Small Gaming PC's

p-b · 16th May 2012, 17:34

Hiya, just wanting to know what options are there out there in the way of small gaming PC's (as oppose to full tower cases).

The only purpose built or pre-made option that I can see is Dell's X51. Would there be anything else out there in the same vein?

I'm sure that there are many out there that would cringe at the thought of purchasing from Dell but the X51 does meet my requirements for it being small and not taking up too much space, as well as budget of not too much more than $2000. And my Dell XPS Laptop has served me well and reliably also.

Any comments on the specs for that in terms of what it is and what it costs?

To me they don't seem to bad for what you get (and in the form factor of the small case) but then I've been a bit out of touch with PC gaming for a while.

Research on upgradability seems to indicate that you do have a be a bit selective about which video cards can be put into it, but it does have the ability to upgrade the card, cpu, hard drive etc...

Alternatively, would I be able to do a lot better for my budget by building something myself? (keeping in mind my wanting something in a small form factor).

I'm not averse to building something myself, but I'm guessing the only option would be a mid-tower case? I guess the smaller cases wouldn't fit the large graphics cards that are out there these days?

I'm guessing most mid-tower cases would only fit m-atx motherboards, but are I'm guessing there'd be a trade off in grunt? And I guess you'd have to be wary of overheating airflow etc with smaller cases? (as oppose to the X51 which I guess would have been designed to have better airflow, cooling etc)

Can anyone suggest a smaller more compact case that would be suitable for the building of a smaller gaming system?

Otherwise, if it's not that easy, I guess I'll just stick with the X51 as I'm not as keen to faff about with tricky system building as I once was and buying something purpose built or pre-made is always preferable.

Saladin · 16th May 2012, 17:38

In before p01s0n recommends a macbook air.

crocos · 16th May 2012, 18:09

In before "Get a console".

Also there's no real trade-off in power with many of the mATX motherboards. If you were looking ITX, then yes, but you can build a top-end system in some remarkably small cases nowdays.

If you don't want the "all-in-one"-ish-ness of a laptop, why not consider a Shuttle barebones setup? Add a high end gfx card, a SSD, CPU and RAM and you're away laughing.

They're not bleeding edge, but they're remarkably solid.

p01s0n · 16th May 2012, 18:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saladin

In before p01s0n recommends a macbook air.

Madman · 16th May 2012, 18:43

No complain of product from Dell at all. Haven't used any of their Alienware gear though.

crocos · 16th May 2012, 19:14

Another option if you don't want to go down the gaming-laptop route is a case like this:
http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=317 (Around $320 incl 80+ cert PSU)

With a motherboard like one of these:
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z77E-ITX (Around $285)
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Int...t_1155/P8H77I/ (Around $205)
Which are both rocking the Z77 chipset (Ivy Bridge support, PCIe-16 3.0, etc)

So include shipping and call that $~650 for case, PSU and motherboard, leaving ~$1350 for CPU, RAM, SSD, cheap DVD drive and a full-size graphics card - should be able to get a nice system out of that.

p-b · 16th May 2012, 22:43

Thanks for the suggestions Crocos (already have consoles, but I've been missing PC gaming of late for some reason).

re: gaming laptop, I was always thought you would get less bang for buck as far as cost vs grunt with gaming laptops?

And was under the impression you wouldn't be able to fit a high end graphics card in a shuttle PC case, plus you'd have not end of cooling issues... but I guess I was wrong!

Shows how out of touch I am with PC components and hardware nowadays.

p-b · 17th May 2012, 11:54

Hmm, can't seem to find a supplier for that ASRock motherboard, otherwise it would be tempting. Where were you getting the price from, Crocos?

Question about RAM, it seems like 1333 or 1600 Mhz RAM is the flavour at the moment, is there a heck of a lot of difference in performance with the two speeds?

Oh and is there much difference in performance between and i5 or i7 processor of similar speed?

crocos · 17th May 2012, 13:24

The ASRock I saw on techworld.co.nz [link] marked as "Please contact for stock info"

Not overly impressed with their site (lots of images are proken, but that might just be work's wierd proxy), no idea what they're like as a retailer, but that's the only Z77 ITX-format motherboard I was able to find in NZ.

Oh yeah, you probably already saw the 2nd board I linked was the H77 chipset, not the Z77; Z77 is the enthusiast one, but I doubt you'd notice that much difference in real world performance.... but take that with a grain of salt as I haven't looked at any comparison benchies.

p-b · 17th May 2012, 15:09

Yeah, looks like the H77 is the way to go as I will never wish to overclock it.

