The Best $3,000 Extreme Mini-ITX Gaming PC Build – February 2024

By Ari Altman | Published February 13, 2024 | Updated February 13, 2024

Lian Li Dan A4Go Big, but Build Small!

If you’re looking for a no-holds-barred extreme Mini-ITX Gaming PC Build in a sleek, compact chassis, this is the one for you! Our $3,000 Extreme Mini-ITX Gaming PC Build might be dwarfed by standard towers, but it can easily keep up with them thanks to its truly extreme components. And amazingly, there’s virtually no price premium for getting a system of this caliber down to a portable size, making this PC a pretty good value too.

This Month’s Build, Powered by AMD!

For February 2024, the $3,000 Extreme Mini-ITX Gaming PC Build continues to feature the awesomely-powerful AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-core CPU, endowed with 3D V-Cache to provide tremendous gaming performance in an ultra-efficient power envelope, which makes it the perfect pick for a compact gaming system. Also on board is the best GPU you can fit in a system of this size, AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB. It offers simply extreme performance.

Also on board is an incredible 64GB of fast DDR5-6000 RAM, along with a high performance 2TB PCIe Gen 5-based solid-state drive. It all comes together in the truly groundbreaking Lian Li A4-H20 chassis, which is uniquely designed for ultra-high-end components like the ones we recommend. It can fit the specific RX 7900 XTX model we recommend, plus a 240mm liquid CPU cooler, all while coming in at just 11 liters, making it about 1/5 the size of the typical full tower!

Parting Thoughts

You’ll find our recommendations for the best accessories for this build later in this guide. For all products, we provide links to Amazon or Newegg in the US, and our Amazon links will auto-convert for our readers in Canada, the UK, and parts of the EU, with regional substitutions made automatically where necessary. To support continued development of this guide, please use the affiliate links we provide in the guide.

The DIY Build

  • CPU

    AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D

    $599
    AMD has done it again, blasting past Intel in terms of gaming performance thanks to its proprietary, cutting-edge 3D V-Cache technology. By adding this stacked cache on top of one of the two core complexes of the standard 16-core 7950X, the AMD has turned a multi-threaded monster into a true gaming dynamo. It gives you the best of all worlds, along with far greater efficiency and a more advanced platform than Intel.

    The Guru’s Tip

    Another great feature of this CPU is its low power use, a far cry from Intel's top-end CPUs, which draw at least 100W more power at load - something you definitely don't want in a small ITX chassis.

  • Motherboard

    Asus ROG Strix B650E-I

    $312
    This is a high-end motherboard for a serious small form factor system! It features 10+2 power stages, a future-proof PCIe Gen 5 video card slot (for GPUs that probably won’t launch until 2025, LOL!), dual M.2 slots (one being Gen 5, with a dedicated heatsink, the other being Gen 4), eight USB ports (two being Type-C), Intel Gigabit LAN, WiFi 6E wireless networking, plus the high-end ALC4080 audio codec and a Savitech SV3H712 Amp.

    The Guru’s Tip

    This is the perfect high-end ITX board - in fact, while Asus has an X670E version, the B650E chipset is a much better choice for the ITX format.

  • Video Card

    Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse 24GB

    $930
    AMD broke new ground with its RX 7900 series, and the 7900 XTX is a perfect showcase of that. Matching Nvidia’s more expensive GeForce RTX 4080 16GB while offering 50% more VRAM and a lower price, it’s an easy choice for serious gaming. And this awesome model from Sapphire, AMD’s premium board partner, features a fantastic, low-noise cooler.

    The Guru’s Tip

    At just 313mm long, this GPU will easily fit in the case we recommend. Beware... most 7900 XTX models will not!

  • Memory

    G.Skill 2x32GB Trident Z5 Neo RGB DDR5-6000 CL30 EXPO

    $210
    To get the most out of AMD’s latest CPUs, you want fast RAM, and DDR5-6000 is the sweetspot not only in terms of price, but in terms of making the most of the AM5 platform. It allows for the highest overall performance thanks to running in 1:1 sync with the memory controller. And this 64GB Trident Z5 Neo kit from G.Skill is specially designed for AM5, thanks to the extraordinary 30-40-40-96 AMD EXPO timings. It offers tremendous capacity and speed in a single package!

    The Guru’s Tip

    For an elite ITX rig, you want a 2x32GB kit, since you're limited to two RAM slots - this gives you a total of 64GB of super-fast RAM.

  • Solid-State Drive

    Crucial T700 2TB PCIe Gen 5

    $300
    For primary storage, you don’t just want high-end, you want ultra-high-end, and that means going with a PCIe Gen 5.0 solid-state drive. And while there were a few early Gen 5 drives based on a hybrid of new and old tech, the Crucial T700 is the real deal, ripping out 12,400MB/s in sequential read and 11,800MB/s in sequential write, making it about 67% faster than any Gen 4 drive. It makes the best use of the PCIe Gen 5 bus in the modern system you’re building.

