/g/ do you like mini PCs?
>>108765636>upgradability of a laptop but no portabilitywhy should I?
>>108765636I've been thinking about swapping my garage machine out for one of these, and mounting it to the back of the monitor. But the ewaste Core 2 Duo keeps working, and it's already installed. So I guess if space is a premium and you don't want to upgrade it ever, sure.
>>108765636love them
>>108765652They're perfect for home serversRedditors will try to gaslight you into buying decommissioned server hardware and wasting electricity when something like a mini pc will work for most people's needs
>>108765636No GPU and even the iGPUs are weak. eGPUs bulky and gay.
The new availability of mini-PCs in 2005-2010 left desktop PC industry driven by gamers and without professional sensibility. They are the reason I can't have my beige metal case.
>>108765636they're great for running a normal homelab or running an ADA node for staking.
>>108765686>They're perfect for home serversLol. Just recycle bro. My old thinkpad is my home server
>>108765636Yeah I think they're pretty cool.The less I think about gaming on a PC the more attractive these sorts of things become.Very few AAA titles that require intensive graphics cards really interest me these days so getting one of these seems more and more attractive.I'm thinking of getting one of those DGX sparks or holding out for Apple to make an M5 chip mac mini.
>>108765686>They're perfect for home serversonly if you don't save anything on them and theres a high chance that wanna use your home server as a NAS
>>108765636I bought one of those, but I don't use it because it makes noise under load.I'd much rather use my SilentTower.I never hear it.I can't stand the sound of the fan. I love the silence.
>>108766100nowadays you need $5000 to get into gaming. this is slowly becoming a luxury hobby like golfing is
they're good. no reason to use a giant desktop PC in 2026 if you're not a gaymoor
>>108766146>gaymoorlooole
>>108766142>you need $5000 to get into gamingpic related
>>108765636yeah, low watt.but in the end saving $100 per year is not worth the convenience of a real desktop.
>>108766142Nah consoles are far cheaper than that and if you're talking PC gaming yeah for the AAA stuff to run at max sure but there are loads of games that don't require all that hardware beef.Hell even macs are getting a decent selection of games along those lines.I honestly see gaming as less of a luxury hobby it's now one with tiers to it.Like how fishing ranges from just a pole with a hook and some bait casting off of land all the way to boats with specialized tackle and fish finders and all of that.
>>108766184The only games worth playing are eroge and there are none on consoles
>>108766184even if you assume the BARE minimum (1080p medium settings 60Hz) that shit would still require dGPUs and over $1000 setups.the standard in 2026 is native 4K Medium 120Hz+. for that, with how shitty optimization is, requires >$5000
>>108765636They're not even good at being set top boxes.
>>108766137Yeah those shit little fans can ramp up a bit. Unironically my modded one runs near silent. Ended up replacing a tower PC with this. No regrets.
>>108765668Did you just drill some holes for that? If so, that's pretty BASED.
>>108766134bro the usb port is right there>NASoh you're retarded
>>108765636Yeah I have 2 as serversJust hate the chink ones tho
>>108766137So you live in a country that doesn't have AC?
I love this little nigga like you wouldnt believe>using mini PCs for gaminglul retards. the correct use case is homelab shit and they work amazingly
>>108766260Nice mini pc case
>>108766327They're perfect for emulation, firewalls, and android/streaming boxes as well.
A few years ago, bought my 11 yr old nephew a beelink one with a zen3 Ryzen 8. I added 32Gb of ddr4 back when it was $50.He has used it to play Roblox and Minecraft plus do his school when they send them home (his school still does this for flu, chickenpox outbreaks)He loves it! My sister in law hasd trouble keeping him from staying up all night playing it.The same nephew is 14 now and basically uses it for porn and social media because he’s more into girls now than larping as goku on Roblox.
>>108766426Just hope he's watching the right kind of porn
>>108766440I introduced him to snake and dragon women at a young age so hopefully he found his way.
