Technical characteristics
CPU: Intel Core i5-4570S (Haswell, Socket LGA1150, 4 Nuclei, 2.9-3.6 GHz, L3-Cash 6 MB)
Cooling: I.C.E.
Motherboard: Intel H87 Express (Socket LGA2011, 4x DDR3-1066/1333/1600 MHz to 32 GB, PCIE 3.0 x16, PCIE X1, 4X SATA Rev.3; 2x USB 3.0, 4x USB 2.0, Esata Rev. 3, LAN, S/PDIF-OUT, Audio)
Memory: 2x 2 GB DDR3-2100 MHz Kingston Hyperx
Video card :: Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan (837-876/6008 MHz, 6 GB, 2X DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort)
Solid -state drive : 64 GB Kingston SSDNOW (reading – 250 MB/s, recording – 145 MB/s)
Hard disk: 2 TB Hitachi GST Deskstar 7K2000 HDS722020ALA330 (SATA 2, 7200 rpm, 32 MB)
Power unit: 300 W Shuttle 85R-PC6100-1000
Frame: Shuttle R6 (2x USB 2.0, 2x USB 3.0, 2x 3.5 mm Jack)
Additionally: Windows 8 Pro 64-bit
Price Shuttle XPC SH87R6: 15,000 rubles
The price of Igromania Box for November 2013: 24 100
/ 58 100 rubles s/without a video card
They say correctly: "laziness – engine of progress". Once again, succumbing to the ancient feeling, whispering “Don’t get up from the couch, let's play in Tomb Raider on PS3,” we were so depressed by the quality of the picture on the prefix that we decided-we must somehow fight with this. No, not with laziness and pushing the sofa, but with graphics. You think they began to wait for a new generation or mythical Valve Steam Machine? Nothing of the kind – we can also take the computer iron and give it a loud name. And while on the neighboring pages they actively discuss the PlayStation 4, we, in the “Iron Wild”, will tell you about Igromania Box, our own game console.
Introductory
In general, when the idea only visited us, we, a sinful thing, thought to take a test stand, joystick and connect everything to home plasma. Fortunately, pride did not allow, because we wanted beauty, noiselessness and convenience. And this is a search for a shell corresponding to the filling and, of course, the configuration of software.
With the first pair of points, we intended to experiment with the youthful maximalism, supported by the capabilities of the editorial office, to recruit different buildings, low -speed coolers and passive power supply units. But, having estimated that you will have to write about all this, and you have decided to master at least ten pages, they decided – well, it. Found the "semi -finished product" and moved to the most interesting.
The first element
As a starting site, a Barebone system was assigned Shuttle XPC SH87R6. This is a partially finished computer in which you need to add memory, video card, hard drive and, if desired, optical drive. It is clear that this copy was taken not because someone had already screwed a couple of bolts and inserted four wires, they attracted a thoughtful filling and appearance.
In the interior, next to the TV, the case Shuttle R6 It looks harmonious. A strict black cube with a front panel of glossy plastic, a pair of silver buttons and blue LEDs. On top of the front part there is a leap cover of the disc. At the very bottom, there is a decorative plug hiding audio forces and two pairs of USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.
Did not let down the dimensions – 22x19x33 cm. Mathematicians will say that against the background of 30x5x27 cm, PS4 is hellishly a lot. But we will not agree with them, the proportions of the iron are too different. The Japanese console is rather a DVD player, ours is a cool media center.
The first joy
Our main requirement for the filling was not so much its power as the readiness for the adoption of any type of iron, and the XPC SH87R6 on this point arranged more than.
At the bottom of the case, he has a motherboard on the chip Intel H87 Express. At her disposal, the LGA1150 socket, four DDR3-1600 MHz RAM slots, the same SATA Rev. 3.0 and one PCIE X16 and PCIE X1. I was pleased with the chipset and a set of connectors on the input/output panel: Four USB 2.0, two USB 3.0, Esata, Lan, DVI, HDMI, five 3.5 mm jacks and s/pdif. We think those who have at least once sat down by the PS3 joystick, when the camera and the external HDD were connected to the latter – they will understand us without unnecessary words. Recall everyone else: even on PS4, the Japanese put only two USB.
