illram
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2011
- Messages
- 1,473
So this has been a build I have been meaning to make for a while. Kaveri's new low power A10-7800 seemed like a good mix of lower power but decent gaming prowess for a very tiny (~3.7 L) enclosure. Yes, we can all go spend $1000 on a Brix Gaming NUC but where is the fun in that?
The build:
PC Hound Part List
CPU: AMD A10-7800 ($140.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XN-WIFI ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: AMD Radeon 8GB (2 x 4GB) R9 Gamer Series R938G2130U1K ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial 256GB MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 ($104.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec ISK 110 VESA ($60.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9a ($41.82 @ Amazon)
Total: $523.27
Price may include shipping, rebates, promotions, and tax
Generated by PC Hound
PC Hound does not list Pico PSU's, but I also bought a 160-XT Pico and a 144w power brick as I was not confident the stock 80w PSU would boot. It's 12v rail is only 60w and this APU has been benchmarked at >90w during gaming.
Mandatory box porn:
Next to my "old" Q11 (still a beast, has a mini 760 and a i5-2400 that continues to chug along just fine for me.) Suppose this cabinet needs a dusting...
Here is the case "naked". Front USB are still 2.0, which is sad, but oh well. I had to have this case. The PSU is still there, that would come out...
Voila. Nifty little thing, too bad it wasn't going to cut it for this build. Trying to brainstorm if I can use it somewhere else. Any ideas?
Here is the case sans PSU. The additional space would come in handy for cable management.
This is the PSU hole we are dealing with. Not big enough for the 4pin mini-Din AC on the 192w power brick sold by Mini-box for the 160-xt without screwing holes in the sides. The hole does fit the older barrel connector however.
Not perfect, however. I will need to fix that later... maybe some sort of putty or something? Tape?
The Noctua NH-L9a comes with either a backplate or standoffs for the the cooler. I wish I had known this before I bought it as I purchased this mobo due to others saying there was nothing in the way of a backplate. Had I known, I would have looked to see if another mobo had more USB 2.0 frontport headers on the mobo, as the Gigabyte only has one, leaving two of the front ports dead.
The 144w power brick is crazy big. I wish I could use the much more rationally sized Antec brick pictured next to it.
And presto! The front USB cables were a real pain to work around; getting the mobo in with those in the way was an ordeal.
Obligatory coke can pic? Nah, obligatory beer pic.
Post build observations:
- In the BIOS (when the CPU is running full blast, for some reason) I get around 60-65c temps. Normal usage gets around 40c. Have not tested it for games yet. No killawat, so no idea there.
- This thing is utterly silent. I had a brief moment of terror when I turned it on and did not hear anything, but it was all systems go.
- If you buy this case, get a mobo with more than one USB 2.0 frontport header.
- Understandably a major manufacturer like Antec probably does not want to sell a case that can only function with a Pico PSU, as that probably significantly lowers the market share for the case. But, if they had cleaved the PSU they could have shrunk the case by about an inch and a half, on par with the M-350. (Although that is also a little slimmer.)
- I love that AMD finally released the a10-7800...but I wonder how they make money off it. I can't really imagine many scenarios under which it would truly shine other than niche scenarios like this.
Later posts will have some FPS results. Huzzah!
The build:
PC Hound Part List
CPU: AMD A10-7800 ($140.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XN-WIFI ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: AMD Radeon 8GB (2 x 4GB) R9 Gamer Series R938G2130U1K ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial 256GB MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 ($104.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec ISK 110 VESA ($60.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9a ($41.82 @ Amazon)
Total: $523.27
Price may include shipping, rebates, promotions, and tax
Generated by PC Hound
PC Hound does not list Pico PSU's, but I also bought a 160-XT Pico and a 144w power brick as I was not confident the stock 80w PSU would boot. It's 12v rail is only 60w and this APU has been benchmarked at >90w during gaming.
Mandatory box porn:
Next to my "old" Q11 (still a beast, has a mini 760 and a i5-2400 that continues to chug along just fine for me.) Suppose this cabinet needs a dusting...
Here is the case "naked". Front USB are still 2.0, which is sad, but oh well. I had to have this case. The PSU is still there, that would come out...
Voila. Nifty little thing, too bad it wasn't going to cut it for this build. Trying to brainstorm if I can use it somewhere else. Any ideas?
Here is the case sans PSU. The additional space would come in handy for cable management.
This is the PSU hole we are dealing with. Not big enough for the 4pin mini-Din AC on the 192w power brick sold by Mini-box for the 160-xt without screwing holes in the sides. The hole does fit the older barrel connector however.
Not perfect, however. I will need to fix that later... maybe some sort of putty or something? Tape?
The Noctua NH-L9a comes with either a backplate or standoffs for the the cooler. I wish I had known this before I bought it as I purchased this mobo due to others saying there was nothing in the way of a backplate. Had I known, I would have looked to see if another mobo had more USB 2.0 frontport headers on the mobo, as the Gigabyte only has one, leaving two of the front ports dead.
The 144w power brick is crazy big. I wish I could use the much more rationally sized Antec brick pictured next to it.
And presto! The front USB cables were a real pain to work around; getting the mobo in with those in the way was an ordeal.
Obligatory coke can pic? Nah, obligatory beer pic.
Post build observations:
- In the BIOS (when the CPU is running full blast, for some reason) I get around 60-65c temps. Normal usage gets around 40c. Have not tested it for games yet. No killawat, so no idea there.
- This thing is utterly silent. I had a brief moment of terror when I turned it on and did not hear anything, but it was all systems go.
- If you buy this case, get a mobo with more than one USB 2.0 frontport header.
- Understandably a major manufacturer like Antec probably does not want to sell a case that can only function with a Pico PSU, as that probably significantly lowers the market share for the case. But, if they had cleaved the PSU they could have shrunk the case by about an inch and a half, on par with the M-350. (Although that is also a little slimmer.)
- I love that AMD finally released the a10-7800...but I wonder how they make money off it. I can't really imagine many scenarios under which it would truly shine other than niche scenarios like this.
Later posts will have some FPS results. Huzzah!