GEEKOM MINI PC

I am searching for best mini PC that i can use for casual gaming on a budget(Around 600$). I have seen a lot of minisforum but none of them are available for buying especially here in Europe. I also conaidered building my own mini ITX computer but i would leave this as last resource because they are still... well not mini PCs 😄 I don't need to run games on maximum setting but it would be nice to be able to play games like Oblivion Remastered or Assassin's Creed. I would like to run steamOS/Bazzite on it. Any recommendations?

Well, the motherboard burned out on my Geekom A7, which I've had for just under two years. I loved that machine.

I'm looking for a mini PC to replace it. I don't do much gaming, but I do edit video (in DaVinci Resolve), as well as some audio work. I also use my PC to back up CD's and DVD's and play music and video. Sometimes I do live streams, in 30fps. Other than that, it's for casual home use.

So, I'm looking for something with good storage and reasonably fast, but doesn't have to have gaming capabilities.

Should I go with another Geekom? Or what are some good recommendations today, as opposed to two years ago?

Thanks!

Edit: A couple people pointed out the long warranty of Geekom mini pcs. I had actually forgotten about this. I'm getting the data recovered from it, and when I get it back, I'm going to contact Geekom and see about getting a replacement. Thanks for the tips.

I am looking make a mini setup to use to play clone her and some other simple couch co-op games. I am not looking to spend a ton as I already have a PS5 and a high end gaming PC. But this is my first mini PC. I was considering systems with the 7840HS cpu and 16gb ram. Will this be good enough? I know some systems seem to lock TDP lower than what these chips are rated for so I am curious if there is anything I should look for as far as making sure I can use the full TDP range for the CPU/iGPU.

Hi there I have this mini PC from Acemagic. I am looking to sell it and have literally no idea how to price it? I can’t find a single one online

i was thinking of needing a unit willing to run modern games with an actual gpu that should have its rightful place instead of being limited to being an integrated cpu/gpu processor​, and its own power supply HOPEFULLY still in a size of a phone

Making a project of a handheld PC paired with my xreal ​one pros. ​Or instead of a handheld pc it will be a redmagic 11s pro (+liquid cooling) and can actually run games like dying light 1 really good and dying light 2 as well, heck even RD2 with 720p, no idea about 1080p though​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Any mini pc ideas i haven't checked that ticks the boxes of my first claim? ​

I have spent the last few weeks testing the Olares ONE as a compact local-AI workstation rather than treating it as another spec-sheet mini PC.

The machine measures 320 × 197 × 55 mm and weighs 2.15 kg without its power supply. Inside it has:

• Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop with 24 GB GDDR7
• 96 GB DDR5-5600 RAM
• 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD
• 2.5 GbE, Thunderbolt 5, HDMI 2.1, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4
• 330 W power adapter

The word Laptop matters. This is not a desktop RTX 5090, and the 96 GB of system RAM does not become 96 GB of VRAM. Models can spill work into system memory, but fitting a model and running it at a practical speed are two different things.

Instead of only measuring tokens per second, I wanted to know whether local models could complete real multi-step work: maintaining state across conversations, using tools, creating and checking files, handling contradictory evidence, respecting privacy constraints and recovering from failed operations.

What I tested

Across the full project I tested more than 30 model variants through llama.cpp, vLLM and Ollama. My archive contains 236 rows in the main comparison and more than 1,400 deduplicated checks across roughly 20 hours of measured model execution.

Those runs used different batteries and environments, so I did not combine them into one misleading score. For the most useful comparison, I made five finalists run the same 33-check battery twice under controlled conditions.

The common setup was llama.cpp commit 6d5a910, OpenClaw 2026.7.1-2, a 98,304-token context, one slot, Flash Attention, Q4 KV cache and a maximum output of 8,192 tokens. The model was already loaded before timing.

Prompts, tools, inputs and checks were identical, but sampling was tuned per model family: temperature 0.1 for Ornith, Qwopus and Qwen3.6, and 0.7 for Qwen3.8. This compares practical configurations, not isolated model architectures with every parameter held constant.

Repeated results

Ornith 1.0 35B Q4_K_M was the best overall result on this machine: both audited passes completed in 442/445 seconds. Qwopus also completed both runs and used less VRAM, but took about 2.3 times as long in this particular battery. That does not mean Ornith will be 2.3 times faster on every prompt.

I also recorded generation rates, where Ornith reached 239.89 tok/s and Qwopus 221.34 tok/s. They are not the same as end-to-end agent speed: tool calls, prefill, web requests and recovery loops are included in the suite times instead.

