I opened today my MacBook Air from mid 2011 which doesn't work properly anymore.
I found the chip you can see in the attached photo.

Would that one also work?
Does an antenna need to be attached? (I assume not)?

I watched this clip several times.

The guy is using a Gigabyte H-170 Motherboard
I understand this one works with Memory chip DDR4-2133
Nonetheless he recommends to buy the following RAM
I would assume that the "speed" should match, i.e. 2133 board with 2133 RAM and that 2400 is faster, i.e. better?

Lastly, would the above mentioned case still have space for a real GPU?

I hope that once I know which mainboard to purchase the hardware will be fine.

Many thanks in advance for reading all this and hopefully pointing me in the right direction.

 

[aztlan78]

Hello matts78,

The case you chose is a great case. I was thinking about buying that as well. Let me see if I can answer some questions and hopefully others on the website can help you as well.

On the Motherboard, the Gigabyte Z170N-Gaming 5 is a great Mobo for this case. The M.2 WiFi card that comes with it is not compatible with OS X. Not sure about BT. You can follow ammulder's H170N-WIFI guide. I've attached the link for ammulder's guide. Different MoBo but I used this on both Gigabyte Z170N-WIFI and Gigabyte Z170N-Gaming 5 and it worked.
[Guide] El Capitan on the Skylake H170N-WIFI | tonymacx86.com
You can also you this guide as well.
UniBeast: Install macOS Sierra on Any Supported Intel-based PC

On the Case, you stated that you would like to overclock. Any board with "Z" can be overclocked, the only thing is that with the case you want to use it is not recommended. From what I've read about this case it does not support water cooling unless you mod the case. There are other cases you can use, just won't be as small as the Node 202. A few cases that I would recommend are CoolerMaster Elite 110( only setback is that it fits only small GPUs) Silverstone SG13, or RAIDMAX Element ATX-101. All 3 case support water cooling. I would recommend that if you want to dual boot Windows 10 that you use a separate Boot SSD. This case only fits 2 2.5 SSDs. You can use a M.2 SSD and save a slot for another hard drive for storage, unless you plan to get 500G or 1TB SSDs for each OS. This case fits full size GPUs up to 12 inches in length. You should be fine. Also the new Nvidia cards 1000 series are not compatible yet. Use 900 series cards. I use a GTX 970 in mine.

On the WiFi card, don't know enough about the card in the pic, sorry. The card that you assume is the one I used. It will work with Kexts. See ammulder's guide for that.

Hope this info helps you and good luck!

 

[matts78]

Can someone please confirm if the below product would work in a Gigabyte Z170N_Wifi motherboard?

https://szfenvi.en.alibaba.com/prod..._rate_up_to_867mbps_network_adapter_card.html

I read somewhere in the forum that for certain cards a razor blade would be required, ideally I would like to avoid that

If so, I would go ahead ordering it.

Many thanks in advance