Heat pipes look fine from the angle shown. My main concern would be the connection from the heat pipes to the cold plate. Looks like there was enough torque to potentially break them free.
Well if Trump gets his way and the US leaves NATO, then by definition the US would be 3rd world country. So long as he doesn't align with the Soviets, since they're 2nd world.
Spousal abuse is only one concern, also parent/child coercion (you're an adult now, you can't live in my house unless you vote the way I want). Another would be buying votes, and using the "receipt" to collect payment.
Couple years ago I wouldn't have argued, but with graphics cards ballooning to 3+ slots, you have to be more careful about which slots on the motherboard have full enough lanes to support your cards. And you have to make sure your motherboard has the full x16 slot in the highest position which is less common on boards with m.2. otherwise there isn't room for expansion cards
Jonsbo makes some decent compact nas cases with plenty of space for drives. Look at their N series N3/N4 etc.
matx would be more upgradable than itx, but nobody is making either of them with 10gb Ethernet. So I personally would be looking at full ATX boards so I could add in a nic.
It's not impossible, but first Gen Ryzen was surprisingly good after AMD shit the bed for a few years. Most major manufacturers weren't willing to take a chance, though you can find some 2nd Gen available on the used market.
If it were me, I'd look for a motherboard/CPU combo and assemble it into your case of choice. That way you aren't stuck with the weird form-factors of pre-built office computers.
If you're ok buying used, I'd go for a first Gen Ryzen 8 core. They're cheap as chips since they don't support Windows 11, but the cpu is upgradable so you can upgrade if you need more power or want to run Windows 11. Also it's a ddr4 platform so the ram is under $100 for 64gb.
A GTX 1050 would be fine for Plex, and discrete graphics would be required if you go with the Ryzen recommendation. I think rtx 3060 is probably the sweet spot for a 12gb vram card, but you won't need that much unless your streaming to 5+ Plex users simultaneously.
Are those really the lyrics? I always thought it was: feel the magic between your thighs