Smallest PC Form Factor that can take dedicated GAMING graphic cards etc?

Brian_Pamo

Hi all
During the lockdown period I have been busy renovating/building/replacing my home and work PC's with some USFF PC's that I acquired.  It is fair to say that these PC's are brilliant.  I love them!  They are Lenovo Think Centre PC's.  They suit us perfectly.  They ones I have have an i5 chip and 16GB of Memory and when complimented with a decent SSD are lightening fast.  My daughter loves her new PC which is going to make transporting it to Uni (in place of her huge Tower PC) a doddle.  I had one in the car the other day and literally popped it into the glove box.  I believe they are called USFF but I'm not sure if that's the official word or something that has caught on.  I love everything about these tiny PC's and am planning on doing lots more with them.  However, if there could be an issue it is that my friend would love me to build him one but we are not sure if PC's this size have the internal space/facility for a dedicated graphics card for gaming.  I guess there are cooling issues to take into account and also it certainly looks to me that there is no room for a decent graphics card in these USFF PC's unless that is... there is a company that makes gaming graphics cards for USFF PC's?  So, my question is...Taking into account I want to go no lower than i5 CPU what is the smallest PC I can buy that will accept a dedicated high end graphics card? I guess the size of the smallest graphics cards will determine the size of the PC... When I say 'Build' I would like a ready made PC because the used/refurbished ones on Ebay are fantastic value when compared to assembling the bits myself and literally building a PC from scratch.
Thanks all

Neil_Jones

Assuming the Think Centre PCs you speak of are similar to these:

https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/desktops-and-all-in-ones/thinkcentre/m-series-tiny/c/M-Series-Tiny

Then some of those are so small they don't have any expansion options on the back, so you're stuck with what you get unfortunately.

If you want a "proper" gaming card in a PC you have to remember you can only go so small as cards are standard sizes and a lot of the better cards require a decent power supply (ie a "proper size" one).  I've got one of these: https://www.ebuyer.com/724862-avp-hyperion-ev33b-black-cube-case-cas-107 (I didn't buy it from eBuyer but it's the same case).  This serves as my gaming PC at this time.

fred246

You have to remember that yesterday's graphics cards are todays onboard graphics so you need to check out if any are adequate. If you really want a modern gaming graphics card you need the space and the power supply so you are looking at a much bigger case. You have to decide if you want the optical drive in the case too. You can get micro ATX or mini ITX motherboards but the mini ITX are a bit more expensive. Basically if you want a games machine you are better just forgetting the idea of a SFF PC.

[Deleted User]

I found a few (expensive) examples from the site below, 2020 prices but gets you an idea
https://www.gamedesigning.org/tech/mini-pc/ 
PC Specialist (site that was first on google, not a recommendation) does allow you to build small PCs for gaming but small is relative. An Alienware (or similar) laptop would probably be your best bet for a small gaming machine footprint
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-z490-sff-gaming/

bengalknights

Zotac and Geforce do some small factor GPU's, it depends on what kind of gaming is needed.
Just out of curiosity what are you using them in the car for?

Johnmcl7

A high end graphics card on its own is going to be a good bit bigger than an entire USFF PC so you're going to need to go a lot bigger to be able to fit a dedicated graphics card.  It is possible to connect a graphics card externally over a thunderbolt connection but for a fixed desktop setup it doesn't make much sense given the enclosures are bulky plus they're not cheap either.

I don't think you'll find any mass produced SFF PCs that will take a high end graphics card, the reason there's so many Lenovo USFF's and similar available cheap is that businesses use them but for anything needing a graphics card or similar a standard size tower will likely be used.  Intel's Extreme NUC is probably one of the smallest PCs to take a double slot graphics card but not cheap, there's also some barebones machines with a reasonable graphics card like the Zotac Magnus but also not cheap.

Gaming laptops give a lot more choice if needing performance in a small size but they're still pricey for the relative performance they offer and newer ones tend to run hot and noisy.

Johnmcl7

fred246 said:

You have to remember that yesterday's graphics cards are todays onboard graphics so you need to check out if any are adequate. 

This is completely wrong, yesterday's graphics cards still offer significantly faster performance than the best of the current integrated graphics cards.  The AMD 3400G's Vega 11 GPU is one of the best on the market at the moment but it struggles to match an old entry level graphics card like the Nvidia GT 1030 while a midrange card like the 1070 from that era can offer vastly higher performance still capable of playing current games at high resolutions and detail settings.

ToxicWomble

Don’t forget cooling as well - there is a reason towers are so big and have so many fans - most mid/top range cards kick out a load of heat which needs dissipating

Brian_Pamo

bengalknights said:

Zotac and Geforce do some small factor GPU's, it depends on what kind of gaming is needed.
Just out of curiosity what are you using them in the car for?

Sorry. I wasn’t ‘using’ it in the car. I was transporting it to work and I popped it in glove box at petrol station when I got out. 

Brian_Pamo

Thanks all. Top advice. I gathered as much. When I said gaming I should have said ‘standard gaming’. My mate has never heard of half of those titles. I think he meant he just wanted to play a few games now and then. He is certainly not a gaming fanatic. Yes Neil Jones, indeed those Lenovo’s are the ones. They are brilliant! 

Thanks to everybody who commented. 

bengalknights

Brian_Pamo said:

bengalknights said:

Zotac and Geforce do some small factor GPU's, it depends on what kind of gaming is needed.
Just out of curiosity what are you using them in the car for?

Sorry. I wasn’t ‘using’ it in the car. I was transporting it to work and I popped it in glove box at petrol station when I got out. 

Oh i see was hoping you had hooked it up and made a tesla screen in the car!