Another plus in the SHUTTLE piggy bank was four delivery options: without stone or C already installed Core i3, i5 or i7. We did not want to chase the top. It is not particularly important for the console whether it can calculate nuclear reactors or not, but the price and energy consumption are the parameters standing. In this regard, we chose the system on Core i5-4570S. These are four Haswell nuclei with a frequency of up to 3.6 GHz and the built -in converting engine of the Intel Quick Sync video files, which helps a lot when translating video into mobile formats.
An additional argument in favor of the XPC SH87R6 was to get rid of the search for coolers. The computer is supplied with already fixed from I.C.E. , The radiator and fan are located on the rear wall of the case, and three nickelled copper thermal pipes go from the stone to them to them. Not to say that the system is amazing with performance, but you can’t refuse in silence, and it holds the temperature of the chip within reasonable limits.
But what almost stopped us when ordering is a power supply. It is built -in and gives out only 300 watts on paper, for our plans it could not be enough. Aside the “take” the scales bowl, bowed the 80 Plus Bronze certificate, promising to throw the declared watts not on the heating of the room, but on the power of iron.
We collect
The assembly of our console we started with drives. Officially, two pieces climb here, but if you send a drive to the landfill, then three HDDs will fit through the adapter and three. It is proposed to arrange them in a removable basket fixed on the housing frame with two bolts. Show miracles of flexibility and try to adjust the pieces of iron directly in Shuttle R6. We tried – it turned out, but we still had to pull the connectors, since there are slots under the rally under them.
By the way, we put only two storage facilities – Kingston SSDNOW 64 GB and roomy HDD for 2 TB. Note that a stronghold is not a luxury, but a harsh necessity. At first we wanted to get by with one classic drive, but his endless creak took so much that under the restless Windows 8 Pro 64 Bit took SSD without mobile details – helped.
As for the RAM, in the limited space of the case we managed to cram two of our Kingston Hyperx DDR3-2100 MHz With impressive radiators. True, I had to suffer a little and carefully dilute the wiring going from the motherboard to the buttons and the external ports of the USB, but they coped with the task, and SHUTTLETS for this thank you very much ..
Video
… we will say it for a place for a video card. As already noted, the depth of Shuttle R6 is 33 cm, and all of them are given to the expansion boards. And this means that https://rhino-bet-casino.co.uk/ the most powerful developments of both NVIDIA and AMD are placed inside.
Choosing between them, we wanted to prefer Radeon R and get a new API Mantle with the Truesound audio engine, but then changed their minds. Like it or not, and put a chip in a small case with a working temperature of 95 degrees Celsius and the speed of turntables 2650 rpm is not entirely reasonable. So that much colder was used GeForce GTX Titan.
In order not to shock you with a choice of 34,000 rubles, we’ll make a reservation right away: it is really possible to do with a cheaper option. Almost all TVs are now working in Full HD, and in this resolution comfortable 30 FPS with maximum graphics settings and smoothing can be from GTX 780 or GTX 770. Of course, some will remember that both Microsoft and Sony say about Ultra HD on their consoles, but most likely these are just words.
The prefixes are built on the AMD gland, and the latter at the presentation of Radeon R admitted in the absence of controllers for permits of the future. Yes, and the heart is on the heart, neither the Xbox One nor PS4 will pull such a huge number of pixels. In general, the situation is the same as with Full HD for PS3 and Xbox 360, they said, but they will only be added in a limited list of games. However, we will not be distracted and return to our topic.
GTX Titan entered the case without any problems, but they tinned with food a little. The payment requires two PCIE forks – at 8 and 6 PIN. The local PSU has only the second, we received the first using an adapter with Molex (usually comes with a video card).
Another difficulty was associated with the GTX Titan two -sloping cooling system – it blocked us the PCIe X1 connector and put the cross on the plans to install a top sound board. Of course, if we had a receiver, there were no questions – they would have threw a sound according to HDMI – but in the absence of advanced technology I had to use another method. We sent Audio on an optical cable to the Edifier R2800 columns.
Start key
Honestly, when we wrapped the last bolt in our console, the words of the famous joke “And now with all this garbage, we will try to take off”. However, pressing the button – and the start was a success on the first attempt. However, it was too early to rejoice.
