Print
It has long been considered common wisdom that the smaller the size of a PC, the greater its compromises. Notebooks, no matter how fat, for example, will never touch the power of a desktop machine.
The same held true for small form factor rigs. But is that still the case? To find out how today’s SFF rigs compare with their full-size desktop brethren, we tasked five top PC makers with sending us their best and brightest, and, well, smallest machines.
We didn’t put any hard and fast limits on size or price. Instead, we wanted the vendors to go nuts with the definition of “small form factor rig.” As a result, what we received for our shoot-out was an incredibly diverse assortment of shapes and sizes that completely upended our old notions of the category. It also proved to us that small PCs can pack a mighty punch.
To judge these little wonders, we looked at price, aesthetics, power consumption, acoustics, and, of course, performance. What you’ll see is that this contest yielded some unexpected challengers and results.
Falcon Northwest’s FragBox is no new face around here. We’ve seen various iterations of this SFF over the years, but the latest is perhaps the most impressive. In a chassis that’s the second-smallest of the bunch—just slightly larger than CyberPower’s LAN Party Evo—Falcon manages to jam in not one, but two GeForce GTX 580 cards, along with a 3.4GHz Core i7-2600K overclocked to 4.2GHz.
Storage is handled by Crucial’s new 256GB M4 SSD and a 1TB Western Digital HDD. RAM is maxed out on the Asus P8P67M with 16GB of DDR3/1600.
There isn’t much space to work in the FragBox, but that also means it doesn’t take up much room either.
Despite the abundance of hardware in such a confined space, the FragBox is an amazingly well-behaved machine. It stood out in contrast to other boxes in this roundup whose dual videocards were pushed into thermal detonator mode by our gaming benchmarks, forcing the system fans to spool to noticeable or unacceptable levels.
The FragBox exhibited none of that. You could play a game for hours at 2560x1600 resolution and not notice that the machine was working hard.
So what’s the FragBox’s big problem? It’s majorly outgunned by the iBuypower, Origin PC, and AVADirect rigs’ four-way GPU setups and higher-clocked or higher-cored CPUs. It also doesn’t help that the FragBox is priced at a painful $4K. That’s the same as the iBuypower rig, which not only has dual dual-GPU cards, but a Blu-ray burner and more RAM. Heck, even the Origin PC is $200 less. Ouch.
The FragBox is amazingly quiet considering that it packs an overclocked Core i7-2600K and SLI’d GeForce GTX 580 cards.
What the FragBox does bring, however, is a top-notch build quality, acoustic bliss, and performance that’s damn respectable considering its displacement of roughly 1,200 cubic inches. By comparison, the three much larger rigs are about 2,000 cubic inches. So, while we can’t give the FragBox the nod for breakout performance, it offers the best blend of size and performance in a shape and size that meets the traditional definition of an SFF box.
An SFF rig with two GTX 580 cards in SLI!
Pricey; no Blu-ray drive?
$3,975, www.falcon-nw.com
| Processor | Intel 3.4GHz Core i7-2600K (over-clocked to 4.2GHz) |
| Mobo | Asus P8P67-M Pro (Intel P67 chipset) |
| RAM | 16GB DDR3/1600 |
| Videocard | Two GeForce GTX 580 cards in SLI |
| Soundcard | Onboard |
| Storage | 256GB Crucial M4 SSD, 1TB Western Digital 7,200rpm |
| Optical | LG DVD burner |
| Case/PSU | Custom / Silverstone 1,000 watt |
| Zero Point | Falcon Northwest FragBox | |
|---|---|---|
| Vegas Pro 9 (sec) | 3,049 | 2,528 |
| Lightroom 2.6 (sec) | 356 | 300 |
| ProShow 4 (sec) | 1,112 | 883 |
| Reference 1.6 (sec) | 2,113 | 1,722 |
| STALKER: CoP (fps) | 42 | 83.8 |
| Far Cry 2 (fps) | 114.4 | 179.9 |
Our current desktop test bed consists of a quad-core 2.66GHz Core i7-920 overclocked to 3.5GHz, 6GB of Corsair DDR3/1333 overclocked to 1,750MHz, on a Gigabyte X58 motherboard. We are running an ATI Radeon HD 5970 graphics card, a 160GB Intel X25-M SSD, and 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate.
