I upgraded my storage and ram on my PC so now I have these two extra components sitting around. I kind of want to build the tiniest PC I can. Where can I find some discussion for it?
Or what other things might they be used for that I wouldn’t even think of?
Thanks :)
Plenty of barebones mini PC’s that you can get for relatively cheap (under $200 or even close to $100). “Barebones” is a good keyword to search for because that means it doesn’t include RAM and a drive.
Look for an N100 or N200 processor if you want something that’s very small and power efficient (but it won’t be powerful enough for many games). Or, look for whatever fits your budget.
Edit: Oh! And make sure whatever you get is compatible with your RAM! What type of RAM do you have?
I learned that lesson recently about RAM. I have DDR4. I don’t care for gaming. I think it could be fun to have a dorky little mini-PC that can do all the PC stuff that I can tote around to show off :P
The biggest thing to worry about is DIMM vs SODIMM. The latter is much smaller, and probably what most mini PCs will use. So if you have full sized DIMM RAM, you might have trouble finding a mini PC that will work.
And even if it is the right size, you’ll still want to make sure that your motherboard supports your specific RAM clock speeds.
It’s not vital to keep the ram since it is definitely bulky when it comes to a mini pc.
I also don’t necessarily need a “normal” case. Could I make something weird? Could I make a shoe-computer?
Sure, the sky is the limit. You could also just get a motherboard, processor, and power supply, plug everything in and shove it in whatever container you want.
Could you? Probably. Should you? Probably not.
Realistically unless you’re up for spending at minimum of a couple hundred bucks, you’re not going to get a true mini-pc (unless you want to buy a NUC or something, but that kinda defeats the purpose). Any mini-itx case you’d want (<14L) is going to be around the $100 mark on the cheap end. Unless you really luck out and find a compatible used motherboard on the cheap, youre looking at another $100 minimum. Could get a used 4600g for ~$65, but it’s probably not going to come with a cpu cooler if it’s used. Add in a power supply that fits, that’s another $140 on a good day.
Small form factor PCs are stupid expensive because it’s a fairly niche market that very few people absolutely need.
What I’d personally do is find a used dell inspiron or similar for <$150 and toss that all in it
I definitely know. I already made myself a small form factor case. My cat is bigger than my computer ;)
I like these niche hobbies and the silliness that can go into it. I think I spent $250 on this case and (k, due to covid) it took more than a year to ship. Now its smallness is so large!
Worth it :D
Couldn’t post the picture here,
sso I posted it to cats. My cat and my PCnvm. idk why i can’t upload my pic. another time :)In that case (pun intended), your best bet would probably be to try to find a NUC (or similar) that supports expansion. I think I remember seeing some that did, but it’s been a few years since I’ve looked into that market. I know intel stopped making them first party, so it might be a pain in the ass to find now