Uploaded July 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
My goal has always been to design or create low cost “tiny” PCs which sadly don’t go hand in hand. One of the those goals is to create slim or very small PCs based on #miniITX , #picoITX and #NUC formats. The problem is getting #dGPU small enough without breaking the bank. I have found #Nvidia #GTX1650 , #RTXA2000 , as well as the #AMD #RX6400 & #Zen2 & #Zen3 #APU s to fit the $$$ amount, but I found they don’t quite have the oomph in performance that a larger GPU can bring to the table. If you add a few more cubic centimeter to your build space, you can use a half-length, dual-slot cards using an AMD #RX6600 ( @Asrock ) Nvidia #GTX1060, #RTX2060 , #RTX3060 or now the #RTX4060 ( #ZOTAC #SOLO ) .
The RTX4060 has gotten a lot of negative press with hohum specs. Which is true if you are comparing it to the 500W behemoths like the #RTX4090 or even a #RTX4070. But if you compare it to the RTXA2000 or even RX6400, for same price (former) or twice that (latter) you get 2X the performance (former) or 3X the performance (latter) for only 25W-40W more power consumption. This has allowed me to build a fairly low-cost solution ($700) based on the @Intel 11th gen #i1140T and an @msiUSA #miniITX Pro board, 16GB 3200Mhz & 1TB M.2 2280 gen3 that showed noticeable performance and visual gains on my 8.9” 2.5K (shown here at 1920x1200 90fps) #GamingLens .
Even though I was able to house all of this in 3.8L case with a max power draw of 200W for the entire system including the Gaming Lens, it still generated a great deal of heat. Using the case’s existing side panels with too little perforation, the GPU was over 85c & the CPU 70c+ in a @ULSolutions #3DMark stress test that did not pass. I constructed new side panels that framed #PVC mesh to bring the GPU down to 75c and the CPU down to 61c allowing it to pass at 98.7%. Even better, I was able to go from 9380 points to 9600 points in #TimeSpy, which is 6000 more points than exact same system with an RX6400. Spend a little more for 13th gen ‘T’ processor with DDR5 and you will add about 500-1000 to this number.
As far as the 8GB #VRAM limitation. At 1200P, even on #TheLastofUs with #DLSS , I still had 800MB unallocated on ‘High’ settings. #Cyberpunk2077 I had it on Max settings with ‘Ray Tracing’ enabled. #APlagueTaleRequiem was on ‘Max’ settings and #DeadspaceRemake on ‘Ultra’.
Not bad for the an extra $150 over the most used GPU on #Steam - GTX1650. Would a 12GB or 16GB version been better? Probably, but for a smaller 1080P or 1440P screen, I feel I got my monies worth.
My goal has always been to design or create low cost “tiny” PCs which sadly don’t go hand in hand. One of the those goals is to create slim or very small PCs based on #miniITX , #picoITX and #NUC formats. The problem is getting #dGPU small enough without breaking the bank. I have found #Nvidia #GTX1650 , #RTXA2000 , as well as the #AMD #RX6400 & #Zen2 & #Zen3 #APU s to fit the $$$ amount, but I found they don’t quite have the oomph in performance that a larger GPU can bring to the table. If you add a few more cubic centimeter to your build space, you can use a half-length, dual-slot cards using an AMD #RX6600 ( @Asrock ) Nvidia #GTX1060, #RTX2060 , #RTX3060 or now the #RTX4060 ( #ZOTAC #SOLO ) .
The RTX4060 has gotten a lot of negative press with hohum specs. Which is true if you are comparing it to the 500W behemoths like the #RTX4090 or even a #RTX4070. But if you compare it to the RTXA2000 or even RX6400, for same price (former) or twice that (latter) you get 2X the performance (former) or 3X the performance (latter) for only 25W-40W more power consumption. This has allowed me to build a fairly low-cost solution ($700) based on the @Intel 11th gen #i1140T and an @msiUSA #miniITX Pro board, 16GB 3200Mhz & 1TB M.2 2280 gen3 that showed noticeable performance and visual gains on my 8.9” 2.5K (shown here at 1920x1200 90fps) #GamingLens .
Even though I was able to house all of this in 3.8L case with a max power draw of 200W for the entire system including the Gaming Lens, it still generated a great deal of heat. Using the case’s existing side panels with too little perforation, the GPU was over 85c & the CPU 70c+ in a @ULSolutions #3DMark stress test that did not pass. I constructed new side panels that framed #PVC mesh to bring the GPU down to 75c and the CPU down to 61c allowing it to pass at 98.7%. Even better, I was able to go from 9380 points to 9600 points in #TimeSpy, which is 6000 more points than exact same system with an RX6400. Spend a little more for 13th gen ‘T’ processor with DDR5 and you will add about 500-1000 to this number.
As far as the 8GB #VRAM limitation. At 1200P, even on #TheLastofUs with #DLSS , I still had 800MB unallocated on ‘High’ settings. #Cyberpunk2077 I had it on Max settings with ‘Ray Tracing’ enabled. #APlagueTaleRequiem was on ‘Max’ settings and #DeadspaceRemake on ‘Ultra’.
Not bad for the an extra $150 over the most used GPU on #Steam - GTX1650. Would a 12GB or 16GB version been better? Probably, but for a smaller 1080P or 1440P screen, I feel I got my monies worth.
