Micro / Mini / Tiny PC's

[Snowleopard]

The last full tower I built had a Q6600 processor in it 🙂 Since then it has all been about portability, meaning, Maxed Alienware Laptops, the Current laptop is a Clevo x170sm-g. I have  no reason for a full tower anymore.

I also have a couple Dell PowerEdge 2U rack servers for other stuff.

Now I am exploring the world of Micro/Mini/ Tiny PC's just because they are so light, easily hidden, can be used a plex, pi-hole, etc other types of servers.

I have been using Lenoo M900's with nvme drives and maxed ram at 64gb. But I am looking for more in this form factor.

I saw the Minis Forum MS-01 and I really wish there was something in a similar, maybe slightly larger form factor with an Intel® Core™ i9-13900HX Processor, 4 SO-DIMM slots for 128 or 256gb DDR 5 and 4 M.2 NMVe slots with 2 x 2.5gb ports and 2 SFP ports for up to 40gb networking and  2 low profile PCE slots.

The Intel T series processors are ok, but I really want an HX series i9

[ryan]

I also have no need for a desktop, a desktop use cases =0 except for wanting to dabble in 8k gaming with the 4090. utterly pointless.

 

I heard good things about the beelink gt series. I was thinking of buying a mini pc for geforce now something with 16gb ram a ryzen cpu and 1tb storage. and the kicker is, not only are they super portable they are cheap, I think the ones I was looking at were from 350-600 cad. Like if I can spend 500 cad and get 4k maxed 60fps gaming and be able to do all the things I want/need and rival a desktop in real world performance like how snappy it feels. count me in

 

what would you get around the 400 cad mark?

[Snowleopard]

On 2/3/2024 at 11:22 AM, ryan said:

I also have no need for a desktop, a desktop use cases =0 except for wanting to dabble in 8k gaming with the 4090. utterly pointless.

 

I heard good things about the beelink gt series. I was thinking of buying a mini pc for geforce now something with 16gb ram a ryzen cpu and 1tb storage. and the kicker is, not only are they super portable they are cheap, I think the ones I was looking at were from 350-600 cad. Like if I can spend 500 cad and get 4k maxed 60fps gaming and be able to do all the things I want/need and rival a desktop in real world performance like how snappy it feels. count me in

 

what would you get around the 400 cad mark?

 

I am not sure, I have been ordering  Refurbished Lenvo T900's with 16gb ram and the i7 6700T in them for about $170 US, I found some T920's with the i7 8700T for around $300 US. Then I replace the drive that came with them with either a 1 or 2TB nvme and 64gb of ram.

I never heard of the Beelink GT, it looks like it is good for what it does, but its not going to have the power and customizability that I want from a straight up pc and Windows is easier for me to work with than Android.

Anything newer than an i7 8700T the prices sky rocket to $800-$1000 and I am not looking to pay brand new prices, and to get DDR5, I would need a 13th gen Intel processor.

[ryan]

they are ryzen based windows 11 machines usually the best bang for buck unless you go refurbished. ill look into a t900. can't buy anythng right now as i went on a spending spree. I would like something with a decent igpu for older titles like crysis so I tend to lean towards ryzen or tenth gen intel and up.

 

found this...it seems similar to what your talking about

 

https://www.amazon.ca/HP-Elitedesk-Business-i5-6500T-DisplayPort/dp/B086RF1SLK/ref=sr_1_12?crid=JN3UC5B4U3EH&keywords=T900+mini+pc&qid=1707134408&sprefix=t900+mini+pc%2Caps%2C139&sr=8-12

[Snowleopard]

On 2/5/2024 at 6:59 AM, ryan said:

they are ryzen based windows 11 machines usually the best bang for buck unless you go refurbished. ill look into a t900. can't buy anythng right now as i went on a spending spree. I would like something with a decent igpu for older titles like crysis so I tend to lean towards ryzen or tenth gen intel and up.

