In the past I ran two computer repair and sales shops. I did not start out as a tech, nor am I a good tech.
But , with a little common sense building my own system has always made sense, even though I did use *(shudder) Windows O/S . Even then i knew how bad they were.
Now my current system is overkill.
How fast is fast enough ?

I'm back to Intel chips, since an i5 with lots of RAM is fast.....enough.
You see , I had heat dissipation problems.
With Linux mint, the overkill is compounded. Plus I installed two SSD's,
and 16gigs of RAM. which helped with the heat problem, and I instelled fans, again overkill. CPU heat now......39,39,38,39

So, try it. Allen manana

Get excited about underkill! Raspberry Pi 3, in modified laptop case with no fans, battery power with external charger. I think with a little work you could make it a full linux pocket computer with WIFI and link it to your Android cell phone.
I do not have a 3D printer to try out case designs on, so I must fab by hand.
Exciting as all get out and cost a LOT less!

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Hello Allen Manana and welcome to LQ.

At a used computer shop I used to frequent before I moved to these parts, one of the techs build computers, which he then sold on New Egg. Many of the ones he built were water-cooled, and his designs were quite creative.

It was a long time ago, but you can see some pictures here: http://pineviewfarm.net/weblog/2006/...ive-computers/

And welcome to LQ.

Welcome to LinuxQuestions

I agree with you. I have always done a variation of build your own computer. I buy second hand components which are newer than what I currently have and merge the best of my old setup with my new components. My systems have all evolved over time. The one exception was when I lost all of my computer equipment in a house fire three years ago. At that point I bought all components at the same time, a few components were even new.

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Steve Stites

Hi Allen, welcome to the forum

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