Choosing a Small Form Factor Gaming Machine

There are two distinct product classes hiding behind the same category name. The first uses a processor with strong integrated graphics and a single pool of soldered memory shared between the processor and the graphics side, which is how the top mobile chips reach very large capacities in a case the size of a games console. The second fits a laptop-class discrete graphics chip alongside a mobile processor in roughly a three-litre chassis with multiple fans, which is the closest a machine this small comes to tower performance.

The number on a mobile graphics chip is not a promise of desktop performance. The same model designation in a small chassis runs at a lower power limit and lower sustained clocks than the desktop card it shares a name with, and the gap widens the longer a session runs. Cooling design is therefore the most informative part of the specification: fan count, heat-pipe count or a vapour chamber, and the sustained power the manufacturer actually configures the chip to hold.