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$500 slimline gaming machine?

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NiHaoMike

NiHaoMike

dBa Member
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Joined
Mar 1, 2013
A friend of mine wants me to design a $500 gaming machine for him, in about the same form factor as a Blu Ray player. The target price is for the machine itself, not including OS or accessories. The case is going to be recycled from an old DVD player (about 1U height) and the PSU is going to be a surplus 1U server PSU (~$20 or so of the budget). And it doesn't need an optical drive at all, but it does need a decent GPU (960 class or so) to be worthwhile. The GPU will be installed using a PCIe right angle adapter.

What parts are recommended for making the best gaming machine possible within the $500 budget?
 
With the height of a blue ray player that seems so difficult to me,sorry I wouldnt know,just seems like such a pain when you can just get a tiny real case and build inside that,whys the machine have to be so small?
 
Partly to make the machine sort of portable (only the really expensive 980M can beat the 960 and there is currently no mobile GPU that can beat the 970), and partly for bragging rights. I sized it up and it seems quite possible to make it all fit in a 1U form factor. (A 3.5" HDD might not fit and a 2.5" might have to be used instead, depending on the size of the PSU.) The bigger question is whether or not it can be done within budget.
 
I would think the big question is what CPU and what cooler. Limited space will limit the options. For a gamer you'll want at least 4 cores, and pretty much none run cool on a stock cooler, let alone a low profile one.
 
A 1U cooler of course. They're surprisingly cheap surplus and easily handle even very hot server CPUs. I have worked on a Dell server that had two 14 core CPUs in a 1U enclosure. A more common quad core is a piece of cake in comparison.
 
Still no answer on case height.
Will a standard low profile GPU fit or are we looking at a 90° mount with a riser cable?
 
I have already found some better deals on fans. But most likely I'll be using a centrifugal fan as they provide more static pressure. The GPU will be one with a reference style cooler.

It's a 1U with the GPU installed using a 90 degree adapter.
 
Dual slot should fit. Just need to put a vent in the bottom of the case for airflow.
 
Room for an mATX board or does it need to be mITX?
Assuming the PSU you're scavenging will have ATX power connections, that is.
 
Definitely mini ITX. I have not seen a micro ATX board with a PCIe x16 as the lowest slot, which I would need to make the GPU fit.
 
After a little talking, it turns out he's willing to stretch the budget a little up to $600 or so. He was using a $500 Dell Alpha as a reference point, which while not exactly a bad machine, better could be done on that budget. A $500 build to beat the Dell would be quite easy indeed.

I found a 450W 1U Dell PSU for $15 online. It needs some mods to make it fit in that old DVD player case I reused.
 
Very ambitious project, and I'm sure it's doable with the right budget and right skillset, but it's not going to be easy.

Are you sure the case you intend on using is 1U (less than 2")? I'm guessing it's probably closer to 2U. Also, you have to keep in mind that 1U machines are terribly inefficient for cooling. You have to pack them with half a dozen or more 40x20mm fans that spin at 10-13k RPM just to keep it cool. Granted, you can certainly get by with less cooling because you're not using server class hardware, but it's going to be a loud machine and run hot no matter what. 1U cases can fit expansion cards with right angle adapters, but those are generally NICs or HBAs, not actively cooled GPUs... the cooler alone will probably be larger than the case you are planning to put it in.
 
It is in fact 1U since the PSU fits in the case (after trimming off some sheet metal) with just a few millimeters to spare.

The GPU is going to be one with a reference style cooler. Those pretty much only need a vent in the bottom and a vent in the back for cooling. A 960 isn't going to be particularly demanding, but a 970 or even 980 would be doable as higher end options.

The CPU is going to use a 1U heatsink. I plan to use a centrifugal fan for case ventilation and I might even add a thermal pad to make the top of the case act as additional heatsink area. It's only going to be a quad core and no overclocking so I don't expect very many issues with cooling.
 
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