For our shoot-out, AVADirect came loaded for bear… as well as grabboid, sandworm, and arachnid, too. Yeah, basically AVADirect enters the scene packing a cartoonish amount of hardware firepower.
In what arguably pushes the definition of a small form factor rig, AVADirect’s Compact Gaming PC sports an Intel 3.46GHz Core i7-990X, 12GB of DDR3/1600, and two of AMD’s Radeon HD 6990 cards in CrossFireX mode.
Tucked in behind the 1,200W PSU are two Radeon HD 6990 dual-GPU cards and a Prolimatech Megahalem.
Also jammed into the Lian Li PC-V354R chassis are an Asus Rampage III Gene X58 board, a 250GB Intel 510 SSD, a 2TB Barracuda XT, and an LG Blu-ray burner.
Interestingly, instead of using a closed-loop liquid cooler, AVADirect cools the CPU—overclocked to 4.4GHz—using a gigantic Prolimatech Megahalem cooler.
This being our first encounter with a Radeon HD 6990 in a shipping system, we were curious to see how the new dual-GPU cards performed. It was hit or miss against the two rigs outfitted with Nvidia’s dual-GPU GTX 590 cards. In our Far Cry 2 benchmark, which is mostly a CPU benchmark these days, the AVADirect was even. But in STALKER: CoP, the quad-SLI configs blew the doors off the CrossFireX setup. In the Heaven benchmark, the AVADirect was about 17 percent slower, as well. The AVADirect got within striking distance in 3DMark 2011, but only if you consider a 7 percent disparity close.
AVADirect’s SFF is a head-turning rig loaded to the gills with firepower.
In app performance, the AVADirect’s hexa-core saves face by acing all other machines in Sony Vegas Pro 9 and also sliding past the Sandy Bridge boxes in our MainConcept test. The major problem with the AVADirect is acoustics. In CPU-only tasks, there’s no problem, but kick on any 3D game at higher resolutions for longer than 15 minutes and the fans in the system begin to howl at intolerable levels. Like ruin-your-music-or-gaming-experience kind of loud.
And that’s really a shame because when we originally uncrated the AVADirect box, we were floored by its configuration. Overall, performance, especially in multithreaded tests, is superb, but in gaming, the CrossFireX takes a back seat to quad SLI. Combined with the noise, it’s a deal breaker and a bit of a heartbreaker, too.
Hexa-core and CrossFire X in pretty compact package.
Unacceptably loud under gaming loads and pricey.
$4,976, www.avadirect.com
| Processor | Intel 3.46GHz Core i7-990X (overclocked to 4.4GHz) |
| Mobo | Asus Rampage III Gene (Intel X58 chipset) |
| RAM | 12GB DDR3/1600 |
| Videocard | Two Radeon HD 6990 cards in CrossFire X |
| Soundcard | Onboard |
| Storage | 250GB Intel 510 SSD, 2TB Seagate Barracuda 7,200rpm |
| Optical | LG Blu-ray burner |
| Case/PSU | Lian Li PC-V354R / Silverstone 1,200 watt |
| Zero Point | AVADirect Compact Gaming PC | |
|---|---|---|
| Vegas Pro 9 (sec) | 3,049 | 2,142 |
| Lightroom 2.6 (sec) | 356 | 275 |
| ProShow 4 (sec) | 1,112 | 883 |
| Reference 1.6 (sec) | 2,113 | 1,499 |
| STALKER: CoP (fps) | 42 | 83.1 |
| Far Cry 2 (fps) | 114.4 | 202.2 |
Our current desktop test bed consists of a quad-core 2.66GHz Core i7-920 overclocked to 3.5GHz, 6GB of Corsair DDR3/1333 overclocked to 1750MHz, on a Gigabyte X58 motherboard. We are running an ATI Radeon HD 5970 graphics card, a 160GB Intel X25-M SSD, and the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Ultimate.
Comments are closed on this article
Mayhemm
January 07, 2012 at 11:37am
The problem I have with these made-to-order machines (other than the prices) is the cable management. It's just so damn pretty (in most cases).
