Building a System vs. Buying a System

[RobertX]

Well, I'm getting a HP 6005 Pro Small Form Factor (SFF) computer for $114.99 CDN plus taxes (13%).

It's got an AMD Phenom II X3 Processor, 250GB hard disk space, and 4GB RAM for starters.

It's coming in a week.

I think I'll build another one if I live long enough to do so.

[waregim]

Beware of the 'little' desktops. They are usually poorly designed for heat. Yank cover off, put next to table fan.

[LZA]

Agreed. Mine is propped up so underneath can vent with a decent airflow

I hope you enjoy your new computer. My other laptop is like the specs you described... Pretty much use it for a high powered Internet browserand to play old games like Oblivion...

[RobertX]

What are "little desktops?"

[dueda]

What are "little desktops?"

SFF PCs, or nightstand computers.

[RobertX]

In that case, I'll just leave it off when I don't need it.

Just now, I installed all the games I'm going to use for that machine, along with the ones that will run them, like Wine and VirtualBox.

[dueda]

In that case, I'll just leave it off when I don't need it.

Just enable the energy saving measures, like sleep, low-power mode, or auto-shut down.

If you have problems with heating, the "Ergo Brick" from the 80's was the perfect portable, small form factor computer. It was sold as a "transportable desktop" fitting a briefcase, minus keyboard and monitor - those were cheap and plenty available at most places, so the eco-friendly idea was to buy only one PC and have/share multiple "terminals" along the way, the next best thing to a laptop. I believe it was the preddecessor to the NUCs.

The key point was the case made of perforated aluminum. Connect it to the CPU heatsink by metal pipes, so the whole body works as a radiator with help of a fan (the power supply fan looks ideal to double duty). Since you're interested in building things, maybe you can make your own case mod.

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