I need an ultra low power gaming build. Emphasis on low power

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iReturnVideotapes

Commendable
Nov 23, 2016
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Obviously I expect performance to take a major hit, but that's ok. I won't be playing anything heavier than Life is Strange, Telltale, Ori, Vampire the Masquerade, This War of Mine, or other such indie games. But it has to be as low powered as possible. Like, as much, or less than a PS4.

The reason being because it's going to be running off a solar generator in a camper van as my media center. And when restricted on solar power, you have to prioritize necessities over luxuries. I already have a gaming rig for my room, but this is going to be an on the road kind of project. It's primary use is going to be playing movies off my hard drive through Kodi, but I want some small form of gaming capability available if it's at all possible.

I thought about getting an Alienware Alpha or an Intel NUC Skull Canyon as they are small, flat, and fit into any set up as HTPCs, and space is extremely important in a camper van as you know. I've even thought about getting an Nvidia Shield but I need Windows because everything I own is on Steam, and I'm unsure how much power these devices use.

Anyway, if you experts could provide some suggests I'm all ears.
 
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@greens In gaming you can't configure how much power your build consumes, it tries do render the most frames it can, resulting in using it's rated power.
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Here you go, this build consumes 110W, as a result of that you might have to turn down graphics.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100T 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($129.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($63.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($39.99 @...
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greens

greens

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Jan 27, 2012
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Well realistically speaking modern computers don't use power that they aren't using.

My rig is quite good, i7 6700k with a GTX 1080, but it doesn't even used 600W maxed out.

That said, if i was playing the games you play - it isn't like the rig is sucking down power.

I would say any Skylake build with an Nvidia GTX 1000 series card would be great.
 
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lakimens

Honorable
Jul 20, 2013
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@greens In gaming you can't configure how much power your build consumes, it tries do render the most frames it can, resulting in using it's rated power.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here you go, this build consumes 110W, as a result of that you might have to turn down graphics.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100T 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($129.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($63.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R7 240 2GB Video Card ($70.00)
Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 360W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($58.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $502.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-24 19:27 EST-0500
 
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iReturnVideotapes

Commendable
Nov 23, 2016
3
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1,510
Thank you lakimens for the help. That's probably the best in depth answer I could have hoped for.

0451, the reason I don't get a laptop is because they're too small for a media center. I already have a 27 inch monitor that I want to make use of. Gaming on a 15 inch laptop just doesn't seem practical.
 
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greens

greens

Splendid
Jan 27, 2012
3,773
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26,965
Sorry I didn't respond, but the guy above is dead wrong. Almost every Indy game out there limits to 60fps. Every AAA game has a feature called V-Sync. Some games allow you to set your interval, interval one is essentially a frame lock. Fact is my gtx 1080 doesn't go rendering 800FPS in sim city. It gets to 60 with a hair of utilization, and stops.

By placing a low end card in your system you force it to run at max draw. Causing it to heat up, work less efficiently, and heat up more taking in more power, causing an endless cycle of poor performance due to thermals from being overworked.

Versus a GTX 1080 that wouldn't even have its fans spin up.

I believe you are sorely mistaken, and that in the modern Skylake world with a GTX 1000 series sips power, just enough.


I would NEVER even consider an AMD GPU in a low power build. They are so inefficient and so hot that it just doesn't make any sense at all. I love AMD, but low power and efficiency are NOT their strong points, they aren't even points.


 
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lakimens

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Jul 20, 2013
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You are right, but not all games can limit their FPS and even if they could a GTX 1000 series would cost more than this .
That AMD GPU has a maximum power draw of 30W, Nvidia's minumum is 70W, you can see why I added it, instead of the 750.
 
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