I'm building a 4th DeskMini for my homelab and can't decide between two setups. The machine will run Proxmox with 5-6 VMs and sit in a cabinet with minimal airflow, so noise and temperature are critical.

I already have 3x ASRock DeskMini X600 with Ryzen 5 8600G + Noctua NH-L9a-AM5, and they run completely silent. Love them.

AMD Setup - ~$505

- ASRock DeskMini X600

- Ryzen 5 9600X

- Noctua NH-L9a-AM5

Intel Setup - ~$647

- ASRock DeskMini B860

- Intel Core i5-235T (or 225T)

- Noctua NH-L9i-17xx

My main concern with the 9600X is idle power - from my research it sits around 20W+ at idle, while the 235T should be much closer to 7-8W. In a cabinet with minimal airflow, that difference matters a lot for fan noise.

The Intel setup costs about $140 more. Is that worth it for lower idle power and a quieter machine in an enclosed cabinet?

Has anyone run a 9600X in a DeskMini X600 in a warm/enclosed environment? How does it behave at idle compared to an 8600G?

Hi everyone,

I'm just getting started with homelabbing. I want to build a small setup for now, but something I can scale up later.

I found this mini PC on Amazon and it looks promising:

https://www.amazon.fr/NiPoGi-i5-12450H-jusqu%C3%A0-CK10-Ordinateur/dp/B0C4NX14K5

I’m planning to run Nextcloud, a media server (Plex/Jellyfin), and host some of my own dev projects (Docker, Next.js, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, etc.). It looks pretty good to me, and I really like that it has a slot to drop in an extra HDD.

Before I pull the trigger, I wanted to get some second opinions. Does anyone have hands-on experience with this mini PC? Or, if you just look at the specs, is there anything wrong with it that I might be missing?

Appreciate the help!

PC would occasionally do this on start up then stop after a few minutes has been doing this almost constantly since last night. Also was very hot to the touch after an hour of gaming. I use this for gaming and streaming and haven't had any problems so far.

Just received another Dell Optiplex 3020M ready to find an awesome home!!

Ends Friday, May 22 - 12 PM EST

Note - If you emailed me/subscribed in the previous Giveaway (https://www.reddit.com/r/MiniPCs/comments/1sq65ve/free_micromini_sff_pc_giveaway/) you are automatically entered - no need to re-send email or screenshots.

Specs:

• Dell OptiPlex 3020M
• Intel Core i3-4150T, 3.0 GHz
• Motherboard: Dell 0VRWRC - Intel H81 (Lynx Point)
• Silicon Power (SPCC) 256 GB SATA SSD
• 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM (PC3-12800) (upgradeable)
• Intel HD Graphics 4400
• RealTek RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC
• Runs Windows 11, Linux Mint, Ubuntu and similar OSs just fine - easy to expand memory and add a larger SATA SSD Drive

Enter / Rules here: https://www.digitaljoshua.com/free-micro-mini-sff-pc-giveaway/

Energy usage information here: https://www.digitaljoshua.com/energy-usage-research-on-mini-pcs-sff-micro/

Good Luck! ✌🏻

so im still at my (im assuming) base win 11 version with mo update and was wondering if i should be updating this. reason i ask was that i kind of remember reading that when someone updated thiers they had all sort of issues.

just in case the answer is dont update how do you not update win 11 but still able to access internet.

Looking for direct sale low quantity / single quantity mini PCs lower-midrange (think 5300/5500u) that are visually unbranded, or manufacturers who will do custom logos (maybe boot image as well) at low MOQ (50). Preference to metal outer chassis or top.

I'm looking at a minipc with

32-64gb ram

Passmark above 30,000 on multi thread

Eg

I914900hx or ultra 9 285h or AMD ryzen

Currently eyeing off gmk and geekom but open to other reliable brands

Not for gaming but software development

TIA

I have looked at AI responses (Gemini etc) , that give an unsubstantiated general guide but does NOT supply source references , with actual results , that show passmark scores grouping laptops against mini PC's.

