In February, we reported that Giada launched a new Haswell-based barebones mini PC called the F300. Although its main focus was on the digital signage market, the spec list showed that it could also serve as the perfect home theater PC: lots of punch with a small footprint. Now the company is back with a new mini-PC that's built for PC gaming: the D2308U.
The D2308U packs an Intel Core i7-4500U Haswell processor (1.8 GHz, 3.0 GHz), Nvidia's GeForce GTX 750 Maxwell GPU with 2 GB of GDDR3 VRAM, and 8 GB (2x 4 GB) of DDR3L-1600 MHz memory. The gaming rig's storage consists of a 1 TB 2.5-inch 5400 RPM hard drive (SATA 2) and an optional mSATA SSD (SATA 3).
In addition, the D2308U provides one DVI-I port and two HDMI 1.4b ports for a triple display setup. The audio is handled by Realtek, which provides headphone and microphone jacks on the front, and a SPDIF combo jack on the back. Realtek also provides the unit's Gigabit Ethernet port, located on the back.
The mini gaming rig has Wireless N and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, two mini-PCI Express slots, one USB 3.0 port on the front, two USB 3.0 ports on the back, two USB 2.0 ports on the back, and one 4-in-1 card reader. There's also an on-board IR module and an infrared sensor on the front panel, and a "smart" fan keeps everything cool while owners game on care-free.
Finally, the overall dimensions are 9.05 x 2.14 x 6.83 inches, making it a great fit in the living room. This device retails for $1,099, and can be purchased at local outlets like Circuit City, CompUSA, Newegg and TigerDirect.
Based on pricing, Giada's biggest competitor could be Xi3 Corporation's $999 Piston console. This device sports an AMD Trinity processor clocked at 3.2 GHz, Radeon HD 7660G graphics, 8 GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 128 GB SSD. If you want to add your own memory and hard drive, Gigabyte sells a BRIX gaming barebones PC for around $489.99. This mini-rig includes an Intel Core i5-4570R processor, Iris Pro 5200 graphics, support for 2.5-inch hard drives and two SO-DIMM DDR3L slots for memory.
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