Mini “Gaming PC” Nails The Look, Streams The Games

To have a proper gaming “rig”, you need more than a powerful GPU and heaps of RAM. You’ve also got to install a clear side-panel so lesser mortals can ogle your wiring, and plenty of multicolored LEDs to make sure it’s never actually dark when you’re up playing at 2 AM. Or at least, that’s what the Internet has led us to believe.

The latest project from [Michael Pick] certainly isn’t doing anything to dispel that stereotype. In fact, it’s absolutely reveling in it. The goal was to recreate the look of a high-end custom gaming PC on a much smaller scale, with a Raspberry Pi standing in for the “motherboard”. Assuming you’re OK with streaming them from a more powerful machine on the network, this diminutive system is even capable of playing modern titles.

But really, the case is the star of the show here. Starting with a 3D printed frame, [Michael] really went all in on the details. We especially liked the little touches such as the fiber optics used to bring the Pi’s status and power LEDs out to the top of the case, and the tiny and totally unnecessary power button. There’s even a fake graphics card inside, with its own functional fan.

Even if you’re not interested in constructing custom enclosures for your Raspberry Pi, there are plenty of tips and tricks in the video after the break that are more than worthy of filing away for future use. For example, [Michael] shows how he fixed the fairly significant warping on his 3D printed case with a liberal application of Bondo and a straight-edge to compare it to.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a Raspberry Pi masquerade as a high-end computer, but it’s surely the most effort we’ve ever seen put into the gag.

19 thoughts on “Mini “Gaming PC” Nails The Look, Streams The Games

  1. I try to not be that person but.

    – That’s a lot of work for a fixing a print that went wrong.

    -Why are they making the fan 5v distribution rail so large and then adapt the fans to it??? just do the rail to match the pinout??

    1. You could definitely argue that, for such a small print, it would be easier/quicker to just reprint it. But I still think it was a nice demonstration of the method, and might be a useful tip to remember if you’ve got a badly warped print and can’t run off another one for some reason (like only having occasional access to the printer).

  2. Heh, cute-ish. It’s tempting me to do a similar thing with an Atom board I was gonna stick in a cookie tin. I already have an early small widescreen that looks like a scale model of a modern 24″, I’ve got a half size keyboard, I’ve got a half size mouse. Can slap it in the gussied up cookie tin, put 60mm fans in front, make feet for it so it stands towerwise. Heh, I think I’ve even got a transparent 486 cooling fan I could stick LEDs into, for blingy CPU cooler look. Though I think I’d have to fake a low profile wifi card into looking like a GPU.

  3. “The goal was to recreate the look of a high-end custom gaming PC on a much smaller scale, with a Raspberry Pi standing in for the “motherboard”. Assuming you’re OK with streaming them from a more powerful machine on the network, this diminutive system is even capable of playing modern titles.”

    Considering stuff like this (https://www.thurrott.com/hardware/236987/amd-delivers-a-major-mobile-efficiency-milestone) and this (https://www.thurrott.com/apple/237225/first-apple-silicon-benchmarks-destroy-surface-pro-x#) “diminutive” may no longer be an obstacle.

  4. i think its the Same as “Steam-Link” Device, sometimes cheaper 10€.

    “Steam in-home Streaming”, maybe its possible to use it between any Steam client in Local Network (Linux,Windows). Not tested.

    I think it is not the best Performance to play with good conditions.

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