Here's one I did a while back as a Christmas gift. That one also needed to be serviceable and easily expandable:
Doesn't matter what has to come next, it's easy for them to do it themselves if they ever feel the need, and they can see all the wires and parts that make it run. They were just starting to appreciate computers, and expressing an interest in a desktop machine, so I intervened to make it a little more fun, easy, and educational to look at.
It's probably about ten years or so later at this point, and it's still humming along performing daily tasks, media, and light gaming without a hitch.
I tend to use factory cooling solutions more often than others for a number of reasons. Reliability and ease of fan removal for cleaning (people just can't figure out how to get a fan off a heat sink) are very high up on that list. An all in one liquid cooler is dangerous to deliver, because when when that pump stops (and they do fairly frequently) you chance toasting a CPU. A heat sink helps prevent that.
Since I also don't like handing an average user a system that needs coolant changes or has five pounds of aluminum hanging off the motherboard... It's a mid-size or stock cooler when appropriate. Good air management prevents any issues. I do level the CPU heat spreader and heat sink base, because the damned things are often lumpier than you'd think.
When you treat it like the top shelf stuff, stock cooling is often quite sufficient, and is generally very reliable. I've had too many people ask their friends to ask me to call them and explain how to remove the fan from an aftermarket heat sink... The average person seems incapable of doing so unless they're staring at four screws.
It's like "that person" in your family trying to switch inputs on his television.
Cheers,
Kennith
Doesn't matter what has to come next, it's easy for them to do it themselves if they ever feel the need, and they can see all the wires and parts that make it run. They were just starting to appreciate computers, and expressing an interest in a desktop machine, so I intervened to make it a little more fun, easy, and educational to look at.
It's probably about ten years or so later at this point, and it's still humming along performing daily tasks, media, and light gaming without a hitch.
I tend to use factory cooling solutions more often than others for a number of reasons. Reliability and ease of fan removal for cleaning (people just can't figure out how to get a fan off a heat sink) are very high up on that list. An all in one liquid cooler is dangerous to deliver, because when when that pump stops (and they do fairly frequently) you chance toasting a CPU. A heat sink helps prevent that.
Since I also don't like handing an average user a system that needs coolant changes or has five pounds of aluminum hanging off the motherboard... It's a mid-size or stock cooler when appropriate. Good air management prevents any issues. I do level the CPU heat spreader and heat sink base, because the damned things are often lumpier than you'd think.
When you treat it like the top shelf stuff, stock cooling is often quite sufficient, and is generally very reliable. I've had too many people ask their friends to ask me to call them and explain how to remove the fan from an aftermarket heat sink... The average person seems incapable of doing so unless they're staring at four screws.
It's like "that person" in your family trying to switch inputs on his television.
Cheers,
Kennith