How small can you comfortable go for gaming PC?

[paperfist]

I haven't build a new PC in 2-3 years so I'm really rusty on current tech.

So just curious how small of a case and MB can you use build a gaming PC with GPU & sound card?

I see Skylake will be the latest and greatest CPU soon, but it looks like they will be 95W.

Thanks for the input!

 

[dave_the_nerd]

If you want a GPU and sound card, micro-ATX. (Smallish minitowers like the Fractal Design Core 1100 or Define Mini.)

If you are willing to work with onboard sound, there mini-ITX. (SFF cubes, very small towers, like the Fractal Design Node 304 or Silverstone SG05.)

 

[DaveSimmons]

Are you sure you need the sound card? Onboard has been good for years even on budget motherboards, and if you buy a deluxe one you can get a fancier chip with dolby and/or dtx licensing.

Mini-ITX in the SG05 is pretty small.

 

[DigDog]

dont understand this craze for microscopic pcs.

full size desktops work better (if slightly), are cheaper, easier to live with / assemble / maintain / clean.

me, i also think they look better, but i am ready to accept that some people feel the opposite. but, it's still a matter of looks only.so, why go small?

 

[paperfist]

If you want a GPU and sound card, micro-ATX. (Smallish minitowers like the Fractal Design Core 1100 or Define Mini.)

If you are willing to work with onboard sound, there mini-ITX. (SFF cubes, very small towers, like the Fractal Design Node 304 or Silverstone SG05.)

Thanks Dave!

I would lean toward the mini-ITX as the micro-ATX aren't really much smaller than the ATX case I have.

Not sure I'd be able to tell the difference between on-board audio and X-Fi anymore. Doesn't look like anyone offers that onboard, only Realtek

 

[paperfist]

Are you sure you need the sound card? Onboard has been good for years even on budget motherboards, and if you buy a deluxe one you can get a fancier chip with dolby and/or dtx licensing.

Mini-ITX in the SG05 is pretty small.

I pretty much just buy into the hype of X-Fi. Not like I said really sure in a blind taste test if I could even tell the difference between on-board and Creative.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

dont understand this craze for microscopic pcs.

Because people who live in modest-sized apartments often want their bedrooms and/or living spaces to be less "batcave" and more "boudoir."

 

[paperfist]

dont understand this craze for microscopic pcs.

full size desktops work better (if slightly), are cheaper, easier to live with / assemble / maintain / clean.

me, i also think they look better, but i am ready to accept that some people feel the opposite. but, it's still a matter of looks only.so, why go small?

For me, my past 4 builds or so were micro or desktop. The last one is a beast ATX and it takes up a ton of space that my 3rd monitor could occupy.

I know full size are easier to work on, but really once I put it together I'm done. I can't remember the last time I cleaned mine Since it's on the desk it doesn't suck up as much stuff as it would being on the floor.

I stuck 3 drives in my full size figuring I'd rip my CD collection and that was a waste. Really there was no point to go that big other than the drives.

Basically I like the micro cause I can shove it behind the 3 monitors and forget it. I can't remember the last time I needed to insert a CD or hit the power button. The thing stays on 24/7. I supposed I could rig up a mount for under the desk.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I pretty much just buy into the hype of X-Fi. Not like I said really sure in a blind taste test if I could even tell the difference between on-board and Creative.

Most people can't, assuming the motherboard designers didn't do something terrible that causes interference.

Anyway, if you want a decent ITX build, you can use the one in my sig as a cheat sheet and update the parts a bit for modernity's sake. (16GB RAM vs. 8, Z97E-ITX instead of Z77E-ITX, 4690K instead of 3570K, 512GB BX100 instead of 250GB 840 EVO, Silverstone SG13 instead of SG05, etc.)

 

[paperfist]

Most people can't, assuming the motherboard designers didn't do something terrible that causes interference.

Anyway, if you want a decent ITX build, you can use the one in my sig as a cheat sheet and update the parts a bit for modernity's sake. (16GB RAM vs. 8, Z97E-ITX instead of Z77E-ITX, 4690K instead of 3570K, 512GB BX100 instead of 250GB 840 EVO, Silverstone SG13 instead of SG05, etc.)

Thanks Dave.

I don't need bleeding edge so not sure if I'll wait for this silverlake stuff, but I'd rather spend more up front then having to upgrade later.

 

[FearfulSPARTAN]

dont understand this craze for microscopic pcs.

full size desktops work better (if slightly), are cheaper, easier to live with / assemble / maintain / clean.

me, i also think they look better, but i am ready to accept that some people feel the opposite. but, it's still a matter of looks only.so, why go small?

Funny im the opposite, I dont understand why some people go with full towers other than the one or two builds where its easier to put together. Then you have a giant tower that just takes up room and I dont think looks that great. Unless your running a server the average gamer has 1-2 storage drives and maybe a dvd drive, you can easily fit all that in something that takes less than half the space.

 

[paperfist]

Can I change gears here?

My current specs are ASRock Z77 Extreme4/i5 3570k (Ivy)/Radeon 7900/32GB RAM/Samusung 830 256GB.

The main reason I wanted to build new is my GPU is dropping the 3rd monitor so it's toast. I'm not sure if I could find a mini-ITX board at this point to support my old hardware. Would that make any sense or should I just wait around for Skylake?

