For many years, the familiar “box” has remained the most massive variation of the desktop PC. It is not whimsical, takes up a lot of space and allows you to collect high-performance components inside. But what if we need to take a PC with us or the workplace is not enough to accommodate such a large device? Looking for a laptop or monoblock? It is not necessary to make such compromises, and building a compact PC can be the solution.
Advantages of a compact PC over a standard big box
The main plus of compact PCs lies on the surface – this, of course, is the size. The internal space of such PCs is used to the maximum. You will not find any large empty areas in them. A specific segment is allocated for each detail with a minimum of required space. Progress does not stand still, and modern capabilities allow you to assemble a PC in a small case that will not be inferior in power to a full-sized counterpart.
A very common situation is when a full-size ATX-format board is installed in a home PC and a case corresponding to it in size takes up a lot of space, and the board’s capabilities are used at most by half. As a rule, a video card , one or two SSD drives and the same number of RAM sticks are installed on it . The remaining memory slots and a lot of PCI slots remain idle. This operation allows you to painlessly switch to compact solutions, since they, in turn, have the minimum required set of interfaces and take up much less space.
It would seem that the reduction in size can adversely affect the cooling of the components. But this is not always the case. It’s not uncommon for the same graphics card to experience lower temperatures in a compact case than in a full-size case. The reason for this is the proximity to the ventilation holes, and sometimes a couple of case fans that blow cold air directly into the video card. When, as in the full-size version, the air has to overcome the distance from the front panel through the entire case in order to get to the video card. Check this for more details about Mini PC at apcsilmic.
The compact PC can easily fit into a backpack, take it with you on the road or save space with a small working area. It can be as simple as office PC, media center or high performance gaming solution. It all depends on what accessories you choose. Last but not least is the appearance of such PCs. Small cases are corny less on sale than full-sized “boxes”. And by choosing such a case, you can get an individual computer that is not like “like everyone else”.
Hull selection
The segment of compact cases can be divided into four conditional categories:
Mini-tower – a standard layout like that of an older brother, but with a reduced height.
Desktop – narrowed in width, but with a height close to full-size versions. The video card in this implementation, as a rule, is located on the same line with the motherboard. Such cases can be located both vertically and horizontally.
Cube – a case in the form of a small “cube”, where the motherboard is located horizontally.
A sandwich is an approximate version of a Mini-tower, but in this implementation, the board and the video card are separated by a partition, which forms a kind of “sandwich”.
If, when choosing a standard PC, we start from the processor and video card, and we already select the rest of the components for them, then when assembling a compact PC, the case comes to the fore. Firstly, it should ideally fit us in size. Secondly, and not least, to be with a set of necessary interfaces on the front panel. Well, a nice appearance will not be superfluous.
When choosing a case, no matter how trite it may sound, choose with your “eyes”. The vast majority of compact cases have a well-thought-out design for cooling and the minimum required set of interfaces. It is worth approaching the choice in more detail if you have a narrowly focused task – to place a PC on a shelf with a small width (Desktop) or to assemble an ultra-compact one for carrying in a backpack (Sandwich). Also, if you plan to install a discrete graphics card, check in advance whether the case is designed for this nuance. It’s not uncommon for budget desktop cases to have no space for a separate graphics card, and their built-in power supplies are only designed for light loads.
Choosing a motherboard and drives
When choosing a motherboard, we are strictly limited by the framework. Boards of the form factor Standard-ATX and Micro-ATX do not suit us in size. Mini-DTX are very rare guests on the shelves and the choice comes down only to Mini-ITX .
Modern Mini-ITX format boards , despite their modest size, have extensive functionality. They can ensure stable operation of even voracious processors. The main thing is not to go to extremes when buying a board from the upper segment and a processor with modest appetites, or vice versa. If you are going to overclock components, then choose boards with more massive heatsinks, as in conditions of limited space, heat dissipation becomes even more critical.
Reducing the size cannot but affect the number of connectors. In most cases, the number of sata ports is less, as are the M.2 connectors. Standard hard drives will have to be abandoned by moving them to external docking stations or NAS. Therefore, it is worth planning the storage system in advance. Even in the most budget solutions, you can find at least one slot for an M.2 drive and several sata ports. That will allow you to install the system on a fast SSD and add a pair of sata-SSDs for file storage.
The lack of additional PCI connectors in Mini-ITX boards makes it impossible to install a discrete sound card, a Wi-fi module, or, for example, a bar with USB connectors. Here you have to look for compromises: be content with the built-in sound or take an external sound card, pay a little more for Wi-fi and Bluetooth built-in from the factory, use Usb splitters.
In addition to the main criteria for choosing a board, such as compatibility with a processor and power supply, the number of ports on the rear panel and connectors for connecting cooling inside the case are also important. It is not uncommon for motherboards to have only one connector for connecting a case fan. The way out is to buy a power splitter or select a case with such a device already included in the kit.
