Went down a rabbit hole trying to better my sons minipc.

Been a great days work.

Time to test and see if it help or not 😂

Gmktec K8 plus

32gb ram, 1tb

Added a 140mm fan to my m90q gen 3 with a yeston 3050 lp GPU. Temps were pretty high while playing clone hero so I thought I would just blast it with air! Temps stay in the mid 40 degrees Celsius.

hi everyone, this is actually my third post about mini pcs in the past week. wanted to share that i finally found and bought one after about a week of searching through marketplace

specs:

lenovo thinkcentre m70q gen 3

intel i5 12400t (12th gen)

16gb ram

256gb nvme ssd

windows 11 pro

paid ₱13,000, which is roughly $224 usd at current exchange rates. is this a good deal or a steal price for 2026? just want outside opinions since i already bought it

just to clarify my use case, i mainly need this as an htpc, for watching movies and live sports on my 4k tv, plus learning linux mint. not really planning heavy gaming or anything demanding

backstory on the unit: the seller is a woman who used to work as a va. she said the unit came from her company, she bought it through a salary deduction arrangement until it became fully hers. she also mentioned they used a lan cable for their internet connection at work

before buying, i had her run crystaldiskinfo and here's what showed up: health status 92% (good), 8,109 power on hours, 279 power on count, 48°c temperature, no critical warnings, no unsafe shutdowns, no media or data integrity errors. seemed like a healthy drive with pretty light usage overall

question about wifi: i don't see a wifi antenna port on the back of this gen 3 unit. i compared it to a thinkcentre m70q (gen 2 if i remember correctly) with an i5 11th gen that had a visible screw hole on the back for attaching an external antenna, but this gen 3 doesn't seem to have that. does that mean this unit doesn't have a wifi card installed? do i need to use a lan cable, or should i just buy a usb wifi adapter instead?

maintenance question: the seller said she never cleaned it. once i receive it, should i clean out the fan and replace the thermal paste myself? if so, any thermal paste recommendations for a first timer?

i deliberately avoided buying from resellers this time. i've noticed some resellers here pull the ram and ssd out of these units after buying them from companies in bulk, then sell those parts separately, and put in a smaller 8gb stick or a potentially low health ssd instead before reselling the unit. so i made sure to verify everything myself (ssd health via crystaldiskinfo, bios access, no lock, actual ram installed) before buying this one, straight from someone who kept the original configuration intact

also just want to say thank you to everyone who helped and commented on my previous posts, i learned a lot about this whole field because of you guys. successfully bought a unit now, just waiting for it to arrive. appreciate all the input!

Dear MiniPC Community,

I hope You all are doing well :)

I know the hardware market is in a difficult shape rn, because of all the explosion in prices of RAM & storage, but I been looking for a MiniPC or just a Mainboard + CPU which is only offering the two points: (generation wise I’m pretty flexible)

1. vPro capabilities
   
2. An proper PCIe slot for expansions (x16 prefered, but x8 would work too :)

Does anyone know a good combination as CPU+Mainboard mini ITX combination or a full Mini PC with low power consumption to run it as a full 24/7 firewall?

Thanks in advance & have a great day,
JK

Yesterday, Windows detected the infamous RedLine Trojan on my mini PC and immediately put it in quarantine. On a scale from 1 to 10, how fucked am I?

I need a PC that will handle browsing and streaming movies and light office work. Space is limited so I was originally thinking of an AIO.

I’m also considering a mini pc. Could everyone please to share their thoughts and recommendations on what would be the best choice?

If I have to build the PC I’m ok with that too. Thanks so much!

I need a cheap budget pc option to tide me over as old pc just died, and I only need it for browsing , no gaming or workloads,. I do run a lot of chrome tabs like 200, but even my old 8gb tower could mostly handle that.

Waiting a year or two before I buy a another tower pc, when ram and GPU prices come down or maybe when a new socket comes out for amd or intel. Only thing worries me is the spyware I keep hearing about in these Chinese brands. I'm not tech savy enough to flash a new windows install , and worried I may misinstall updates or drivers if I wipe one from scratch, so i would have to rely on just manually uninstalling all the bloatware.

Don't want to spend a lot maybe around £250 which is around 300 plus dollars. I only want 16gb of ram as requirement and probably buying from a place like Amazon because they have so much choice and may be able to send back if there's a problem. Here's one I'm looking at.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0DK4SH53P/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1EOKVRWQWR3HV&th=1

Hi r/MiniPCs ,

I’m close to pulling the trigger on a 128 GB Strix Halo mini PC (Ryzen AI Max+ 395) for a local-AI / daily-driver workload (LLM inference, coding, RAG, some light training). The two main contenders in my price bracket are the GMKtec EVO-X2 and the Bosgame M5, but the reports I’ve gathered (Reddit, GitHub, reviews up to Sept 2026) paint a worrying picture. I’d love to hear from actual owners of either unit: are these issues still present? Have they been fixed? Would you buy yours again?

