YouTuber GameRig has rebuilt a Samsung Galaxy A90 5G with a damaged display as a 0.7-liter mini PC, using Samsung DeX to turn the salvaged phone hardware into a desktop-style Android system. The handset was reportedly bought on eBay for about €26 because of its broken screen, although that figure does not include the additional parts used in the build.
Despite the display damage, the Galaxy A90 5G retained a Snapdragon 855 processor built on a 7nm process, alongside 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. GameRig removed the phone’s original body and kept its mainboard, power board and battery before testing the hardware and designing a custom 3D-printed case around it.
Samsung DeX is central to the concept: compatible Galaxy phones can connect to an external monitor, keyboard and mouse, presenting Android apps in a windowed interface with a taskbar-like layout. It remains an Android environment, however, so the experience depends on which apps are available and how well they adapt to an external display.
- Galaxy A90 5G mainboard
- Galaxy A90 5G power board
- Original phone battery
- Smartphone cooler
- USB hub
- External power button
In a demonstration, the system exceeded 400 fps in Minecraft, though the result cannot be treated as a broader performance benchmark without details such as resolution, graphics settings and scene complexity. The build has also prompted questions about cooling, as viewers noted the apparent lack of ventilation openings, while others questioned keeping the battery inside such a small enclosure.