Rangoon Attack · 17th May 2012, 16:15

how small do you want?
I built (what was high end at the time) a gaming rig in a SilverStone home theatre pc case, it's about the same size as my Denon receiver, only issue was I had to cut the chassis slightly to be able to fit the 5870 in there, and cable management isn't that great due to the mounting position of the PSU (in hindsight I should've spent the extra on a modular PSU)

crocos · 17th May 2012, 16:21

RA: The Silverstone case I linked above is about the same volume as a receiver, just a bit taller & not as wide, takes ITX mobos

Cowboy · 17th May 2012, 16:39

paging Stalk3r

crocos · 17th May 2012, 17:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cowboy

paging Stalk3r

The whip has been cracked. He'll take a look soon - just balls-deep in some quotes at the moment.

Yeaaah, just think about that for a minute. How does that even work?

And I have been threatened with death most foul over the mention of ASRock. If I attend Auckmageddon and don't survive, this'll be why.

Cowboy · 17th May 2012, 17:09

Well I have heard he keeps the quotes in his trousers for safe keeping. Probably why they have marks and moist patches.

You don't get that level of attention and personality with the azn sweat/computer shops.

Stalk3r · 17th May 2012, 17:32

fuck you guys, f'real

p-b, i can halp, ill put together a price for you soon

email stalk3r at mofo.net.nz and ill do what i can

p-b · 17th May 2012, 17:48

I've already got the case that crocos suggested, really liked the look of it.

But if I can get assistance with the rest of the components I would be most greatful!

e-mail sent!

crocos · 17th May 2012, 17:50

Dude, that case DOES limit your options to only ITX motherboards, which considerably limits your options.

I would have held off until you'd planned out your build so that you know everything fits. That horrible hindsight shit again

But for a full-PC in ITX size, yeah, it's a good case (or so say the reviews)

p-b · 17th May 2012, 17:59

No worries,

To be honest, the case you suggested was exactly what I was wanting, so I can handle the fact that it limits my options, so hopefully stalk3r can help with that.

crocos · 17th May 2012, 18:15

Zotac have a rep for solid mini ITX kit: Here's Z77 and H77 product pages.

Edit: actually I'm going to duck out now before Stalk3r stabs me for real

Stalk3r · 17th May 2012, 18:16

im fucking magical, ask anyone, shit ive got hammer and other tools, itll fit

Stalk3r · 17th May 2012, 18:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by crocos

Edit: actually I'm going to duck out now before Stalk3r stabs me for real

i wont stab you, ill just shit in the next parcel i send you

crocos · 17th May 2012, 19:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stalk3r

i wont stab you, ill just shit in the next parcel i send you

Happy, happy, happy! Joy, joy, joy!

Golden Teapot · 17th May 2012, 19:02

Buy and iPad, an Apple TV, and all the games you could possibly want to play for $2k.

The PC is dead. Give it five years and kids will not know what one is.

crocos · 17th May 2012, 19:10

I'd call you a troll, except you're deluded enough to actually believe what you just stated.

Bent · 17th May 2012, 20:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golden Teapot

Buy and iPad, an Apple TV, and all the games you could possibly want to play for $2k.

The PC is dead. Give it five years and kids will not know what one is.

Have you ever actually played a first person shooter for more than a little bit?

Golden Teapot · 17th May 2012, 21:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bent

Have you ever actually played a first person shooter for more than a little bit?

Well I started with four-player Doom, I was in a Q1 CTF clan (though I freely admit I wasn't a great player), and I've played a great many others too just as you'd imagine. So, yes I guess I have.

The original TF was my favorite. As you'd imagine I played spy and loved it since it involved a lot of stabbing unsuspecting people in the back.

crocos · 17th May 2012, 21:29

I bet your biggest regret was that TF didn't have a cannibal class.

p-b · 17th May 2012, 22:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golden Teapot

The original TF was my favorite. As you'd imagine I played spy and loved it since it involved a lot of stabbing unsuspecting people in the back.

Ahh, I remember playing spy and gassing the spawn in 2fort.

Always loved seeing the endless list of "xxxx has choked to death on Poo-Bum's noxious gasses"...

p-b · 18th June 2012, 13:33

So just wanted to give public kudos to Stalk3r for the patience and assistance he has been giving in putting my PC together.

After about a bajillion emails to and fro, and after probably just as many inane questions from myself, the end is in sight!

Cheers Stalk3r!

On a side note, gmail's webmail (when it's all you have access to at work) is a fucking nightmare when it's the only option you have for reading/replying to regular email conversation.

