For small computers, most can only plug in a single-slot graphics card. There are very few single-slot graphics cards on the market, so it has not been easy to choose. Moreover, the performance is really entry-level, and there is even very little VRAM. For modern games, many may not be able to run 60FPS.
Recently, a foreign YouTuber shared a very good solution. He used a super simple way to change the Intel Arc A380 to a single slot, thereby allowing small computers to obtain good graphics card performance.
Foreign YouTuber changed the Intel Arc A380 to a single slot, the method is super simple
Recently, the well-known foreign hardware YouTube channel ETA Prime shared a video of “the world’s first single-slot Intel Arc A380 graphics card”. Of course, this video was not originally a single-slot, but was implemented through modification. He mentioned that he came up with this idea because he wanted to find a graphics card that could fit into the Minisforum MS-01 mini computer. This computer has a dedicated PCIe slot, but only has space for a single slot:
Although the Intel Arc A380 is also an entry-level graphics card, it is more efficient than most single-slot graphics cards. Many games can run up to 60FPS. However, it is a dual-slot card, so it cannot be installed on the MS-01 computer without modification.
The ETA Prime modification method is also very simple. It replaces the heat dissipation of the Intel Arc A310 graphics card with the original Intel Arc A380. Both graphics cards are from the Sparkle brand, so there is no need to modify anything, they can be directly interchanged:
There is an important point here. The A310’s radiator cannot cover the A380’s VRAM, so he bought another radiator and installed it:
When you see this, you may be thinking, don’t you need to buy two graphics cards (A310 and A380)? Yes, he had to buy two, but to cool the disassembled A310, he installed another larger radiator and then sold the graphics card to his colleague, so the cost was not huge.
After the modification, actual performance measurements were conducted. The hardware of the Minisforum MS-01 mini computer is Intel i9-13900H and 32GB DDR5-5200 memory. He mentioned that the Intel Arc A380 can reach a stable 54W, has a memory clock of 1,936MHz, and a GPU clock of up to 1,900 MHz:
In the 3DMark benchmark, Night Raid scored 28,966 points, Fire Strike scored 9,694 points, and Time Spy scored 4,485 points:
He also tested a number of games. In the games “Battlefield 2”, “Pallu”, “Mortal Kombat 1”, “Cyberpunk 2077”, “Tekken 8”, “Kombat 6” and “Borderlands 3”, 1080p resolution and low to medium image quality settings can run 60FPS~80FPS. Some games have XeSS enabled:
I am not sure whether all cooperative brands’ Arc A310 and A380 can be directly interchanged in this way. Those who are interested are advised to check first to be safer, otherwise they choose Sparkle.
Full video:
Source: KOCPC Chinese