The low number of USB ports on the back can be a nasty surprise if you use a lot of devices and adapters. Do not neglect this nuance, it is recommended to think in advance how many connectors you need.
Cooling system selection
The situation with the selection of a cooling system for a processor in compact cases is quite ambiguous. Wide-width cases such as the Mini-tower and Cube can accommodate large tower coolers. In such cases, the choice of cooling will not be difficult, since there will be many models to choose from.
But when it comes to narrow versions of cases, then there may be some difficulties. The tower design will have to be abandoned and the choice reduced to versions with a horizontal implementation . These cooling systems are predictably inferior in terms of heat dissipation compared to towers in the same price range. But in return, we get very compact solutions that fit into a small space between the board and the case wall.
Some coolers may have a design that covers the RAM sticks. In this case, choose memory with low or no heatsinks to avoid build conflicts. Manufacturers, in the manual accompanying the device, indicate the permissible height of the bars, it remains only to compare the height of the selected memory with this value.
Do not forget about liquid cooling systems. Even single-section versions of ready-made solutions can cool the vast majority of “popular” processors, while maintaining an acceptable noise level.
And if you do not limit yourself to ready-made versions, but create a custom circuit for the entire system, including both the processor and the video card, then you can aim at very productive components and get a quiet PC in addition.
A separate nuance is the cooling of hot M.2 drives. In recent years, manufacturers often equip motherboards with already built-in heatsinks for the drive. But if there is no such radiator in the board you have chosen, and a high-performance video card is installed in the system, you should take a closer look at separate radiators in order to prevent overheating and a drop in drive speeds.
Choosing a power supply and video card
The choice of a video card depends entirely on the tasks that you are going to solve using a PC. If you are planning to assemble a media center or to “surf the Internet”, then you can get by with the built-in video core of the processor.
If this is a gaming solution, then a discrete graphics card is our choice. Mini-tower and Sandwich cases can accommodate large cards with three fans, which allows us not to compromise when choosing a powerful model. If the case has a very modest size, then the solution would be to choose a single-fan version.
These devices are compact, but it will not be possible to meet such models in the top lines of video cards. Turbine models should not be discounted either, which are often overlooked in full-size cases. In conditions of close location of components, the implementation of a cooling system with a direct ejection of heated air outside the case will be very useful. The downside of this implementation can be a slightly noisier operation of the video card.
The selection of a power supply and a video card is not without reason summarized in one subparagraph. After all, the choice of power supply directly depends on the selected video card. On sale you can find solutions with an already built-in power supply unit. These can be both low-power devices without support for a discrete graphics card, and high-performance devices with such support. The advantage of this implementation is that the length of the wires is corrected for a specific case (you do not have to spend a lot of effort for cable management). And there is only one drawback – the difficulty of replacing it with another model in some specific versions. Mini-tower and Cube can accommodate standard ATX format power supplies, which greatly simplifies the problem of choice. More compact solutions, in turn, require an appropriately sized power supply. Here the choice comes down to models of the SFX format and its larger variety SFX-L.
In a miniature case of such power supplies, components are in no way inferior to larger models. As a rule, the set of wires of such blocks has a short length so as not to take up much space in the case.
Pitfalls and upgrade options
Compact PCs, for all their advantages, have a couple of significant drawbacks. First, it’s the price. The rule “the less, the cheaper” does not work here. Mini-ITX motherboards are more expensive than Standard-ATX counterparts. This applies to both power supplies and cooling systems. Only video cards are knocked out of this list. Single-fan versions are mostly cheaper than two and three-fan solutions.
Secondly, it is the availability of components and their choice. Even if you have the funds to buy, it is far from certain that you will be able to purchase the desired position. The situation with compact cases is gradually improving, and more and more diverse models can be found on the shelves. But when it comes to choosing an SFX power supply, you can run into a lot of difficulties. The choice of blocks of this format is very poor.
High-quality models with the most demanded rated power of 500–650 W appear in the amount of a couple of pieces and instantly disappear. And this, in turn, can put an end to all desires to build a small PC.
The assembly of a compact computer does not have much difference compared to the standard assembly in a full-sized case. But you need to approach it with great attention, planning in advance the order of installation of components. Since with the wrong action, you will have to remove some parts in order to get to the right one because of the limited space. Because of this feature, the great importance of cable management follows. If in a large case, we can just plug in and throw a bunch of wires at random. In a small case, such a trick will not work – the side covers of the case may simply not close due to an incorrectly located bundle of wires.
Let’s move on to the upgrade options. The situation with power supplies considered earlier pushes us to choose a more redundant model in terms of power, since, if you want to change the unit, you will have to look for a suitable new one for a long time. In this regard, it is more logical to take a more powerful power supply once, which will “survive” more than one PC upgrade. The same approach is rational for the board and the cooling system – overpay once, and in the future upgrade only the processor and video card.