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Smallest possible gaming system #2

C

chx

Gawd
Joined
Jun 21, 2011
Messages
698
I was trying to figure out for a little while now how can one build a very small, powerful and quiet system. Right now my thought is:

  1. Giada MI-Z68 from E-ITX
  2. i5-2400S.
  3. mSATA HDD
  4. Thermaltake X3 slim.
  5. XFX Double D or MSI similar double fan Radeon 7770 oriented such that the cooler faces upwards. Warm air goes upwards and see the next two points for case :) this will need a flexible PCIe riser going under the card all the way through if I am not mistaken.
  6. Just a piece of plastic (or wood) board to lay (and screw with a few washings) the two PCB on it.
  7. cover with modders mesh, sides too if I can bend if not then standoffs.
  8. picoPSU w/ 12V, 16A adapter. The system is <150W so even the 12.5A would do but I don't like cutting it that close to save $5.

The whole thing is about 27*20*5 cm. If the cooling is not adequate for the video card then strip the fans from that and the X3 too and cover the whole shebang with a 230*200mm fan.
 
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chx said:
I was trying to figure out for a little while now how can one build a very small, powerful and quiet system. Right now my thought is:

  1. Giada MI-Z68 from E-ITX
  2. i5-2400S.
  3. mSATA HDD
  4. Thermaltake X3 slim.
  5. XFX Double D or MSI similar double fan Radeon 7770 oriented such that the cooler faces upwards. Warm air goes upwards and see the next two points for case :) this will need a flexible PCIe riser going under the card all the way through if I am not mistaken.
  6. Just a piece of plastic (or wood) board to lay (and screw with a few washings) the two PCB on it.
  7. cover with modders mesh, sides too if I can bend if not then standoffs.
  8. picoPSU w/ 12V, 16A adapter. The system is <150W so even the 12.5A would do but I don't like cutting it that close to save $5.

The whole thing is about 27*20*5 cm. If the cooling is not adequate for the video card then strip the fans from that and the X3 too and cover the whole shebang with a 230*200mm fan.
Click to expand...
I don't see why you'd use the Giada, there are plenty of other, more available, more reliable boards around, especially if you're not overclocking.
 
Because it has an mSATA slot and another for wifi. That's unique.
 
Another thing: to power the video card, use a P4 12V Y cable directly from the AC adapter (it has such a connector) which gives me 2 12V and 2 GND, use a Molex to PCI Express converter to get the 3rd GND pin and move the other four molex pins into the PCI Express connector.

Also, I will remove the PCIe slot cover and use those holes as well to secure the card directly on the base board.
 
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I am not so sure. The Ultrabook CPUs are slower. While TB is fast, you are inevitably creating a bottleneck. Right now, at most, what you have, x1 2.0? If that. PCIe x1 1.0 is more realistic.

Also, the price of such a system would be staggering. Ultrabook ~$1K, TB breakout boxi is around $300 (vidock+TB-to-expresscard is around that). Finally, the volume of your system for this cost will only be a little smaller than mine.
 
A Raspberry Pi offers XBox-level gaming performance for $35 and it's about a quarter the size of what you're talking about.

I kid, I kid.
 
I admire the Raspberry Pi as I have learned programming on a ZX Spectrum in 1985 and so giving access to the wonderful world of computing via a simple cheap device sounds a great idea. On the other hand, my admiration does not mean the BCM2835 can hold a candle to a Core i5 :) not to mention comparing the (very nice) VideoCore IV to a Radeon 7770. I'd be willing to bet a little money on the Radeon even in a Radeon 6310 vs VideoCore IV battle :)
 
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