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Build It: Half-Height Gaming PCs For The Living Room

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December 22, 2010 4:00:03 AM

PowerColor’s half-height Radeon HD 5750 launched a quest to build a tiny gaming PC. But things didn't work out the way we planned. We ended up building two half-height machines capable of cranking out playable frame rates, and put them both to the test.

Build It: Half-Height Gaming PCs For The Living Room : Read more

More about : build half height gaming pcs living room

December 22, 2010 4:46:37 AM

This is an interesting article and goes a direction where nVidia has no way to compete.
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December 22, 2010 5:12:37 AM

I'd mod a case and mount my videocard horizontally.
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December 22, 2010 5:38:16 AM

awesome article. i love small pc's! my silverstone sg05 is modded with a 600 watt psu and 6870 stuffed inside.
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December 22, 2010 5:50:22 AM

the antec sp-400 has issues! it has lousy fuhjyyu capactiros that fail even just sitting there. i suggest you find a different psu!
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December 22, 2010 5:52:14 AM

shovenosethe antec sp-400 has issues! it has lousy fuhjyyu capactiros that fail even just sitting there. i suggest you find a different psu!


I've been using this one in my main HTPC for a couple years now at least. Haven't had any problems.
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December 22, 2010 7:22:24 AM

Typo on Test Systems And Benchmarks
AMD Phenom II X4 705e isn't it x3???
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December 22, 2010 7:38:38 AM

that's weird, a 160w power supply powering up a 5570? (and you also intended to slap in the 5750 there?) did i miss something?
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December 22, 2010 7:45:36 AM

Looking for a case like that is next to impossible - but for a 160W wow I never have though of that, it gives me another idea. thanks tom.
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December 22, 2010 8:21:28 AM

Thanks for the article. I have a question, where do you find quality small PSU? If you want to go as small as you can, one would need to use small PSU. But it seems they are scarce in terms of wattage selection and brand, no where comparing to standard ATX PSU.

Many small mini-ITX cases do include a small PSU, but what if you want to mod the PSU, or the included one breaks down? Falling back to standard ATX PSU would have to use a bigger mini-ITX case.
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a b 4 Gaming
December 22, 2010 8:44:40 AM

Lian Li makes some very nice mini-itx cases that are not limited to half-height cards. I have a GTX460 in my PC-Q08R, using the ECS mobo that Tom's included in a value roundup of LGA1156 boards.
Too big? The PC-Q07 only has a single slot for the video card, but that would take the single-slot HD5770 that XFX makes: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... . Both cases will take a full sized ATX PSU; I would suggest a modular one, such as the 550W Antec Truepower New I am using in mine.
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December 22, 2010 8:57:59 AM

Forget small and make an aquarium mineral oil HTPC with fake fish and all.
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December 22, 2010 10:18:30 AM

You should try some PCI Express risers next time, see if there's any performance penalty by using them...
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a b 4 Gaming
December 22, 2010 11:35:16 AM

By the way, I found this article very interesting. Anyone can build a tower that is a reasonably competent gamer. "Smaller, quieter, less power" don't get the attention they deserve; these are ways to differentiate a PC.
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December 22, 2010 12:00:23 PM

I wonder if your mini-ITX wavey case has fewer square inches then my Silverstone SG05? Yes the wavey is shorter, but it's also wider and longer, so which really has the smaller footprint?
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December 22, 2010 12:17:11 PM

Tom's really needs a modder on staff. Are you all afraid of dremel's and wiring your own plugs or something? You could have totally shaved down that plug and made it fit! Mini-ITX systems take work and hours of modding. SFF systems take lots of time and love. Link to my baby below.. Mini-ITX SG05 with an i3-530 capable of 4.4ghz (currently at 4.0), a Corsair H50, 4gb of crucial tracer, a HIS IceQ 5770, modded a window and an UV light kit. Had to mod the CD bezel to get the H50 in also. Just give them a little time and don't be afraid to void some warranties!
Link to by baby
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December 22, 2010 12:23:33 PM

Don, maybe you could get a good video card with passive heatsink and try to build a silent (or really quiet) box? I'm after a new gaming PC but I'm tired of noisy fans and huge cases...
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December 22, 2010 12:50:26 PM

We're talking about how the 450 can somehow fit in an HTPC and still work with the small PSU, of course 430s are available in low-profile form their the lowest 400 series card available.
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December 22, 2010 1:05:42 PM

Antec has a few great cases for this purpose.....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Personally, I went full height and have my "gaming" htpc in a Fusion 430 Black
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

That case takes full height cards and full ATX power supplies. I have a 4890 in it with a Corsair HX650 and an Asus P5Q-EM with a Q9550. You could easily get one of the x58/p55 motherboards that supports SLI/CF too to get some considerable power into that footprint
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December 22, 2010 1:11:04 PM

Whats the point, I have a HAF-932 in my living room and I couldnt be more happier with it. For those who dont know its a huge full-tower. The smaller the case is the harder it is to keep it cool, so you have to crank the fans. Pushing the fans becomes noisy, fast.

