It used to be difficult to find a computer that could play games and still fit underneath your TV. Now, devices like the Alienware X51, Falcon Northwest Tiki, and Digital Storm Bolt can handily fill that role. But what if you want a gaming PC that can fit in your hand? That's where the Gigabyte Brix II comes in: it's both cute and powerful. Earlier this year, the company introduced the Brix lineup of tiny barebones computers that fit potent laptop processors in incredibly small cases, just 4.5 inches on a side. Now, the company's updating the lineup with new Haswell processors — and one with Intel's Iris Pro graphics inside.
As we've explained, Iris is Intel's new integrated graphics brand, but it's a good bit more advanced than the lackluster integrated graphics you've probably used before, and the particular 65W chips Gigabyte is using include the very best Iris Pro graphics that Intel has to offer. The company likes to say they're on par with Nvidia's GeForce GT 650M discrete graphics chip, and while we can't definitively test that claim, it means that Gigabyte's managed to squeeze a pretty incredible amount of power into a tiny package. We tried out Dirt II at the 2013 Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco this week, running on Gigabyte's diminutive cube, and it looked and played fantastic at 1080p. According to an Intel rep, the system can even play Crysis 3 to some degree. Just don't expect it to be on par with a system housing a beefy GPU.
For somewhere in the $499–$599 range, the Brix II comes with HDMI and Mini DisplayPort output, four USB 3.0 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, built in Wi-Fi, and a 3.5mm audio jack in the front. But here's the catch: since it's a bare-bones system, you have to supply your own memory, 2.5-inch hard drive, and operating system before you can obtain a Steam Box worthy of the designation. Intel says the system should ship this December.
If you like the Brix form factor but don't need potent graphics, the company has a whole lineup of similarly sized Brix computers on tap, starting at just $199. There are versions that offer solid-state storage, fanless models that are basically a hefty aluminum heatsink, and even a version with a built-in projector for $699. See them in our gallery above.
Comments
Can’t innovate more my * :P
By harshpwd on 09.11.13 2:33am
The fuck is your star?
By Pechente on 09.11.13 7:24am
Chocolate star.
By Kushan on 09.11.13 7:39am
fish, and the hot dog flavored water!
By riKimini on 09.11.13 8:08am
Damn good album…back then anyway.
By Schnydz on 09.11.13 10:45am
What makes it less of a good album today?
By TonyV on 09.11.13 3:37pm
Sphincstar!
By garekinokami on 09.11.13 9:01am
?
By Jason_JW on 09.11.13 1:08pm
By CuriousVerge on 09.12.13 3:00am
It looks like a PSU but still its neat.
By vishal92 on 09.11.13 2:37am
I’ll take the red one please.
By Schnydz on 09.11.13 10:46am
Yeah the red one looks really nice.
By vishal92 on 09.12.13 1:13am
Someone at Gigabyte misheard “Put a PSU inside this PC” as “Put a PC inside this PSU”. Boy was his face red when he came back with a cutting edge, micro-sized gaming device.
By Niatona on 09.12.13 3:08am
Cool, really won’t miss huge noisy computer cases. I like this trend.
By CafeBambo on 09.11.13 2:39am
Couldn’t agree more. Just as long as these things are still partially modular and those parts are build on standards than I fully accept and want this trend to continue.
By Jay2pt0 on 09.11.13 6:16am
Of course it’s not going to be modular. Look at it.
By Spoot on 09.11.13 7:47am
You supply your own memory and SSD/HD. Also, the GPU is in the CPU, and as long as the 5th Gen CPU is supported when it comes out, that about covers everything most people upgrade in a midsize tower.
Not bad for something this small.
By Mafoo on 09.11.13 8:32am
I wouldn’t be surprised if, like Intel’s NUC, the CPU is soldered to the board.
By WhyFiNYC on 09.11.13 9:11am
Well if so, the board I would think would be $30-$40 over the cost of the CPU, so worse case is you replace the board with a new board and cpu.
Not sure it Gigabyte would sell you just the board and CPU, but why not?
By Mafoo on 09.11.13 10:05am
It’s possible, but I wouldn’t count on it. It’s a pretty niche market and it may not be worth it to support multiple SKUs because of a handful of people that want to carry over a chassis that cost them a few bucks to make.
By WhyFiNYC on 09.11.13 10:58am
For $199 base, not worth upgrading components. Just get a new model that likely will come with many more improvements than a faster CPU/GPU.
By Miku on 09.11.13 12:52pm
Exactly, I haven’t update single components since the 90’s. Most of the time is not worth it. Nowadays I just end up buying a new computer every 2 to 3 years.
By CafeBambo on 09.11.13 1:44pm
I wouldn’t go that far. For something like this, yes, but anything Mini ITX and larger and I’m looking to get a couple generations of use out of it. For my money it was well worth the <$250 to upgrade mobo/CPU/RAM last year and get some new life out of the case, PSU, SSD and GPU (old CPU was bottle-necking at times).
By WhyFiNYC on 09.12.13 11:35am
In fact there’s no way that the next intel chip will be supported by the board in this thing, because haswell is the toc (in tick toc), we’re getting a smaller sized chip next release (whenever that is) which means new socket.
By YozMan on 09.11.13 3:33pm
@Yozman – that’s not really how it works. The tic is a smaller transistor gate size on the processor, not the whole chip shrinking.
Ivybridge and Sandy had the same pin layout (LGA1155) and they were tic toc
By Robzombie223 on 09.11.13 5:49pm