ASRock Working on a Haswell Mini-ITX Gaming System

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wolley74

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that chassis is actually pretty good looking, looks like it has a pretty decent vent on the side as well, depending on price i'd buy just the chassis
 

retrophe

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While these mini itx systems are nice . . . when will we see mini itx cases that allow for a full size card using a pci riser? THAT is what most of us would prefer to a prebuilt system.
 


...it's GOT a 680. What more do you want?
 

lpedraja2002

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[citation][nom]DarkSable[/nom]...it's GOT a 680. What more do you want?[/citation]

Hahah I think he didn't even read the article lol. This is exciting, I've always had a mini-ITX system in mind for my next build but the options were very limited at the time. I'll just wait after the PS4 and Xbox 720 hit the shelves until I build my Mini-ITX monster, then I'll be the envy of all my console gamer friends buahahah.
 

anonymous_user

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I think retrophe is wanting to build his/her own Mini-ITX system. With the current ITX chassis available, they have to be sufficiently wide to accomodate full-sized cards. If we had a riser, we could have thinner (though taller) computers.
 

adgjlsfhk

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What I really want is for a motherboard company to partner with coolermaster or someone to make low end case-mobo combos that don't have the motherboard separately mounted, but is just installed in the case. It sucks for upgrading, but it could make some nice low end small systems.
 
[citation][nom]anonymous_user[/nom]I think retrophe is wanting to build his/her own Mini-ITX system. With the current ITX chassis available, they have to be sufficiently wide to accomodate full-sized cards. If we had a riser, we could have thinner (though taller) computers.[/citation]

You can buy risers. They're mostly used in server chassis, but they're available.
 

grokem

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I think it's awesome that someone is finally noticing the need for mITX in the gaming space. I just built a 16GB, i7-3770, TI-660i, Samsung 840 pro mITX system so you can have a serious mITX gaming system as long as you don't want to overclock or go liquid cooling. You can have those too but the logistics get complex quickly.

What amazed me is that the GPU is the largest component by far. It was 2x the volume of my mITX MB. Maybe about the same as the MB, CPU and cooler combined. After the GPU the PSU was the next biggest component and I got a very small PSU. While putting the GPU on a riser is certainly part of the answer, I think the end game is for the GPU and the MB to get combined completely so you just add the processor of you choice.

I paid ~$300 for my GPU. I'd pay another $100 easy if the GPU was a standard mITX MB. Nvidia has been building MB for years, why not just do the whole thing?
 

ojas

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The system features the impressively well equipped Z87E-ITX motherboard which uses a 6-phase VRM to give the LGA1150 CPU its juice
Is that even correct anymore? Aren't Haswell CPUs going to have their own VRM on-chip?
 

blibba

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[citation][nom]ojas[/nom]Is that even correct anymore? Aren't Haswell CPUs going to have their own VRM on-chip?[/citation]

Haswell will have the voltage controller on chip. The VRM will still be on the board.
 

ojas

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[citation][nom]blibba[/nom]Haswell will have the voltage controller on chip. The VRM will still be on the board.[/citation]
Eh? VRM=voltage regulation module, which is a voltage regulator, or controller, so...

What i'm saying is, that if the CPU's VRM is on the CPU itself, instead of the mobo, then the mobo's VRM isn't "giving the LGA1150 CPU its juice", even though it might be providing power to the other components.
 

hate machine

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[citation][nom]grokem[/nom]I think it's awesome that someone is finally noticing the need for mITX in the gaming space. I just built a 16GB, i7-3770, TI-660i, Samsung 840 pro mITX system so you can have a serious mITX gaming system as long as you don't want to overclock or go liquid cooling. You can have those too but the logistics get complex quickly.What amazed me is that the GPU is the largest component by far. It was 2x the volume of my mITX MB. Maybe about the same as the MB, CPU and cooler combined. After the GPU the PSU was the next biggest component and I got a very small PSU. While putting the GPU on a riser is certainly part of the answer, I think the end game is for the GPU and the MB to get combined completely so you just add the processor of you choice.I paid ~$300 for my GPU. I'd pay another $100 easy if the GPU was a standard mITX MB. Nvidia has been building MB for years, why not just do the whole thing?[/citation]

I too went with a mITX system. There are some very good cases coming out now with good air cooling. As for Overclocking I believe it was either Toms or Anandtech who did an article on an overclock mITX build. By a good margin from stock too!
 

falchard

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At first I was going to be like, WTF why use Haswell for a small form factor gaming desktop. But then I actually read the article and it all makes sense.
 

loops

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I like the idea. I like the specs overall. The case is not my kinda thing tho. I'd like something that looks like a clean simple box. That case is too much geek for my wife to want it in the living room.
 

josejones

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I like the direction ASRock is going and wish the new XBox 720 would've gone that direction. I think it would be best if consoles were upgradable like computers are to make PC gamers happy. PS & XBox are loosing loads of PC gamer customers due to the disappointing performance of consoles compared to PC's.

The ITX certainly needs a far better look but, it's a start. I like the idea of being able to add a new CPU & new GPU in a console.

Now, we just need to include a hybrid HD/SSD.
 

BulkZerker

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A good card that doesn't double/triple the price of the box?



 

Check out the Bitfenix prodigy; it's the larger end of mini-ITX, but is extremely sexy.



1) I've got a heavily overclocked, water cooled mini-itx pc. It's not as hard as you might think, as long as you're willing to do a little bit of modding. (And lets face it, if you want a small PC, you should be open to modding.)

2) Look at the Asus 670 mini. It's no larger than a mini-itx motherboard. (And if you're watercooling with any standard 670, it's the same way. The air cooling shroud adds about 4 inches to the PCB length.)
 
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