thinking about building a mini gaming computer

[poppedkernel]

My grandmother just got a new laptop that goes a clockwork orange on her mini desktop. and I'm thinking about buying it (or just asking very nicely if I can have it if I can transfer everything over to her laptop) this desktop is only a little bigger than a nintendo gamecube (maybe about 1.85x the size) and making it into a lan party friendly gaming computer. something that i can put my hard drive in, take to my friends house, and play crysis on cause pc graphics are far superior to playstation graphics (and i can still play online ;D). It's not gonna need more than 4 gigs of ram, and something that can run crysis on extreme settings (i3 and a gtx400 series maybe) I dont know if il have to replace the psu or mobo untill i get my hands on it.

but can it be done is the question.... opinions?

 

[SMOKEU]

You're wasting your time. I wouldn't build a gaming rig with anything smaller than a full tower case.

Those small cases lack the room for large video cards, and you'll also be limited in how many case fans, HDs, GPUs etc you can fit inside. You may also be limited in the size of your CPU cooler as well.

 

[poppedkernel]

again this is why i consult experts, although I'm using a mid-tower and it does me just fine, I would like the convenience of a full tower as far as watercooling goes, but for what i got its decent. and thank you

 

[ezrollerj]

Check out the Thermaltake A30. I've seen plenty of people run crysis at 30fps+ on a amd 955 and a pretty cheap gpu. Although a i5 2500k would be good for a few years for sure. Both of these will work with a micro ATX board and a full size gpu. Most micro atx lan boxes can be modded to fit a full size card even if the specs say a full one won't fit. Even just the integrated graphics of the i5 chips will compete with ps3. So yeah it's very possible but it's not gonna be ABC easy, it's just plastic and metal hack n mod away til it all fits, thats half the fun.

 

[ZRock]

Many people here use mid towers. The mini's would be adequate for a lan, but not to run crysis on extreme! Holy heat issues batman.

 

[ezrollerj]

I'm aware that mid towers are the most popular form factor for gaming. However he was asking about a more portable small form factor for easier transportation. And about the heat issues your right on there being more heat issues initially. But with a little work and engineering adequate cooling can be achieved. To prove my point look at the alienware gaming laptops. You just have to think about how airflow works it's a simple concept. If small inconveniences and design issues stop you, you're just not a true modder. You can see proof of this on the old 360's that people have modded. Terrible heat buildup in stock form. But cut a few holes n add a few fans. Temps drop faster than a hookers skirt.

 

[Knufire]

Most of you say it's impossible, yet there's a front-paged article on it.

If you're going SFF, go with more efficient GPU's, those GF100 cards ran HOT.

http://www.overclockers.com/gaming-tight-spaces-miniitx/

 

[JonSimonzi]

Most of you say it's impossible, yet there's a front-paged article on it.

If you're going SFF, go with more efficient GPU's, those GF100 cards ran HOT.

http://www.overclockers.com/gaming-tight-spaces-miniitx/

I love MIAH's SFF builds. After he made that build, I was just on the edge of selling off all my hardware to build up a SFF build.

 

[MattNo5ss]

I just built a mITX system for my brother, using a Lian Li PC-Q08 case. It has room for ~11.5" video cards, which would be plenty for a GTX580. That will leave space for an ODD, SSD, and 4x HDDs. It also uses standard ATX PSUs, so enough power isn't a problem. However, I did have to use a top-down CPU cooler, the Prolimatech Samuel 17. I believe a good single GPU gaming system could be made with that case.

 

[JonSimonzi]

Yeah, I've been tossing around making a build in a PC-A04. Small and elegant, but large enough for a powerhouse build.

 

[Prime]

Yeah, the 1st few posters.. I'm not too sure what theyre thinking but it is very viable. M-ATX or ITX. I always want to do a SFF build but i want to get into watercooling so that kind of kills those dreams