For the living room

Silent powerful full-tower > Noisy underpowered cube.
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December 22, 2010 1:25:44 PM

I was just considering a microATX slim case and crossfiring two of these Powercolor half-height 5750's. Maybe you could try that for a future article?
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a b 4 Gaming
December 22, 2010 1:28:51 PM

The Lian Li PC-Q08 has two quiet fans; a front 140mm intake and a top 120mm exhaust. It is whisper-quiet, stays cool, and can fit any one double-slot card, even most of the longer ones. With its drive cage, you'll run out of SATA ports on your mobo before you run out of spaces to mount drives.
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December 22, 2010 2:22:29 PM

Something I noticed is that the power brick for the Xbox is external and huge. Now I am not sure if this is the same as a PCs power supply, but if they are the same, are external power supplies available? And if not, I'm going to need a capitol investor. : )
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a b 4 Gaming
December 22, 2010 2:34:07 PM

fullcircle_bflo said:
Something I noticed is that the power brick for the Xbox is external and huge. Now I am not sure if this is the same as a PCs power supply, but if they are the same, are external power supplies available? And if not, I'm going to need a capitol investor. : )
Already available... they're called picoPSU's.

Actually, that was my first thought when reading the article when the HD5750 wouldn't fit because of the power supply: Replace it with a 160W picoPSU! But, after seeing the power consumption figures that probably wouldn't be a good idea. I wonder if the HD5750 would work within the 160W envelope if an atom board was used instead of the AM3 board... even though it would introduce a CPU bottleneck. :??: 

I really liked this article. It's nice to see a build article with a little twist to add a challenge. As said before, anyone can build a gamer in a mid tower. More like this, please.
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December 22, 2010 3:10:34 PM

You guys have different thought process than I have. If I couldn't fit my cpu, dvd, gpu and power supply, I would either get a different case or get the saw out and start modifying that one. And an external DVD drive? I don't think so.

As for half height cards vs. standard cards, aren't cables available that let you attach a video card without plugging it into a motherboard slot? You could use a normal full height card and turn it sideways in the half height case.
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December 22, 2010 3:31:20 PM

Thanks tgo some imbicile added a full page add for each page of the article I am going to have to skip everything after page 3. I don't know how anyone can put up with so many of these things. Get back to real life Tom's I understand Ads are what keeps you in bussiness and don't even mind a few that cover the whole window but the constant pile of Lenovo manure is just too much. Ads only work if people look at them, driving away readers won't help your ad revenue. And the same add multiple times in a row isn't any good for anyone (including the advertiser, I'm far lewss likely to click on the the third showing inside of 5 minutes than I was to click on the second and the odds get worse from there.)
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December 22, 2010 3:44:13 PM

That I think isn't as low. Take a case like Lian Li Q8 or Silverstone Sugo SG07, both mini ITX cases and you can fit full sized cards like GTX580 and Radeon 6970. They are really small cases.
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December 22, 2010 3:49:00 PM

TommySchWhats the point, I have a HAF-932 in my living room and I couldnt be more happier with it. For those who dont know its a huge full-tower. The smaller the case is the harder it is to keep it cool, so you have to crank the fans. Pushing the fans becomes noisy, fast. For the living room Silent powerful full-tower > Noisy underpowered cube.

Noisy underpowered cube? Lian Li Q8 and Silverstone SG07. Ever saw those? Small cases are good for carrying around. In addition, they save desk space, so one can keep say paperwork and other stuff they want to keep on their desks.
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December 22, 2010 4:13:03 PM

cadder said:
And an external DVD drive? I don't think so.


It looks like you missed the part where I mentioned that an internal slimline drive would have fit.
We had the external onhand so i mentioned it, but the case has space for an internal optical slim drive.
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December 22, 2010 4:16:03 PM

fozzie76 said:
Tom's really needs a modder on staff. Are you all afraid of dremel's and wiring your own plugs or something?


I hear you bro, but it's not about fear - it's about time. We have a full schedule of stories to work on and if it doesn't work out of the box, we have to move on.

Sometimes we can put aside time for special projects, but the point of this build was to show people what they can put together off the shelf, not to show what a modder can do.
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December 22, 2010 4:37:23 PM

PoisonerThis is an interesting article and goes a direction where nVidia has no way to compete.