 

[DaveSimmons]

I'd probably be lazy and just replace the GPU, maybe with a $549 Fury Pro if tomorrow's reveal shows it's good since you like AMD?

intel hasn't done much to improve CPU performance (vs. perf / watt) since Sandy so I haven't felt any need to replace my old i5-2500 yet.

 

[paperfist]

I'd probably be lazy and just replace the GPU, maybe with a $549 Fury Pro if tomorrow's reveal shows it's good since you like AMD?

intel hasn't done much to improve CPU performance (vs. perf / watt) since Sandy so I haven't felt any need to replace my old i5-2500 yet.

I used to be an AMD only kinda guy, but now whatever is the best price/performance and no coil whine is my choice

 

[nsafreak]

I honestly doubt you'd see much of a performance increase going to Skylake and would just upgrade the GPU. It'd also be tough to find a mini ITX board that would support 32GB of memory as all of the ones currently listed on newegg only have 2 slots and IIRC the largest DDR3 memory stick available is 8GB.

edit: Looks like I was incorrect, there is one company that makes 16GB sticks but a pair of those seems to run at least $380......so something tells me that's not what you have in your system .

 

[paperfist]

I honestly doubt you'd see much of a performance increase going to Skylake and would just upgrade the GPU. It'd also be tough to find a mini ITX board that would support 32GB of memory as all of the ones currently listed on newegg only have 2 slots and IIRC the largest DDR3 memory stick available is 8GB.

edit: Looks like I was incorrect, there is one company that makes 16GB sticks but a pair of those seems to run at least $380......so something tells me that's not what you have in your system .

Oh dang you got me there. I forgot those boards only have 2 slots I'm pretty sure I have 4x8GB unless RAM was really cheap 3 years ago when I built.

Guess I'm stuck with the monster case for now.

 

[nsafreak]

Oh dang you got me there. I forgot those boards only have 2 slots I'm pretty sure I have 4x8GB unless RAM was really cheap 3 years ago when I built.

Guess I'm stuck with the monster case for now.

You'd be surprised how small micro ATX cases are nowadays. You might want to look into the Antec P50 or the Fractal Designs Node 804

 

[JimmiG]

Funny im the opposite, I dont understand why some people go with full towers other than the one or two builds where its easier to put together. Then you have a giant tower that just takes up room and I dont think looks that great. Unless your running a server the average gamer has 1-2 storage drives and maybe a dvd drive, you can easily fit all that in something that takes less than half the space.

I've had everything from Shuttle SFF's to my current Full ATX tower. I much prefer my current Fractal Design XL R2. The airflow is obviously better, and it's so much easier to work with. With the smaller cases, it was sometimes difficult to even get access to screws, SATA/power connectors and retention brackets etc, so that changing a hard drive or video card might require you to remove several other components just to give you enough room to work inside the case. It doesn't really take up more space, as it just sits in a corner under the desk.

You can go pretty small, though. For smaller cases, a "blower" type video card is better than open-air, as it will double as an extra case fan while removing most of the heat from the GPU from the inside of the case.

 

[paperfist]

You'd be surprised how small micro ATX cases are nowadays. You might want to look into the Antec P50 or the Fractal Designs Node 804

Thanks for the links NSA, the Fractal looks interesting.

 

[mfenn]

I've had everything from Shuttle SFF's to my current Full ATX tower. I much prefer my current Fractal Design XL R2. The airflow is obviously better, and it's so much easier to work with.

I don't think that you can make the claim that airflow is "obviously" better in a large case than in a small case. Sure, a large case has more fans, but it also has a lot more empty space for air to diffuse into, negating your airflow.

It really comes down to the cooling design of the specific case(s) in question.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Thanks for the links NSA, the Fractal looks interesting.

The 804 is a heck of a case. It's designed to accommodate pretty nutso water cooling setups, if you don't use all the HDD racks.

While it's compact and unobtrusive, though, it's not a "small" case.

 

[paperfist]

The 804 is a heck of a case. It's designed to accommodate pretty nutso water cooling setups, if you don't use all the HDD racks.

While it's compact and unobtrusive, though, it's not a "small" case.

Yeah I was reading the description for it and it sounded like water cooling has come a long way where it's been modularized. I doubt I'd use that, but will check it out for sure in-case it's now a no brainer instead of a mad science experiment where you had to find parts to work together and buy the biggest case on earth to fit them in.

 

[JeffMD]

I just built my new case up and was really wanting to go small. I poured over the mini ITX cases and while it is possible to do gaming rigs in them, #1 all except the EVGA case laid the motherboard down making the case super wide. Totally ugly, and #2 things just got too tight or undoable when I wanted to bring my current 3 drives (2ssd) + bd and power supply with me. I ended up going mini-atx with corsairs 350d.

Also I saw no reason to go with water cooling. overclocking in an itx case is silly and all of todays high end stuff can be cooled with quiet fans.

 

[HeXen]

About the size of a G20? I have one and put a 970gtx and SSD in it. Love it.

Here it is next to my consoles, can't even hear it at idle.

 

[paperfist]

About the size of a G20? I have one and put a 970gtx and SSD in it. Love it.



Here it is next to my consoles, can't even hear it at idle.

You have a video card in there?!?!?

Damn that would be nice, I could mount it to the back of a monitor.

EDIT: I see. didn't know Asus made desktop gaming machines now.