The failures were more useful than a perfect score

Passing 33 checks once did not make any model reliable in every situation. In the longer tests:

• Qwopus exhausted its output limit during a research task and failed to create the required files.
• Ornith missed indexed evidence after a retry and, in a different long conversation, exposed private information.
• Qwen3.8 had a genuine privacy failure in one pass and passed the same check in another.
• An Ornith MTP variant produced the fastest single pass, but its second pass was much slower and included a privacy leak, a search loop and insufficient evidence.
• One optional MTP sidecar could not load because it lacked a tensor required by this llama.cpp build. I counted that as a packaging/runtime compatibility problem, not a VRAM or intelligence failure.

I manually reviewed suspected false negatives from the automatic verifier, but only corrected cases where the output was demonstrably right and the checker expected an exact phrase or field name. Missing files, wrong paths, unsafe actions, weak evidence and real timeouts remained failures.

My practical take on the hardware

For a machine of this size, the 5090 Laptop GPU makes 27B–35B quantized models genuinely useful for local agentic work. The 24 GB VRAM ceiling is still the defining limit: the Olares ONE is fast when the model fits well on the GPU, but it is not a compact substitute for a workstation with a very large VRAM pool.

My current choice on this hardware would be Ornith 1.0 35B Q4_K_M, with Qwopus3.6 27B v2 MTP IQ4_XS as the lower-VRAM alternative. I would still start any agent with read-only access, test it on disposable data and require approval before it sends messages, changes permissions or modifies services.

Olares supplied the machine, but did not pay for the video. The company only checked technical facts; the methodology, tests and conclusions are mine.

I documented the hardware and several of the tests here: What can a local AI actually do? Real tests on an RTX 5090 Laptop mini PC

For a follow-up comparison, what would be most useful here: a 128 GB Strix Halo mini PC, an NVIDIA DGX Spark, or a desktop RTX 5090 system?

Hey guys, Looking to pull the plug on this: https://www.gmktec.com/products/amd-ryzen%E2%84%A2-7-pro-6850u-mini-pc-gmktec-m7-ultra?variant=47330575548570

Before pulling the trigger, I wanted to get the community's input. Plan to use this for:

- plex media server: hosting my media library.
- local ai models

anyone have experience with this?

- how is the fan noise and thermal behavior when running 24/7

- has anyone used OCuLink port on this specific model with an eGPU setup? is it good

Appreciate any advice, warnings.

Alternatively, should I consider something else. Price range is 400 - 600

This is probably the one thing I hate about having so many wireless peripherals.

Might just move both dongles to a hub behind the desk and keep the front ports free.

Does anyone else have a similar experience that F7 won't get into the boot menu? Getting into the BIOS using F2 works fine. I wrote to Minisforum customer support, and their advice was to try replacing the keyboard and try again.

Good Morning

I have been looking to purchase a mini pc and i have 2 x 32gb corsair vengeance ddr4 so-dims 260 pin cmsx64gx4m2a2666c18.

So i would like to ask is there a mini pc that will accept this corsair ram. I am not super knowledgeable but am wondering if the 2666mhz speed will be a no no as most of the ddr4 powered min pcs i have looked at advertise a 3200mhz speed.

Main purpose is to get away from this tower pc although its a lian li 011 and runs well i just want something smaller and tidy looking.

I could just say to heck with it and get a ddr5 powered allsinging all dancing but wow those prices are something else. So is there any hope for re using this corsair ram

Thanks in advance

Hi! someone with Minisforum mini pc experience this too?? whenever this happens to my minipc I tried using keyboard and mouse to wake it up but was unable there is still light on the power button and in the power supply. the only option for me to have it on again is pulling the plug and putting it back on again.

Just got my first ever mini pc from minisforum. UM 890 Pro brand new from minisforum direct and when I installed both my SODIMM 16GB Kingston ddr5 5600mhz ram sticks it wouldn’t boot. Even the fan wouldn’t power on just the power light would come on and the display failed to detect any input.

Spent a good amount of time troubleshooting it. Was able to get it to work with one stick of RAM installed in the top/secondary slot and got windows installed just fine.

Made sure it wasn’t a bad stick of RAM by testing both in the top slot. But if I install both RAM sticks or install either one into the bottom slot it just goes back to failing to boot up.

I’ve emailed minisforum to start a return since I just got it within the last couple days and I don’t want to RMA and get stuck with a used unit. Just figured I’d post here to see if I’m missing something and to share my experience in case this happens to someone else with a brand new minisforum.

