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Blogs Is the Age of Massive PCs at an End?

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by arcticstoat, 5 Nov 2011.

  1. docodine

    docodine killed a guy once

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    until the next wave of consoles, yes
     
  2. Hakuren

    Hakuren What's a Dremel?

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    I need to build one mini-PC for night related works when extreme performance is not necessary - mainly database updates. For everything else extended cube all the way. Anthony, believe me. I was in Lian-Li camp for many, many years, but you have no idea how tiny Lian Li V2000 is when compared to (e.g) Mountain Mods Extended Ufo or Ascension. And if you bolt 2 or 3 of those together you end with true behemoth! I will switch back to Lian Li when they understand that people require horizontal motherboards in big, big cases.
     
  3. Waynio

    Waynio Relaxing

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    :D Agreed, having motherboard in horizontal position is so nice for maintenance & best way I think especially if you use a heavy heatsink, I'd have loved to used the thermalright TRUE copper LE sink on my latest but weighs a lot for vertical setup.

    But wow wow wow a few mountain mods cubes bolted together :hehe: your mad :rock::D got a picture of that? :thumb:.
     
  4. kzinti1

    kzinti1 What's a Dremel?

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    In response to the title of this blog: No. This is definitely not the end of the so-called Age of Massive PC's. Not today. Maybe tomorrow.
    Not as long as there are people who have hands too large to manipulate small components. Not as long as there are people that cannot see small components well enough to manipulate them into their correct orientation. Not as long as people are arthritic and need larger components to easily assemble them into a working unit. Not as long as there are people who are proud enough of their computers that they wish them to be seen, in either external &/or internal views. Not as long as people feel the need to have a properly cooled computer system.
    The only thing(s) that will end the Age of Massive PC's are the manufacturers of the components, who meet together, (they do that you know, it's called industrial standardization,) and decide to no longer produce the components that PC builders use, in the large sizes. As is quite usual, this will occur simply out of greed. At first it may cost too much to produce proper small components. One day it will be discovered how to massively produce these items in a small form that will be cheap enough to do so, while still maintaining the usefulness of these components. What the consumers actually want be damned. You'll either take it or leave it. You'll take it, of course. You'll have no choice. What the consumer actually wants does not and never has been of any great consequence. The almighty dollar is the driving force behind any innovation, whether it is ever admitted to or not.
    So, this is not the end of the Age of Massive PC's. To be quite honest, it was a rather stupid question to begin with and should never have been published by bit-tech or anyone else.
     
  5. j1o2h3n4

    j1o2h3n4 What's a Dremel?

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    Long winded, but I agree.
     
  6. leslie

    leslie Just me!

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    Large systems are done for all but hobbyists.

    Not only have board sizes diminished, but it used to be you had a separate sound card, separate nic, separate video card, several hard drives, maybe a dual rom... Most office/home systems today need none of that. As enthusiasts we used large cave size cases so we could get to all of those components without performing difficult yoga positions to reach everything or fit water cooling because cooling systems stunk.

    Today, most of your parts are built in (often even video), we don't need a ton of drives, and air cooling is plenty capable. There are fewer parts to change or fail and less reason to open the box.


    Are big boxes dead?
    No, but they can be if you want.
     
  7. kzinti1

    kzinti1 What's a Dremel?

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    You're certainly right about that. Completely unintentional. This Hawaiian coffee I've been ordering from Kona must be much stronger than it tastes.
     
  8. Fizzban

    Fizzban Man of Many Typos

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    Size doesn't = Power. Components are getting smaller. Consoles still suck when compared to a PC. Don't see that changing any time soon.

    So smaller desktops? Yes, definitely.

    Massive Pc though, seems debatable. Is massive a size? Or an ability. If it is the latter, then no.

    PC will own from now until the near future. But will desktop (size) shrink in general? Yes.
     
  9. brave758

    brave758 Minimodder

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    SR2/SR3 anybody.....
     
  10. ZERO <ibis>

    ZERO <ibis> Minimodder

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    Each of my main systems is larger than the last over the past 10 years. My current rig uses 2 full tower cases and within 2 more years I will have the towers completely filled.

