Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Gigabyte H55 Mini-ITX motherboard and Silverstone SG07 used to build (almost) perfect gaming toaster

We know you've seen Mini-ITX motherboards before, but how many have managed to fit in a PCI Express x16 lane, two full-sized DIMM slots, and Intel's LGA1156 socket? Gigabyte has done just that with its H55 circuit slab, squeezing the basic requirements for a gaming rig into a 6.7- x 6.7-inch footprint, and the lads over at Tech Report have taken notice. Pairing that tiny rig with a Silverstone SG07 small form factor case, they set out to discover if the PC craze of the Naughties -- SFF computing, mostly sparked off by Shuttle's efforts -- can be resurrected with more modern gear. What they found was that the SG07's 600W PSU stood up to the power demands of a GeForce GTX 470, all parts were somehow maintained in an acceptably cool state without making the enclosure sound like a wind tunnel, and gaming performance was highly satisfactory. Of course, there were some compromises and flaws to both the motherboard and case, but overall it turned out to be "one heck of a midget gaming system."



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