Even Dave James’ fat hands are nimble enough to build a
mini-pc, so why not let a little machine into your living room.
CPU cooler Zalman LQ310 ($90), Gelid SlimHero ($42)
A decent water-cooler will keep noise and temps down,
whether you’re interested in overclocking on a high-performance mini PC or not.
A case like the 250D will happily house a 120mm cooler such as the Zalman
LQ310.
Zalman's
LQ310 is a compact self-contained liquid
cooling system built on the successful Asetek watercooling framework.
We’ve previously covered Gelid’s impressive performance in
our Steam Machine build, but it’s a great accompaniment for the low-profile
Antec chassis. The large fan that Gelid has used on top of the heatsink ensures
that the cooling performance isn’t punctuated by a terribly off-putting
whirring turbine sound. If the living room is the goal for your SFF build, then
noise is the enemy.
The
SlimHero features 4 sintered power heatpipes
with a silent and slim 120mm fan.
Graphics card Nvidia GTX 770 ($382)
If you’re going for a high-performance discrete GPU for
your li’l system then the price/ performance metrics of the GTX 770 are hard to
ignore. It’s essentially the same GTX 680 card that represented the top of
Nvidia’s Kepler stack when it was first introduced in 2012. The Nvidia cards
are also generally quieter than their competing AMD campadres, and run a little
cooler too.
The
next-generation, high-performance GeForce GTX 770 graphics card
is designed from the ground up to deliver high-speed, smooth gaming
The tiny Kaveri build, though, can get by on its integrated
GPU component alone. We may not be talking about the highest settings at 1080p,
but by managing your system settings in-game you can get great results.
Motherboard ASRock H87M-ITX ($216) ASRock FM2A88X-ITX+ ($345.21)
ASRock has released some great boards recently, and it’s
our pick of the small form factor crowd. The H87 option is perfect for
higher-end builds because an Intel system offers better performance with a
discrete GPU. ASRock’s board will even allow for some pretty impressive
overclocks as well. Y’know, free performance. For now.
Mini Sized
H87 Motherboard, but Nonetheless Full of Potential
For integrated performance, you’ll want the latest AMD
setup, and that means a quality FM2+ board. The mini-ITX version from ASRock is
our choice here, simply for the fact that it’s one of the few of its ilk to
come equipped with a full mSATA connection, which reduces the space demands of
storage.
The ASRock
A88X Chipset based FM2A88X-ITX+ Mini-ITX motherboard
has once again been detailed and pictured in all its glory
