Question I've become stuck on a midtower-ATX-game-box paradigm for a new computer

[BonzaiDuck]

I see with a thread from Strangebrew1 there are many folks still rocking old hardware.

I keep track of my friends, although they're starting to slide into the grave at a greater rate. Some of them don't want to spend the money to stay robustly "current". They're satisfied with Windows 10, and unsatisfied with how they're locked out using Gen 8 hardware. I've personally got two SKYLAKE and one KABY LAKE systems.

What's worse -- I became very enamored of a computer case I originally purchased around 2007 -- the CoolerMaster Stacker 830. Another elderly friend told me the other day that he thinks it's an ugly case, but I like it for features I can use, and I have a patent set of mods I make whenever I build anew. You can say "That's not so bad," but I found a third one on Ebay as I prepare to build a new system by end of this year, so I bought it from somebody in Tennessee -- still in perfect condition. Shipping cost me as much as he wanted for the case.

Another friend, who invented a tool for people who knit socks, has an ongoing business with that. She likes her tablet and cellphone; came up to speed with mobile technology early, or 14 years ago. She still uses a desktop PC, which I think is very practical for someone in business without a laptop. She reports to me she has an HP AIO system with a Raptor Lake processor.

If you build systems with any frequency, you will begin offering up used parts on EBay or our "Sale or Trade" forum here. I tend to "use them up" to the point they can simply be discarded. But I no longer build for my family, when I used to pass good-running systems as hand-me-down on a frequent basis to my Moms, my youngest brother and my other brother and sister-in-law -- each of these latter two. The latter two have migrated to exclusively laptop computing. My other brother and my Moms passed into the next life within the last three years. They were still running Sandy Bridge systems when they could still sit at a desk and they had most of their brain still working, but if they had lived without cognitive decline, they would've had Skylakes even four years ago and I would've "moved on".

I have Rubbermaid chests with spare parts. I'm now inclined to build a new desktop system. It really doesn't have to be a game rig anymore, but I'm spoiled. I'm likely to go forward with it.

Problem? I can't completely understand why I can't break free of midtower ATX cases. I have a laptop, but I'd rather use one of my desktops. I think about buying an AIO, but I can't wrap my brain around it.

Should we have a 12-step-program for aging tech-veterans who stick to their old hardware habits?

For the PCs I currently have running, there are no problems at all. They're fast -- for me. I have Windows 11 on the laptop, but I'm stuck with Windows 10 on these old boxes.

I'm not sure I "need" to build a new rig, but I somehow think I need to stay ahead of the curve with newer processor and OS upgradeability.

Do I need counseling?

 

[Tech Junky]

Do I need counseling?

You already get that here.

My view is there's a place and purpose for both laptop / desktop setups. If you've got the room for both systems then you're in good shape. I use mu "desktop" as a server / repo for the stuff I hoard and the laptop as the daily use and the laptop is more likely to get replaced more often due to it not being modular to replace much on it.

The server idea is for a couple of reasons. I use it as my router connected to the "WAN" directly for more data control when I got sick of consumer boxes that had numerous firmware being released that tended to fix/break something with each release. The other uses rolled into it several devices to make things more efficient in terms of performance and electrical use.

Laptop is where the power is needed though for stupid time wasting things.

Cases are a personal choice and preference. Sometimes it's more of a function over form though when you're trying to cram a ton of HW inside and not cook everything at the same time. If you want something sleek then the Fractal Design options are great. I've used a Node 804 / Meshify 2 / Torrent at this point and they all have their own pros depending on what I'm doing. For a while it was mostly to fit a bunch of spinners inside for bulk storage at a decent speed using Raid. I since switched to using flash instead and ended up going to U.x drive instead since I could get the same capacity ~16TB that the raid had but in a single drive and drop the raid BS in the process. The single drive hits the same speeds as the M2 variants ~6.5GB/s but the price per TB drops under $100/TB.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I certainly feel more comfortable here in the forums, where people choose to do such things as you and I make a habit.

I've done the same thing with one of the skylake systems. There's a 12TB drivepool and a single large drive to synch with it. I fill it up with movie ISO files to play on my Sony Bravia, but I also use it as a backup for files created on all my other PCs, using SyncToy.

Somehow I seem restless with my PC-Building inclinations. I know the forthcoming system will give me something to do. I need those activities, now that I'm the only one of previously three people left alive in this house.

It's been 9 months since my old Moms died in her sleep, and I didn't expect my brother to punch his ticket in 2022. I think I'm still adjusting. But this aspect really belongs over at another forum under "Social".

I've got several mainstreamer friends. They really lose patience with me when I send them my observations on the PC Building topic. I need to be more careful . . . .