Portable Sandy Box

[Guardsmon]

Evening all. Just writing out my thoughts. Will be changing this as I go along. Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts.

Issues:

• Fed up carrying my V354 up and down tons of stairs when I want to game anywhere else apart from home. (Portal 2 hasn't helped...)
• My Cubit3 has been sat unused in pieces for the past 4 months and the TV is missing it.

Aims:

• Media box
• Light gaming
• Easy to carry

Restrictions:

• Light weight
• Low powered
• Small
• £300 or there abouts

Options:
Rebuild Cubit3 - Mini-ITX
Incredibly limited and can only really have upto 150W silent power supplies.
AMD or Intel, very limited to GPU for gaming.
Sell Cubit5
Based on: GA-H67N-USB3-B3 or M4A88T-I Deluxe / IPC-AM3DD785G

Rebuild Cubit5 - flex-ATX (Shuttle)
Through buying a shuttle barebone 250-300W power supplies are available (though not silent) and have a reasonable amount of space.
Only Intel, suitable GPUs for light gaming
Sell Cubit3
Based on: SH55J2 XPC or could use 775 platform and existing Q6600

Buy SG05/6 - Mini-ITX
Slightly more space than the Cubit3 with bigger power supplies (300/450W) but noiser and not as gorgeous to look at.
AMD or Intel, best choice of GPUs
Sell both Hoojum Cubits
Based on: GA-H67N-USB3-B3 or M4A88T-I Deluxe / IPC-AM3DD785G

Questions:
Anyone have any idea:

• How much power a i3 2100T solution uses max?
• How much power a i5 2400S solution uses max?
• If it's worth getting the i5 over the i3 for light gaming and media
• If it's worth spending extra money for the lower power consumption CPUs?
• Of a suitable AMD solution or should I stick with Intel?

 

[Tute]

How much power a i3 2100T solution uses max?

From reading around, the 2100T has a TDP of 35W and I believe you're looking at no more than 50W even when loaded unless you're running lots of drives, graphics card, etc.

How much power a i5 2400S solution uses max?

65W TDP on this, so i'd expect anywhere up to 80/90W for a whole system minus graphics card.

If it's worth getting the i5 over the i3 for light gaming and media

You need to decide if the Intel HD graphics are good enough for your needs. Only the 2500 and 2600 K series SB CPUs have the HD3000 graphics, the rest have HD2000. There's a good Anandtech review on these CPUs and the power they provide through their integrated graphics:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...el-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested

The advantage to this is that it's going to consume less power than a discrete graphics card which means the Cubit is certainly viable. I think though, if you plan on running anything discrete with any "oomph" you're looking at stumping up for the SG05 as not only will it need the extra juice, it'll need the airflow too.

If it's worth spending extra money for the lower power consumption CPUs?

This is a tough one. Basically it comes down to how much graphics power you want, and how much you're willing to budget. As the power consumption comes down, so does the graphical power - for example, the K series all run 95W TDPs, whereas a lot of the HD2000 CPUs run 65W TDPs. Then there's the T series CPUs out on their own at 35W TDP, but then you're running HD2000 graphics with the clock speeds lowered to keep the power requirements as low as possible.

Of a suitable AMD solution or should I stick with Intel?

Brazos is worth a look:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4134/the-brazos-review-amds-e350-supplants-ion-for-miniitx

But it's slower than the HD2000. You're looking at £100 for a motherboard with CPU and GPU already built in, and obviously being targeted at Atom, it's only going to need something in the region of 30-40W to keep it going.

I guess the first step is to decide how much graphics power you really want.

 

[Guardsmon]

Hey Tute,

Thanks for the reply. A lot of very helpful information there. I've been paying a lot of attention to the Zacate range as originally I was just planning for a media box, but as time has gone by I've figured I might as well give it a little more ummph and use it for light gaming as well.

I'd like to play things like Portal 2, TF2 and some SupCom at 720 on low. I'm not too bothered about making it support 1080/1200 and being good quality, just usable. Which is where I am stuck.

Would a 2100T + 4GB + HD5670 and a 2.5" HDD run on 120W you think? (I'd love a HD6670 in there, but can't find a single slot version anywhere)
If not thats the Cubit 3 out the window and leaves me with the cubit5 or SG05.

 

[Tute]

It would work I would think, yes:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2917/13

That gives a 127W load for that setup, but don't forget the 2100T is going to shed a load of watts off that value for you.

I have to admit though, whilst the HD3000 would still be slower than the HD5670, it's not going to be by a lot, and you're going to save money and TDP in the process.

This should give you a good idea:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/11

I'd look at either:

i5-2500K (maybe off MM?)

OR

Wait for either the Core i3-2105 or the Core i5-2405S. Both due next month, both 65W TDP, both with HD3000 graphics. The i3 is a dual core part with HT whilst the i5 is a true quad with no HT.

 

[Legion]

Llano isnt too far away now.
Quadcore with a 6xxx (400 shader) gpu built in
Got my eye on this for an ultraportable low power htpc/casual gaming box.
June/July apparently.

I currently have a 2500k (undervolted) on a H67N B3 board,the HD3000 is pants I really wouldn't recommend it to anyone for casual gaming or playback,the image quality and jerkiness is intolerable tbh.

There should be some low profile/single slot 6670 cards appearing soon at 66w draw it's even in the limits for passive,this will pair well with the undervolted 2500k on a 150w pico psu should I decide to keep it.

 

[Guardsmon]

Thank you again Tute and Legion.

I've done a fair bit of reading last night and I while I'd like it sooner rather than late summer it looks best to hold off. I'll keep planning though

I'll keep updating with plans.