Big PCs might look impressive, but there are plenty of arguments for building a tiny PC.
Aside from being portable, lightweight, and taking up less space on your desk,
many people simply don't have a use for all the expandability a mid or full tower offers.
So how do you go about building the tiniest PC that still gives you all the power you need?
It all starts with having a small enough motherboard. The smallest commonly used
motherboard form factor is called Mini ITX, and although they're small,
they typically pack a pair of RAM slots and one full-size PCI Express slot,
which is enough for a high-end gaming rig or a mid-tier editing rig,
especially considering dual GPU setups aren't that common anymore.
If you want to go even smaller than that, there is also a variant called Thin Mini ITX
that uses Sodims that lay flat. Those are the kind of RAM modules you find in laptops.
Keep in mind, though, that these Thin Mini ITX boards are mostly meant for those ultra-thin
computers that look like big coasters. It can be hard to get models that support current-gen CPUs,
and some of them don't even have PCI Express slots at all, so you might want to stick with plain
Mini ITX unless you're fine with integrated graphics. Once you've got your Mini ITX board
in your hot little hands, you can start picking out other components, and the safest starting
point is the case. Mini ITX cases come in a good number of sizes, and while the biggest ones support
as many upgrades as larger form factors, most are more space limited, so you'll have to think
carefully about how much room you have for a CPU cooler, a graphics card, and any additional storage
drives, as well as what kind of power supply it supports. So it turns out that ATX isn't the only
kind of power supply out there, as you can buy an SFX power supply, which is significantly smaller.
Many of the smallest cases only support SFX power supplies, but it's actually quite easy to find
SFX models up to around 850 watts, so don't worry too much about not having enough power.
But do keep in mind that, like ATX, there can be variation among SFX power supplies
as to their exact size, so be sure not to get one that's too big for your specific case. That's
something that's more important the smaller the case you get. Or maybe you just won't need one.
Some very tiny cases might have a built-in PSU, or even an external laptop style power brick,
more common in machines without dedicated graphics, though some small cases actually
do power discrete GPUs in this manner. Who knew? Of course, powerful PCs, even tiny ones,
produce lots of heat, so we'd be remiss if we didn't discuss CPU cooling. This is another area
you'll want to be careful of. Smaller cases, unsurprisingly, have limited clearance for CPU
coolers, and may not even have enough space for an all-in-one water cooler. The good news, though,
is that there are plenty of low-profile coolers out there that offer better performance than stock
coolers, and if you want water, low-profile closed-loop solutions do exist. As far as cooling
your other components, which could be packed in rather tightly, don't overthink it too much.
Well-built, modern ITX cases should provide adequate enough airflow to avoid throttling your system,
unless you're really pushing it. Or it's Alder Lake. Just joking. And with M.2 now,
are you very common standard? You don't even have to cram a 2.5-inch SSD into your computer
anymore, though most small cases will still let you do it without any problems. Once you've made
a decision on the storage front, add your favorite RAM, and you're more or less done. Just don't pair
your new small PC with that giant combo printer you got on Black Friday. Kind of defeats the purpose.
So thanks for watching, guys. If you liked this video, hit like, hit subscribe, and hit us up in
the comments section for your suggestions for topics that we should cover in the future.