The Best $750 Small Office Mini-ITX PC Build – October 2022
The Perfect Small Office PC!
Want to build the best home or small office PC possible with a budget of around $750? Then this is the guide for you! Our Small Office Mini-ITX PC Build is sleek, compact, powerful, quiet, and expandable, and of course, affordable!
This Month’s Build, Featuring Intel!
For October 2022, this system features Intel’s potent Core i5-12400 processor. Built around the cutting-edge Alder Lake architecture, this six-core, 12-thread processor is 15% faster than the 11400 it replaces. Plus, it has the capable Intel UHD 730 Graphics built in, so you don’t need to worry about adding a video card. That gives it a huge advantage over AMD’s offerings! Supporting the Core i5 are 16GB of DDR4-3200 RAM and a fast 1TB NVMe solid-state drive.
Giving this system its sleek profile is the ultra-compact SilverStone ML09 case, our favorite slim case of all time. Despite its tiny size (just 7 liters!), it can fit plenty of upgrades, including a low-profile video card (which we’ve listed in the optional products section), and up to four 2TB hard drives, bringing the total capacity to over 8TB including the SSD! Learn more about this build, which is truly one of our favorites, in our YouTube overview, and feel free to post any questions in the YT comments section.
Parting Thoughts
Any PC needs a good set of peripherals to get the most out of it, so definitely scroll down to the end of this guide to see our favorite accessories, or check out our dedicated Monitor Buyer’s Guide, Keyboard & Mouse Buyer’s Guide, and Headset & Speakers Buyer’s Guide. Throughout all of our guides, we provide direct links to Amazon US, which will auto-convert for our readers in the UK, Canada, and the EU, with regional substitutions made automatically as necessary. If you decide to purchase any of the products listed below, please use the links provided, which helps support continued development of this guide.
Required Components
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CPU –Intel Core i5-12400
$194The Guru’s TipThe 12th-Gen “Alder Lake” CPUs are Intel’s most impressive release in a decade, and the Core i5-12400 offers the best value not only among Alder Lake CPUs, but among any CPU ever released! Packing in 6 performance cores and 6 additional threads, it can easily beat any CPU at its pricepoint, and competes with AMD (and older Intel) CPUs that cost 25-50% more.This CPU comes with a cooler, and it will work well in this build. If you'd like lower noise levels, go for the optional cooler we recommend later in this guide. By the way, do not get the 12400F - it has no built-in graphics and will not work in this build!
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Motherboard –ASRock B660M-ITX/AC
$120The Guru’s TipThis low-cost mini-ITX board is the perfect option for a compact PC build. It uses socket 1700, which provides compatibility with the latest Intel CPUs, and includes a PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 slot for fast solid-state drives, dual RAM slots, and four USB ports. It even has built-in 802.11ac wireless networking, making it a tremendous value!You'll be able to use this board's Displayport and HDMI 2.1 outputs to drive dual monitors with resolutions up to 4K, thanks to the advanced graphics built into the Intel CPU!
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Memory –G.Skill 2x8GB Ripjaws V DDR4-3200
$55The Guru’s TipBecause games and other applications can take serious advantage of RAM speed on the latest CPUs, we’re spec’ing a fast DDR4-3200 kit for this build. The Ripjaws V set looks awesome and comes in at a lower price than all of its competition!One of the advantages of Intel's 12th-Gen platform is support for much higher RAM speeds, which is why we go with this fast RAM kit in this build.
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Solid-State Drive –WD Blue SN570 1TB NVMe
$80The Guru’s TipWD knocked it out of the park with its high-performance yet bargain-priced SN570. Optimized for excellent real-world performance thanks to WD’s years of SSD development, it easily keeps up with much more expensive drives. This 1TB model can provide sequential read speeds of 3500MB/s and write speeds of 3500MB/s. Note that you’ll need a jeweler’s-type screwdriver to affix it.With 1TB of capacity, this small office system will have a huge amount of space for apps and data!
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Case –SilverStone ML09B
$87The Guru’s TipSilverstone has done some serious engineering work here, and there’s simply nothing else like it on the market today. Despite its compact dimensions, the ML09 can fit a mini-ITX motherboard, a low-profile dual-slot video card, four 2.5″ drives, and an SFX power supply. It’s amazing – learn more in our hands-on review!This case can fit a slim optical drive, but that space is better used by either the included case fan, or a taller CPU cooler, which we list in our optional parts section later in this guide.
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Power Supply –SilverStone SX300
$71The Guru’s TipThis ultra-compact, Bronze-rated SFX PSU is a perfect fit for this build, offering just the right amount of output for an efficient build like this one.SilverStone actually recommends the use of power supplies with fixed cables, rather than removable cables, in the ML09 case, as the single cable output is easier to route around the case's 2.5" drive cage.
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Operating System –Windows 11 Home USB
$139The Guru’s TipWindows 11 take everything people loved about Windows 10, and then takes 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!While Windows 11 was launched in late-2021, the retail version didn't appear until April 2022, but now that it's here, it's what you want!
Optional Products
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CPU Cooler –Scythe Big Shuriken 3 Rev. B
$50 The Guru’s TipThis cooler measures 67mm tall, which means it will fit perfectly in the case, which has 70mm of clearance. You'll need to remove the pre-installed fan that comes mounted in the case, but the resulting cooling and noise levels will be far superior.
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Video Card –Sapphire Radeon RX 6400 Pulse 4GB LP
$160 The Guru’s TipThis card offers performance on par with the GeForce GT 1650 Low-Profile, which is currently marked up to well over double the price of the RX 6400!
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Hard Drive –WD Blue 2TB 2.5″
$65 The Guru’s TipThis is only necessary if you will be storing a lot of media on your PC, like photos, music, or video, as the build already has a high-capacity SSD.
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The Basic Wireless Keyboard/Mouse Combo –Logitech MK270 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo
$28 The Guru’s TipThis combo uses a single USB receiver to communicate with both devices, meaning you have plenty more USB ports left over!
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The Basic PC Speakers –Creative Pebble 2.0
$19 The Guru’s TipDespite their name, these are definitely larger than a pebble!
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The 24-inch Small Office Monitor –Sceptre E248W-19203R
$111 The Guru’s TipWe recommend connecting this monitor to your PC with an HDMI cable, which will provide both display and sound.
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Webcam –Logitech C920x Pro HD Webcam
$70 The Guru’s TipIf you don't have speakers already, you'll need to buy the ones below to use for video conferencing.
Total Cost: $746
Required Components
Optional Products
- CPU Cooler – Scythe Big Shuriken 3 Rev. B ($50)
- Video Card – Sapphire Radeon RX 6400 Pulse 4GB LP ($160)
- Hard Drive – WD Blue 2TB 2.5″ ($65)
- The Basic Wireless Keyboard/Mouse Combo – Logitech MK270 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo ($28)
- The Basic PC Speakers – Creative Pebble 2.0 ($19)
- The 24-inch Small Office Monitor – Sceptre E248W-19203R ($111)
- Webcam – Logitech C920x Pro HD Webcam ($70)
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The TBG DIY PC Build Guides
View all of TBG’s DIY PC Build Guides! This is where you’ll find all the best PC builds on the ‘net, from ultra-compact home office PCs to massive gaming towers.
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The Monitor Buyer's Guide
Upgrade the view for your PC with a new monitor - we list the best in our buyer's guide!
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The Wireless Networking Buyer's Guide
Upgrading your PC? Don't forget to upgrade your router to get the most out of it!
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The Headsets/Speaker Buyer's Guide
Upgrade your audio experience with one of our recommended speaker kits or headsets!