The Tech Buyer's Guru

The Best $750 Home/Small Office Mini-ITX PC Build – June 2021

The Best $750 Home/Small Office Mini-ITX PC Build – June 2021

By Ari Altman | Published June 11, 2021 | Updated June 17, 2021

Want to build the best home or small office PC possible with a budget of around $750? Then this is the guide for you! For June 2021, this system features Intel’s Core i5-11400 processor. It offers 6 cores and 12 threads, with performance 20% higher than previous-generation CPUs. But even better is the tremendous leap in performance offered by its built-in graphics, which is now 50% faster. That’s a critical feature these days, given that you can’t possibly buy a video card at a reasonable price. Built-in video is something AMD’s comparable CPUs lack. That makes the 11400 the perfect match for a high-end home office PC build on a budget! Also onboard are 16GB of fast DDR4-3200 RAM and a responsive 500GB NVMe solid-state drive. Giving this system its sleek profile is the ultra-compact SilverStone ML09 case, which we reviewed here and named our favorite slim case of all time. Providing the power is a quiet 300W Bronze-rated power supply.

Despite this system’s tiny size (just 7 liters!), it can fit plenty of upgrades, including a low-profile video card (should you ever need to add a gaming-grade model), a Blu-Ray drive, 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:

By the way, 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. Throughout all of our guides, we provide direct links to Amazon, Newegg, or B&H for our readers in the US, and our Amazon links 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

  • Click to Buy
    CPU –

    Intel Core i5-11400

    $210
    There’s plenty of competition in the mid-range CPU market, which is a great thing for you, the consumer! And Intel’s new Core i5-11400 6-core, 12-thread CPU is the sweetspot, offering awesome multi-threaded capability plus plenty of single-threaded speed to power you through any game thanks to its modern Rocket Lake architecture. It also has built-in Intel UHD 750 graphics, which is priceless these days. Note that even CPUs are selling very fast these days, so we change vendors often to ensure you the best price and availability.
    The Guru’s Tip

    This CPU includes a 47mm-tall cooler that will fit perfectly in this system. If you'd like to upgrade to a quieter model, we have one listed in the optional products section of this guide.
  • Click to Buy
    Motherboard –

    ASRock H570M-ITX/AC

    $135

    This board is the perfect backbone for a compact system. It offers both HDMI and DisplayPort video outputs for the built-in graphics, along with six USB ports (one being Type-C). It also has dual full-length M.2 slots, one of which you’ll be using for this system’s solid-state drive. Finally, it packs in WiFi and Bluetooth, making it a true all-in-one solution.

    The Guru’s Tip

    There's no need for a video card in this system, because this board can output full 4K/60Hz video via either of its video ports thanks to the latest 11th-Gen CPU.
  • Click to Buy
    Memory –

    Crucial 2x8GB Ballistix DDR4-3200 Black

    $88
    Thanks to great price on mainstream RAM, we can now squeeze a whole lot of performance and capacity into your system by going with a 16GB DDR4-3200 kit. It will help you make the most of your snazzy new system, which fully supports this ultra-high RAM speed!
    The Guru’s Tip

    Intel's latest platform allows a maximum speed of 3200MHz, which is why we're going for that speed here. That is a huge bump up from the previous gen, which maxed out at DDR4-2666.
  • Click to Buy
    Solid-State Drive –

    Samsung 980 500GB

    $60

    There’s lots of competition in the SSD market, but SSD pioneer Samsung has put all the other mid-priced offerings to shame with its 980 500GB, launched in early 2021. You simply can’t do better than this awesome SSD, which uses the speedy PCIe 3.0 interface and Samsung’s superior TLC NAND to vastly outperform every other PCIe 3.0 drive! Note that to install this drive, you’ll affix it in an M.2 slot on your motherboard using a jeweler’s-type screwdriver.

    The Guru’s Tip

    If you know you want more space right away, feel free to go for the 1TB version of this drive, listed on the same product page.
  • Click to Buy
    Case –

    SilverStone ML09B

    $79
    Silverstone 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!
    The Guru’s Tip

    To learn more about this case, don't miss our hands-on build video at the top of this page!
  • Click to Buy
    Power Supply –

    SilverStone SX300

    $66
    This 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.
    The Guru’s Tip

    SilverStone actually recommends fixed cables, rather than removable cables for the ML09 case, as the single cable output is easier to route around the case's 2.5" drive cage.
  • Click to Buy
    Operating System –

    Windows 10 Home USB Flash Drive

    $130
    Windows 10 was a big step up from Windows 8.1, and Microsoft continues to support Windows 10 users not only with regular security updates, but with major content releases every six months. And the USB version installs in under 5 minutes, meaning you can get right into using your system!
    The Guru’s Tip

    If the USB version is ever sold out, you can get the downloadable version from Amazon, which can be installed using any 8GB or larger USB drive.

Optional Products

  • Click to Buy
    CPU Cooler –

    Scythe Big Shuriken 3

    $45
    The excellent low-profile cooler will fit easily in this system while providing a huge upgrade in terms of noise and temperatures versus most other low-profile coolers. It’s also one of the very few high-performance low-profile coolers that does not obstruct the RAM slots.
    The Guru’s Tip

    This cooler measures 69mm 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.
  • Click to Buy
    Hard Drive –

    WD Blue 2TB 2.5″

    $75
    Want to add a bunch of storage to your system at low cost, and without taking up much space? No problem – just add this high-capacity 2TB hard drive to your build! Not only is it a good value, but it’s also very quiet and energy efficient.
    The Guru’s Tip

    This is only necessary if you will be storing a lot of media on your PC, like photos, music, video, or data files.
  • Click to Buy
    The Basic Wireless Keyboard/Mouse Combo –

    Logitech MK270 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo

    $25
    While you may have an old keyboard and mouse sitting in your desk, treat yourself to a new wireless setup from Logitech, the MK270!
    The Guru’s Tip

    This combo uses a single USB receiver to communicate with both devices, meaning you have plenty more USB ports left over!
  • Click to Buy
    The 24-inch Small Office Monitor –

    HP 24mh IPS Monitor

    $125

    This stylish monitor from HP gives you everything you could want in a mainstream model at a great price. It has an IPS panel for great viewing angles, a 23.8″ screen size with an ample resolution of 1920 x 1080, a 75Hz refresh rate (making moving images look smoother than typical 60Hz models), plus height-tilt adjustment to provide an ergonomic position. In terms of connectivity, it has VGA, DisplayPort, and HDMI, and it even has built-in speakers!

     The Guru’s Tip

    This model can accept HDMI, DisplayPort, or VGA inputs, but not the older DVI input. Note that only the HDMI input will carry sound to the speakers, so that's what we recommend.
  • Click to Buy
    Webcam –

    Logitech C925-e Webcam

    $81
    Need to do some teleconferencing? No problem, just pick up this high-quality USB webcam from Logitech!
    The Guru’s Tip

    If you don't have speakers already, you'll need to buy the ones below to use for video conferencing.
  • Click to Buy
    The Basic PC Speakers –

    Creative Pebble 2.0

    $20
    Because desktop PCs, unlike laptops, don’t have internal speakers, we recommend you pick up Creative’s Pebble kit. Whether it’s music, You Tube videos, TV, or movies, Pebble will sound great.
    The Guru’s Tip

    Despite their name, these are definitely larger than a pebble!