News Six-core mini-ITX motherboards inbound

That's, uh, inventive! But the fact you have to use two single slot cards means you are limited in their performance - you could get a single, dual slot card and have more choice and better performance. Im not sure if it will work without the appropriate BIOS support either.

 

I'd thought of that as well. Flexible pcie extension cables can be used to place the cards where they would be needed. You are correct about the BIOS support, again it would be something that would need to be tested.



If I were to do this, it would not be something I could beat easily with a single card setup. The only requirement would be a powerful mini-itx motherboard (one that supports a quad core, that will get support if it pops).

 

The thought of using a PCIe splitter to get two x8 speed sockets defeats the whole purpose of using an itx board

Why would you and what itx case could you possibly use, you would be better off just going M-ATX

 

This! (+rep btw)

By the time you've committed the size to the extra graphics card, you might as well have gone mATX and had the full-ATX spec power as default.

I admire your effort, Bake, really (!!) but I don't think it's worth it for what mini-ITX is designed for.

 

Mini-ITX allows you to get a really powerful computer in a really small space (it would be a custom case by the way).

I did you a mockup in Autodesk Inventor, it's below. The graphics cards in this case are HD 5970s (because they're the biggest I know of), and they, along with all the other hardware, fit in a space of just 33x30x10 (all sizes in cm).



Now, Micro-ATX boards are usually 24x24cm, a full 7cm larger than Mini-ITX in either direction. A Micro-ATX case would be, at minimum four cm taller, the same depth and 3 cm wider.
Alternatively, it could be 6cm narrower, 4cm taller and 7cm deeper.
That's not including improvements made from potentially stripping down hardware, like removing the backplates of the graphics cards and whatnow, allowing them to be pushed closer to the motherboard, or taking the top off the power supply (dangerous, but could allow the height of the case to be pushed down a bit).

But is that so much of a challenge?

 

^ Its a great challenge and even though I personally would go the m-atx route (I have m-itx, m-atx and atx builds) if I was thinking of doing Crossfire/SLI, your idea is a real challenge and I applaud your determination and inventiveness

As long as you isolate the PSU there is no reason why you cannot get rid of the psu case completely and even re-route the power plug/outlets if needed

[looks at Via m-itx I built 4 years ago with ATX 'skinless PSU' inside an 26cm Deep x 16.5high x19wide case ]

 

Go for it!

If you build a pimp (and I mean, pimp) mini-ITX case with space for two HD 5970s I'll do my best to get you a pair. You might have to get them back, but it'll be worth it for photos.

 

Sounds good

I'm waiting on a fast motherboard that can handle either Lynnfield or Thuban to be honest, because I'm hoping that this'll be a proper, ultimate gaming rig, on a performance scale relatively close to the Dream PCs when they aren't overclocked, and I wouldn't want to let it all down by sticking in a weedy little Clarkdale.

 

I vote for this to feature in CPC mod of the month when ready =D if ready lol.

 

Available for Pre-Order now:
http://mvixusa.com/product/Minix-890GX-USB3-Mini-ITX-Motherboard-USB-3.0-SATA-6Gbps