Building a Tiny PC - What To Know

So you've decided to build a tiny PC. What should you keep in mind when building it that's different from a regular system?

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[swegfesh]

Pro tip: When building a tiny PC, use tiny parts.

[philtkaswahl]

The best reason to build a tiny PC is that it's easier for Linus to lift and subsequently drop them.

[ppuslive]

CoolerMaster NR200 was a sweet spot for me. It fits ATX PSU, is relatively small, has good airflow and is a breeze to build inside <3

[arzeey]

Optimum Tech really convinced me to build small. There's something just so satisfying about utilizing every liter of space you have. It's like playing tetris for organization and chess for adequete airflow.

[nrg]

I own a TU-150 build, I love it, aluminum, well built and still fits an NH-D15. And even though it's kinda large compared to other Mini ITX cases it kinda makes up for it with a nice carry handle.

[virgiliovelasco]

I would love to build a tiny pc, however tiny pc tends to be a lot more expensive tho. Especially in my country where pc parts are more expensive and on top of that, the global shortage supply.

[MegamanXGold]

Video idea: four Mini-ITX VR rigs as flat as possible, like in a desk PC, designed to slide under a couch or bed when not in use, and stand or hang vertically on a wall. Also, a small breakout-box for plugging in the four headsets (or adequate built-in or integrated-into-the-case WiFi to support Wireless VR on all four machines).

[melissablick]

Wish there were pre-made recipes for building tiny PC's.
A shopping list that includes all the parts that you know will fit together would be amazing.

[kubev]

For some reason, hearing "tiny PC" immediately made me think about the "tiny net" explanation from Kung Pow: Enter the Fist.

"The tiny net is a death sentence; it's a net, and it's tiny."

[cn]

It's obvious what we need now, tiny printers.

[TheIdleCrow]

For me I wanted a tiny computer just to run Linux for me on my KVM switch. Since my needs were minimal I just purchased a small used HP EliteDesk 800 g2!
Gave it a 512gb M.2 drive & it's also connected to my 8tb External Torrents.... Serves it's purpose well!

It would of been a joy to try to build a computer this small from scratch but just wasn't practical for me when I scored this for $100 USD back in January & does everything I need it to.

[yasserjafar]

I hope you would make a future episode about building the smallest, most efficient tiny PC as cooling is a major issue

[falxie_]

Small form factor builds are criminally underrated

[adventureoflinkmk]

0:05 -- where'd y'all get that case

[dtemp]

Didn't talk about GPU selection. There can be a big difference between 2.0 vs 2.2 vs 2.5 slot thick cards and which ones fit in a small case. Also card length and width. The EVGA 3070 XC3 I got was the biggest card that would fit in my Fractal Design Node 304 case.

[SanderEvers]

I still have an Intel NUC, which is actually one of my favorite tiny pcs. (next to the Mac Mini)

[gigakoresh]

If you are looking to start with SFF cases, I recommend Cooler Master NR200 as some people in comments already pointed out. It's really the case that made SFF accessible to masses. So brilliantly designed and priced. The instructions are also really good. Just beware that to install a normal CPU air cooler you will need to use the perforated side panel, so the NR200P variant with the glass side panel will require either an AIO or lower profile CPU air cooler. But I always recommend the perforated panel anyway for better cooling.

[markO]

I’ve just finished a NZXT H1 Ryzen build, really enjoyed it and cool looking machine, although limited RGB options 😂

[intovein]

nowadays additional PCI-E slot is used for capture cards and such rather than SLI, thats something to keep in mind

[SpeedmanRC]

My first small build was in the NR200 case, the GPU and CPU cooler options are just too nice to find the need to go smaller.