Question re: The Recoil VR Mini Gaming PC

[Pilgrimage to Paradise]

Hi

I'm looking at getting the The Recoil VR Mini Gaming PC from PC Specialist to replace my existing desktop. Love the small form factor, will site nicely on my desk, the question I have is about the graphics card, it says GTX 1060 however I'm unsure what version is used to fit the case which is 143 mm x 143 mm x 87 mm. I've looked for a mini series and the measurements for them also seem to big for the case. I feel I'm missing something really obvious here :wacko: but hopefully someone can clarify for me

Thanks!

 

[Stephen M]

I think you would need to call PCS to be sure on this, we are mostly customers on here although PCS staff look in they may not see your question for a while. You could also email them but phone is much quicker.

 

[Pilgrimage to Paradise]

I think you would need to call PCS to be sure on this, we are mostly customers on here although PCS staff look in they may not see your question for a while. You could also email them but phone is much quicker.

Thanks Stephen

I've emailed them as phoning isn't currently an option.

 

[Oussebon]

It has a mobile CPU and the detailed specs page says it has an "Intel® HM175 Express Chipset" so I'd say it will almost certainly be the laptop version of the GTX 1060.

 

[Pilgrimage to Paradise]

It has a mobile CPU and the detailed specs page says it has an "Intel® HM175 Express Chipset" so I'd say it will almost certainly be the laptop version of the GTX 1060.

Thanks, I received a response from PCS as well confirming the model used is the laptop version which is unfortunate. If I'm going to spend around £1,000 on a new PC, I need it to have a decent desktop card in it, but also want it to be small form factor, my current machine is 5-6 years old now, I've upgraded the RAM, HDD and Graphics Card (GTX970) about a year and a bit ago but still got the same old mobo and processor so was looking for an upgrade. My current case is the size of a small passenger plane (Phantom NXZT), which I love but it does take up a lot of space.

 

[Oussebon]

Even if it were a desktop GTX 1060, a GTX 1060 isn't all that much better than a GTX 970.

What about getting a SFF PC without a GPU and adding in your 970?

You won't find many (possibly any) PCs as small as the one you'd listed above with a desktop GPU in them, simply as to have space for these things, plus the PSU, and all the other high end components - and sufficient airflow to cool them - mini PCs often aren't all that 'mini.

e.g.

Case
FRACTAL DESIGN NODE 304 Mini ITX Case
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Six Core Processor i5-8400 (2.8GHz) 9MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z370-I GAMING: Mini-ITX, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
NOT REQUIRED
M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG PM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2800MB/R, 1100MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-L9i Low Profile, Super Quiet CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN PORT + Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi excluded on H110I-PLUS)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,021.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-sff-gaming/EtZAvYD3Kj/

Node 304 (mini ITX) 210 x 250 x 374 (Approx H x W x D)

 

[Oussebon]

However, on the point of mini cases not always being very mini, a full size desktop PC with an ATX motherboard, being cheaper and offering more upgrade options, could be housed in a case like the NZXT S340

NZXT S340: 445mm x 200mm x 432mm (Approx H x W x D)

Case
NZXT S340 MID TOWER GAMING CASE (BLACK/BLUE)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Six Core Processor i5-8400 (2.8GHz) 9MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z370-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
NOT REQUIRED
M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG PM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2800MB/R, 1100MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet Titan DragonFly Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price £865.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/7DZ8RRcbFm/

 

[Oussebon]

The point being that if your current case is mahoosive, you could just get a smaller ATX case.

You didn't say what your current spec is, but unless you really want to spend £800-1000 just on downsizing, you might not be getting much of an upgrade, especially with a GTX 970 / GTX 1060 level GPU.

 

[Pilgrimage to Paradise]

Thanks Oussebon!

If it was going to be a full size 1060 then downsizing to that case would have been worth it just for the space saving even if it's not that much better than a 970 but alas it was not meant to be.

I might sell the 970, transfer my existing hdd and ssd into a new machine and get a small tower with a 1080 in it. In theory I would only need:

Case
Mobo
Processor (Looking i5 latest gen, or AMD? slightly cheaper)
16gb RAM (or 8GB 3000mhz which I read was good enough)
GTX1080
256gb M.2 drive

Then add in my 2TB HDD and 256GB SSD from existing machine.

Something like:


Case
InWIN 301 MINI-ITX GAMING CASE (White)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Six Core Processor i5-8400 (2.8GHz) 9MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z370-I GAMING: Mini-ITX, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
Get Destiny 2 with select GTX 10 Series GPUs! ** Limited Codes Available **
1st Hard Disk
NOT REQUIRED
M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3100MB/R, 1400MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Scythe Kodati SCKDT-1000 Low Profile CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
EK-TIM ECTOTHERM THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN PORT + Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi excluded on H110I-PLUS)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,286.00 including VAT and delivery

I don't know if the thermal paste and cpu cooling is overkill but the price has come out slightly more than I intended (apparently the 1080 is still a £500 card). I don't know how the 970 compares to the latest cards but I either get the 1080 now and sell the 970, or get the build without a card and put the 970 in there with the intention of buying the 1080 when it drops in price, however long that takes... Would the 970 with the above config be good enough for latest games e.g. Destiny 2 etc.? (The price drops to £778 without the 1080).

 

[Oussebon]

Note that you're only saving 6cm depth vs the S340 which is a "full size" case.

If you're set on a mini ITX system despite the disadvantages, I'd strongly recommend you get 16gb RAM. The mini ITX motherboards only have 2 slots for the RAM so it's probably cheaper to buy 2x8gb now than 2x4gb and have to replace it with 2x8gb when you want 16gb.

The GTX 970 is still a powerful card, capable of running many modern games at high or very high settings.



So obviously it's a lot weaker than a 1080... but it's still pushing over 60fps on the highest settings.

If you're gaming at 1080p 60hz, I'd stick with the 970 for now. We can't be all that far off Volta coming out...

 

[Pilgrimage to Paradise]

Thanks again, I do like the look of the S340 case to be fair.

Also thanks for the image, I realised I should have mentioned this before but my current monitor is 2560x1440, unfortunately the 970 hit a score of 39 on Destiny 2 at this res. A 1070 hits 59 and you'd need a 1080 to play over 60 (granted this increase is to 75).

You've been incredibly helpful, +repped for that. I'm going to fiddle around with the config until I get something nice, though I feel I might have to bite the bullet and spend the extra 250 to get the 1080 (I did look at the Radeon equivalent and that was more expensive).

 

[Oussebon]

Note that the bench is at the highest settings.

At High settings in the beta at 1440p:

https://www.techspot.com/review/1478-destiny-2-pc-benchmarks/

There's been a bit of a performance uplift since the beta as well, apparently, due to better CPU usage.

You could order the PC without a GPU, and see if there are any deals on Black Friday. I'm pretty sure you could pick up a 1080 cheaper than PCS's prices if you don't mind adding in your own GPU.