    I plan to make my next rig even bigger so that it is easier to change out parts I want to make it a modular rack mount design. Instead of having a normal case for HDDs I will just use a rackmount SAS backplane hotswap. The cooling system and everything will be in their own rackmountable boxes so you can easily access what you want without disturbing the rest of the equipment. Also makes it easier and faster to swap sections.

    Basically the more critical my main rig is the more I will be building it closer and closer to super computer specs and that is something that takes a lot of space.
     
  11. The_Beast

    The_Beast I like wood ಠ_ಠ

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    I'd love to have a smaller system but with all my hard drives it's hard to find a smaller motherboard case with enough drive space
     
  12. leslie

    leslie Just me!

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    Get yourself a small, low power server (spare parts?) and offload your data storage. Gigabit ethernet is nearly as fast as an older hard drive, so large file transfers are plenty fast.

    You could also consider replacing the smaller drives with a single larger drive. You can recover much of your investment with savings on your electric bill in a single year.
     
  13. legoman

    legoman breaker of things

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    I think there will always be a market for both, like cars some people prefer large some small.

    Also try keeping a small case cool in the summer especially an overclocked one. Even water cooling would struggle with what in most cases would be a single 120-140mm rad setup air cooling would be a nightmare.

    I can see its appeal im sat here with my 20in monitor and a case which makes it look small sat beside it. something like an FT02 would be ideal but, i like my massive back breaking case what else could you chuck all the kit i have in my sig in?
    My living room is another matter entirely. Ive a Zoltac Zbox hooked up to a NAS ticks all the boxes and doesn't take up much space.

    I think what ever size or form factor you take you will have to make a sacrifice, big PC's give huge amounts of power and coolness but then mini pc's can be very cool and also save a hell of a lot of space.

    Horses for courses at the end of the day.
     
  14. leslie

    leslie Just me!

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    I quit overclocking because most of the time, the improvement was tiny, and usually not even perceivable. The heat, even if kept cool was also heating the rooms too much.

    It just seemed pointless.

    Also, small doesn't necessarily equal hot.
    It's a matter of airflow, big cases need lots of cfm just to cover the large cubic footage. You pump in lots of air in order to get enough air flow over the scattered components. In a small case the fans are closer and have more direct airflow over each component as opposed to just flowing through empty sections of case.

    Large cases are simple, if you need more air, add more fans or vents. Small cases need to have airflow taken more seriously during the design phase. Done right, you still get the same amount of airflow over each component, it's just done more efficient with fewer fans.
     
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  15. Lazarus Dark

    Lazarus Dark Minimodder

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    I think more of us are going to a two-pc system.
    One high performance gaming rig and one low power rig for web and daily use.
    Right now I have a Core2quad q6600 oc'd to 3.4 ghz full time running 24/7. I estimate this costs me 10-20$usd per month in electricity, based on my ups backups software monitor (and much more in the summer when the a/c has to overcompensate for the rigs heat). I have been wanting for a while to build a small mini-itx, probably using a Fusion, for my daily use, htpc, torrenting, web use, file serving for my devices/wife's macbook over wifi. I think it would pay for itself in a year in electricity savings.
     
  16. feathers

    feathers Minimodder

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    I guess u haven't lived on the cutting edge of gaming.

    Flight Sim X with HD scenery addons.

    http://fullterrain.com/

    It doesn't take PC long to catch-up with console. 1 year perhaps. Consoles quickly become overtaken by PC.
     
  17. mediapcAddict

    mediapcAddict What's a Dremel?

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    once I've added a sound card, a tele card , a "whatever else u do with ur computer card " and a few extra discs ( no network storage in my flat ) not forgetting the biggest cooler that'll fit I end up with an atx board in a big case ( and big 12cm fans - nice and quiet ) . Also I'd rather have a spare pci/pci-e slot and not need it that need a spare pci/pci-e slot and not have it avaiable. - but then my computers are all about flexability and multitasking. nothing is ending only diversifying.
     
  18. Canon

    Canon Reformed

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    RE: Thread title;

    No.

    [​IMG]
     
  19. jezmck

    jezmck Minimodder

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    WTF is that?! A SFF rack?
     
  20. Waynio

    Waynio Relaxing

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    :hehe: :thumb:
     
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