These companies build their machines for the hardware that's going to be in them and that's it. No other considerations. Not to mention they're put together by people with hands the size of my 5 year-old niece!
I mean, can you imagine the hell you'd have to go through if one of the Radeon 6990 fans dies in that AVADirect box?! You'd have to undo EVERYTHING they did to make the system look decent inside.....then you'd have to try and PUT IT ALL BACK! No thanks.
I greatly admire these guys for the wizardry they pull squishing huge hardware into small spaces, but I wouldn't touch one with a ten-foot pole.
Maki
October 29, 2011 at 12:15am
Falcon is the best. Of course, it's little expensive, but this is excellent machine with perfect video card.
LasVegasRich@gm...
May 31, 2011 at 9:14am
I wonder why Shuttle Computers didn't come to the party? I was looking forward to seeing how a J Series machine stacked up against the others.
Engelsstaub
May 16, 2011 at 7:12pm
The Fragbox just looks so freaking cool. If I had any money right now...
Archtard
May 16, 2011 at 4:21pm
I built the "Builder's Creed" machine and put it in a HAF X tower. Its a great machine on a budget, but now I wish I had gone with a micro ATX and a small form factor case. Don't get me wrong, the HAF X is a great case that keeps things cool, but it is massive!
I plan on building a small form factor bulldozer machine pending the release and reviews of the new AMD chip.
MattyMattMatt
May 16, 2011 at 2:07pm
The image is funny because Kinder Egg/Surprise is illegal in the US. In fact they will be seized at the border. I know because I had a fill box/rack of them and they were taken at the border.
jeniig30
October 27, 2011 at 12:11pm
This was really so very educational and interesting to read. I have really enjoyed reading all of this awesome information. This was really a great treat. I really do think this was great.
ABouman
May 16, 2011 at 4:25pm
Hmm.... don't know what to tell you MattyMattMatt... we didn't have any trouble finding stores in San Francisco that sold them.
MattyMattMatt
May 17, 2011 at 3:41pm
Then lucky you, as they are not legal and anyone selling them can face a fine. I can't remember what they quoted me, but it wasn't that much, but I readily gave them up so they didn't fine me.
britf37k
October 24, 2011 at 6:45am
This was really such an interesting and fun article. I really do appreciate all of this very cool and interesting information. This was really great to me. Dedicated Server Hosting Experts
tammiz39i
November 07, 2011 at 7:53am
This was really a very educational and great article. I really do appreciate all of this very cool and fun information. This was great and fun for me to read. I cant wait to read more. ppi claims made simple
sivboy
May 16, 2011 at 4:20pm
Actually, you can purchase the Kinder Egg's at the Duty Free Store by the boarder to Canada, and they let you bring em in... Wife and I have done it alot.
On topic, Awesome write up guy's! As one who loves the Small boxes, I'm diging it 110%!
MattyMattMatt
May 17, 2011 at 3:43pm
Did they search your car? I was pulled into a random search and the officers took the eggs as contraband. Maybe they just really wanted to eat them themselves?
sivboy
May 17, 2011 at 5:11am
That's interesting about the ban.... I just remembered that we bought some in Chicago this past Christmas by the Tree... Guy was selling a boat load at a stand... talk about sneaking them in!
Either way, neither here nor there with the article...
cassidy25k
October 21, 2011 at 7:06am
This was really so very interesting and fun to read. I have really enjoyed reading all of this very interesting and fun information. This was really great and fun for me to read. Sell my mobile
Kinetic
May 16, 2011 at 1:41pm
Glad to see this review, small form factor pcs have always interested and I plan on using the FT03 in my next build. To me a powerful micro-atx or mini-itx build is much more impressive than someone just buying the fastest parts they can find and throwing them in a massive case.
praetor_alpha
May 16, 2011 at 1:03pm
I've been rocking a microATX rig for over 3 years. Built it on $2700 during college, ended up being the fastest system that most people had ever seen.
Just need to find a small case that can handle a 10+" video card, and you're golden. Most people (like myself) would compromise on dual video cards: it's a smaller machine, not a miracle worker. Also cuts down on the noise. Save the money and get nicer monitor, keyboard, mouse, or sound card.
