Tower PCs: An Endangered Species?

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Dr. Zoidberg
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Tower PCs: An Endangered Species?

Post by Dr. Zoidberg »


ATX form-factor desktops may fairly soon become retro hardware. This video explains why the tower PC is probably already an endangered species.

My review of the Odyssey x86J4105 mini PC included in this video is here:

Image

Agree or disagree?

I think they will become more niche. You won't need a big ass tower to play Fortnite 2 or whatever the kids will be playing 10 years from now.

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ian
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Re: Tower PCs: An Endangered Species?

Post by ian »

Without watching the video, I 100% agree with the title.

At this point I doubt I'll buy another desktop, and I love my collection of desktops.

My next purchase when my daily use desktop dies will be a new top end surface. Or a steam deck if they ever come to Australia.

I mean maybe I'd upgrade my desktop again if the prices on everything were cheap. (Literally every part costing less than half what they currently are) but if I'm going to pay a shitload of money anyway I may as well have a nice small device that's practical, portable and easy to use.

Possibly a top of the line surface AND steam deck instead of any desktops.
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melancholy
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Re: Tower PCs: An Endangered Species?

Post by melancholy »

Counter-point:

Sure, cases are mostly empty because of the lack of components needed to fill them. But while most stuff has gotten smaller, video cards have gotten so damn big that some of them are bigger than the motherboard. A trend I doubt will go away when Nvidia announces the 4000 series of GPU. The Intel NUC Extreme looks like it will be a good middle ground, but does it have a 750w power supply and 3 breakout slots to accommodate a 3080 TI? Even a 3070 requires 2 four-pin connectors. 2030 is way too ambitious of a timeline for the desktop to be phased out.

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Dr. Zoidberg
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Re: Tower PCs: An Endangered Species?

Post by Dr. Zoidberg »

There are always going to be people that want the best of the best when it comes to power, so they can have ultra settings at the highest rez.

If in 10 years you can get a mini PC like those Beelink type ones that ETA Prime reviews that can do 4k/60fps or 4k/120fps at high settings with newly released games, then the masses will probably be pretty happy with that.

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