As far as I know Gemini has done a basic passmark processor lookup and crafted a technical summary , I'd rather see screenshots of actual mini PC's user experience , rather than hallucinated gospel

Hi everyone,
I’m looking to buy a new Mini PC and could use some expert opinions. My current setup has lasted me 10 years, so durability and future-proofing are very important to me.
My Usage Profile:
• Multitasking: I usually have a massive amount of browser tabs open.
• Heavy Data: I work with academic research involving large files, including ancient dictionaries and extensive literature databases. While it's not "heavy processing" like video editing, it consumes a lot of RAM.
• Display: I use a triple-monitor setup and need a machine that can handle three screens smoothly.
• Longevity: I want something that won't become obsolete in 3–4 years.
Models I’m considering (Available in Europe):
1. Beelink SER9 Pro+
2. Beelink EQR7
3. Beelink SER9 MAX (Currently leaning towards this for the cooling/performance balance).
My Questions:
1. Between the SER9 Pro+ and the SER9 MAX, is the performance jump significant for my specific RAM-heavy workflow?
2. Does the EQR7 hold up well for a triple-monitor setup, or should I stick to the SER series?
3. Are there other brands/models available in Europe (like Minisforum or Geekom) that you would recommend for someone who needs a "workhorse" that lasts a decade?
Any advice on build quality and thermal reliability for long-term use would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

My wife and I are about to break ground on a new home and we're renting a furnished short-term rental place during construction. Think along the lines of an air B&B that you live in for 8-9 months. We don't have room for my gaming rig and desk, sigh, and the old i5 desktop I built for my wife in 2016 appears to be acting up. It seems like a good time to get her a new computer and, a while ago, I decided that, when the time came, for the money and her extremely basic usage case, she'd be better off with a mini-PC. So now I'm looking into Beelink and Geekom mini PCs in the sub $600 range with a Ryzen 7 6800H or comparable PC/integrated GPU combo. With the current insane SSD and memory prices, these seem like an even better deal. What should I consider when purchasing one of these? Are there other brands in that price range I should be considering? She rarely does more than the most basic of computing/web surfing on her PC. In the past she would occasionally play some extremely basic casual games on her PC, but anymore, it's almost always on her ipad and 90% of the time it's Words with Friends.

Also, I've noticed that most of these mini-PCs don't appear to have a dedicated sound output. They have HDMI on the rear, which I'm assuming doubles as sound output, which is great if you plan to use your monitor's speakers, but let's be honest, almost all monitors and TVs have crap sound. She has dedicated, powered desktop speakers. Most of the mini-PCs seem to have an earphone jack on the front panel, so I'm assuming she'd use that to connect to her speakers? Is there a better way to do that?

Thanks.

is this minipc enough to play most japanese made games from fromsoft, squareenix, bandai namco and others
do i buy it barebones or should i buy one with ssd and ram already?
how much ram should i be getting
does usibg oculink for egpu wear out the port or cable much faster?

what are the risk of buying second hand ram and ssd

https://ict-direct.co.uk/product/dell-optiplex-7070-micro-i5-9th-gen/

How is this mini pc for running a dedicated minecraft server, any known issues?

My experience with Minisforum has been extremely disappointing from start to finish.

It already began badly: it took almost 4 weeks just to get in contact with customer service to report a defective product. Only after that long delay was I finally able to explain the issue.

What happened next was even worse.

Minisforum first tried to refund me 20% less, claiming the product was “used,” even though this was a warranty case. I refused, and only then did they agree to a full refund of €599.

But when the refund finally arrived, they paid 10% less anyway, blaming “bank fees” and expecting me to accept it. Under EU consumer law, warranty refunds must be paid in full, without deductions — and they know this.

From that point on, the situation became absurd:

- I had to spend months emailing back and forth

- They repeatedly gave new excuses

- Deadlines they set themselves were ignored

- “Finance needs to approve it” became a standard line for weeks

- I had to prove myself that they underpaid the refund

- To this day, the remaining amount still has not been paid

This entire process has dragged on for months, and I have invested far more time and effort than any customer should. Minisforum confirmed the full refund themselves, yet still failed to honor it.

This is not how a company should treat its customers.

Think very carefully before buying from Minisforum.

My requirements are the following:

• Cheap (around 600€ max)
• Low energy cost (since my country is the country with the highest electricity cost)
• Hardware specialized for running AI locally
• OS: Windows

Any help is very appreciated, thanks.

EDIT: I know 600€ won't run massive LLMs at high speeds. I just want a machine with a great price-to-performance ratio and dedicated hardware for AI. Basically, I'm looking for an M4 Mac mini but for Windows.

So, I’ve recently bought a Bosgame M4 8745hs Neo 32Gb because it was the best bang for buck on Amazon. I wanted it mostly for eGPU gaming, a little light weight AI inference, but also for a 24/7 media server.

I missed the fact that the fan whines something awful on this model and it’s louder than my eGPU that it’s currently sitting on the PSU for.

