So I’ve been looking at upgrading my PC and it looks like I can get a better “micro” pc than my current (ancient) desktop for significantly less money than a full blown gaming rig. An example of such a rig is this.
I don’t have high gaming requirements - I play mostly old games, I think the newest games I play are from 5+ years ago.
What reasons are there for not buying one of these (over a comparable “proper” desktop)?
Three concerns:
This, this, and this.
As computer cases have gotten smaller the heat buildup has gotten bad. My mother in law had one of the SFF pc’s from 10 years ago and after about a year the HDD died. Replaced it with a used one I had that was 7200rpm vs 5400rpm and it was dead in 6 months. That drives twin still works today but was always in a tower case.
Heat kills CPU’s, RAM, MoBo’s, and everything else in the computer.
Upgrades are limited to RAM and SSD but those upgrades generally mean even more heat so then you end up thermal throttling. You could get an external GPU but now you have a huge brick sitting next to your little box pc. IMHO they agree great fir something like retro gaming/emulation but you will generally be better suited by a full size computer especially if you buy a board that has a long lived socket.
Warranties are great but the issue is that the warranty fairy will try to get out of it as often as possible. Generally this is done by pushing the blame onto someone else, usually the purchaser.
I personally buy a cheap case without a psu, then get a good power supply. A mid range MoBo like an AM5 B850 with a cheap compatible processor. Add some RAM and a SSD with a budget GPU then you end up with something to get started and closer to the end of the socket lifespan you can grab a better cpu and GPU then buy a cheap case and MoBo and have something you can sell, give to someone else, or use a a server. You will start with a better computer and end with a MUCH better system.
I started with an x470 with a Ryzen 1600 and 16GB of RAM and a used 1080ti. I doubled my ram (not as easily done on with ddr5 sadly) upgraded to a 5800x and am waiting for a GPU that isn’t outrageous in cost but will double my fps. My old cpu was dropped in a B450 with a used RX480 16GB of ram and a 1TB SSD for my stepson to use as a gaming machine similar to a steamdeck (ChimeraOS) and he upgraded the GPU to an RX7600.