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For $699 you can build a Skylake based mini-ITX system that uses a real, PCI-Express 3.0 x16 video card (in the $225 price range for the video card alone) that will kick this thing's butt in every benchmark.

The Intel "gaming" NUC is $699 before you put in any RAM and an SSD, so its actual total build cost as a barebones is probably around $899.

The mini-ITX system will be slightly bigger, but also more robust in nearly every way.

Yes it's tiny and slim but it's effectively laptop grade CPU with onboard GPU in a single motherboard.

2 comments

You're missing the biggest feature for a console gamer: not having to plan a full blown PC build and build it yourself. The whole point of consoles is to be able to plug it in and have it just work. While the NUC isn't quite that easy, it's much closer than what you're suggesting.

That said, I'm not sure what the NUC gets you over a steam machine. Couldn't Intel sell one with an SSD and RAM in it already and pre-install it with the steam OS?

I am genuinely interested in such mini-ITX setup. Can you post an example please?

Disclaimer: Last time I built my own computer was in 2004 or 2005, so I have no idea what to look for and what is considered powerful these days.

Can recommend https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc. They are pretty helpful and have pretty complete builds for most use cases. Search for threads like this one https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/487fc1/building_c...

For $664.26 http://pcpartpicker.com/p/49cd8d you can buy an ITX motherboard, CPU, case, PSU and even a GPU. Needs memory and storage added, same as the NUC, after all it's the same price.

How much faster wil this be? Intel's own benchmarks show Iris Pro 580 to be between a 750 and a 750 Ti. The GTX 960 is about twice as fast as a 750 Ti. http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-960-vs-Nvidi...

CPU wise the difference is much smaller, I couldn't find a direct comparison but I found for the 6700HQ but that's just as good because the 6700HQ and the 6770HQ uses the same CPU http://ark.intel.com/compare/88967,93341 and then user benchmarks show the 6700 desktop a 20% performance benefit over the 6700HQ http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-6700-vs-I...

Of course because you are not restricted by the integrated parts if you were to spend another $150 then you can get a GTX 970 which is thrice as fast as a 750 Ti and in three weeks when the GTX 1070 lands at the same price as the GTX 970 that'll be four-five times as fast as the GPU in NUC.

For the NUC to be competitive, it would need to be $499 perhaps $549 and the external GPU box $150 tops. Now that'd be a very different ballgame -- at that point we would need to look at the significant size advantage and concede that the much smaller ITX cases are typically small run and tend to be more expensive so then the NUC+GPU box would give them a run for their money when space is at the absolute premium. At the current $699 and $499 prices it's hard to see their niche.

Here's an example for a real small, artisanal :) ITX case for when space is at an absolute premium: http://nfc-systems.com/shop/s4-mini-chassis You could buy this chassis, the necessary accessories as listed on the page, a GTX 960 GPU ITX card for the price of the NUC + Razer Core and end up with a single box barely bigger than the Razer Core still packing a much bigger punch. Here's a forum post http://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/post-... mentioning a similar build (i5 6600 vs i7 6700 is the only diff, it might worth the savings actually).

The i7 is a bad fit IMHO. Yes, it has hyperthreading, but an i5-6600K is >$100 cheaper, still a quad-core and has way better single-thread performance. Should be a better choice for gaming, and even an i5-6500 might be an option. Either brings the entire price down to ~700 or leaves room for a GPU upgrade, a bigger SSD, ...

In the http://pcpartpicker.com/p/49cd8d list, are you sure the video card fits in there? It's a BIG video card. I have a 950 sitting here on my desk and I assume 960 is similar size, if not the same.

That case has max GPU dimensions max length 13", max height 5.88". That's the original PCI standard length so there is no video card or any PCI/PCIe card longer than 13".

Among the current video cards I believe the Asus GTX 980 Ti STRIX is the longest and even that's only 12" long and 5.5" high. Most video cards are 10.5" or less, even the TITAN X and most 980 Ti cards are only 10.5". You will have other problems: the 980 Ti has a 250W TDP and you probably need a liquid cooler in a case this small. (A few years back Asus had an even bigger card, the MARS II but even that would've fit if only for the length -- the reason it wouldn't fit is because it had a three slot cooling system! For very good reasons, it had 365W TDP.)

I'm guessing the 6700 in the NUC is very thermally limited vs a full core i5 or i7 desktop CPU which can have a TDP of up to 85W.

Please read the first sentence of original comment.

>For $699 you can build a Skylake based mini-ITX system that uses a real, PCI-Express 3.0 x16 video card (in the $225 price range for the video card alone) that will kick this thing's butt in every benchmark.

Why 2 SSDs? Is it really needed?

Where are you getting two SSDs from? I never said that.