Seeking Build Advice: alternative to NUC Skull Canyon w/ desktop cpu and dedicated graphics card?

[PascalKW]

I would like to build the smallest possible Windows 10 PC with a desktop cpu and dedicated graphics card. I need it to be portable enough to move it daily between my home and my office. Ideally the power supply would be external, so that I can get two supplies and do not need to carry them between my office and home (an internal power supply is fine, too, as long as it's not too heavy). I would also prefer the system to be on the quiet side.

The reason I do not want to use a high-performance laptop is because I prefer to use an external keyboard and monitor, and the laptop takes up too much space on my desk.

I was initially interested in the NUC Skull Canyon (NUC6i7KYK with mobile i7 6770hq cpu), but the performance does not seem comparable to desktop cpus and the internal graphics engine is not quick enough for occasional gaming and video editing.

Use: Office applications, some video editing and occasional gaming

Budget: no upper limit as of now, but somewhat reasonable price/performance balance would be good

Purchase date and country: January 2017, US

CPU: desktop-grade Intel quadcore

GPU: dedicated graphics, but I am willing to compromise performance for portability

Storage: PCIe NVMe SSD

RAM: 16 or 32 gb, what do you think?

I would be really grateful for any tips, esp. regarding case and mainboard choice!

 

[testuername45]

It entirely depends on where you want to compromise, if you want to have the smallest possible PC, I'm going to go out on a limb and say you're getting nothing better than the Skull Canyon NUC (NUC6i7KYK). It's a machine that's definitely powerful, but definitely expensive, and while it is comprehensive for light gaming, it's never going to be able to outperform anything with a dedicated graphics card.

The other alternative would be to look at something very compact, but not as small as the NUC. Things such as the Lian-LI PC-TU100(Chassis) or the Silverstone ML-08, both come with a handle for convenient carrying. The only downside I see to these cases are that they are by no means small (for your needs) and they don't sport fantastic thermals or silence.

However, without suggesting a laptop I don't think there's much a better personal solution that I can think of.

Good luck!