Small case build

[Mercutio]

I need to replace my NUC with... something. The issue is that the current Haswell NUC I have has grossly inadequate cooling, something that's highly apparent when I try to use it at 2160p resolution. Intel doesn't leave me many options to mod in cooling and based on discussions I've read, it doesn't seem like the sealed nature of the box does anything to help.

This of course creates two competing interests: Getting a low noise/ Low power device, since it will almost certainly be an always on machine, and getting a machine with the horsepower to handle the 4k workload.

My impulse for low power is probably a 35W Skylake CPU, either an i3 6100T or an i5 6400T. The i3 is substantially faster per core (3.2GHz vs 2.2) and I'm not sure I have need of four cores in the first place, but I'm probably going to stick a fairly serious GPU in that machine. I have a 750TI sitting around, which experience tells me is an adequate mid-range graphics card for most purposes, albeit not one capable of handling 4k resolutions.

The 750ti has a dual slot cooler, which makes selection of a "small" enclosure difficult. Maybe something like a Fractal Node 304? I've had a hard time keeping shoeboxes cool though, which makes me think I might be better off with a Silverstone ML03 instead.

 

[ddrueding]

100% agree that Skylake is the way to go. That Silverstone looks like it has a lot of open grille space, might be difficult to keep quiet.

 

[CougTek]

The 750ti has a dual slot cooler, which makes selection of a "small" enclosure difficult. Maybe something like a Fractal Node 304? I've had a hard time keeping shoeboxes cool though, which makes me think I might be better off with a Silverstone ML03 instead.

It might be worth it to read this review of the Fractal Design Core 500. It won SPCR Editor's Choice award. The GPU cooling is about the best you can get on such a small enclosure.

 

[time]

The ML03 is a slimline case - will it fit your 750ti?

The cooling philosophy is to mount up to 4 fans along one side for cross-flow. In practise, it has tons of ventilation holes and doesn't need much or any forced cooling at all - but I haven't tried one with a gaming card (because it's slimline).

 

[Mercutio]

At one time I had a low profile GTX750 sitting around that I was confusing with a short-depth GTX750Ti.

I went with the i3 6100T. In theory the whole thing is going to be using maybe 120W full-bore (if I ever make the GPU do anything) and perhaps ~15W - 20W at idle. That doesn't seem too bad to me. Obviously, it's more than the NUC, but if I get full 4k support, I think I can live with it.

 

[ddrueding]

[video=youtube_share;yEosHeBXs-c]https://youtu.be/yEosHeBXs-c[/video]

 

[CougTek]

Thanks for the video. I didn't know about the Silverstone chassis with the 8 hot-swap bays at the front. I think he said there was one model with 3.5" bays, so I'll look into it. I really have to assemble a NAS at home (or preferably two). My stuff isn't backep up nearly enough.

 

[Mercutio]

Ditch 3.5" but keep 5.25"? Seriously? Can we talk about misplaced priorities for a minute?

 

[ddrueding]

He calls it a 5.25", but it looks to only be a slimline optical. I don't see a need for either myself.

 

[Mercutio]

It's a little off topic, but speaking of PC rigs on Youtube, I can't believe how often I see some Streamer bragging about their gaming rig with $2000 worth of GPUs and... "I only have a 250GB SSD, so we had to run this one on the recording drive."

 

[ddrueding]

Indeed. And then you have folks like Scott Manly who just upgraded for the first time in years to a 970. I'm trying to talk him into streaming at 4k.

 

[Mercutio]

Not that we're even remotely on topic but...
Down side to those high resolution streams is that they take forever to upload and relatively few people can watch them. Even the guys who somehow manage to put eight hours of content a day on Youtube have a real bottleneck at that point and there's no sense in making it worse.

And at the same time, I continue to think that $1000 GPUs for gaming are a waste of money. PC Game graphics aren't going to get appreciable better until the boat anchor of current console systems are no longer the primary development target.

 

[CougTek]

Indeed. And then you have folks like Scott Manly who just upgraded for the first time in years to a 970.

