TheSlamProgram

Hello everyone, I'm relatively new to hobby electronics if you don't count making a shake flashlight in fourth grade, but I'm a freshman studying Computer Science and Physics in college. I'm looking to get some sort of prototyping platform reasonably cheap (under $50). The obvious choices are the Raspberry Pi and the Arduino, but I've heard of some other off-brand projects that are decent as well. I don't intend to do anything ridiculous with it, maybe some servo control or I2C type applications and I'm thinking about a couple of possible integrated applications though I won't be doing anything with those ideas for a couple years. Just hoping to get a few recommendations from people that have used these kinds of things before. Which ones are better for what applications? Which ones are easiest to learn on and have good documentation? As a side note: I currently have experience in python and java, but I am willing and able to learn any language if it has good documentation. EDIT: I should also ask what model would be the best to go with.

On the topic of three fans, I have a question to add. Does anyone know what the clearance is between the case and front fascia on the bottom fan location? It looks like the front fascia narrows at the bottom, and I'm curious if it's possible to fit something like a 16 mm thick fan underneath the fascia. (Regardless of if fitting a 16 mm fan there makes any sense or not)

Out of curiosity: What are some of the questions you ask yourself when you start looking at a new computer for you or a friend? I've only built three computers in my lifetime, and I've only put one together for a friend once. I just so happened to know exactly how he would be using his rig because he had been my best friend for nearly a decade at the time. I've never assembled a computer for someone that I didn't know exactly what their use case would be before, and people have lately been asking if I would be willing to build their next computer for them. I'm curious to know what everyone's thought process is when trying to put together a new rig, especially when it's for someone else. What kind of questions do you recommend asking someone before selecting the parts that you'll be putting into a new rig? Some more obvious ones I've thought of so far: What's your budget? Are you comfortable buying used parts to stay under budget? Will you be playing a lot of games? Do you like to multitask on your PC? What do you want the PC to look like? I'd love to know if everyone has any other questions they would ask before putting together a new build!

I have a GTX 960 and I'm looking for a graphics update so I can buy a better computer monitor. I don't even have a 1080p monitor right now.

I'm using the keyboard that came with my older brother's first personal computer from around 2001. The only place I've even seen a mechanical keyboard is at an electronics store 80 miles from my home, and I would love to have one on my desk going to college this year.

CPU: AMD FX-6300 six-core (No O.C.) GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 (No O.C.) RAM: HyperX XMP Blu Red Series 8GB My computer is about 3 years old, and cost about $1000 USD new.