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There's plenty of middle ground. In terms of size, you have Mini ITX as pointed out by another comment, and there's MicroATX which is perhaps more common than r

There's plenty of middle ground. In terms of size, you have Mini ITX as pointed out by another comment, and there's MicroATX which is perhaps more common than regular ATX. And of course there are several mini systems like the Mac Mini, Intel NUC series, and derivatives/copies of the NUC. There are a lot of case options for small Mini ITX systems, I'm using an NCase M1 which is a 12-13L by volume case. There are smaller cases, but the smaller the case, the less flexible it is with configurations, which is one reason they large ATX cases are still popular; it seems like a lot of enthusiasts like clear side panels and rgb light shows and so forth, and a tiny case isn't as exciting. There are also multiple PSU size options. The NCase M1 I mentioned can use a regular ATX PS, but an SFX power supply fits better; SFX seems like maybe half the volume of a regular ATX PS. There is also SFX-L, which is a bit bigger so it can house a larger fan. These smaller PS standards are typically lower power, although you can get 650W+ SFX supplies now I think. Silverstone and Corsair were regarded as having the best SFX supplies last time I was looking. Finally, there are a couple of options for external power bricks like you suggest. As mentioned elsewhere there is a PicoPSU which is a DC/DC converter the size of a 24 pin ATX socket. It just plugs into the ATX socket on any regular ATX-compatible motherboard and has some cables attached to the sides for peripherals. There's also the 'Thin Mini-ITX' standard, which is I think intended for digital signage and industrial stuff, but if your requirements are modest you can use these for a desktop also. They integrate a DC/DC converter and use a 19V laptop ac adapter. The ones I've seen are best suited to on-chip graphics and m.2/msata drives, though.

pornel 4y ago
There are plenty of products, but they're all underwhelming. Form factor and position of all the key components is so unfortunately mismatched, that no matter how you arrange them, there has to be a ton of wasted space. It doesn't help much that you can have a small motherboard. You will need a CPU cooler stick out the middle of it, which already takes most of the space you have above MB's footprint. If you insert a GPU without a riser cable, you'll have to move the PSU to the side of the MB, and that's already almost as chonky as a regular ATX. So you're forced to deal with airflow-choked GPU, low-profile coolers, and no room for a powerful PSU. If you instead opt for an easy-to-cool CPU and no discrete GPU to save space, it's still a massive box for a computing power of a tablet.
- saxonww 4y ago
  Maybe you're interested in a NUC, then. I remembered earlier there is an alternative GPU form factor for laptops called MXM. You can get desktop boards that accept these, I think they are called Micro-STX or Mini-STX. They are small, and the GPU is a flat module that plugs in more like a daughterboard than a PCI card. You're still looking at low-power CPU though. I'm not sure what your vision looks like, to be honest. I think you want a laptop without the integrated screen and keyboard. That's a NUC, IMO; if an integrated or laptop-grade GPU isn't good enough, you'd want to do eGPU over thunderbolt I guess.

pornel 4y ago

There are plenty of products, but they're all underwhelming. Form factor and position of all the key components is so unfortunately mismatched, that no matter how you arrange them, there has to be a ton of wasted space. It doesn't help much that you can have a small motherboard. You will need a CPU cooler stick out the middle of it, which already takes most of the space you have above MB's footprint. If you insert a GPU without a riser cable, you'll have to move the PSU to the side of the MB, and that's already almost as chonky as a regular ATX. So you're forced to deal with airflow-choked GPU, low-profile coolers, and no room for a powerful PSU. If you instead opt for an easy-to-cool CPU and no discrete GPU to save space, it's still a massive box for a computing power of a tablet.

saxonww 4y ago
Maybe you're interested in a NUC, then. I remembered earlier there is an alternative GPU form factor for laptops called MXM. You can get desktop boards that accept these, I think they are called Micro-STX or Mini-STX. They are small, and the GPU is a flat module that plugs in more like a daughterboard than a PCI card. You're still looking at low-power CPU though. I'm not sure what your vision looks like, to be honest. I think you want a laptop without the integrated screen and keyboard. That's a NUC, IMO; if an integrated or laptop-grade GPU isn't good enough, you'd want to do eGPU over thunderbolt I guess.