LENGTH OF TIME: 2-3 HOURS
LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM
THE CONCEPT
LOOKS AREN’T EVERYTHING, but they do play a big part in this build. We can’t really start without first mentioning how cool this mini DIY PC setup is. A huge part of building computers is the customization scene and this Teenage Engineering computer-1 fits right into that. It’s full of quirkiness and comes flat-packed, which certainly gets rid of those bulky case boxes that sit around your house for years on end.
Of course, size limitations within this case also result in power limitations—that’s just the way the cookie crumbles—but we aren’t going to let that weigh us down. Chances are, if you’re building a machine like this, you’re not after a lightning-fast liquid-cooled gaming monster sent down from the PC gods. A rig like this is more about the charm, character, and design.
The computer-1 case only supports a Mini ITX motherboard, SFX power supply, and a dual-slot GPU measuring up to 180mm by 130mm. We aren’t expecting nitro speeds here as we won’t be including a GPU. Although this isn’t strictly a budget build, we don’t want to exceed the $1,000 mark by too much, so let’s see what we can achieve for that price tag in this beautiful case.
Our aim here is to make a 12th-generation system inside that is more than good enough for day-to-day work and occasional light gaming. So read on to find how to assemble this sheet metal PC and see how it performs in our benchmarking tests.
THE INGREDIENTS
, we chose ASRock’s B660M-ITX/ac LGA1700 mobo. Choosing a Mini ITX board can be tough thanks to limited compatibility. However, with a digital PWM design making this board’s CPU Vcore voltage more stable, it should run more efficiently than analog alternatives. It supports PCI Express 4.0 M.2 SSDs, so will