Stalk3r · 18th June 2012, 15:59

<3

also youre shit at replying to emails :P

Baal · 18th June 2012, 16:18

Get a Macbook air.

p01s0n · 18th June 2012, 16:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baal

Get a Macbook air.

yeah this

pxpx · 18th June 2012, 17:09

Would be interested to see the end result and price list

(or just end price range)

p-b · 18th June 2012, 19:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by pxpx

Would be interested to see the end result and price list

(or just end price range)

Ah yeah, probably going be be a lot higher than I intended...

I didn't buy everything all in one go, so I kind of let the budget slip each time.

Also, my initial thinking was that I would building something upgradeable, but then I thought "fuckit, I'll just buy the best I can get" as this may be the last PC I put together for a while.

Will tally everything up once I've finished.

Spoon1 · 18th June 2012, 21:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by p-b

On a side note, gmail's webmail (when it's all you have access to at work) is a fucking nightmare when it's the only option you have for reading/replying to regular email conversation.

How so? I use webmail only for work and prefer it now to Thunderbird which I was using.

wazza · 18th June 2012, 21:56

I'm currently struggling with people who feel like p-b

I'm in the middle of migrating a rather large company from Lotus Notes to Gmail.

It's all about Labs tbh

p-b · 19th June 2012, 08:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spoon1

How so? I use webmail only for work and prefer it now to Thunderbird which I was using.

I guess it's a preference thing.

I like the conversation view, but I guess I just don't like how it sticks the latest message at the bottom, under the compacted/accordioned history.

When you have to click into the history of emails to find something, I find it hard to find what I'm wanting to find.

I'm looking through the settings but I can't seem to find if there's a way to display the latest at the top.

p-b · 24th June 2012, 18:31

So final specs I ended up with were:

Asus PZ77-I Deluxe Mobo
Intel i7 3770 3.4Ghz CPU (slightly overclocked to 3.5)
8 gig 1333 Kingston ram
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680
Intel 180gig SSD

Everything is quite literally crammed into the Silverstone SG08 case that I got.

The video card pretty much only just fits. When screwing the big chassis fan back in, it just touches the plasic fan casing on the video card, but not detrimentally so.

The biggest challenge was organising the internal cabling in such as way as to not obstruct airflow straight down onto the motherboard. I ended up having to take the dvd/optical drive bracket out as I wasn't planning to install a DVD drive anyway. So that made things much easier and created a lot of space for me to get the internal cabling up and out of the way.

The only thing I'm worried about is the wiring from the chassis fan getting into the CPU heatsink fan.

Heatwise, the CPU sits at 29 degrees when idling. About an hour of playing ArmaII and DayZ (which runs extremely smoothly with everything up high) leaves it at about 45-50 degrees. Not sure about the video card...

Pretty happy with the result though, have a nice wee gaming system which doesn't take up too much space.

Only advice to anyone else putting one of these together would be to play close attention to the component dimensions!

crocos · 24th June 2012, 19:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by p-b

The only thing I'm worried about is the wiring from the chassis fan getting into the CPU heatsink fan.

Get some thin fine mesh from Bunnings or Mitre10, trim to size (and file / sand / grind off the sharp edges) then tack it over the fan.

16th May 2012, 17:34	#1
p-b	Small Gaming PC's Hiya, just wanting to know what options are there out there in the way of small gaming PC's (as oppose to full tower cases). The only purpose built or pre-made option that I can see is Dell's X51. Would there be anything else out there in the same vein? I'm sure that there are many out there that would cringe at the thought of purchasing from Dell but the X51 does meet my requirements for it being small and not taking up too much space, as well as budget of not too much more than $2000. And my Dell XPS Laptop has served me well and reliably also. Any comments on the specs for that in terms of what it is and what it costs? To me they don't seem to bad for what you get (and in the form factor of the small case) but then I've been a bit out of touch with PC gaming for a while. Research on upgradability seems to indicate that you do have a be a bit selective about which video cards can be put into it, but it does have the ability to upgrade the card, cpu, hard drive etc... Alternatively, would I be able to do a lot better for my budget by building something myself? (keeping in mind my wanting something in a small form factor). I'm not averse to building something myself, but I'm guessing the only option would be a mid-tower case? I guess the smaller cases wouldn't fit the large graphics cards that are out there these days? I'm guessing most mid-tower cases would only fit m-atx motherboards, but are I'm guessing there'd be a trade off in grunt? And I guess you'd have to be wary of overheating airflow etc with smaller cases? (as oppose to the X51 which I guess would have been designed to have better airflow, cooling etc) Can anyone suggest a smaller more compact case that would be suitable for the building of a smaller gaming system? Otherwise, if it's not that easy, I guess I'll just stick with the X51 as I'm not as keen to faff about with tricky system building as I once was and buying something purpose built or pre-made is always preferable. Last edited by p-b : 16th May 2012 at 17:37.

