Okay this could be a solution for me. Even since my wife threw out my (admittedly ancient) gaming desktop, I’ve been plotting my next move. To be perfectly honest I don’t want a clunky PC messing with my Feng Shui and gaming laptops have always seemed a bit overpriced and underpowered for me. Maybe this little blighter, the Gigabyte Brix II, is the solution.
Yep, there’s basically a bare bones gaming PC in there. It has an HDMI out, two USB slots, a Gigabit Ethernet port, built in Wi-Fi, and a 3.5mm audio jack in the front. It can come housed with new Haswell processors but you will have to supply your own memory and 2.5 inch hard drive. Oh, and you have to sort out your own OS.
If these guys can put together some sort of convenient all-in-one package that I can just plug and play, then I will seriously, seriously consider buying one. The size and convenience of this thing is mighty appealing to me. Particularly since I have two decent Macbooks in my house that I use for all the non-gaming stuff that I need computers for.
This is a potential game changer for me.
Gigabyte’s tiny new gaming PC is smaller than an Xbox controller [The Verge]
Comments
20 responses to “I Want This Tiny Gaming PC That’s Smaller Than A Controller…”
Intel GPU though and with no option to upgrade to something better down the line. You might be better off building the smallest gaming PC you can
Wait, so you don’t have a gaming computer at the moment. How will you play FTL?!
Go for a mini-ITX build, Mark!
I’m about to build myself a new gaming PC to put in a very small cupboard that sits below my TV. This fits a full sized graphics card: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=25_1119&products_id=18121&zenid=357452d4871a7ae9a0ed47bfc1892886
^^ This.
This little box is cute but rubbish. Won’t get you very far and it won’t be long before you want an upgrade. BTW there are some very decent gaming laptops these days. Saw a special at MSY today that was an MSI gaming laptop with i7 CPU, Win 8, 16gb ram, 750gb HDD, 2gb GT 740m (700 series is latest mobile graphics from Nvidia) for $899.
You could build a better mini-itx for the money, but for a laptop its great value.
Was totally checking these out the other day with basically the same idea in mind.
integrated gpu? yeah nah… that’s not gonna work Mark 🙁
I agree Mark, don’t buy this thing for a ‘bare bones’ product it is expensive. Have a go at buying and assembling your own PC; it is a highly rewarding and satisfying experience that is not nearly as daunting as it may first seem. As other posters there are many different sizes of PC you can build, many not much bigger than this thing while offering superior hardware choices.
The intel integrated GPU’s, while certainly nowhere near dedicated GPU levels of performance, are certainly getting better and better with each generation.
Most importantly, they’ve shed off their stigma of the old IGP’s and seriously do allow for mainstream gaming at *reasonable* levels of detail.
I’ve got an Ivy-Bridge CPU/GPU in my Lenovo X1 carbon and while it’s by no means a “gaming system”, I am always surprised at how well it still manages to play games. What’s more, I’m running linux permanently on it, so it’s either through native linux clients [I love you valve] or through Wine.
Can only imagine that native windows performance would be better still [for some games].
All 2D games play flawlessly [FTL, Papers Please, VVVVVV, Botanicula etc], and 3D games run well at reduced settings [Kerbal Space Program, EVE online, Mirrors Edge]. Once you turn off the big performance hogs [AA is insanely hungry], everything actually runs quite nicely.
That’s not to say I don’t prefer my Desktop for PC gaming when I’m at home. But I travel a lot and it definitely is more than capable for a casual PC gaming solution.
Not to be a dick about it, but you listed a bunch of old, low intensity games. Some of them will run on a netbook.
I agree this is promising, but I’m not sure integrated graphics is quite there yet.
Well, was giving examples of games I’ve been playing. And it plays basically all current indy game releases no problem.
As for more information on more demanding games…
Here,
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5771/the-intel-ivy-bridge-core-i7-3770k-review/11
and Here,
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7072/intel-hd-5000-vs-hd-4000-vs-hd-4400
The HD4000 is quite impressive for an onboard GPU, and the Haswell [HD5000] chips are 50% more powerful still.
My point is, that IGP’s are getting more and more powerful at an increasing rate, and current iterations are adequate for PC gaming at reasonable settings. As I said, I know that a proper desktop PC with dedicated graphics is “better”. But it’s like telling someone they need to buy a Ferrari when all they want to do is have a car which is fun to drive on the weekends.
Mark has never come across as a “PC-guy” [well, a Modern PC-guy] when it comes to gaming, so a full Desktop build is not something which he would want and/or even need. And I knew there would be instant hate thrown out regarding IGP offerings from Intel.
I just wanted to say that in my experience with them, even as a dedicated-hard-core-desktop-pc-gamer, the Haswell CPU’s with their GPU’s are more than adequate for someone who just wants to play some PC games without all of the bells and whistles.
Some added perspective….. remember when everyone said you needed a dedicated sound card? Well now every motherboard comes with onboard sound so good that it is perfect for everyone but the hardcore audiophiles…… eventually onboard graphics will be the same way. It’s nowhere near there yet, of course. But it’s certainly a viable option for the less hardcore among us.
He didn’t mention a single game that won’t run on my NetBook at 60fps hahaha
ITT: the games run fine if you lower the settings and turn off the effects!
essentially, he could’ve just played on a much older computer and saved money from buying a new one with low performance where it counts.
http://xkcd.com/606/
Reminded me of this :p haha
*might* be a problem as the editor of a gaming news website, however.
No space for a graphics card? This is a barebones home PC not a gaming rig.
I have a miniature arcade cabinet sitting here that I would love to pop a cheap bare-bones compact PC into – the kids always try to play it but alas it is an empty husk at the moment. Something like this would probably work.
Get a raspberry pi and put MAME on it. Whack on some arcade buttons and away you go!
There are plenty of tutorials online for how to do this if you would like more details.
Yeah absolutely, that’s what I was leaning towards. It just felt like it takes a bit of a time/learning investment, but I’m sure I’d enjoy the process.
When I say miniature I don’t actually mean an arcade cabinet for ants, it’s just child size, so it can actually fit a full size desktop PC into it, I’d just prefer to keep it light. It would be nice to be able to chuck in something that can handle SF4 though.
Here’s a pic of the Minicade when it was hooked up: http://i.imgur.com/4gcywME.jpg
3 year olds can totally play Space Invaders by the way. The sense of wonder they have at the pixelated aliens attacking the earth is just as strong as if it were rendered photorealistically in 3d.
The issue with this is it’s using laptop-class CPUs and on-board video. It’d be fine for playing a few low-end things but for using it as a proper gaming PC you really need something a bit more powerful. Better to build a small form factor Mini-ITX PC instead.
seems very expensive for a bare bone system
i reckon that a MITX system for that price would be cooler
so u can play hardcore games on it with the gameboy emulator