Gigabyte’s new Brix Gaming is like a tiny, square Mac Pro that’s better at playing games
Tiny gaming PCs are becoming more and more common, but Gigabyte’s new Brix Gaming series might be the most attractive yet, and certainly gives Zotac a run for its money.
Launched at Computex 2017, the new Brix Gaming PCs are seriously small and come in at just 220mm tall, with a footprint of 110 x 110mm. It’s like a tiny Mac Pro, but far better for gaming.
Inside that tiny metal chassis you get the latest in CPU and graphics tech, with quad-core Intel Core i5 and i7 CPUs along with either Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (in the “UHD” model) or GTX 1060 (in the “VR” model). The VR name indicates this PC is indeed ready for virtual reality headsets.
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They’re small, but they don’t lack connectivity. There’s a pair of USB 3.1 Type-C ports, three USB 3.0 connectors, three mini DisplayPorts and a full-size HDMI 2.0 port as well. There’s dual-band Wi-Fi antennas as well as gigabit Ethernet from Intel, and you can choose between SATA storage of high-speed M.2 drives. The two SO-DIMM memory slots support up to 2133MHz DDR4 memory for speedy, compact performance.
You won’t be able to replace the processor or graphics chip (it uses an MXM connector instead of the standard PCIe), but if you get your tools out you’ll probably be able to replace most of the other components with a bit of effort.
We don’t have pricing on these new compact PCs, but expect them to appear on store shelves later this year.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