To dial and launch the system – the beginning of the path. The most difficult thing was to learn how to manage it, and do it with comfort. There are no special alternatives to Windows now, and it, to put it mildly, is weakly imprisoned for use in such developments as ours: Sit a table, keyboard and mouse. It would seem that take wireless models for the sofa and do not torture people. But forever hold a half -meter piece of plastic and a hard rodent mat next to the resting place did not enter our plans – they began to look for other options.
The simplest in general management of Windows was to get rid of the mouse. Since we personally made a purely game machine with the possibility of playing films, we needed only superficial control. And for this, the remote control Rikomagic MK702II. On one side there is a universal “lazy person” for TV, TV settings and columns (programmed to the expense of once). On the other-a full-fledged QWERTY keyboard that allows you to gain requests in a browser, drive passwords and briefly respond in a chat. Plus all this in the device is built -in aeromysh. The integrated gyroscope allowed us to more or less tolerably carry a cursor on the screen.
It was a little more difficult with the choice of management for games. With a strict rejection of the keyboard, we had to look for her adequate replacement. Discovered her in a warehouse Razer , which has a wonderful thing called Nostromo. Outwardly resembles a glove from the future and boasts 16 programmable keys, an 8-position joystick and support for a profile system. The only negative is the wire; However, if you use it not often, nothing to worry about. Those who do not think life with such a stump and want all the buttons, let's say – there are shortened game keyboards on sale. A striking example is a mechanical Cooler Master CM Storm Quickfire Rapid 35.5 cm long.
But with the joystick, for all sorts of platformers and games from a third person, no special problems arose. Since we have already come to terms with the presence of a cable in Nostromo, we chose a wired gamepad Razer Sabertooth – with macros support, flexible tuning and excellent positioning. Naturally, you can refuse the wire – in stores a bunch of joysticks, including original Microsoft Xbox 360 Controller , chatting with a computer "by air". Moreover, with a great desire, from any gamepad you can make a simple mouse. This allows, for example, the program XPadder.
Soft
Software has become another stumbling block. Since we did not want to put up with the usual Windows interface, and the programmer was not allocated to us to create our own shell in the editorial office – we decided to use third -party programs.
For films, music, radio and other multimedia heresy, a shell was chosen as the standard XBMC. It turns Windows into a beautiful system with a simple interface, the ability to lose everything in a row and sort files by daddy, highlighting genres, styles, performers/actors and the like catalog of tinsel. At the same time, software is perfectly coordinated with modern gadgets on Android/iOS, sending all control to them (an excellent option for those who do not want to buy a separate remote control). And thanks to folk love, XBMC is gifted with hundreds, if not thousands of add -ons open access to Facebook, VKontakte, torrents, and even emulators of old consoles. In general, there is where to walk around, and everything is tuned.
The only minus XBMC that it is not suitable for launching games. For this case we added Steam With him Big Picture. The advantages of this approach have several. First: for full control there is enough ordinary gamepad. Second: this mode is launched by pressing the central “Home” key on any joystick. Well, the third – in Steam you can shove not only his native programs, but also any other application, even if it is tied to Origin or Uplay. The main thing is to introduce and save all passwords and logins in the latter, then you can not get up from the couch at all.
We think that many are now thinking something like: “Yes, this is not a console, but there are no exclusives, they have collected a regular computer and rejoice here”. Yes, we agree, we really prepared a standard PC, equipped it with convenient software and thought out comfortable management to everyone and all. But, let's honestly, haven’t they turned the same in Microsoft and Sony or are they going to do it in Valve? All one, only on their cars are their own operating systems with artificially limited capabilities and games rigidly attached to them. We got an open platform that allows you to do everything that you want. If you want-play, if you want-watch films, you want-communicate in Skype, and all this-without getting up from the sofa and in a familiar environment, amenable to flexible tuning and deprived of any conventions.
Well, of course, we cannot keep silent about the graphics. Already now the Igromania Box with a video card with almost a year ago in Battlefield 4 issues a much better picture than the newly emerged PlayStation 4. And let them say that the number of landfills is a tenth business, we do not want to engage in self -hypnosis. Anti -aliasing, physics and advanced lighting are worth paying for them. And we are very sorry that neither Microsoft nor Sony offer such an option.
Gambling thanks the store DONT.ru For the test for tests Rikomagic MK702II.