Tiny GTX970 system

[Bani]

Hey guys,

I am currently playing WoW on an ultrabook with a 840M. It works surprisingly well but for WoD I am considering buying a desktop system. Since I need to buy it in Germany and take it with me on an airplane, I'd like to have a system that's as small and lightweight as possible. Extra bonus points if I can put an ivybridge i5-3570k in there, as I already have one in my old desktop system. It needs to be able to deal with a GTX970 video card.

Do you guys have any recommendations for cases and mobos and the right power supply for such a system?

 

[Ayu]

This is my go-to case for everything. I can give you a tour, if you like.

 

[Atermors]

Hard to get a 970 into a case that fits into airplane luggage....
You might want to consider http://www.mysn.de/detail.asp?KategorienOrder=010;020;015;006&bestellnr=XMG-P304.
Plog got one of these and I got the predecessor, both are more than capable to play WoD on Ultra but they are, of course, no where near as powerful as a desktop 970.
Otherwise there's a 970/980 version in a 15" form factor http://www.mysn.de/detail.asp?bestellnr=XMG-P505&KategorienOrder=010;020;015;001;010

If it should be a desktop I don't see any problem with your current CPU. Got RAM for that too? You can get some microATX case + 1155 motherboard. But those won't be small enough to fit in any luggage.
http://de.pcpartpicker.com/p/2HcQLk check the cases with MicroATX slim or mini.

 

[Bani]

Hey, cheers for the replies, Ayu's solution seems more elegant and roomy, so I'm gonna go with that after having a first-hand look....

Aaaanyway, I would prefer not to buy a laptop since I have a very pretty ultrabook with the 840M already which does run WoW at 1080p, just at good/high, not max settings. Was looking around a bit and found this bit of insanity: http://www.overclock.net/t/1456868/my-lian-li-pc-tu-100-lan-rig

Needless to say, it was love at first sight <3

That thing is like 17x20x25 cm, which is unbelievably small! Can't fit my existing mATX board though, and old mITX boards which my Ivy fits into are strangely expensive, so I splurged and bought a new Z97 and a i5 4690K too, along with the fancy new mITX 970 that should be an awesome system with the size of a small sixpack. Can't wait

 

[Atermors]

Ahh, well yea wasn't suggesting mITX because of the price Are you sure it fits a 970, though? The guy in the post uses a 760 mini which is a lot shorter than the default model and even shorter than the 970 (by a huge margin). The 970 I find are around 31cm long.... won't fit at all I fear :/

 

[Bani]

Gigabyte announced a mITX version of their 970 http://www.pcgamer.com/gigabyte-introduces-the-first-mini-itx-gtx-970/
If it turns out to not be a good card for some reason, there's also this 20cm Zotac: http://www.zotac.com/products/graphics-cards/geforce-900-series/gtx-970/product/gtx-970.html
The official limit is 193mm for this case, but if you remove or mod the front USB3 ports it should also fit. I will be back in Germany in 2 weeks to pick all the stuff up, so have a little while to decide

 

[Asrialt]

I always ponder as to why people who mainly play WoW tends to focus so much on powerful GPUs. You wont see a difference in WoW whether you have a GTX570 or a GTX970. If you have a decent CPU (i5 2500k and onwards) you'll see a steady 60FPS with both of these cards.

The only difference is if you go to a 4K resolution or have 3+ monitors, in which the extra memory of the 970 helps.

 

[Bani]

actually I am surprised by WoW's ability to always challenge the latest GPUs and CPUs that come out despite having been out for like 10 generations! I know that my Ivy quad-core with a 660 ti does not deliver a steady 60FPS with everything turned up to max and AA at 1080p.

Of course turning down some settings even slightly can you there. But my 660 wouldn't fit that tiny case anyway, and the 970 is pretty much the only GFX card worth buying right now. It's faster, quieter, more efficient and insanely good value compared to anything else. Plus I have been eyeing one of those 40" 4k TVs to use as my main PC monitor now that they can do 4k at 60Hz

 

[Ayu]

Plus I have been eyeing one of those 40" 4k TVs to use as my main PC monitor now that they can do 4k at 60Hz

Tiny PC, huge screen is gonna look all kinds of awesome.

 

[Atermors]

Check your monitor distance.... 40" results in a lot of head movement and oversight for a typical user - monitor distance.

Too bad there are no 27" 4k displays currently :/

Still got two of these which are pretty nice till then and got a 2560x1440 resolution.

 

[Ayu]

Check your monitor distance.... 40" results in a lot of head movement and oversight for a typical user - monitor distance.