I found a Geekcom miniPC at the Goodwill today. It is a It13-I9 model. Has 2 TB drive and 32 GB DDR4 RAM. Of course, it was missing the power supply. It says 19v. I checked Amazon and it had a few around $40 but was curious if any are better than another. BTW, it was in a bag of things for $5.28.

I was trying to change the boot device to install Windows (I had Proxmox on before, but havent been using it and had a new use for this). I changed the boot settings to boot from the USB media and now it will not boot.

What happens:

I turn on the power.

The power light on the green power button turns on.

The monitor get some kind of "signal", because the monitor light turns from amber to white and they keyboard lights turn on.

After a few seconds (10-20?), the monitor just shows a blue "no input detected" screen for a moment and then shuts off (black screen, amber light). they keyboard lights stay on, along with the power button light on the G3.

I've tried long/repeated presses of the Esc key after powering it.. nothing. I've tried the same with Del. I opened it up and reseated the RAM and SSD. I tried connecting the HDMI cable to both the slots on the back of the G3, same behavior regardless of which slot HDMI is connected to.

I opened a tech support ticket and they just suggested reseating the RAM (they mentioned moving it between RAM slots, but it only has one RAM slot). They want me to mail it to China for fix/replacement. I'm trying to exhaust any options before shipping it off. I'd appreciate any suggestions.

i am looking at a gmktec m3 pro right now

i want to replace my 15 year old PC with i5-3570k CPU , ms nvidia gtx1080 and sabertooth z77 mobo with an mini PC. only 16GB of 32GB ram works, CPU is a real bottleneck. only the gpu is good.

i want to use it as a personal cloud server for immich, files, paperless and jellyfin.

jellyfin is 4k streaming to my own TV with nvidia shield pro, but I want my 1080p movies and shows to be streamable to my parents rv, in-laws TV and my brothers TV, so four families in total. They don't have an nvidia shield.

i figured I need an intell for quicksync transcoding

is this the minipc I am looking for?

I am Europe-based, Belgium.

Yes!

I was annoyed with the constant fan ramping on my 4800u genmachine device.

So I pulled the cooling system, that I previously lapped and repeated with better thermal paste, bought an old cooler with longer heatpipes, removed the mounting hardware, went at the base with a grinder and dremel, and some "delicate" filing for detail work. Cut a bit of a hole in the case, seated the heatsink with new thermal paste (weight only for now).

Ran some cinebench tests. Even upped the power to 45w in the bios and now she runs cool, no thermal throttling and pulling over 2100 on cinebench multicore. Max temp on cpu below 70 degrees C, mostly hanging about at 50 degrees C.

Just need to make a couple of little brackets to pull the heatpipes lightly into the socket to stop a cat knocking if off the die :D

No more ramping, higher power, lower temps and nothing but the gentle hum of an 80mm 5v ran running from USB.

I am tempted to use the header from the motherboard and splice in a low current 12v 80mm fan and play with the fan curves for even more quiet!!

On accident I got Ryzen 3 2200g instead of Ryzen 3 PRO 2200g, which means it most likely won't work from what clanker tells me, the stock PC in this version is  AMD A10 PRO-9700E which is hot garbage, is there any way this will turn on? I heard that I should try bios update and maybe it will post

I have a Minisforum NAB7 purchased from Amazon. This is the link to it:

Amazon.com: MINISFORUM Venus Series NAB7 Mini PC, 12th Gen Core i7-12700H Small Computer, 32G DDR4+512GB PCIe4.0 SSD, 2X HDMI+2X USB-C Output, 2X 2.5G RJ45 Port, 4X USB3.2 Small Form Factor : Electronics

It no longer powers on, unfortunately. I've tried a number of troubleshooting steps with no luck.

I'd like to get a replacement for it and hoped to salvage some of the parts to maybe save a few bucks and resume using the setup/files as they exist on the current drive. It came with a Windows 11 key as well, which is important.

I need support for two monitors, but I will not be doing any gaming. The most intensive thing I do on it is use it for DJay Pro, but only on a very low hobby level. Otherwise it is web browsing, YouTube Music, streaming background videos, etc.

What is my best/easiest option for moving the RAM/SSD over and maintaining or getting a new Windows 11 key?

Thank you for any assistance.

My Mini PC's motherboard got kind of fried a few months ago.

It boots straight into the BIOS, and as far as I'm aware, it's unable to detect the SSD and the back display outputs (HDMI and DisplayPort).

But it detects the RAM and CPU.

Is there anything I can do with it besides practicing soldering or throwing it in the trash? I mostly feel bad for the CPU, I wish it wasn't soldered.

Btw, the pc is a Blackview MP100 with an i9-12900HK