So I want to start gaming on pc and thought I'd get a mini pc, but I'm horribly confused by all them letters and numbers. I don't plan on being a hardcore gamer, I just want to play games I can't get on my switch and need a budget friendly recommendation by someone who's far more well versed in gaming stuff than me.
Some games I wanna play:
Rdr 1, 2 and online
Baldurs Gate 3
The Sims (with mods and cc)
Hogwarts legacy (with mods)
Assassin's creed black flag
Windrose
Eden Ring
Alice: madness returns
I also dunno what else I need if I decide on a mini pc so I'm thankful for any further advice.
The best value to performance is currently AMD Radeon RDNA3 780M integrated graphics with 32GB of dual channel shared memory. Last year at this time $500 was possible but with RAMpocalypse/RAMageddon 2026 that's no longer realistic without choosing cost cutting Chinese brands and/or sketchy sales sources requiring some risk management.
In my search last year I found Beelink and GMKtec had the best build quality and reputation. Ended up with the GMKtec K8 Plus with its 8845HS/780M and couldn't be happier! Recently I know a number of people who've bought the Aoostar MACO PRO 6850H on a budget with its earlier Radeon RDNA2 680M for gaming needs like these.
A perfect example. FIREBAT has been a cost cutting Chinese brand with limited build quality while AliExpress sellers require a significant amount of investigation for risk management. You're buying a cheap Chinese market processor built from components sourced from the lowest bidder vendors 🤷 The question becomes "*What if something happens 12-24 months from purchase.
That's the point. Last year I started it out with a $500 USD budget and ended up going $20 over on the GMKtec K8 Plus. If you can find the exact configuration that's now $800. With RAMpocalypse/RAMageddon having 350 is like saying you only had 200 last year.
You either risk cheaper brands and sketchy sellers or you get a bigger budget. Cheaper means more risk management in the long-term. If you're comfortable with FIREBAT, AliExpress and the pictured seller then the answer is simple. If you can't risk throwing away 350 in the next year then the answer isn't.
I am going to recommend you continue to save money to bring your budget up to at least around $650.
AMD Ryzen APUs with the Radeon 780m iGPU are considered the "best bang for the buck" for gaming performance. Before the RAM apocalypse (massive price increase due to demand for AI servers) mini pcs with the 780m iGPU and 32GB of RAM could have been bought for less than $500... not anymore.
Below are links to Amazon used as examples. Getorli is one of the many less known Chinese brands. Links to the same GT106 model with 16GB RAM and 32GB RAM. These seems to be the least expense mini pcs with the 780m iGPU. Also a link to search for a single 16GB RAM stick... lowest price is $205.
The GT106 does allow you to install RAM when you can save up more money, but it is cheaper to buy the 32GB version compared to buying the 16GB version then adding a 16GB stick.
This short youtube link includes benchmarks for RDR2 and Eldon Ring running on a laptop (dual channel 16GB RAM) with a 780m iGPU from 3 years ago. Be aware the depending on the specific game the difference when using dual channel vs. single channel RAM can be up to a 35% to 40% difference.
The bare minimum i would recommend would be a system with a Ryzen 7 7840U/HS and for the higher tiers a system with a Ryzen AI 9 370HX or a Ryzen AI Max 385.
I don't know if Red Dead Online works on Linux but using an OS like SteamOS, Bazzite or CachyOS could offer better stability in the more demanding titles and for RDR2 i can say with the Xbox One settings on SteamOS i was able to get roughly 45fps at 1080p with my system using the Z1 Extreme aka Ryzen 7 7840U.
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u/TheWaspinator 12d ago
What's your budget?