>>108766440>>108766457He’s watching TikTok thots and eWhores Reddit. I set up his Microsoft family account, left it unrestricted, but I still get telemetry just in case he’s turning into a school shooter type. So far he’s just a super normie with normie tastes. Nothing wrong with that. Hopefully he can be happy and normie
It's a mini pc with a built in UPS
I'm indifferent to owning one of these, but I'd love to know how much CPU performance they actually get. If you got one, open cmd prompt in /Program Files/7-zip folder and type "7z b" or "./7z b" if it's powershell.Run that twice, what's the second result? Probably better than this old ultrabook, lets be honest. But is it anywhere close to desktop level?
>>108766501If you wanted him to be a normie, he should have gotten into sports as young as possible. Sports are the fast track to being a normie.
>>108766546obsolete
>>108766606apple m series > ayyymd
>>108766606>put it under extended full load>keys are so hot it burns off your fingerprintsIs that an intended feature?
>>108766656well, it seems to work for Apple
>>108766663Apple users don't do anything that would put it under full load for an extended period of time. They spend 99% of their time doomscrolling X, TikTok, Jewtube, and Instagram.
>>108765686>They're perfect for home serversold abandoned free laptops are perfecter
>>108766566He’s into golf, ATVs, and hunting.
>>108765636no, I prefer having more flexibility
>>108766721>a sport where you grip a long shaft for hours and hit a white ballSounds gay and anti-white
>>108765636bought a gmktec g3 plus(shame the price has more than doubled)honestly one of the best purchases i have made in my lifegot jellyfin and tailscale and all the arr shit on it.invited my friends and shared out jellyfin and seerr.watch parties are greatit runs a website/app i am building too, hosts wasm emulators for my friendsshits amazing
>>108766732>just 3.0 x2I'll take it just because of the fanless design but man that bandwidth limitation is really a bummer
>>108765636Is there one that is highly recommended to at least test Linux with?
>>108766768it's not amazing, but still a pretty good option for a HTPC / NAS / light home server. I would take it over a miniPC any day.
>>108766792try the Intel ASUS ones, or SimplyNUC (their fanless are awesome)
>>108766285holes? I dremeled the top and slapped a noctua in there to improve airflow and reduce noise, otherwise these things throttle and sound like small turbines. pic related is from another computer, but same idea
>>108766805yeah fair enough I might consider one of these to replace my i7-6700 NAS
>>108766285>>108766838forgot to upload
>>108766838i just printed a new lidcrazy
>>108766291>bro the usb port is right theregreat now you have a mini pc and a bunch of hdds in enclosures lying around, which defeats the purpose of having just the mini pc and you're better of getting a case like picrel>oh you're retardedwat
>>108765636Finally got one to replace wife's old desktop and spin my plex sever off my gaming pc so I can use my pc without worrying about disrupting users.Opened her up and filled up her 3 extra nvme slots with some I had laying around. They're neat.Can't wait for the steam machine to release and people start acting like valve invented this form factor -_-
>>108766845interesting, wouldn't it be better to have it as exhaust instead of intake?
>>108766983I'm not the guy you're asking, but on mine I tested the fan I added in both directions. Intake was noticeably better. It blasts straight down on to heatsinks rather than sucking air from the sides and straight out.
>>108766955small monitor?
>>108765636I've been considering getting one to replace my Nvidia shield and also use as a retro console
>>108767516Its one of those 4k 10 inch portable monitors. Useful for a quick desktop setup. Can also use it as a second screen for my phone via USB C if needed
>>108766142I bought a refurbished mobile workstation from 2020 and it's capable of running most AAA titles.
Even with current ram prices, an R7 8700G build can be cheaper, more performant, and far more reliable long term, with much more room for expansion, than almost 99% of what the mini‑pc market offers rn. >t. been a mini‑pc fanatic for many years, but finally got build-pilled.case in point: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HLpDckPS: you can pick far cheaper components, I just picked the ones that list prices, plus I know have good price/value ratios and had been tested thoroughly.
>>108767579>Its one of those 4k 10 inch portable monitorsName / brand of that monitor?
>>108766554I've just run once.
