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Question

12v gaming PC help

by Mar 8, 2017 2:48PM PST

Hi everyone

Bit long winded but looking for some help.

Saving up for a house so I'm going to be living in my caravan, and in summer just off of solar power. As a result I want my gaming pc drawing no more than 120w when gaming so I'm not going to be able to have it as is. I'm going to have to make a low power gaming PC that runs off of 12v. It also will be on a pretty low budget so will I buy second hand when possible. Would like medium settings at 720p on games like Rise of the tomb raider and Far cry 4 (4 cores). Here's my idea so far

CPU - i5 2400 (undervolted by 0.09v)
CPU cooler - arctic passive cooler intel version
GPU - GTX 1050ti 120watt(currently have a gtx960 but 1050ti has lower power consumption with better performance).
Motherboard - cheapest H61 board maTX
PSU - 200w pico power supply (no AC to DC power waste)
Then 120gb SSD
And a cheap case

Interesting article here on i5 2400 undervolted. Just look at the graphs and see the i5 2400's performance.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/intel-2100t-2400s

Let me know if you have any ideas, I currently have an i5 4690k but I'm worried it might be a bit power hungry. Also if I get the i5 2400 for £40 I'll be able to make a HTPC when I get a house.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Alex

Discussion is locked

5 Posts
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Answer
Not what I would build.
by Forum moderator Mar 8, 2017 3:09PM PST

Good luck on this build but has anyone and I mean anyone given you any assurance this would work?

Also, most of the gamers on the go opt for laptops. That Dell with the 1050 is well liked by CNET.

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Nope
by Puffnut Mar 8, 2017 4:20PM PST

No they haven't which is why I'm asking on here. Do you mean whether the system would work or whether the power consumption would be low enough?
Only reason over a laptop is because I fancied building myself (first build).

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I won't advise for such a build.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Mar 8, 2017 4:40PM PST

The problem is that for gaming you need about 2x the average power for the peaks a GPU or CPU may draw. Your build is half the Watts and we haven't begun to check Amperes per rail yet.

In other words, good luck on finding folk that will back you up on such a build.

Now for a laptop, the power draw is leveled out by the laptop battery which soaks up spikes and more. It also fits into the tiny home, solar life style better.

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That makes sense
by Puffnut Mar 8, 2017 4:51PM PST

Ah I see that makes sense. Would need an expensive laptop though although those dell ones do look nice.
Thank you for the advice, I'll have a think!

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APU?
by Puffnut Mar 8, 2017 6:41PM PST

What if I used an AMD apu for example an A10 7800, which has a tdp of 65w, and forget about the graphics card. Obviously performance wouldn't be as good but lots of games would still be playable.

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