16th May 2012, 17:38	#2
Saladin Nothing to See Here!	In before p01s0n recommends a macbook air.

16th May 2012, 18:09	#3
crocos	In before "Get a console". Also there's no real trade-off in power with many of the mATX motherboards. If you were looking ITX, then yes, but you can build a top-end system in some remarkably small cases nowdays. If you don't want the "all-in-one"-ish-ness of a laptop, why not consider a Shuttle barebones setup? Add a high end gfx card, a SSD, CPU and RAM and you're away laughing. They're not bleeding edge, but they're remarkably solid. __________________ Ξ √ Ω L U T ↑ ☼ N وكل يوم كنت تعيش في العبودية Last edited by crocos : 16th May 2012 at 18:13.

16th May 2012, 18:43	#5
Madman	No complain of product from Dell at all. Haven't used any of their Alienware gear though.

16th May 2012, 19:14	#6
crocos	Another option if you don't want to go down the gaming-laptop route is a case like this: http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=317 (Around $320 incl 80+ cert PSU) With a motherboard like one of these: http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z77E-ITX (Around $285) http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Int...t_1155/P8H77I/ (Around $205) Which are both rocking the Z77 chipset (Ivy Bridge support, PCIe-16 3.0, etc) So include shipping and call that $~650 for case, PSU and motherboard, leaving ~$1350 for CPU, RAM, SSD, cheap DVD drive and a full-size graphics card - should be able to get a nice system out of that. __________________ Ξ √ Ω L U T ↑ ☼ N وكل يوم كنت تعيش في العبودية Last edited by crocos : 16th May 2012 at 19:18.

16th May 2012, 22:43	#7
p-b	Thanks for the suggestions Crocos (already have consoles, but I've been missing PC gaming of late for some reason). re: gaming laptop, I was always thought you would get less bang for buck as far as cost vs grunt with gaming laptops? And was under the impression you wouldn't be able to fit a high end graphics card in a shuttle PC case, plus you'd have not end of cooling issues... but I guess I was wrong! Shows how out of touch I am with PC components and hardware nowadays. Last edited by p-b : 16th May 2012 at 22:45.

17th May 2012, 11:54	#8
p-b	Hmm, can't seem to find a supplier for that ASRock motherboard, otherwise it would be tempting. Where were you getting the price from, Crocos? Question about RAM, it seems like 1333 or 1600 Mhz RAM is the flavour at the moment, is there a heck of a lot of difference in performance with the two speeds? Oh and is there much difference in performance between and i5 or i7 processor of similar speed? Last edited by p-b : 17th May 2012 at 11:55.

17th May 2012, 13:24	#9
crocos	The ASRock I saw on techworld.co.nz [link] marked as "Please contact for stock info" Not overly impressed with their site (lots of images are proken, but that might just be work's wierd proxy), no idea what they're like as a retailer, but that's the only Z77 ITX-format motherboard I was able to find in NZ. Oh yeah, you probably already saw the 2nd board I linked was the H77 chipset, not the Z77; Z77 is the enthusiast one, but I doubt you'd notice that much difference in real world performance.... but take that with a grain of salt as I haven't looked at any comparison benchies. __________________ Ξ √ Ω L U T ↑ ☼ N وكل يوم كنت تعيش في العبودية Last edited by crocos : 17th May 2012 at 13:28.

17th May 2012, 15:09	#10
p-b	Yeah, looks like the H77 is the way to go as I will never wish to overclock it.

17th May 2012, 16:15	#11
Rangoon Attack	how small do you want? I built (what was high end at the time) a gaming rig in a SilverStone home theatre pc case, it's about the same size as my Denon receiver, only issue was I had to cut the chassis slightly to be able to fit the 5870 in there, and cable management isn't that great due to the mounting position of the PSU (in hindsight I should've spent the extra on a modular PSU)

17th May 2012, 16:21	#12
crocos	RA: The Silverstone case I linked above is about the same volume as a receiver, just a bit taller & not as wide, takes ITX mobos __________________ Ξ √ Ω L U T ↑ ☼ N وكل يوم كنت تعيش في العبودية Last edited by crocos : 17th May 2012 at 16:26.