>>108767730the devil is in the details anon, I use both and they're awesome>fanless mini pc as always-on server with most critical stuff>full fledged towers for nas, ai and other shit that can be turned on ondemand
>>108767777It's fine, that helps if it throttles due to heat, but even on first run it's not high enough to warrant wondering if it can keep that up. That is very close to the benchmark results on an i7 6800k running stock.Those e-cores are surprisingly useless.
>>108765636I want one for linux but I don't want to inflated prices for weak stuff
>>108767767It's some no name chink shit I inherited from my last job. In device manager it's called "RTK UHD HDR"Amazon has some similar ones but ordering from aliexpress could save you some money.
>>108766554>>108767777chiming in with my fanless i3-7100U
>>108767863ups forgot pic
>>108767835Prices seem to be falling for mini PCs in general. The ram data center shit affected DDR5 full sticks not really the sodimm stuff in mini PCs
>>108765636thank god I bought a beelink for $499 last summer
>>108765662got the minisforum with ryzen 7, good enough for gaming. It has the Oculink connector, in case i ever want to use a real GPU. Small, effective, cheap, upgreadable.
This is price graph from a mini pc on Amazon.I think some of them preemptively raised their prices due to the ram speculation but they couldn't move em at that price.Wonder when it'll settle down.
been going strong with my ASUS PN-51 for 5 years now, just waiting for an eGPU system to hook it up to
I love them , have been running one as my main PC for the past year
>>108767953which mini pc?
>>108766142240hz mini pc + geforce now
>>108767970beelink gti 14 ultra 9 185h + a 5070
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GF78LHXP/thoughts? or is there something better for the price?
>>108767953Based I have the same one.
>>108765636I use one for my home server, and one as for a novelty machine. So yeah. I guess I like them.
I've been using one for the past year. Planning on upgrading to a full PC but they're great if you need a decent budget desktop.
>tfw all these mini pcs have a faster CPU than I doIt's just not fair
>>108765898Yes I'll have you know I currently have a 4070 ti super inside of a mini-itx. I had to cut rivets off the psu shroud because any amount of sag would cause the fans to whip lol
>>108767996thanks
>>108766142>nowadays you need $5000 to get into gaming.do you even read the shit you type?
>>108765636I love mini PCs, but I don't think I really need for one. My mid tower gives me plenty of joy, and I'm not that needy for space. I like the vibe it gives, and the little amount of space it needs to function. you could take it into a hotel room and play some vidya if you don't have to do anything at night for vacation, for example. My only use case would be a home server for media, but even then - I think a small PC with a 4th gen i5 or something like that could do the trick just fine. They are not that upgradable or repairable and cost a lot.
>>108766142just buy a steam deck OLED. You don't need to play AAA live service slop in 4k 120hz when there's an entire universe of good old PC games as well as the whole PS2/Switch and earlier console libraries that are easily emulated.
no sff pc for me i like pc in midi or minii dont mind other computers in sff though
>>108767953Same. Love it.
vesa mount them on your monitor.
>>108769943don't listen to this guy, the steam deck is too weak even. for the same price as a steam deck oled you can get a used z1 extreme based PC handheld that can actually handle any game on steam with framerates above 30 and can emulate all ps3 and switch games without special builds or settings. steam deck players will say 30fps low settings 720p is playable
Yup, my living room PC is a GMKTek K8 Plus hooked up to a 5060TI (16gb) over Occulink, It cost slightly more than a console but plays anything I through at it better but the wifi was shit so I had to drill some holes and fit some proper antennas
I have one of these looking ones from Soyo with an Intel N100, I think 8GB of RAM.Hardly use it, thinking about putting Linux Mint on it to see if it'll run a bit faster. Used just for streaming, nothing else.