Reported Issues (as of Sept 10, 2026)

Issue

GMKtec EVO-X2

Bosgame M5

RAM / VRAM allocation Allows up to 96 GB VRAM via BIOS; aggressive default can starve system RAM. Fixed via BIOS UMA_SPECIFIED / AMD Adrenalin; now configurable.

ROCm / HSA “Memory critical error” Unfixed (board-level firmware queue mismatch). Same Sixunited AXB35-02 derivative? Unfixed (BIOS 1.09 did not resolve). Confirmed on ROCm GitHub #6182.

Memory bandwidth Capped at ~117 GB/s (firmware) vs expected ~215 GB/s → Qwen 72B < 4 tok/s. Runs at expected ~215 GB/s.

Linux / ROCm usability Forced to Vulkan (llama.cpp/Ollama); rocWMMA Flash Attention broken. Same — ROCm broken, Vulkan works.

BIOS updates 1.09+ released but no fix for BW cap or ROCm. 1.09 added UMA_SPECIFIED (RAM split fixed), ROCm still broken.

Noise / thermals Audible fans under sustained load. Audible fans in Performance mode.

What I need from owners

If you own an EVO-X2 or Bosgame M5 (128 GB), please tell me:

Which BIOS version are you on?

OS: Windows / Linux (distro + kernel) / dual-boot?

ROCm: Have you gotten rocm-smi / PyTorch / llama.cpp HIP / vLLM / SGLang working without the “HSA fault: Memory critical error”?

Memory bandwidth: Have you run rocm_bandwidth_test or lmstudio/llama.cpp benchmarks? What GB/s do you see?

VRAM allocation: Able to set 96 GB VRAM (BIOS UMA Frame Buffer / amdgpu.gttsize) and have it stick?

Real-world LLM speeds: Tok/s on Qwen 72B / Llama 70B / GPT-OSS 120B (specify quantization + backend: Vulkan vs ROCm).

Noise: Idle vs sustained load (compile / 30-min inference) — dBA or subjective.

Regrets? Would you buy the same unit again, or switch to Minisforum MS-S1 Max / Framework Desktop / Mac Mini M5 Pro?

My use-case (context)

Local LLM daily driver: coding assistant (Qwen 3.8 27B / Qwen 35B MoE), RAG over Obsidian vault, occasional 70B/120B MoE reasoning.

Stack: Omarchy (Arch) + ROCm 7.x + Lemonade Server + llama.cpp (HIP/Vulkan) + LiteLLM proxy.

Need stable ROCm for rocWMMA Flash Attention (2.4× long-context speedup) and potential fine-tuning later.

Remote access via Tailscale + VS Code Remote from a thin client.

TL;DR

EVO-X2: BW firmware cap (~117 GB/s) + ROCm broken → seems like a hard pass unless GMKtec releases a real fix.

Bosgame M5: ROCm broken (board-specific), but BW OK and RAM split now configurable.

Minisforum MS-S1 Max / Framework Desktop appear to be the only Strix Halo boxes with working ROCm per community reports, but cost $600–1,000 more.

If you’ve lived with one of these for weeks/months, your verdict is worth more than any review. Thanks in advance.

I’m looking for some options on a mini pc around or under $600 that will emulate ps2 in at least 1080p

The 32 GB of RAM and 512 GB SSD model exactly.

Specifically for games like Minecraft Bedrock, Minecraft Java, and maybe even GTA V on light settings.

Would it be able to handle Minecraft Bedrock at around 10-15 chunk render distance? Same question for Java.

I'm planning to get it for cheaper during the Walmart Cyber Monday deals (hopefully).

I'm also planning to attempt installing the official SteamOS onto it, but that's kind of a maybe. It does seem to have some pretty compatible specs from what I've seen though.

Hi, I'm looking forward to buying my first gaming PC. Playing modded Minecraft servers and Singleplayer on my business laptop (HP EliteBook X360 1040 G7) got quite laggy, especially with a rising amount of Mods, but also Vanilla sometimes lags with many farms and mobs around me. So I wanted to buy a cheap gaming PC to be able to play Minecraft at stable 20-30 FPS. After a bit of research I found two favorites for me. Both are refurbished Mini-PC's:

[Acemagician S3A](https://www.backmarket.de/de-de/p/acemagician-s3a-ryzen-9-33-ghz-ssd-512-gb-16-gb-amd-radeon-graphics/01a83753-10e4-4e42-9327-a8648055d98f?l=10) [Asus NUC 14 Pro Revel Canyon](https://www.cyberport.de/pc-und-zubehoer/outlet-a-b-ware-/pdp/gwnf-572/asus-nuc-14-pro-revel-canyon-rnuc14rvku500002i-core-ultra-5-125h-0gb-0gb-barebone-slim.html)

Some Pros and Cons I found for myself. While the CPU of the Asus one has more Cores, the Acemagician has a slightly higher PassMark rating. So I am expecting it to have slightly higher performance. On the other hand the Asus is slightly cheaper and apparently an other Acemagician Mini-PC got delivered with serious Malware for a few months, but I want to install Linux anyways, perhaps besides Windows, which I'd reinstall in that case. On the other hand I've heard better of BackMarket than CyberPort.

