When You Want A Little Gaming: The AVADirect Nano Gaming Cube
by Dustin Sklavos on September 16, 2010 10:55 PM ESTConclusion: Good Things in a Small Package?
Having gone through the review you've probably already figured out whether or not you're interested in something like the AVADirect Nano Gaming Cube. So we'll cut the crap now: the Cube is a curio. You know it, I know it. It is a cute, woefully impractical idea, and it works. Some people are probably going to be horribly offended by it, mystified as to why anyone would buy anything like it. That's fine, the Cube isn't for them. But other people—and you know who you are—are going to be endlessly fascinated and amused by it. This conclusion is for you.
The three major issues with the Cube (or at least, our review unit) are thus: the DFI LANparty board is feature light and frankly bad compared to what's available (and it's no longer an option in the AVADirect configurator); the overclock is a lazy one and not remotely ideal for the situation; and finally, the Cube can be a bit noisy.
The first has already been taken care of: superior boards are available in the custom configuration, and the cheapest is still a high quality Gigabyte board. The second, we would just advise that you order it without an overclock instead of tempting fate, because you're not going to get the kind of tuned overclock a system like this really demands. The third, I don't know what to tell you. It isn't even a foot long on any side and it has a Radeon HD 5870 in it. There's only so much alchemy that can occur when a gaming machine this small is put together.
I think the only major issue I had with it was that the overclock was so poorly done and so wasteful, because the system is such a cool idea (regardless of practicality) that it needs more attention and care. The cube could probably do a lot better if it were properly tuned.
So with all that said, the cube is an incredibly amusing curio and it is indeed a fully functional, perfectly stable machine. With an incredibly tiny footprint. It will get attention, at least from the geek set. Whether you're willing to pay for the novelty is a decision you'll have to make on your own, but there are few better ways to do a little gaming than the AVADirect Nano Gaming Cube.
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sprockkets - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
That stinks. All I can add is my SG40 works, but sometimes it won't boot up after the BIOS for whatever reason. Not bad for 5 years of heavy use.My current SG31G2 works pretty good. I can only say it looks well built.
archcommus - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
Excellent timing on this article, as I've been interested in replacing my big ATX system with a Mini-ITX. I game very little and not above 1680x1050 res, never use my DVD drive, and don't need much HDD space, so I feel my current system and its size that hasn't changed since the 90's is simply overkill. I wanted even smaller than this AVADirect system, though, and was considering the Silverstone Sugo SG05 with the PSU it comes with, a Gigabyte board, and whatever video card I could fit. However I think it would be better to hold off until I can put a Sandy Bridge CPU in it. Any thoughts from the Mini-ITX builders here?fr500 - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
The Gigabyte board is great, I have both the DFI MI P55-T36 and a Gigabyte on an even smaller system. The Gigabyte has better OCP which is important if you are overclocking.The SG05 with the stock PSU should be enough for a dual core i5 (or an i3 of course) and a GTX460 if you're not overclocking, another good option is a 5770 since it consumes even less power. I ran a GTS250 and an i5 750 overclocked witht the stock PSU and never went over 250w while gaming.
I'd recommend a Prolimatech Samuel 17 to cool your CPU and if you can manage to get some 1.35v DIMMs it would be better. Other than that it's pretty straightforward and the results are pretty impressive.
If you need more info PM me (if such thing exists here) good luck!
PS: a couple of pics of my build back then when it was a Core 2 Duo
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/149537/Photos/DSC02649%20%...
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/149537/Photos/DSC02645%20%...
It was a hit and had to build 4 more for friends a month later:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/149537/Photos/DSC02924.JPG
archcommus - Sunday, September 19, 2010 - link
Thanks for the tips!vol7ron - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
questions like these are why there's a forumtheagentsmith - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
Silverstone Sugo SG05, Gigabyte H55N-USB3, i5-750, 2x2GB Corsair DDR3-1600, 60GB Corsair Force, 1TB Caviar Green, VTX 3D Radeon 5770, stock FSP 300W PSU 80plusI think the case is done well especially if you consider it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Of course you need a little more time routing the cables while building, but hey, it's astoningshly small!
The system isn't that noisy, except the CPU fan quickly change RPM when there is a sudden load and you hear it easily since most of the case is opened by grilles.
I still have to optimize it yet. What do you suggest to do? I think about a small overclock while keeping CPU features on and maybe a little undervolt.
I have no practice in overclock these LGA1156 systems though.
Folterknecht - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I would suggest the following: Set all voltages concerning the CPU from "AUTO" to "NORMAL" and just try it out! You should reach a BCLK between 150 - 160MHz without raising voltages. The "AUTO"-Setting with GB-Boards is just crap when overclocking cause the board sometimes raises voltages like there is no tomorrow.You may have to adjust RAM-Speed ...
RAM testing with Memtest86+ might also be a good idea. Overall system stability ... Prime95 (blend), coredamage
SimKill - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
Hey Dustin, this article surely needs some pictures of the cube. Get some shots with comparison to regular household objects (like phones, xboxes etc) but we need some pictures!jaydee - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
A phone? It's not that small. Maybe next to a bowling ball?BTW, if small footprint is what you're going after, the announced, but not yet available, Lian Li PC-Q11 looks outstanding. Would love to see a review of it!
SimKill - Saturday, September 18, 2010 - link
See, exactly why a comparison picture would be useful. A phone was just an example. A bowling ball seems perfect, or even other ATXes as suggested below but we need size comparison pictures. Giving the dimensions is fine, but a picture is well worth over a thousand words (and takes thrice as much space!)