aisle9

tbqh, if this is a question where the answer is critical in choosing between the two, the OP needs a new PSU anyway

I wouldn't use one of those idiotic Kingston RGB SSDs or whatever, but outside of that, it's not really something I think about. M.2 SSDs can get surprisingly toasty before anything bad starts to happen, and if your laptop is hot enough that it's nuking one, you probably have bigger things to worry about.

No. That's a half-height card. You can use those in full-height PCs. The size alone won't cause problems.

Yes, but not that much better. Maybe lift it out of 1050 territory and into 1050 Ti/960 range, about where the 780M sits?

The 8600G's iGPU is on par with something like a GTX 1050, if that helps you make your comparison. A Ryzen 5 7600 paired with a used RX 580 would smoke it. Paired with an RX 6600 would destroy it in everything except power consumption.

Are you doing anything that would require the 1050 to kick in? Lots of laptops and AIOs will use a power profile that doesn't even use the discrete graphics unless they're needed. Try downloading Unigine Heaven and give that a run, then see if your 1050 kicks in. The slow part, I mean, AIOs aren't exactly speed demons in general. What processor does it have? How much RAM? The 1050 in there is probably a laptop part, so that will affect performance.

A true example of a Grandfather's Axe PC. I love seeing older hardware milked to its very last drop. When the time comes to build the new computer, I do hope this PC gets a place of honor underneath your TV as it retires to a life of HTPCing. Also, how's that LP 4060 treating you? I'm considering picking one up myself.

Actually, yeah, I think those are the ones I was thinking of. I won't bother then. I'm thinking long and hard about ditching my system in favor of a mini PC with something like a Ryzen 9 and 780M graphics under the hood, but still want to be able to hook up my RX 6700 when I want something beefier. There's no way a Ryzen 9 7940HS doesn't beat my Ryzen 5 5600 like a redheaded stepchild, but the 780M graphics aren't enough for 1440p gaming (let alone 4K, even for lighter titles). If I have to set up a flex ATX PSU or whatever on my desk to power a dock, then I might as well just stick with my ITX rig. The other option here would be a mini PC with a laptop GPU built in, like an Arc 730M or RX 6600M graphics, but even those don't approach RX 6700 levels (and they're expensive as f*ck).

I swear I’ve seen YouTubers with GPU docks that plug directly into the wall and don’t require a PSU. It’s not the expensive ASUS ones, just small docks like you’d see for mining, only with a cord that plugs into a wall wart instead of needing PCI-E power from a PSU. Is there such a thing?

The little fuckers that walk underneath my magnifying glass and survive show the ability to safely absorb much more energy than that.

That computer would literally kill me.

*looks at his technically supported PCs all still running Windows 10 because f*ck Microsoft.

Have you tried a different cable? Are you leaving the display on the whole time? Do you have a good PSU, and how old is it? To your original question, keep your phone nearby and start recording video when it happens. I don't blame MC for not wanting to plug your card into a test system and walk away for a few days hoping to see a problem at some point, so you're going to need to do a little homework on your end for this one.

You've just hit the Rule 35 of Microsoft. They didn't know that it existed, but now that you've said it, they're patching it.

PCPartPicker is your friend on that last request. I think basically all boards come with an M.2 NVMe drive connection now, and most are shipping with an ARGB header.

I'm thinking that my best PITA option might be to convert everything in iTunes that isn't currently an MP3 into one, save the original AAC and MP4/ALAC files to a backup drive, bring the MP3s into something like Google Music or a good third-party music app, and then figure out wtf to do with my 500+ playlists. Or just go with a 15 Pro/wait for a 16 Pro. I like my iPhone a lot and wouldn't even be considering replacing it if not for the perfect storm of an aging battery, a total lack of 5G support and storage that's filling up. My biggest gripe, and the thing that's making me lean towards Android again, is that there is absolutely no system-level adblocking that I can apply that actually works. If I could get around that, I'd be on this 11 Pro for years to come. Remember the days when phones were advancing so quickly that a Note II was genuinely outdated within 18 months? And now we have new generations of phones that are essentially the same inside for several iterations in a row, but people still line up for upgrades every year? It reminds me of 2010s Intel. There was literally no improvement from one generation to the next, but enthusiasts lined up to replace their i7-4790K with an i7-6700K regardless.

Or just get a cooler that isn't using design principles from 2008, when lots of boards shipped with little cardboard washers to keep screws from doing exactly what happened here.

My money is on the board being dead. @Needfuldoer, agree?

The standoffs on the left side are definitely gouged into the traces. The standoffs on the right side don't look like the scratching is as deep, but the top right definitely could be into the traces. The bottom right could too, even though it's the smallest of the bunch. I would try hooking the GPU back up and turning the PC on without the cooler installed. You're not leaving it that way for long, you just want to see if it POSTs and if the debug light shuts off before turning it right back off, 30s tops. Alternatively, you could just rest a cooler on top of the CPU without securing it to anything if that is a little more to your comfort level. If it posts, your system might be ok, and I'd consider going with something that uses the plastic clip system of the Intel stock cooler. For an i3-10100F, that's plenty of cooling, and you don't have any metal in contact with your board at all. If it doesn't POST or the CPU light doesn't turn off, the board is probably done for and you'll need to RMA or replace it. Your CPU is probably fine. Those are tougher to kill than you think.

Agreed with this. The CPU looks fine, the socket doesn't have any bent pins that I can see, but the board itself looks like someone way overtightened a CPU cooler mount. Maybe installed it incorrectly then overtightened it. A modern cooler mount's standoffs are most likely going to have plastic or rubber of some kind at the base of the pegs to keep the mount from digging into the board like that. The more I think about it, the more likely it is. The behavior after you (OP) tried bringing it back up could be shorting, and if there were metal screws digging into the traces, that could cause a short to happen. I had something similar happen with an AIO shorting years ago. My money is on an incorrect installation that caused shorting. If that's the case, you probably need a new mobo.

There are some pretty ok N95 and N100 mini PCs out there, lots of them fanless and under $200. $800 is massively overkill, and I don't think you're even going to find a fanless mini PC in that price range. I have a fanless N95-based system that I use as a bedroom HTPC specifically because it's fanless and silent. I'd be ok with it as a basic home computer, but nothing extreme. I doubt you'll find many fanless 15-30W options. Those processors generate enough heat that you're going to have a fan running over the CPU.

Or you could just ban Kia and Hyundai.

I want to go back to Android. I love my iPhone 11 Pro, but it's getting old on me (no 5G is finally a problem), and I'm considering a switch back to Android. There were two things that chased me away from Android: I couldn't get my iTunes library to my Android device cleanly and without a ton of PITAs, and Android Auto was trash at the time. From what I've read, Android Auto in 2024 isn't even comparable to what it was in 2019, and it's maybe even more reliable and easier to use than CarPlay these days. If you think differently, I'd love to hear from you. The second issue is that in 2019, the best option for getting my iTunes library onto my Android phone was JRT Studio and iSyncr. 30% of the time, they worked almost every time, but my Apple Lossless files were a lost cause and my playlists were 50/50 as to whether they'd make it or not. Is there a better solution for that, or will support for iTunes libraries and media still be a thorn in my side if I switch?