17th May 2012, 17:09	#15
Cowboy	Well I have heard he keeps the quotes in his trousers for safe keeping. Probably why they have marks and moist patches. You don't get that level of attention and personality with the azn sweat/computer shops.

17th May 2012, 17:32	#16
Stalk3r	fuck you guys, f'real p-b, i can halp, ill put together a price for you soon email stalk3r at mofo.net.nz and ill do what i can

17th May 2012, 17:48	#17
p-b	I've already got the case that crocos suggested, really liked the look of it. But if I can get assistance with the rest of the components I would be most greatful! e-mail sent!

17th May 2012, 17:50	#18
crocos	Dude, that case DOES limit your options to only ITX motherboards, which considerably limits your options. I would have held off until you'd planned out your build so that you know everything fits. That horrible hindsight shit again But for a full-PC in ITX size, yeah, it's a good case (or so say the reviews) __________________ Ξ √ Ω L U T ↑ ☼ N وكل يوم كنت تعيش في العبودية Last edited by crocos : 17th May 2012 at 17:51.

17th May 2012, 17:59	#19
p-b	No worries, To be honest, the case you suggested was exactly what I was wanting, so I can handle the fact that it limits my options, so hopefully stalk3r can help with that.

17th May 2012, 18:15	#20
crocos	Zotac have a rep for solid mini ITX kit: Here's Z77 and H77 product pages. Edit: actually I'm going to duck out now before Stalk3r stabs me for real __________________ Ξ √ Ω L U T ↑ ☼ N وكل يوم كنت تعيش في العبودية Last edited by crocos : 17th May 2012 at 18:16.

17th May 2012, 18:16	#21
Stalk3r	im fucking magical, ask anyone, shit ive got hammer and other tools, itll fit

17th May 2012, 19:02	#24
Golden Teapot Love, Actuary	Buy and iPad, an Apple TV, and all the games you could possibly want to play for $2k. The PC is dead. Give it five years and kids will not know what one is.

17th May 2012, 19:10	#25
crocos	I'd call you a troll, except you're deluded enough to actually believe what you just stated. __________________ Ξ √ Ω L U T ↑ ☼ N وكل يوم كنت تعيش في العبودية

17th May 2012, 21:29	#28
crocos	I bet your biggest regret was that TF didn't have a cannibal class. __________________ Ξ √ Ω L U T ↑ ☼ N وكل يوم كنت تعيش في العبودية

18th June 2012, 13:33	#30
p-b	So just wanted to give public kudos to Stalk3r for the patience and assistance he has been giving in putting my PC together. After about a bajillion emails to and fro, and after probably just as many inane questions from myself, the end is in sight! Cheers Stalk3r! On a side note, gmail's webmail (when it's all you have access to at work) is a fucking nightmare when it's the only option you have for reading/replying to regular email conversation.

18th June 2012, 15:59	#31
Stalk3r	<3 also youre shit at replying to emails :P

18th June 2012, 16:18	#32
Baal	Get a Macbook air. __________________ Your a homo.

18th June 2012, 17:09	#34
pxpx	Would be interested to see the end result and price list (or just end price range)

18th June 2012, 21:56	#37
wazza flex	I'm currently struggling with people who feel like p-b I'm in the middle of migrating a rather large company from Lotus Notes to Gmail. It's all about Labs tbh

24th June 2012, 18:31	#39
p-b	So final specs I ended up with were: Asus PZ77-I Deluxe Mobo Intel i7 3770 3.4Ghz CPU (slightly overclocked to 3.5) 8 gig 1333 Kingston ram Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 Intel 180gig SSD Everything is quite literally crammed into the Silverstone SG08 case that I got. The video card pretty much only just fits. When screwing the big chassis fan back in, it just touches the plasic fan casing on the video card, but not detrimentally so. The biggest challenge was organising the internal cabling in such as way as to not obstruct airflow straight down onto the motherboard. I ended up having to take the dvd/optical drive bracket out as I wasn't planning to install a DVD drive anyway. So that made things much easier and created a lot of space for me to get the internal cabling up and out of the way. The only thing I'm worried about is the wiring from the chassis fan getting into the CPU heatsink fan. Heatwise, the CPU sits at 29 degrees when idling. About an hour of playing ArmaII and DayZ (which runs extremely smoothly with everything up high) leaves it at about 45-50 degrees. Not sure about the video card... Pretty happy with the result though, have a nice wee gaming system which doesn't take up too much space. Only advice to anyone else putting one of these together would be to play close attention to the component dimensions!