SFF silent gaming PC

Hi All,

As per the title, I'm after a small form factor case that can fit a full size GPU. I'll likely be moving it from place to place. It'll be probably being used on a TV more than a monitor, so 1080p is fine.

Is the best bang for buck still an i5? What about GPU?

I'd prefer to stick with Intel/nVidia as they're better for Linux in case it gets repurposed later in its life.

Games wise it'll be playing casual stuff, platformers, maybe some racers, things you'd use a console for - certainly not FPS stuff though.

In terms of priorities it needs to be:

1) Quiet
2) Small
3) Fast

Recommendations?

Ta...

b0redom

To hit all those right on the nail it is not going to be

4) Cheap

:D

Do you have a budget in mind?

Are you thinking small tower, shoebox or HTPC style flat box to go in an AV rack?

Edit: Are you in a hurry? Polaris would be ideal for this.

Yeah I know. That's why I put it at #4. Shoebox/htpc size max. I don't want to have to lug it about. I have a Haswell NUC in a passive case which is pretty much the perfect size, but the integrated Intel gpu is pants.

Difficult without a budget but I suppose you're mostly just looking for advice about the case and everything else should be relatively easy:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: *Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (£97.26 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Asus B150I PRO GAMING/WIFI/AURA Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard (£100.90 @ More Computers)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£55.48 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.95 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 960 4GB Video Card (£190.66 @ More Computers)

Case: Lian-Li PC-Q08B Mini ITX Tower Case (£78.41 @ CCL Computers)

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cas...c-q08-review/1

Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Gold 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply (£79.97 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £642.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-13 00:45 BST+0100

Don't really have a budget in mind. Ideally I'd like a smaller case than the above though. Is it possible to shoe horn the above into something smaller?

Let me get back to you in the evening as I should have some ideas for a build. I would wait a month or so for the card as Polaris should push card prices down and the pound is weak so the GTX960 has gone up a lot in price.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by b0redom

Don't really have a budget in mind. Ideally I'd like a smaller case than the above though. Is it possible to shoe horn the above into something smaller?

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Smaller usually means harder to cool and keep quiet, so it can be a compromise. I never did get my CoolerMaster Elite 130 case to a point where I am happy with it.

This is also why I was asking about style of case, that small tower seems to take a desktop footprint of 227mm x 345mm, some cases aren't as tall but add to the footprint as they need a similar volume. If it is going on top of a desk, footprint can me more important than volume.

This case looks quite nice, though I haven't tried using one and at 10l volume you are probably looking at bus powered graphics cards to keep the heat and fan noise under control: http://www.ebuyer.com/741749-fractal...ca-node-202-bk

http://img.ebyrcdn.net/734623-741748-800.jpg

I would suggest having a good browse at the cases, tell us what takes your fancy: http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Componen...Mini-ITX-Cases

One thing I feel fairly sure of is that one of the two skylake i3s (6100 or 6300) are a must for a quiet, fast system - they are high-powered enough but low TDP.

I didn't include an SSD in your build for no particular reason but a 128gb for OS is a must these days, I like the A-data sp600.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/silv...case-sstrvz02b

And yeah would also wait for your gpu, but no reason you can't spec out and even build the rest beforehand.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by b0redom

I have a Haswell NUC in a passive case which is pretty much the perfect size, but the integrated Intel gpu is pants.

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Forget self-assembly then, the companies offering components are being very sluggish in coming up with any sort of MiniPC standard and the smallest computers using existing standards are at least five times the size of the larger NUC cases.

The smallest case of that type I'm aware of is the A4 SFX project at 7.25L whose funding campaign starts in the next couple of weeks:
https://hardforum.com/threads/dan-a4...world.1799326/

If you want 2-3 litres you're looking at custom systems such as Zotac's EN970, Alienware's Alpha or Intel's Skull Canyon

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DanceswithUnix

... This case looks quite nice, though I haven't tried using one and at 10l volume you are probably looking at bus powered graphics cards to keep the heat and fan noise under control: http://www.ebuyer.com/741749-fractal...ca-node-202-bk ...

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Oooh, that's a cruel thing to show a SFF enthusiast with no money.... ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EndlessWaves

... The smallest case of that type I'm aware of is the A4 SFX project at 7.25L whose funding campaign starts in the next couple of weeks:
https://hardforum.com/threads/dan-a4...world.1799326/ ...

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Hm, that shares a lot of design features the mITX micro-tower design I came up with years back (including using an x16 PCIe ribbon cable to stick the GPU behind the mobo). Nothing new under the sun, huh ;)

Found the thread I originally posted that design in: http://forums.hexus.net/chassis-mods...ml#post2285457

I got that down to 8.25l with a 1U PSU so not quite so small - but then again I wasn't designing for absolute size - nowadays I'd ditch the optical drive and 3.5" SSD... which would let me move the PSU from under the GPU and reduce the height a lot (although I think the proportions of my design are more aesthetically pleasing ;) )

CM Elite 110 for case? Or SilverStone SG13b / SG13b-q?

Fractal Node 2 ?
Silverstone CS01S ?