 

found this...it seems similar to what your talking about

 

https://www.amazon.ca/HP-Elitedesk-Business-i5-6500T-DisplayPort/dp/B086RF1SLK/ref=sr_1_12?crid=JN3UC5B4U3EH&keywords=T900+mini+pc&qid=1707134408&sprefix=t900+mini+pc%2Caps%2C139&sr=8-12

 

Right, Dell, HP and Lenovo make tiny / micro PC's. I really like the Lenovo's however my preference is Dell, but it looks like HP offers the most daughter cards for theirs including a 10gig eithernet port. This makes me sad in a way because I don't like HP computers 🙂

 

[ryan]

Yeah I get that, I personally don't eat apples with a apple sticker on them, the apples taste awful and don't stay as fresh when they have a sticker on them. also they are more prone to worms

[Custom90gt]

I run a Lenovo M720q with a riser card and a 10-gb Intel X550-T2 network card for my Opnsense router.  What is your real goal with this project? Most systems aren't going to be able to use 40gb networking. You're never going to find 2x PCIe slots (but you can convert a M.2 slot into one). About the best you're going to be able to do is a mini-itx build, even then you'd be hard pressed to meet your specs.  Trust me, I'd love to have my cake and eat it too; but there are compromises with form factor. 

[Reciever]

On 2/10/2024 at 7:42 AM, Custom90gt said:

I run a Lenovo M720q with a riser card and a 10-gb Intel X550-T2 network card for my Opnsense router.  What is your real goal with this project? Most systems aren't going to be able to use 40gb networking. You're never going to find 2x PCIe slots (but you can convert a M.2 slot into one). About the best you're going to be able to do is a mini-itx build, even then you'd be hard pressed to meet your specs.  Trust me, I'd love to have my cake and eat it too; but there are compromises with form factor. 

 

Oh that must be a sweet little box there! 

 

@Snowleopard Perhaps in the future you might come across the micro form factor with dedicated pcie come down in price (Dell sells them now as "precisions") but they dont have HX processors. That Minis Forum PC looks pretty sweet though

[Snowleopard]

13 hours ago, Reciever said:

 

Oh that must be a sweet little box there! 

 

@Snowleopard Perhaps in the future you might come across the micro form factor with dedicated pcie come down in price (Dell sells them now as "precisions") but they dont have HX processors. That Minis Forum PC looks pretty sweet though

 

Link? I saw some of the newer Dell and HP tiny pc's had 1 pcie expansion slot. I would like to build one out with 2 or 4 10 gig ports for an open source router. I think 8th gen tiny pc's or newer can also do that, but I am not spending $800-$1200 on a tiny pc. $150-$300 is a lot more reasonable.

 

[Reciever]

1 hour ago, Snowleopard said:

 

Link? I saw some of the newer Dell and HP tiny pc's had 1 pcie expansion slot. I would like to build one out with 2 or 4 10 gig ports for an open source router. I think 8th gen tiny pc's or newer can also do that, but I am not spending $800-$1200 on a tiny pc. $150-$300 is a lot more reasonable.

 

Took me a moment but it looks to be the Dell Precision Compact workstation. 

 

Not sure how long they've been making this SKU so prices are likely still to be high, but like most enterprise hardware the value tends to drop off like a rock after their service period.

 

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/desktop-computers/precision-3260-compact/spd/precision-3260-workstation

[Snowleopard]

58 minutes ago, Reciever said:

Took me a moment but it looks to be the Dell Precision Compact workstation. 

 

Not sure how long they've been making this SKU so prices are likely still to be high, but like most enterprise hardware the value tends to drop off like a rock after their service period.

 

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/desktop-computers/precision-3260-compact/spd/precision-3260-workstation

 

oh wow, That is almost perfect. If it had an i9 hx processor instead of a T series and then 2 more so dim slots and 2 more m.2 slots on the bottom of the motherboard, that would be a sick tiny setup.

Unfortunately only 2 so-dimms and T series processor..... oh well.

[Reciever]

35 minutes ago, Snowleopard said:

 

oh wow, That is almost perfect. If it had an i9 hx processor instead of a T series and then 2 more so dim slots and 2 more m.2 slots on the bottom of the motherboard, that would be a sick tiny setup.

Unfortunately only 2 so-dimms and T series processor..... oh well.

Yeah, its a compromise at this form factor with OEM's. 

 

My own x570 board only has 2 NVME's and 2 DIMM's for ITX