>>108766606>HPwow I can't believe they actually transformed Hinge Problem into Heat Problem
Yes I do like them. Luckily I bought one before the RAM issue, a N95 beelink with 512 disk and 16gb ddr4, it was 160 eurodollars (now it's around 400)It just runs ubuntu with docker and ~20 containers and the power draw is next to nothingElectricity costs a fuckton here, picrel is the power draw of all my server shelf (ups, nas, modem, wifi router, and the minipc). It's like 1kwh per day tops
>>108765636Yes. Have two running as home servers. Can put a few TB of storage in them (mine have space for an m.2 drive and a 2.5" drive). They're not quite suitable as a NAS but aside from that very useful and energy efficient. Perfect for running Home Assistant on and such. And having 2 is great for running redundant DNS servers so my internet doesn't break when I'm tinkering and one of them goes down for a bit.I am looking to supplement them with a proper NAS though, as soon as hardware prices come down again. Any day now...
How do you increase the space of one of these mini PCs if you use them as a home server? Would you just connect a DAS to them? Which people say is bad and don't do it.. but I do it.I'd like to downgrade from my HP Elitedesk G8 SFF for one of these mini PCs but my biggest use would be running Jellyfin and watching movies / shows from it which I need storage for. I have a DAS that's connected to my HP Elitedesk and it's working fine so I guess there's no reason to assume these mini PCs wouldn't work just as fine either
>>108767953this looks extremely retarded. just buy >>108766732 with a small case at this point.
>>108771246I'm too scared to build in a small case and with getting the right parts. My GPU is big and my ram gets really hot. I am OK at building PCs but small form factor cases are so complicated
>>108765636>miniyes>PCnot really
>>108771192how much extra storage? One external USB-3/-C spinning-rust hard drive, or would you want more than that?
my biggest gripe with those N100 miniPCs is that I failed to get a good youtube video playback on Linux at 4k@60 with Firefox. the only setup that worked smoothly for me is Chromium on Ubuntu (flatpak version). on Mint, everything was stuttering, even Chrome, no matter what. probably a skill issue, but I spent a lot of time trying to figure it out. I think it boils down to compositor, because hardware video decoding worked in all cases.
>>108766137I hate noise too and I was lucky because my box is so silent I don't even know if it's on without checking.Being mounted behind the monitor helps a little too.Yes under load it becomes audible but you don't use a box like that for high loads anyway, it's mostly for browsing.
>>108771276>not reallyhow not?
>>108765636Yeah. I run one as my HTPC.
>>108765636Eh, I like the smallness, but; want more performance and a slot ahovey 3060 onto it. With its own power supply.
>>108765898Discover Fractal designs.
>>108766072>>108766716Serious request; go measure how many Wh it takes over a day/week/month of normal use.
>>108765636i have two gmktec G3's with the n100 chip.i use one as my dedicated NAS (no redundancy single 1tb nvme + m2 ssd for OS)and another for daily use with arch linux running on it.
>>108771246I was at the moment moving countries , it fit my use case of a compact yet somewhat powerful machine capable of being coupled to a discrete GPU. It fits in a backpack (decoupled of course)Also the loss of the PCIe 5x16 to PCIe Gen 5x2 is 10%., I am ok with losing 10% for the compact format.
>>108766546It's just laptop without screen, so stupid
>>108765636I hate mini PCs
>>108766732>Single RAM slot
>>108767953guess i'm getting old, how the fuck did you connect your gpu to a mini pc?
>>108765636Been meaning t build one for a long time. Trying to find the right parts like pic-related as the monitor. Unfortunately most of them are for raspberry pi and I want to build an x86.>>108765686>home serverThat's one of the reasons I wanna build one. Trying to find guides for that.
>>108765652more like:>more modular than laptop (can be paired with any keyboard, mouse, monitor)>same portability as a laptop with an external battery
Why /g/ doesn't have MiniPC thread?
>same 32gb ram minipc I bought in october for 350bucks is now 550
>>108765636They are too small to fit a GPU. Make it just big enough to fit a GPU—not something monstrous like a 5090—and I'll be interested.
>>108772615the cpu has integrated graphics
>>108765636Yes. dGPUs completely unnecessary if you're not playing modern AAA slop.
>>108766566Wrong, I won a few swimming competitions when I was a kid and look at me now
>>108772963Maybe I should have clarified. When I say sports, I mean real sports like Football, Basketball, Baseball, and Hockey.
