I am a truck driver, I'm also a gamer. At this point I am sad to admit that lately I've been getting my gaming done on consoles. The primary reason for this is utilizing a laptop in the truck is a pain in the ass and most laptops either suck as far as gaming performance goes or are ridiculously expensive. I have a really nice desktop at home problem is it's too big realistically keep in the truck so I'm trying to come up with a small form factor gaming PC that can utilize full-size graphics cards. The desktop can't be very tall or very wide probably the best I could do is about double the height of an Xbox one and maybe half again as big in diameter, think maybe like an old-school Compaq Deskpro.
I would want the system to have at least a 1070 and be able to run star citizen and elite dangerous at pretty damn good graphics quality while utilizing an oculus rift. I can cannibalize my old desktop for parts since it's mostly just sitting at home collecting dust I have a pretty good SSD set up and an AMD r9 290 X.
I know it's not exactly top end hardware but it's about a year and a half old and I haven't really been using it I don't have a ridiculous budget if possible I'd like to keep the build under about $600 at this point with the possibility of upgrading hardware later any help would be appreciated I don't want to become a console peasant so please help.
I would start with something like a node 202 there are some other cases that follow this design silverstone and azza namely but the fractal 202 is all steel these cases are ITX but support full graphics cards they are just slightly larger than a Xbox1 or PS4, the caveat is they use sfx power supplies and only support low profile coolers. I did a build with a 202 a skylake I5 non k part and a 970 a while back it turned out great the case was tough and had surprisingly good temps. If you wanted to use a 1070 which is even lower power my guess is the thing would be killer
Are you in clan =AWOL=?
Would a case like this be suitable?
Use your SSD and R9 290x until you can save enough to upgrade to the GTX 1070. For ~$100 more you can get a non-K i7.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($213.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i 33.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($38.94 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI B150I GAMING PRO AC Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($109.69 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Node 202 HTPC Case w/450W Power Supply ($124.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $557.60
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-20 15:12 EDT-0400
will be back with a well thought out post.. sell the 290x buy the 1070, probably wouldnt lose much if you hawk it off on ebay while its worth $$
This is a solid choice I refuse to use msi and the 290x will have a large power draw I think it will be fine. I would however sell the 290 and get a 1070 or 980 ti instead they use less power put off less heat and are physically smaller and lighter in most interations. If you are going with a non k part consider losing a aftermarket cooler it will save some money and shouldn't be a issue I used a I7 stock cooler on a I5 for better temps on the build I did and that worked really well.
Is the noctua used for a cooler/more silent operation? If not OP should use stock cooler and save $30.
On a different note, @Wesley_Magyar do remember that HTPC's are harder to build in, so take your time and be very patient when doing cable management.
Was hard for to me to find anything new and include a 1070 soooooooooooo
then insert 1070 mini
I wouldn't do this due to trucking the system around the potential for damage is high and dells are known for catching fire not reliability. However you raise a important point a z97/87 chipset would be way cheaper and the cpus would be less as well that could drop costs by a fair bit by going one or two gens back
Yeah right now it boils down to price and upgradability I'd deal with a lesser card so long as I can swap in the 1070 or even a 1080 later.
Primary concerns are the form factor and ability to take a bit of bouncing that's why I'm going SSD. Power draw isn't a serious concern as I have an 2500 Watt inverter and a generator. There should be decent airflow where I'm mounting it...
Noise is definitely not a concern.
I have a 3000w inverter and my pc can still trip the inverter breaker just by itself. Whatever you get , Get something low powered.
Inverters can run power tools/coffee makers no problem , but when it comes to pcs they start to freak out a little. Make sure it's a good inverter too and not something you bought at a truckstop made by cobra or something.
Also keep in mind the machine will be DC powered and your truck makes plenty of dc power already , no need for an AC converting power supply in the machine.
I wouldn't worry much about power a ITX build won't use a whole lot of power 450 watts is more than what you need even a 290x could run on that if you don't overclock anything but it would put strain on the PSU long term with all the bouncing around you may be better off with a aftermarket CPU cooler as they will have a backplate and be bolted down better and you will have to ensure the GPU is set in nicely the node 202 has a pci bracket and the GPU sits in its own space with up to 2 fans but it's really just held in with the pci and the 2 thumbscrews so I would make sure to pick up some anti vibration screws and use them instead
your best bet is to make your own case to get it nearly as thin as a laptop.
you only need:
* a pci-e riser cable to lay gpu flat.
* a mini-itx mobo
* to remove the casing and fan from the psu
* blower style fans
* a low profile cpu heatsink
* 1x 16x16 inch aluminum plate for the mobo/gpu mount the rest of the case can be made of wood.
a mini itx mobo is around 7in lengthx7in width. gpu's are normally around 11in length x 6in width. the psu pcb should be 4inx4in. the height is going to depend mostly on your cpu heat sink but I think you might be able to reach just under 4 inches. with a moded laptop heat sink you could likely get as thin as 3 inches.
I agree in theory but having modded heavily in the past as well as doing scratch builds this is not a practical or time effective solution in addition if the OP doesn't have access to the tools it's way way out of budget. I think in the long term a custom enclosure would be great for truck mounted pcs. Such a case simply doesn't currently exist. As such a case styled like a node 202 is the smallest closest alternative.
My inverter is a pure sine wave industrial one its peak out put is 5k watts so should be able to handle a PC alright I've ran my xbox one and a 1000 watt microwave at the same time before no problem.
Somthing like this perhaps?
That build seems a little under powered but i think I could make that case work
it was a powerful system when the video was released, i was just mentioning the case and concept of a "lunchbox" form factor for your use case