The high-end of graphics cards can draw hundreds of watts under certain configurations, which in turn raises all cooling requirements. However, today we can combine components with very solid efficiency levels, while noticeably reducing their volume. With that in mind, we return to the ETA PRIME channel, where an Nvidia RTX A2000 was installed in a Lenovo M920q Tiny system. The complete process requires additional hardware, but accessing the A2000's features in barely one liter of volume doesn't sound bad at all…
Taking a graphics card like the GeForce RTX 4090 and installing it in an ITX system is quite a challenge. That monster's TDP averages 450 watts (official Nvidia data), and its variants are physically imposing. But the concept of ultracompact gaming is not exclusive to the high end. On the contrary, the possibilities are much more flexible once we reduce certain specifications, and that's how we arrive at the ETA PRIME channel, which presents an RTX system with a volume of just one liter:
RTX A2000 + Lenovo Tiny: Gaming in a Liter
On the video side we have an Nvidia RTX A2000, very popular for its low profile and decent performance (it's in line with a 1660, but includes DLSS and other features). ETA PRIME's card was modified with a custom N3rdware cooler, which costs 80 euros on its official page. And on the computer side we find a Lenovo M920q Tiny with an Intel Core i7-8700T (6C/12T) and 16 GB of DDR4 RAM at 2666 MHz (maximum supported frequency).
Added to this is a PCI Express adapter / riser card to connect the graphics card (sold for $10 on eBay), and a more powerful power supply (160W or higher), since the original model that comes with Lenovo Tiny units is not enough for this configuration. The last detail is the case: the RTX A2000 needs a bit of ventilation, and ETA PRIME ran its benchmarks with the hardware exposed, but nothing stops the end user from drilling a hole, looking for a 3D print, or purchasing the official "top case" 02CW661 that includes the grille.
ETA PRIME also applied some tweaks to optimize performance for both the GPU and CPU (basically, MSI Afterburner and TechPowerUp's ThrottleStop), and although in most titles he had to enable DLSS, the framerate is far from terrible. The most extreme case was Starfield, almost impossible to play without frame generation.
To finish, it's obvious that the configuration isn't very reasonable if we evaluate its costs (today we can buy an RTX 3060 for the price of a used A2000), but the potential is there. With the passage of time and the explosion of Mini PCs in the market, it's not so crazy to imagine a future full of systems like this.
