Llano ITX Gaming System

[Steve]

The video card and case arrived today, so I now have all of the major components for this build. I had intended to use this hardware to do some testing and review posts for the main blog (and I will) but I thought I might as well post a work log of the build as I go. It's my first single-slot GPU ITX build. All the regular readers know I've been wanting to do one for a while.

So here it is:

AMD A8-3850 Llano APU
ASRock A75M-ITX
4GB G.Skill DDR3-1333 (left over from a Sandy Bridge build, Will probably swap out for 8GB DDR3-1600)
XFX Radeon HD 6670 1GB DDR5 (to see how close to my beloved HD6850 I can get)
ThermalTake ElementQ w/ 220w SFX PSU (the whole reason for this build)
500 GB WD HDD

I haven't decided on an optical drive yet and I can install off of a USB for now.

This system should have enough juice to run my MMO's on descent settings and I'm anxious to see how much abuse the 220w PSU can handle. I suspect it will be plenty for this build.

If I swap the HD6670 for a single-slot HD6850 I think it will need to be upgraded. My old i5-2500k/H67/HD6850 pulled 213w from the wall at maximum load.

[Jamie Profile]

I like it, looking forward to some numbers to I can compare.

[Big SturL Profile]

Interesting, but why did you chose the Llano if you're going to use a dedicated graphics card? I think a Pentium G840/850 would be a better option. They draw so little power (35W max, though 65W TDP), that you could probably use your HD6850.

[gropingmantis Profile]

Interesting, but why did you chose the Llano if you're going to use a dedicated graphics card? I think a Pentium G840/850 would be a better option. They draw so little power (35W max, though 65W TDP), that you could probably use your HD6850.

I think Steve want to try out the crossfire with the on-die GPU.

[Steve]

I think Steve want to try out the crossfire with the on-die GPU.

You are correct, sir.

I want to see where the HD 6690D2 performs relative to the HD 6850 (or anything else for that matter) .

And I want to build a good gaming systems that runs on 200 watts. It would be an interesting to use a lower-power Intel processor with a more powerful GPU and see how the systems compare.

[Big SturL Profile]

Ok, I see

However, I think it's odd that the new Pentium processors haven't had any more "publicity". They perform really good, almost on par with the i3-2100, but consume a lot less energy and are cheaper, of course.

Here's a comparison between the A8-3850 and the G840.

[Steve]

Sooo....

Assembled the Llano rig on my PC-Q06 test bench to run some benchmarks. Things went well.

Fired up the Dual Graphics. Things went well.

Moved the motherboard to the ThermalTake Element Q. Things didn't go so well.

Apparently the stock heatsink is a too tall to fit under the PSU in the Element Q:



Off to NewEgg to find a solution.

[Jamie Profile]

Would the Scythe rev B fit?
as a stop gap how about lifting the fan off and having a push pull set up across the centre of
the APU?

[gropingmantis Profile]

wow there is literally no space in that case for any cooler. Is there a 120mm fan mount anywhere that you could put a H60 onto??

[flopticalcube Profile]

A 1U server cooler should work in that space. Good luck finding an AMD socket compatible one. Other than that, an all in one water like the Antec Kuhler or Corsair H50/60, as mentioned.

EDIT: MemoryExpress has the H50 for $50 + $6 shipping at the moment. Personally, I would pay the extra $10 and get the Antec 620 from BestDirect.