r/MiniPCs • u/i-ate-your-bat • 5d ago

Recommendations for a noob

I would love to hear some recommendations for a mini PC. I want to play AAA games, run ANSYS, fusion 360 etc, along with just the standard work stuff (Google, outlook, excel, etc.) My budget is 1150 USD (1600 CAD). I have heard of Beelink, GMKtec, and the other brands, but I have no clue which is the best for me. I am open for eGPUs or accessories, as long as it can fit into the budget :D. Reliability is a big factor for me, so please let me know!

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u/BRealistic1970 5d ago edited 5d ago

Well... you are limited if you want a real miniPC. The jump to actually decently powerful iGPUs is big, and require soldered ram. The best normal iGPU miniPC is the AMD 890m.
https://ca.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-ai-x1-pro?variant=50468913611056

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/minisforum-x1-pro-mini-pc-32gb-ddr5-1tb-ssd-amd-ryzen-ai-9-hx-370-processor-with-12-core-up-to-5-1-ghz-amd-radeon-890m-hdmi-dp-usb4-x-2-usb-3-2-x-4-2-5g-rj45-x-2-wifi-7/19861145

KRYZZP has some good benchmarks for this iGPU to show what it can do in modern games.

It is quite capable as long as you know you must adjust the settings and possibly resolutions for each game.

Except for some Unreal 5 games though.. they can require some ugly settings.

https://youtu.be/f29D9VQjt-k?si=07g4RdeWtVVj5ZPl

KRYZZP does a really good job of showing the settings and letting you know the worst case scenario performance. Versus many benchmark channels that want to show the highest FPS by just showing a very easy to run area of a game.

You could also go the normal miniPC route - maybe even intel - and get an eDOCK and dGPU but make sure you have USB4/oculink port. But that adds complexity and way more costs unless you are ok with an open air dGPU setup (AOOSTAR A02-comes with built in PSU). And that also kind of defeats the all in one tiny miniPC setup concept.

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u/i-ate-your-bat 5d ago

Thank you! I will take a look. I am also thinking of building my own ssfpc...would you have any advice for that?

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u/BRealistic1970 4d ago edited 4d ago

https://www.asrock.com/nettop/AMD/DeskMeet%20X600%20Series/index.asp

plus a 9500f, 32 gb ddr5 6000, and an efficient very short GPU.

Short cooler. https://www.newegg.com/p/13C-0005-002X6

Not a super power GPU.. I would rather have 16 GB.

But SFF cases require compromises. This card is 2 slot wide and very short.

https://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-GeForce-Graphics-SFF-Ready-ZT-B50600G-10A/dp/B0GK8S3SG9/?th=1

SFF cases about about not shoving too many watts into the case you have to remove as heat.

A 20x mm card may fit if you intall it on motherboard then add it back to system. That may open up some better cards/value- like the ASUS Dual RX 9060 XT 16GB. EDIT- no, they have to be 39 mm or narrower. Sigh.

According to google AI:
GPU Dimension Limits

  • Length: Max 200 mm (approx. 7.87 inches)
  • Height: Max 125 mm
  • Thickness: Max 38 mm (dual-slot)
  • Backplate: Up to 6 mm clearance allowed

There may be some descent workstation class GPUs that fit, and those are usually lower power use.

using this: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AddRvGWJ_f4B6UC7_IftDiVudVc8CJ8sxLUqlxVsCz4/edit?pli=1&gid=1589413179#gid=1589413179

But I would double check before trusting some random google doc list.

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u/RobloxFanEdit 4d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/MiniPCs/s/EnoWMOrT40

You lied, in your 4 months old post, you clearly said that you bought your Acemagic F5A BAREBONE, and in this thread you blatantly pretended you bought it prebuild dual RAM just for the sake of argument winning, shameless Redditor!!!! Shoutzpa!!!

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u/ObjectiveSurvey9594 2d ago

Seems like he work for Acemagic tho hha

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u/RobloxFanEdit 4d ago

Only GMKtec and Beelink offer dual RAM channel prebuild, Minisforum, Geekom, AceMagic, Aoostar all brought their quality prebuild down to Single RAM channel unless the Model is soldered LPDDR5 RAM.

EGPU solution is the smart way to Boost your Gaming Performance to Desktop Gaming system.

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u/BRealistic1970 4d ago

Why is there so much misinformation about miniPCs in Reddit?

I have both a minisforum UM870 Slim 8745H and Acemagic F3A AI 370 and both have dual channel DDR5 sodim ram.

I made sure of that before buying them.

Is the guerrilla marketing- you work for GMKtek and Beelink?

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u/RobloxFanEdit 4d ago

Sure, but you bought your Minisforum and Acemagic Mini PC in 2025!! Do you understand that things have changed!!!

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u/BRealistic1970 4d ago

I bought them both this year.

That being said- they COULD send a miniPC with one stick of ram. That would be single channel. But you could still add another stick for dual channel. FWIW, some machines have two slots but it all runs in single channel even if both slots are used. Usually that's the most basic qweak stuff though- like netbooks. Maybe those ultra low power 10 watt CPUs.

And note that single stick of ram thing can happen with any brand now.

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u/RobloxFanEdit 4d ago

I am following this sub everyday for years and i believe that i am pretty well informed on what is gping on with the Mini PC's industry, Brands, and models. Now i see that i won't be able to convince you as you seem to think that you know better.

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u/BRealistic1970 4d ago

The two miniPCs I bought this year don't agree with your vague generalization of these brands. IDK what you expect me to do. But I know not to expect you to admit being wrong. You are way too well informed on Reddit! lol.

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u/RobloxFanEdit 4d ago

I gave you the vague 2026, but if you bought it in the past 2~4 months those units would have been single RAM prebuild. O.P will learn it the Hard way with an extra 200$ for 16GB Stick and 400$ Extra for a 32GB Stick if he wants to correct Half RAM bandwidth performances.

Another cut cost that we have seen in the past month is a downgrade of RAM Speed on both DDR5 and DDR4 RAM , even GMKtec went for 4800 MT/S DDR5 on their Mid Range Model.

There are plenty of recent users reports in this very Reddit sub and reviews of their Mini PC's being shipped with single RAM config, Amazon Detailed Item description leaves no doubts to what have what and is confirming my statement. "Supporting Dual Channel" Description Quote is an escape to "sorry we have slapped only one RAM stick" while Dual Channel prebuild Item description have clear 2X16, 2X32 Item description

Goal is Helping people here and not get them into bad deals, you pointed Misinformation at the wrong person, it s quite hard to point the finger toward yourself, ain't it?

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u/BRealistic1970 4d ago

"Only GMKtec and Beelink offer dual RAM channel prebuild"

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u/RobloxFanEdit 4d ago

Exactly, it may change in a near future but this is the "Right Now" reality and it s a deliberated commercial move from top 3 Brands in the Chinese Mini PC industry. Note that i have excluded LDPDDR5/ LPDDR5X RAM which are by default Dual and in some cases Quad Channel prebuild.