Just curious on how they have no way to compete? Half height cards? Just capable enough for 1080p gaming? What direction are we talking about?
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Anonymous
a b 4 Gaming
December 22, 2010 4:43:07 PM

There's also a typo in the Paragraph describing the Motherboard, it says it supports AM3+
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December 22, 2010 5:35:43 PM

Quote:
It looks like you missed the part where I mentioned that an internal slimline drive would have fit


I did miss it, therefore ignore that part of my comment.
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December 22, 2010 5:51:47 PM

that's actually pretty cool.
I was thinking about gutting my orginal Xbox and using that as a case for a cheap little build one day.
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December 22, 2010 6:05:13 PM

carlhenrythat's weird, a 160w power supply powering up a 5570? (and you also intended to slap in the 5750 there?) did i miss something?

Read second page, third paragraph down.
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Anonymous
a b 4 Gaming
December 22, 2010 6:09:05 PM

I probably would have enjoyed reading this article if I didn't get a full screen popup ad for Lenovo notebooks between EVERY PAGE. I'm not normally one to complain about this stuff, I know you guys need ad revenue to stay in business, and I'm perfectly willing to put up with these types of ads once or twice, but this is friggin ridiculous. I shouldn't have to click 'continue to article' after every time I try to go to the next page. It was so annoying I couldn't even finish the article. I like tom's hardware, it's the first site I check out when I get up in the morning(late afternoon), but this really makes me think about looking elsewhere.
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a b 4 Gaming
December 22, 2010 6:27:28 PM

Use Firefox with AdBlock+ and NoScript. Works wonders, and Tom's advertisers don't need to worry that they'll lose my business for using an obnoxious delivery method for their ads.
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a b 4 Gaming
December 22, 2010 6:37:04 PM

Too bad they didn't use a 5670 instead for the slim case.
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December 22, 2010 7:33:29 PM

TommySchWhats the point, I have a HAF-932 in my living room and I couldnt be more happier with it. For those who dont know its a huge full-tower. The smaller the case is the harder it is to keep it cool, so you have to crank the fans. Pushing the fans becomes noisy, fast. For the living room Silent powerful full-tower > Noisy underpowered cube.


Once you reach your mid 20's (or get married) the allure of a bulky, ugly, piece of plastic with HAF stamped across the side loses its appeal as it looks quite poor in the context of a clean, modern home theater setup. I don't want guests to feel like they are walking into a LAN party when they come over to watch a movie. The whole point of this article is to see how far you can push small hardware to fit into the context of your living room. Granted, I don't particularly like the look of that In Win case either, but at least it would fit behind a closed door much like a ps3 or Xbox would. I like the direction of this article, getting away from the cubes that have dominated small form factor since the end of the 90's (think original Shuttle boxes). I have mused about building a box that would serve as both a HTPC and a gaming platform while maintaining a small footprint and blending with existing home theater hardware; this article helps illuminate the options (as well as the pitfalls).
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December 22, 2010 8:57:31 PM

There is this J&W Minix 890GX available, which I guess more powerful than the ITX mobo reviewed here.
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December 23, 2010 12:28:51 AM

vaughn2k said:
There is this J&W Minix 890GX available, which I guess more powerful than the ITX mobo reviewed here.


Won't be any difference at all if you're using a discrete graphics card.
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December 23, 2010 2:46:32 AM

jtt283Use Firefox with AdBlock+ and NoScript. Works wonders, and Tom's advertisers don't need to worry that they'll lose my business for using an obnoxious delivery method for their ads.


Don't even need the NoScript, I haven't noticed any ads with just AdBlock+. I honestly don't know how people surf without an ad blacklist. I like NoScript personally, but I can see how most people would find it annoying to build the whitelist.
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December 23, 2010 8:31:00 AM

In many review sites that writes about small PC build, I never see a GTR's GT3 case included. Is it because of its price/value?
Or is it hard to get hold of one?
Other than that, I found it to be very small and stylish :D 
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Anonymous
a b 4 Gaming
December 23, 2010 11:12:06 AM

Maybe it's time for manufacturers to look into external power supplies for desktop and HTPC type builds. It certainly makes for a fun design exercise. And its easy to see the benefits of such a setup.
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a c 296 4 Gaming
December 23, 2010 11:16:26 AM

It is a good solution for people that want to do some casual gaming on their HTPC and 1080P TV with out the limitation of the low end GPU´s.
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Anonymous
a b 4 Gaming
December 23, 2010 2:03:05 PM

These ITX cubes (except of really small HTPC cases) seem not to be very useful if at least 5770-power is necessary. Neither have they small footprint, nor can they be hidden as shelf-devices or put below the monitor.
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December 23, 2010 2:12:13 PM

Quote:
There's also a typo in the Paragraph describing the Motherboard, it says it supports AM3+


Ah! Thanks for catching that, fixed. :) 
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December 23, 2010 2:41:04 PM

I always thought they should make a mobo with the PCI-e slot perpendicular to the main board on some sort of expansion, so that the video card would be totally parallel to the main board. Possibly with the CPU and GPU sandwiching the same heatsink (side mount fan).
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