(Intro music)
Hey how's it going, Dave2D here.
So I've always been a fan of small form factor PCs
I've always had this thing for like tiny PCs
Just like really powerful computers in these really small form factors.
And, well it's why I continue to use this thing
The 2013 Mac Pro. I like it because even though it's a 10-core CPU, and
it's quite powerful, it's still really quiet and still super small
and even though the GPU is like, old and not very powerful, the
CPU in there is still really capable for doing multi-Core stuff, which I like
I've been trying to find a Windows equivalent, I've been searching for a very long time
and I think I finally found something that's really close
This is the Trident 3.
So what makes this thing special is the fact that it's a very, very small computer
It's 5.5 liters, which is very similar in size to the Mac Pro,
I'll pull it back in frame again so you can see it in comparison
Obviously, the..I mean the shape is completely different
But just in terms of volume, this is around 5.5 liters, this is around 5.5 liters
Now, the official volume from MSI's website is 4.72 liters, and technically it is
because they're measuring the physical space it occupies
But I feel like it's 5.5 because I'm including the angular cut-away gap on each side
Regardless, it's a small case
Now this is the Arctic edition. they make another version that's all black, it's like the regular one,
has a GTX 1060, has a smaller power supply, everything else is about the same
but because the GPU is weaker in that one, I waited for this one to come out before I did the video
design-wise, it's angular, and boxy.
I mean, some people might love this look
I prefer something a little more clean, a little more minimal
But, I like it just because it's small, and because it's white
and because it has a single RGB light, for just, I don't know, you can play with colors and stuff
But overall, I think the design is good, just not perfect to me
The best thing about this PC is it's 5.5 liter size
Now, there's other ITX cases that are also really small
The one that comes to mind that's probably the most popular in terms of like, small ITX cases
Is the NCASE M1, it's a 12 liter case
there's another ITX case that's even smaller, it's the
DAN Case A4-SFX, and that thing is 7 liters
but it's really difficult to get your hands on it
The MSI Trident 3 is 5.5 liters, it's really small
You can open it up, it's not recommended because there's a sticker that says you shouldn't
but, when you do, you can have access to the RAM, the CPU and the GPU
You can put up to 32 GB of RAM in here
There's also upgradable storage, but you have to go in underneath
There's an M.2 stick, and there's a 2.5 Inch SATA Drive
Ok, I have to be completely honest, when MSI first sent this thing to me, I thought,
there's a Desktop i7 in here, there's a GTX 1070 in here, in a case that's very small
this...can't go very well. It's either gonna be super hot, or super loud, or a combination of the 2
Turns out, the performance is really strong
It's not the fastest thing out there, but most Triple A titles
You're looking at wicked smooth frame rates on ultra graphics at 1080p
and, some weaker titles will let you play with good frame rates in 4K
But most importantly, every single game that I enjoy playing
So Overwatch and PlayerUnknown's Battleground
Those two games run incredibly well on this system
I'm able to stay near 120 frames-per-second with really nice looking graphics
(gunfire)
(Simple Plan- Untitled, plays)
VR obviously works well with this, because it's a GTX 1070
and you have the ports up front for easy access if it's going to a home theater set-up or something
Video editing is also really nice on this machine
I did my last 2 videos on this, and well, i'll be doing this video on this machine as well, it's a great performer
So the big question is, how good is the thermal performance, because
cooling a PC of this size with this kind of performance, is not an easy task
and a lot of small form factor enthusiasts
Struggle with that whole, like, do we make it louder, and make it cool better
or do we keep it quieter and let it run hotter
But these guys, they did a pretty good job
Looking at the temperatures, the idle and load temperatures are a little warm,
nothing bad, it's definitely in-spec of what Intel recommends
And i'm not seeing any kind of Thermal Throttling, but it does run warm
The good thing is that the fans are incredibly quiet
When it's idle, it's almost silence
But even under load, this is one of the quietest systems I've used with this kind of performance
They're doing this through good, automated fan-control
But if there was one complaint I had about the thermal management
I just wish that this thing had user-controllable fans, like I want to be able to ramp it up and down
depending on whatever i'm doing, and, it doesn't have that
so, yeah
It comes with a mouse, and keyboard, with controllable RGB lighting
it's not my cup of tea, but, they're actually pretty comfortable to use
it's a membrane keyboard, it feels nice, even though it's free, i'm not gonna lie
it feels better than most membrane keyboards made by big name accessory makers
The mouse feels...less awesome, but it's not bad, it's got a weight adjustable system
But either one of these peripherals are just kind of like, bonus accessories
they're very viable, I just wouldn't go competitive MLG with them.
The AC adapter is big, it's 330W, but it's just how the Trident is able to keep it's size
The power supply is external and you can always hide it to keep your setup relatively clean
The Arctic edition of the Trident 3 starts at $1500, which is, in my opinion, a very
fair price for what you're getting
I mean, obviously you can build a regular PC, with a GTX 1070 for cheaper than this
there's no doubt.
If you don't care about the size of your case, you can get similar performance to this for
$1200-$1300
It would have better upgradeability down the line than this
But it would be a heck of a lot larger, so for MSI to stick all this stuff into a
5.5 liter case, and include a mouse and a keyboard, for $1500, I think it's fair
So some final notes, I've toured with several, small gaming PCs
the Corsair One is an awesome machine, very quiet, very well-cooled, but
it's a little big, at 12 liters
The Asus GR8 series, or "great", i'm not sure how to pronounce it
It's a pretty powerful system, but the fans are way too loud
And Zotac makes some small form-factor boxes, which are pretty quiet and small
even smaller than this thing, but they're running lower wattage i5 CPUs
Which don't really take advantage of the GPUs, and they're not as good for video editing
which is, what i'm trying to do
So overall, I really like this system, if you can tell
I have a few complaints about it, like, I don't love the design
I wish the thermal controls were a little better, and there is some bloatware
not a ton, but, if you don't like removing that stuff, it is there
Overall, great system
Now, most people who pick up something like this, or kind of, (are) in the market for something like this
Would stick it in their media center, like under their TV, kind of like a console
like, to replace a PS4 or something
I'm one of the weird people that..I would use this as my regular PC
because I like my PC small and silent, and i'm just weird like that
But for people that are just in the market for this kind of device, this is a good one
Alright, hope you guys enjoyed this video, thumbs if you liked it, subs if you loved it
I'll see you guys next time.
(outro)