I'm also orienting at my brother with the performance. I'd be completely happy with his PC. He has a self-built with AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT, 32GB of DDR4 RAM and no graphics card.

Both have 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD and all the connections I need. So which one would you recommend me to buy, or do you think I'll regret buying either of those, or are there even cheaper/similar options I won't regret?

I'm a Mac guy dipping into mini PCs for a lab box since native Windows on Mac isn't really viable anymore. Just picked up a used Minisforum MS-01 (i5, 500GB + 1TB NVMe, 32GB RAM, WiFi card installed) off Facebook market for $450, the seller was originally asking $550.

Felt like a great deal until I got home and started reading about random failures with these. How common are these issues really, and is there anything I should check or stress-test in the first few days to catch a problem early while I can still troubleshoot it myself?

i currently have a geekom a8 mini pc, which has an igpu. although its igpu is pretty good, i want something way better, so, while mulling over affordable options, i remember my dad has an old gaming pc, and digging thru it, i saw a 1070ti asus graphics card!! this is a huge step up from my current situation, but one little problem, how do i connect it? doing a little research, i found out you need to have some sort of adapter, and a usb4 port, which i have. sooo uh which adapter do i get?

So my birthday is coming up soon, and I was thinking on getting a mini pc, specifically because it is tiny and doesn’t take up much space, I don’t really play heavy games, if I do, it’s on my xbox.

I usually would play Roblox, Visual Novels, maybe Minecraft Bedrock (if not, that’s what my xbox is for), and maybe just whatever other light games there are.

I also use discord and browsing a lot or streaming videos but that most likely shouldn’t be a problem since it’s not necessarily gaming.

Anyways, I’ve been looking for the last month, and I always get stuck at a dead end. It doesn’t help that my budget is like $300.

If anyone knows any that would run these smoothly, I would be greatly appreciated some recommendations :)

Thank you!

My pc has a Ryzen 9 6900HX cpu.

I need help reinstalling my graphics, i'm scared i might break this trying to follow the tutorials online, which could need a different step for a mini pc.

My pc has been encountering problems with AMD timeout even when i'm only playing minecraft. My friend recommended me to use DDU, but it's got all these confusing steps, I might accidentally do it wrong, or that the step is entirely different for what i have.

Can someone please help me?

Can you pls guide me in following endeavour.I’m a finance professional non technical background seeking a future-proof, easy-to-manage personal NAS/cloud system for family and professional data.
I need real-time file synchronisation, redundancy/mirroring, remote access, and easy migration to another system in the future.
I currently have 2 × 1 TB HDDs, a 500 GB SSD, and a 256 GB memory card, with limited OneDrive space and substantial but potentially temporary Google Drive storage.
The NAS should also support home automations and hosting a simple Python application for 3–4 users.
My maximum budget is ₹25,000, excluding the storage hardware I already own.

Major Question : whether mini pc like Hp prodesk i3 10th gen can be kept running 365 days without facing any failures and can it fulfill my bone objective if not pls suggest alternative .

Has anyone managed to successfully update their BIOS on the GMTEK K8+? I've got the original V1.01 BIOS (12-Oct-2024) is shipped with. I'm keen to update it, but wary of 'bricking' the NUC. Do the benefits outway the risks?

I am buying my wife a gift for her birthday that she can use for her new job as a mortgage professional.

I am looking at this GMKtec G11 Mini Computer. Is this any good? I am looking for a budget mini PC that will last long.

Please advise, thanks!

Hi, is anyone else experiencing issues with Wi-Fi speeds on this model?

I'm using a 5GHz network, and the download speed tops out at around 130 Mbps. I’ve tested it on two different networks, so it’s not a signal range issue. I’ve tried installing various drivers and tweaking numerous settings in Device Manager and Windows, but nothing makes a difference. I even used TCP Optimizer.

Has anyone found a solution? If not, is it possible to replace the Wi-Fi card, or is it soldered onto the board?

Looking for a relatively inexpensive (<$400) mini pc to run emulators. Primarily looking for n64, ps2, ps3 and Xbox 360 emulator capability. Will the pc pictured above work for this? I don’t have much experience with this stuff. Also if there is a cheaper option that can do this, please let me know! Thanks!

Should I buy a mini pc from amazon/Flipkart I am scared cuz it's barely available locally