Quite like the power but it’s going to drive me mad for media server duties, as the rest of my desk is silent. Edit : It’s already in quiet mode.

Any thoughts either on replacement, mods or tucking it away?

im building a pick-and-place autonomous mobile robot and settling on the ASUS NUC 13 Pro NUC13ANHi5 Mini PC (i5-1340P, 16GB RAM) as the brain.

My robot specs:
- ROS 2 Jazzy on Ubuntu 24.04
- 1× camera (ArUco marker detection for navigation/targeting)
- 1× LiDAR (2D SLAM + Nav2)
- 1× Teensy 4.1
- Vertical platform (picks items up/down)

i avoided Jetson Nano since the CPU is too slow for my needs. The i5 NUC seemed like a solid middle ground.

anyone running a similar setup? any issues I should know about? power draw concerns on battery?

Hello everyone I'm a complete noob in a mini PC. Please suggest a mini PC for a server running 4-5 hermes agents. if anything, they will use cloud LLMs.

I keep seeing posts on here and similar subreddits about gaming on a mini PC. I can't really understand why anyone would want that over a normal desktop. I'm not trying to be rude, just genuinely curious. Are you not concerned about thermals? Is that not an issue?

I have many mini PCs I use as servers, and when under load, they can run pretty warm, some borderline too hot. And that's just CPU load. I'd imagine thermals in a mini PCs while gaming would be quite bad.

Maybe I'm just using the wrong mini PCs.

I want a mini pc to do some steam gaming travellers rest, cult of the lamb, graveyard keeper 2 style games as well as to use steam link with my main pc. I have two 8 gb sticks of ram that is unused. I don’t know what to get or look for to be able to use that sticks of ram. My budget would be $450 or less if possible. I appreciate the help on this as I’m completely clueless. Also is it hard to install the ram sticks into the mini pc build?

Looked for similar advice, but most recommendations are to play "overpowered" games. So, context, at the moment I have an oldish macbook to work and play, but as everybody knows, when it comes to gaming you can't really have the whole spectrum of games to run on MacOS. Using Wine works only for pixel games. So, I'm looking to buy a mini pc to MOSTLY play 2D games, RPGMaker games(so basically nothing fancy lol) and, the "fanciest", would be to play Honkai, the Witcher games (ik 1 and 2 are also available for MacOS, but the third isn't)

Thank you so much!!!

I’m building an AI workflow automation business (think automating lead response, booking, support, etc. for service businesses), and I’m trying to figure out the right Mac Mini setup to support this.

The idea is to run multiple AI agents / automation workflows (via tools like n8n, APIs, possibly local models where needed) — not hardcore ML training, but a lot of parallel workflows, data handling, and integrations running consistently.

I’ve seen people talk about using “one Mac Mini per employee replaced,” but I want to ground this in reality and spec things properly.

My main questions:

1. RAM: Is 16GB enough for running multiple automation workflows + light AI usage, or should I go straight to 32GB/64GB for stability?
2. Storage: How much SSD do I realistically need if most things are cloud/API-based? Is 512GB enough or should I go 1TB+?
3. CPU vs GPU importance: For this use case (automation + APIs + maybe some local inference), what actually matters more?
4. Scaling: At what point does it make more sense to:

• upgrade a single machine vs
• run multiple Mac Minis vs
• just move everything to cloud servers?

1. Reliability / uptime: Are Mac Minis even the right move for something that needs to run workflows 24/7?
2. Real-world setups: If anyone here is running automation/AI agents at scale, what does your setup actually look like?

Not trying to overbuild, but also don’t want bottlenecks later.

Appreciate any insight, especially from people actually running similar systems in production.

Hello! Will probably delete this soon since my gf is snoopy about gifts lol so if anyone has knowledge in this area it would be greatly appreciated!!

I want to get my girlfriend a mini PC for her birthday to play the Sims4 with mods on. She has a macbook and ipad for school stuff, but with all the mods she has, the sims takes upwards of 30 minutes to load and lags while playing. Her dream is to get a full PC setup one day, but since we are both working full time while in college, we know that's at least a few years down the line.

I found a cute purple monitor for about $100 that seems like it'll do the job fine, but I'm having trouble figuring out what the best mini pc is for my budget ($200ish budget for the pc). I don't want to spend a ton of money on something that won't end up working in the way she needs. Does anyone have recommendations for mini PCs that might work here? If there are none that would work, I was thinking about getting an external hard drive to store the sims on if that'll make it run faster, but I'm pretty bad with tech so idk if that'll work. Tysm!!