GIGABYTE has quietly announced its new small form-factor computer designed for performance-minded gamers. These are not rare nowadays, but they often prove tricky to upgrade because of their reliance on lower-power solutions for key components like the CPU and GPU. However. When developing the GIGABYTE Gaming GT desktop, the company’s engineers apparently strived to create a product that could use widely available processors and graphics cards and thus – potentially – offer an upgrade path to the owners.
The GIGABYTE Gaming GT desktop measures 276×384×128 mm and is approximately 10 liters in volume, being based on a custom motherboard (210×205 mm) that is a bit larger than Mini-ITX, but is still smaller when compared to microATX or FlexATX. The system uses a dual-chamber design (CPU, DRAM, SSD are located on one side of the PC, graphics card and other 2.5″ storage devices are on the other side), but the chambers are not isolated completely, sharing the airflow generated by two system fans (probably of 90 mm in diameter). For that bling and jet-stream effect, the GAMING GT has an automated exhaust system that opens up exhaust flippers at the top of the computer when it needs to cool down the components.
The custom motherboard of the GIGABYTE Gaming GT PC is based on the Intel Z170 PCH and thus supports all LGA1151 processors, including the upcoming Kaby Lake chips. The manufacturer will ship the system with the Intel Core i7-6700K CPU (which implies possible overclocking, though how much remains to be seen due to the computer’s size and heat dissipation capabilities), but eventually the chip might be switched to something more recent, such as the Kaby Lake-based i7-7700K (if not more powerful).
The PC is configured with an Intel Core i7-6700K, GIGABYTE’s own GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming, 32 GB of DDR4 RAM (2×16 GB DDR4 with frequency still up in the air), a 240 GB SSD ( with a PCIe or SATA connection not having been specified), a 1 TB 2.5″ HDD (7200 RPM), and an additional, non-populated 2.5″ drive bay. Audio is taken care of by Realtek’s ALC1150 codec, with some help thrown in by a TI Burr Brown OPA2134 operational amplifier. When it comes to I/O, the Gaming GT desktop offers a dual-band 1×1 802.11ac + BT 4.2 wireless module, Gigabit Ethernet (Killer E2400), and comes with 5x USB 3.0 Type-A (5 Gbps), 1x USB 3.1 Type-A (10 Gbps), and a lone Thunderbolt 3/USB 3.1 Type-C (10 Gbps) port, with display outputs being serviced by 3x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x DVI-D DL, 1x HDMI 2.0b, as well as one HDMI 1.4 (through Intel’s iGPU)
The chassis can accommodate any double wide graphics card with a maximum size of 280 mm in length and 41 mm in depth, and as expected, custom heatpipes and backplates have to be used chosen with care on account of the constrained space. GIGABYTE will ship the Gaming GT desktop with its own GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming 8 GB card – which can be later upgraded. Since the card faces downwards, it has to use custom cables (bundled) to connect to displays. Audio and Ethernet cables also have to be angled. The Gaming GT desktop makes do with a 400 W FlexATX PSU, which can also be upgraded if needed.
Finally, to give its Gaming GT system a distinctive look, GIGABYTE installed a series of RGB LEDs on top of it. The LEDs can work in different modes and can be controlled using the company’s Ambient LED application. Pricing and availability dates for the GIGABYTE Gaming GT SFF PCs were not available at press time. Actual configuration of the PC will probably differ based on the regions, which means that their prices will vary as well.