>>108772983those are team sports that require understanding of the game and understanding of your team membersswimming really hecking fast is kind of autistic if you think aboutI have played team sports and never reached the understanding stage
>>108773021Baseball is kind of a team sport, but also it's not. In the end it's just Pitcher vs Batter. Sometimes the other players matter, but not all the time. It's the most individualistic of the major team sports.
where do you guys find deals on these besides ebay?
>>108773099minipcs are really overpriced on the local used market they probably steal them or order from China
Aren't some of these cases tall enough to fit inside one of those Noctua NH-L9 coolers? Surprised that hasn't been done.
>>108772014so? N100 is single channel.
>>108772421>No screen>Keyboard not attached so you have to lug it around as a second accessory
>>108773816a screen and a small keyboard can easily fit inside a laptop bag along with the case
>>108770537how do you even add serious storage to shit shit
I'm using pic rel. Not a bad computer for the price, I think I paid $75usd for it from an e-waste/IT refurbishing place near me all I had to do was buy ram for it>ryzen 5 2400>32gb ram>vega 11 graphics (integrated, not great)if there was a way to connect an egpu to this, I'd probably get rid of my main desktop. unfortunately, there isn't a pcie slot. I've seen some people connect a gpu to the m.2 slot, but I have no idea how that works.
>>108773848Just buy an rog ally, legion go, or MSi claw. It's better in every way
Yes, I'm sick of bulky towers eating up space (and power). Unfortunately I occasionally play AAAsloppa and use LLMs so I can't get rid of my rig. Maybe one day...
>>108771883I'm not worried about saving $20 per year in electricity but thanks
>>108773894>there isn't a pcie slotThere should be one, though its not a standard one. You can attach up to PCIex8 onto it.I got a rise and attached a 2.5 gig NIC onto mine so I could use it as my router. Its been doing great for nearly two years now.
>use a pi with USB drives and a hub for a cheapo NAS>could upgrade to one of these minipcs just to still have external usb devices and increased power usage, but at least get better than pentium 4 performance>could recycle a dormant desktop PC with a new cheap case and PSU and internalize all the drives, but this will cost even more electricity to runThere's just no winning unless you're rich enough for an inflated electric bill to be toilet paper.
>>108774375If you're that destitute where the difference between a modern-ish x86 PC and an RPI make that much off a difference, you likely should just use cloud storage.Hard drives end up taking the majority of power usage at about 4 drives in.
>>108774685The TDP of the CPU in question (i7 6700k) exceeds the total power usage of the pi NAS.
>>108774698Are you under the assumption CPUs are at their power limit 24/7?
No I prefer rack-mountable computers. Give me 19'' or give me death.
>>108774762Pretty sure 19" is death, just look at Mr. Hands.
>minipcs with fansCringe
>>108765636Yes!
>>108774728I'm under the assumption the total power usage even at idle will still exceed that of the pi + USBs.
i might consider one based on amd medusa halo. though depends on price and capabilities for ai. i wouldn't take anything if less then 256ram and ~450gb/s.would be nice to grab mac studio with top m5 and 256/512ram, but i am 100% sure i will be priced out, as m3 ultra with 512ram + 4tb ssd costed smth like ~$14k
>>108765636They are too weak at the moment. The Intel + NVidia APU ones that we will get in the coming years will hopefully meet my standards.
>>108766176it's true tho
>>108765636im using one at work
>>108769943Severely underpowered e-waste from 2022 that valve isn't making anymore, NEXT.
>>108772008>hot server cpu exhaust blowing directly into the PSU fan intakeBased thermal degradation enjoyer.
>>108772151The gpu is connected to a dock which connects with the mini PC with thunderbolt 4 or oculink, it's a meme since the GPU gets bandwidth cucked hard.
>>108775798nice
>>108771276but picrel is a pc, anon are you blind?
