The Slim Machine
Here's a log for my next scratch build. I will go even smaller with this case, and going air cooled. The purpose for this build is to have a Steam Machine-like gaming/entertainment computer that can fit in my living room setup as with gaming consoles (though I don't own any consoles right now). It is not meant to be super powerful, but still good enough to run most games at 1080p in at least medium settings. Small size, low cost and power consumption will take priority over maximum performance. With that said, I will overclock a Pentium G3258 to see how far I can push it with this setup.
This was an off-shoot from my Golden Box build log that I recently started, but the form factor of that planned case wasn't slim enough for my states. I had to go even slimmer! So I think it's different enough to get its own build log. This will be a slow planning process at first, since I already have a working PC and can't afford to finish another complete PC at the moment.
I mainly drew inspiration from the NFS S3 cases and the PlayStation 4. It will be about as thin as both, but they will be somewhat larger in width and depth, though not much larger than the PS4.
Here are the goals for this case:
Parts List
For reference here is my first scratch build (which I am still working on). It is 6 x 12 x 13 inches in size. The Slim Machine will be about 1/3 of that size.
Some notes on the case and components:
I also have a 2U 90 degree PCIe riser, and have ordered an extender. The extender will attach to the riser to move the GPU farther away from the motherboard, without having the bracket run into it. I'm also open to the idea of using a flexible riser, which will make cutting out the back panel much easier.
You might be asking, why a 250w power supply if an equally matched DC-DC power supply will also do the job?
Three reasons:
- It's simply cheaper to buy the Seasonic PSU than it is to buy a Pico PSU and the AC-DC power brick together.
- I want to take full use of the space a 12 x 12 in case would provide. A 1U Flex ATX power supply would fully integrate into the case well, and a similarly sized power brick would just look ghetto stuffed in there with added cables to the mix.
- It will give me some headroom to upgrade CPU and GPU to more powerful ones, such as the MSI 760 Gaming ITX. But the way Maxwell is going, they might surprise us with future low power graphics cards. GPU choice has recently been made easier. I'm now set on the GTX 960.
The Slim Machine will be shorter than the max height of the ITX spec, but it's meant only to accommodate the most low profile fans and memory (though standard memory heatsinks would likely fit too).
Here's a log for my next scratch build. I will go even smaller with this case, and going air cooled. The purpose for this build is to have a Steam Machine-like gaming/entertainment computer that can fit in my living room setup as with gaming consoles (though I don't own any consoles right now). It is not meant to be super powerful, but still good enough to run most games at 1080p in at least medium settings. Small size, low cost and power consumption will take priority over maximum performance. With that said, I will overclock a Pentium G3258 to see how far I can push it with this setup.
This was an off-shoot from my Golden Box build log that I recently started, but the form factor of that planned case wasn't slim enough for my states. I had to go even slimmer! So I think it's different enough to get its own build log. This will be a slow planning process at first, since I already have a working PC and can't afford to finish another complete PC at the moment.
I mainly drew inspiration from the NFS S3 cases and the PlayStation 4. It will be about as thin as both, but they will be somewhat larger in width and depth, though not much larger than the PS4.
Here are the goals for this case:
- Roughly two inches in height and ~5 L volume at the most
- Slimmest form factor that will fit an optical drive
- Smooth 1080p gameplay for nearly all games
- Easy to build and designed with user-friendly upgrading in mind
- Could accommodate expansion cards up to 10.5 inches in length
- No external PSU or power adapter, all internal
Parts List
- Motherboard: Mini-ITX H87 or H97 motherboard
- Processor: Intel Core i3 or i5 processor (max. 55w TDP)
- Memory: 8GB DDR3-1600 RAM[/B]
- Graphics: GTX 960 (overclocked version possible)
- Storage: 2.5" 1 TB hard drive, maybe also a 120GB SSD for the OS
- Power: Seasonic 250SU 80 Plus (already bought)
- Optical Drive: Panasonic UJ265 6X Blu-Ray burner (already bought)
- CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i or Silverstone AR05
For reference here is my first scratch build (which I am still working on). It is 6 x 12 x 13 inches in size. The Slim Machine will be about 1/3 of that size.
Some notes on the case and components:
I also have a 2U 90 degree PCIe riser, and have ordered an extender. The extender will attach to the riser to move the GPU farther away from the motherboard, without having the bracket run into it. I'm also open to the idea of using a flexible riser, which will make cutting out the back panel much easier.
You might be asking, why a 250w power supply if an equally matched DC-DC power supply will also do the job?
Three reasons:
- It's simply cheaper to buy the Seasonic PSU than it is to buy a Pico PSU and the AC-DC power brick together.
- I want to take full use of the space a 12 x 12 in case would provide. A 1U Flex ATX power supply would fully integrate into the case well, and a similarly sized power brick would just look ghetto stuffed in there with added cables to the mix.
- It will give me some headroom to upgrade CPU and GPU to more powerful ones, such as the MSI 760 Gaming ITX. But the way Maxwell is going, they might surprise us with future low power graphics cards. GPU choice has recently been made easier. I'm now set on the GTX 960.
The Slim Machine will be shorter than the max height of the ITX spec, but it's meant only to accommodate the most low profile fans and memory (though standard memory heatsinks would likely fit too).