Compact, portable info processing beast?

MisterRepoMan · March 27, 2017

So as I was out working earlier this morning, my work laptop completely crashed on me. And I mean it's a paperweight now. I'm guessing something may have gotten shorted out somewhere inside it and it just fried but needless to say it's fried. So I had to end my work day at least until my favorite local computer parts store opened up which is MicroCenter. I go in there and they try to work some magic on my laptop to no avail. Thankfully the harddrive was ok so they were able to pull that out and transfer the information that was on it over onto an external harddrive I ended up buying along with a whole new laptop that was either defective out of the factory or was mis-labeled because it's slower than my old laptop and takes forever to load all my necessary programs and have them all running at the same time while I'm out in the field. So then I had an idea...

Would there be a way for me to build my own high-speed, compact PC that I could use while out working in my work truck? I'm talking high speed as in fastest boot up possible, fastest program start as possible as well as fastest information rendering from a 4G LTE data stick that I used for internet while out and about. I don't need any fancy graphics, however I do use real-time tracking that constantly pings deployed tracking devices so I'd need a faster data processing computer.

On top of that, I know I'd most likely have to either custom build a case or find a heavier duty case that I could modify to have a quick detach sort of system on it so I can take it out of the truck at the end of the day as well as something more power efficient as I will have to either hardwire it to the trucks electrical system to give it power, or install an alternate power source on board. Just curious if this is even feasible or not?

March 27, 2017

@iamdarkyoshi did a really small computer with a 7700k ish and a 1080 iirc

brob · March 28, 2017

Something like the following would meet your specs. It requires about 140W of 12V - 19V DC in. This gives you the flexibility of using a laptop style power adapter away from the vehicle and some sort of connection with protection to the car's power.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($292.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Silverstone AR04 48.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($27.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 16GB (1 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($101.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 960 Evo 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($249.99 @ B&H)
Case: Silverstone SST-PT13B HTPC Case ($50.87 @ Amazon)
Other: ASUS H110T/CSM LGA 1151 Intel H110 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Thin Mini-ITX Motherboards - Intel ($85.00)
Total: $808.83
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-03-27 22:57 EDT-0400