>>108775048Never stated that wasn't the case, but at the same time if it's such a big burden to run a relatively modern PC as a NAS then I question how you afforded the shit in the first place.I wouldn't have a NAS at all if I was forced to run USB HDDs through a Pi
>>108775824I don't think you can kill an EVGA G2Runs pretty cool regardless, except the HBA
>>108765636May not be terribly "affordable" but this is my go to. Can game exemplarily well too even on something like Crimson Desert or Cyberpunk 2077 on the highest settings o.o. I just dock it n go : 3
>>108773862It has a little (annoying) 2230 nvme slot. Can't remember if it's 2230 or 2242, but it's the less common one.
>>108775197Imagine local genning in comfy on a smol handheld at 1300 +tops rate cranking out your favorite autism at 35 watts xD YUS!
>>108772151>>108775836it's not. The dock is a glorified pcie riser with its own power supply. The performance loss is nowhere near as bad as oculink. The dock is 4.0x8 and the pc itself is 4.0x16, or it might be the other way around
>>108776534So how well does it do on gaming?
>>108767953I love non-standard PC setups so much.
>>108776534smart design, wish cheaper mini pcs did this.putting highend cpu's in a mini format, seems weird.
>>108776929I have mine paired with a 6950xt, and it's generally enough to play most new games at a stable 60fps. I just did a playthrough of Witcher 3 next gen. That version in particular is heavy on the cpu and it handled it fine. That was with upscaling to 4K though. There's a lot of better in depth reviews and comparisons to normal pcs on YouTube
>>108765636mine lasted 3 years, 7735hs nucbox k2 with 680m. loved it, had to play a lot of games at lower res but for general use it was fast as fucksmth in the power circuitry got fried and instead of trying to find a repair shop that can take a look i'm just building an am5 sff build, i don't like soldered parts anyway which is the biggest downside of these pcs (i have an excellent APU which would still function, but is now trash due to being tied to a brick)i just wish sff builds could be this small. mini itx will do but i've been spoiled
Fucking LOVE my mini pc with proxmox. I run a whole lot of stuff on there like vaultwarden, nextcloud, adguard home and more. My phone and laptop are always connected to it via tailscale. I make deduplicated backups on site and offsite. I'm in love. Got the thing for Mad cheap because it's some Chinese shit, but works fantastic.
perfect for my homelab
>>108777321>smth in the power circuitry got friedthat's chink tech for you, I've ALWAYS adviced against chink mini pc's exactly for this reason
>>108765636No. I have three bricked ones just from heavy use. All got fucked up withtin 3-4 months.
If you don't have one (or multiple) of these you might be legitimately clinically retarded
>>108772379>Trying to find guides for that.>buy a mini pc>buy a das>install team viewer>donetheres your guide
>>108765636They all suckMac mini m4 is good but can’t run LinuxMaybe incel wildcove / wildlake / ??? that’s supposed to release soon (tm) will break the shit streak
>>108778742>locked to macosno.
>check the prices in my country>800 dollarslol
>>108773894>I've seen some people connect a gpu to the m.2 slot, but I have no idea how that works.m.2 slots can be sata, usb, or pcie or all that combined. Pcie is up to x4 lanes, though. There are plenty of m.2 pcie to full size sata risers on aliexpress, just make sure you get the correctly keyed one if this poster >>108774366is wrong about your model, because some of these really have a pcie x8 or better, but require a special lenovo riser/daughterboard for it
>>108772421>can be paired with any keyboard, mouse, monitorSo can a laptop, I don't understand this argument
>>108778904I meant full size pcie*, but of course it will still have x4 lanes tops, even if it's physically x16.
>>108778909laptop is bloat why would i use a shitty laptop keyboard if i have my own?
>>108779070For a modular setup with the mini PC as a server
Any of you tried Morefine m6 ?
Mechanic Master Cool Cube Series C24 Mini-ITX Case
>>108765636I still have an old eMachine PC, it's e-waste now but it was fun using it as a HTPC back in the day. Don't care for mini PCs now.
>>108766068Trying to find one right now to run PFSENSE that isn't over $250 srsly don't see a point over that now with drm prices everything is over that shit sucks
>>108776078Buying something over the course of many years isn't the same as endless monthly payments that are recently skyrocketing with no change on my end due to datacenters raising electric rates. The electric bill is just one of many mandatory monthly expenses and it's sensible to keep it manageable.