Scott Manley?

 

[ddrueding]

Scott Manley?

Yup. And my second error, it was a 980Ti.

[video=youtube_share;5H54EZ8BmwE]https://youtu.be/5H54EZ8BmwE[/video]

 

[Mercutio]

Having now tried it, 4k on a GTX970 is not very impressive, but you get a lot of time to appreciate the details of each individual frame.
The GTX750Ti is extremely capable at 1280x720 and max detail. At 1920x1080, almost everything intensive I can try drops below 25fps. On the other hand, this gives me a solid idea of what it takes to outperform a current-generation console: an i3, 8GB RAM and a $120 GPU is functionally the same damned thing as an Xbox One but with much lower loading times.

 

[Handruin]

Having now tried it, 4k on a GTX970 is not very impressive, but you get a lot of time to appreciate the details of each individual frame.
The GTX750Ti is extremely capable at 1280x720 and max detail. At 1920x1080, almost everything intensive I can try drops below 25fps. On the other hand, this gives me a solid idea of what it takes to outperform a current-generation console: an i3, 8GB RAM and a $120 GPU is functionally the same damned thing as an Xbox One but with much lower loading times.

Are you trying for 4K gaming with a GTX970 or normal desktop and video use? I find that cinematic 4K is manageable with two GTX980s but feel I could use more HP. You might need to wait until the next gen cards come out for manageable heat and noise in a single card for 4K gaming.

I'm not at all surprised that those specs out perform an Xbox one. That platform was obsolete when it came out. Aren't there still some games that still won't play at 1080P?

 

[ddrueding]

If you're looking for 4k gaming with a minimum of 60fps (so you can cleanly v-sync 60hz), my home1 rig can just barely do it. Hoping it will be enough for the 90fps minimum that the Oculus Rift wants.

 

[mubs]

Having now tried it, 4k on a GTX970 is not very impressive, but you get a lot of time to appreciate the details of each individual frame.

:rofl:

 

[Mercutio]

Are you trying for 4K gaming with a GTX970 or normal desktop and video use? I'm not at all surprised that those specs out perform an Xbox one. That platform was obsolete when it came out. Aren't there still some games that still won't play at 1080P?

I was curious to see how well games would play at 4k, so I pulled out my GTX970 and tried it on my TV. Frame rates in games I have are mostly in the high single digits. 4k isn't really practical for gaming and I'm not aware of any games that are designed with 4k play in mind, but it was that's literally the first time that GTX970 hasn't been able to keep up with something. I'm OK with that.

A lot of console titles are actually locked to 720p on the Xbox One. The PS4 supposedly has fewer problems, possibly because of the high RAM spec, but in both cases many trade offs are made for underwhelming hardware. Those things wind up having a deleterious impact on PC games since, as we all know, we get the same games they do.

 

[Handruin]

I was curious to see how well games would play at 4k, so I pulled out my GTX970 and tried it on my TV. Frame rates in games I have are mostly in the high single digits. 4k isn't really practical for gaming and I'm not aware of any games that are designed with 4k play in mind, but it was that's literally the first time that GTX970 hasn't been able to keep up with something. I'm OK with that.

A lot of console titles are actually locked to 720p on the Xbox One. The PS4 supposedly has fewer problems, possibly because of the high RAM spec, but in both cases many trade offs are made for underwhelming hardware. Those things wind up having a deleterious impact on PC games since, as we all know, we get the same games they do.

I've had decent luck with most games working fine at 4K in regards to them scaling to the resolution. I tend to play a lot of indie games and non-AAA titles so there are several which don't quite scale to the resolution correctly. I think it's actually more to do with having 4096x2160 vs the 3840x2160 which causes the issues I've seen. I also realize that the game scaling to 4K doesn't mean it was designed to offer graphical clarity/quality at that resolution. We may be a ways off for that to happen given how far behind consoles are. Performance-wise you're right that it's tough to get things to perform without the highest of hardware. Even then you'd have to be playing a title that properly supports SLI/Crossfire in order to get a benefit.