The Small Gaming PC Challenge

[jmsellars1]

Sorry if this isn't what this forum was designed for but it should be a bit of fun. I answered a question recently that got me thinking and captured my imagination.

Can you build a console-sized PC which can play games at 1080P?

Lets see who can think of the best build to do this. It will be judged on a few factors:

- Price; ideally it shouldn't cost much more than a console
- Size; It should be as small as possible, ideally not much larger than a console
- Performance; It should play games at 1080P.
- Modding; You can include modding but ideally as little as possible.

 

[jmsellars1]

This is the best I could come up with. It might involve a bit of modding because although the GPU is single slot, it is still quite wide. It is going to be noisy too.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kBwydC
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kBwydC/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130T 2.9GHz Dual-Core Processor ($112.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus H97I-PLUS Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($100.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($32.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX200 250GB M.2-2260 Solid State Drive ($102.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($148.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Antec ISK 300-150 Mini ITX Desktop Case w/150W Power Supply ($67.49 @ Amazon)
Total: $565.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-05 18:03 EDT-0400

 

[Rhezner]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sPytFT
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sPytFT/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($64.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($72.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($48.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280 3GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone ML07B HTPC Case ($66.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Silverstone 450W 80+ Bronze Certified SFX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $510.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-05 18:40 EDT-0400

500$ and would wreck the consoles. It does come out to about the same price as a console when you factor in the yearly 50$ that you have to pay and more expensive games.

and it has wifi.