    The Guru’s Tip

    While you don't really need a drive this fast for gaming, we figure that with a premium ITX build, you'd only want the best!

  • Case

    LIAN LI A4-H2O X4

    $156
    Lian Li has taken its design expertise and one-upped the entire Small Form Factor case industry with the A4-H20. It teamed up with the ITX design specialists at Dan Cases to create the A4-H20, which as the name suggests, supports liquid cooling despite coming in at an impossibly-small 11 liters. It uses a sandwich-style layout, putting the GPU behind the motherboard, while making room at the top of the case for a liquid cooler up to 240mm in size to exhaust all the system’s hot air. And take note: the X4 edition of this case includes a high-quality PCIe Gen 4-capable riser cable to ensure full bandwidth to the latest video cards!

    The Guru’s Tip

    This case can fit video cards up to 322mm long. The model we recommend fits easily into that limit.

  • CPU Cooler

    DeepCool LS520 SE 240mm

    $72
    For this build, we recommend you go for the LS520 SE. It offers up two high-performance 120mm fans, along with awesome ARGB lighting.

    The Guru’s Tip

    Trust us when we say very few coolers will fit in this build. The key is that the pump needs to be no taller than 55mm , with a total radiator/fan thickness of under 54mm. This models comes in at exactly those specifications!

  • Power Supply

    Corsair SF750

    $170
    Offering a tremendous 750W of power output and Platinum-rated efficiency in an ultra-compact package, Corsair’s SF750 sets the standard for ultra-premium SFX power supplies!

    The Guru’s Tip

    This unit will have no trouble supporting this system, which will draw about 500W at full load.

  • Operating System

    Windows 11 Home (USB) @Newegg

    $139
    Windows 11 built on everything people loved about Windows 10, and then took it to 11! It adds significant under-the-hood changes to make it faster and more secure, and of course, the interface is sleek too! Note that we’re linking to Newegg, because Amazon long ago stopped selling this physical USB version of Windows, which is the most convenient one to use.

    The Guru’s Tip

    Win11 is definitely the OS you want on a PC running the latest CPU architectures!

Optional Products

  • The Ultimate Gaming Keyboard

    Corsair K100 RGB Optical-Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

    $200
    Corsair reestablishes itself as the king of gaming keyboards with the K100, which builds upon the strengths of the K70 and K95, but adds even more tech! In addition to incredible build quality and lots of configuration options, it features optical-mechanical switches for the smoothest, fastest response.

    The Guru’s Tip

    This keyboard can be fully customized via the Corsair iCUE software.

  • The Ultralight Gaming Mouse

    Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro Wireless

    $143
    Sometimes a product is so far ahead of the competition comes along that it resets the entire industry. So it is with the DeathAdder V3. Featuring the same ergonomic grip as the original from years ago that set the gaming world on fire, this is nonetheless leagues ahead of that classic. Weighing in at a scant 63g, while offering up a 30K DPI sensor, optical switches, wireless operation, and an incredible 90 hours of battery life, this is as cutting-edge as it gets. To have all of this in a mouse that weighs half as much as the best wireless mice from a few generations ago shows you just how far the bar has been raised!

    The Guru’s Tip

    While there are plenty of ultra-light mice out there, Razer delivers the goods when it comes to performance like no other manufacturer can!

  • The 34" Ultra-wide OLED

    Alienware AW3423DW

    $1200
    Welcome to next-gen gaming, here today! The AW3423DW features an incredible 34″ ultra-wide QD-OLED panel, able to hit 175Hz while also offering the most colorful images ever seen on the desktop. At this point, if you want an ultra-high-end monitor, you’ve got to go OLED!

    The Guru’s Tip

    If you want a monitor to show off the power of your new extreme PC, this is the one!

  • The Deluxe PC Headset

    SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless

    $140
    From humble beginnings as a mousemat manufacturer, SteelSeries has come to absolutely dominate the gaming headset industry. And that’s because it’s not rocket science, it’s audio science! SteelSeries took a careful look at what gamers needed and and then applied all the proven techniques to get them everything they wanted. That includes ultra-high-fidelity audio, 360-degree surround sound for immersive gaming, dual audio streams for simultaneous connection to a PC and a smartphone, multi-platform support, and amazing 38-hour battery life plus quick-charge over USB-C, providing a 6 hour boost in 15 minutes! It also has among the best microphones in business, providing clear audio for everyone you’re talking to!

    The Guru’s Tip

    Arctis simply owns the market for high-end, performance-oriented gaming headsets.

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