Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00So I've always been a fan of small form-factor PCs.
00:02I've always had this thing for like tiny PCs, just like really powerful computers in these really small form-factors.
00:09And well, it's why I continue to use this thing, the 2013 Mac Pro.
00:13I like it because even though it's a 10-core CPU and it's quite powerful,
00:17it's still really quiet and still super small and even though the GPU is like old and not very powerful,
00:24the CPU in there is still really capable for doing multi-core stuff, which I like.
00:28I've been trying to find a Windows equivalent.
00:30I've been searching for a very long time and I think I finally found something that's really close.
00:34This is the Trident 3. So what makes this thing special is the fact that it's a very, very small computer.
00:40It's five and a half liters, which is very similar in size to the Mac Pro.
00:44I'll pull it back in frame again so you can see it in comparison.
00:48Obviously the, I mean the shape is completely different, but just in terms of volume, this is around five and a half liters,
00:53this is around five and a half liters. Now, the official volume from MSI's website is 4.72 liters and
01:00technically it is because they're measuring the physical space it occupies,
01:03but I feel like it's five and a half because I'm including the angular cutaway gap on each side. Regardless,
01:09it's a small case. Now, this is the Arctic Edition. They make another version that's all black.
01:13It's like the regular one, has a GTX 1060, has a smaller power supply.
01:17Everything else is about the same, but because the GPU is weaker in that one,
01:20I waited for this one to come out before I did the video. Design-wise, it's angular and boxy.
01:26I mean, some people might love this look.
01:27I prefer something a little more clean, a little more minimal,
01:30but I like it just because it's small and because it's white and because it has a single
01:35RGB light for just, I don't know, you can play with colors and stuff, but overall I think the design is good,
01:39just not perfect to me. The best thing about this PC is its five and a half liter size. Now,
01:44there's other ITX cases that are also really small. The one that comes to mind
01:48that's probably the most popular in terms of like small ITX cases is the NCASE M1. It's a 12 liter case.
01:54There's another ITX case that's even smaller.
01:56It's the Dancase A4 SFX, and that thing is 7 liters,
02:00but it's really difficult to get your hands on it. The MSI Trident 3 is five and a half liters.
02:04It's really small. You can open it up.
02:06It's not recommended because there's a sticker that says you shouldn't, but when you do, you have access to the RAM,
02:11the CPU, and the GPU. You can put up to 32 gigs of RAM in here.
02:16There's also upgradable storage, but you have to go in underneath.
02:18There's an M.2 stick, and there's a two and a half inch SATA drive.
02:21Okay, I have to be completely honest. When MSI first sent this thing to me,
02:25I thought, there's a desktop i7 in here,
02:27there's a GTX 1070 in here, in a case that's very small, this can't go very well.
02:32It's got to be either super hot, or super loud, or a combination of the two. Turns out the performance is really strong.
02:39It's not the fastest thing out there,
02:40but most AAA titles, you're looking at wicked smooth frame rates on ultra graphics at 1080p,
02:46and some weaker titles will let you play with good frame rates in 4k.
02:49But most importantly, every single game that I enjoy playing, so Overwatch and PlayerUnknown's Battleground,
02:55those two games run incredibly well in the system. I'm able to stay near 120 frames per second with really nice looking graphics.
03:11You
03:21Obviously works well with this, because it's a GTX 1070, and you have the ports up front for easy access, if it's going into a
03:27home theater setup or something.
03:28Video editing is also really nice on this machine. I did my last two videos on this, and well,
03:33I'll be doing this video on this machine as well, it's a great performer.
03:36So the big question is, how good is the thermal performance? Because cooling a PC of this size with this kind of performance is
03:42not an easy task, and a lot of small form factor enthusiasts struggle with that whole, like,
03:47do we make it louder and make it cool better, or do we keep it quieter and let it run hotter?
03:51But these guys, they did a pretty good job. Looking at the temperatures, the idle and load temperatures are a little warm, nothing bad.
03:58It's definitely in spec of what Intel recommends, and I'm not seeing any kind of thermal throttling,
04:02but it does run warm. The good thing is that the fans are incredibly quiet. When it's idle,
04:07it's almost silence, but even under load, this is one of the quietest systems I've used with this kind of performance.
04:12They're doing this through good automated fan control, but if there's one complaint I had about the thermal management,
04:17I just wish this thing had user controllable fans. Like, I want to be able to ramp it up and down depending on whatever
04:22I'm doing, and it doesn't have that, so yeah. It comes with a mouse and keyboard with controllable RGB lighting.
04:29It's not my cup of tea, but they're actually pretty comfortable to use.
04:32It's a membrane keyboard. It feels nice. Even though it's free, I'm not gonna lie,
04:35it feels better than most membrane keyboards made by big-name accessory makers. The mouse feels less awesome, but it's not bad.
04:42It's got a weight adjustable system, but either one of these peripherals are just kind of like bonus accessories. They're very viable,
04:47I just wouldn't go competitive MLG with them. The AC adapter is big.
04:52It's 330 watts, but it's just how the Trident is able to keep its size.
04:56The power supply is external, and you can always hide it to keep your setup relatively clean.
05:00The Arctic edition of the Trident 3 starts at $1,500, which is, in my opinion, a very fair price for what you're getting.
05:07I mean, obviously you can build a regular PC with the GTX 1070 for cheaper than this.
05:11There's no doubt. If you don't care about the size of your case,
05:14you can get similar performance to this for $1,200, $1,300. It would have better upgradability down the line than this,
05:20but it would be a heck of a lot larger.
05:21So for MSI to stick all this stuff into a 5.5 liter case and include a mouse and a keyboard for $1,500,
05:28I think it's fair. So some final notes. I've toyed with several small gaming PCs.
05:32The Corsair One is an awesome machine. Very quiet, very well cooled,
05:36but it's a little big at 12 liters. The Asus GR8 series are great. I'm not sure how to pronounce it.
05:41It's a pretty powerful system,
05:43but the fans are way too loud, and Zotac makes some small form-factor boxes,
05:47which are pretty quiet and small, even smaller than this thing, but they're running lower wattage i5 CPUs,
05:52which don't really take advantage of the GPUs, and they're not as good for video editing,
05:56which is what I'm trying to do. So overall, I really like this system, if you can tell.
06:00I have a few complaints about it. Like, I don't love the design,
06:03I wish the thermal controls were a little better, and there is some bloatware. Not a ton,
06:08but if you don't like removing that stuff, it is there. Overall, great system.
06:13Now, most people who pick up something like this or kind of in the market for something like this,
06:17they would stick it in their media center, like under their TV, kind of like a
06:20console, like to replace a PS4 or something.
06:22I'm one of the weird people that I would use this as my regular PC, because I like my PC small and silent,
06:28and I'm just weird like that. But for people that are just in the market for this kind of device,
06:32this is a good one. Alright, hope you guys enjoyed this video. Thumbs if you liked it, subs if you loved it.
06:36I'll see you guys next time.