When measuring noise levels produced by some noise source, you should place the SPL meter at the distance of 1 meter away from the noise source with microphone pointing at the direction of source. Measures should be taken to avoid any flat surfaces between noise source and mic which would cause sound reflections to also arrive at the mic. It doesn't take much but makes measured values considerably more meaningful.
The studio has a 34dba noise floor due to the light fans, camera fans, and etc. Even with all of the sound absorbing materials around, it still makes absolute sound measurements fairly useless on set. Also, these devices are likely to be used within a 1m distance from a user.
@@ServeTheHomeVideoA standard @1m figure, maybe taken with studio equipment off for devices near the noise floor, would be a great addition to the information you capture and help me compare devices between videos.
Patrick, would be great to do an interview with some Beelink people, tour the factory, or something. Might give us a better idea if this company could really replace an HP/Lenovo/etc. on a bunch of desktops. You could ask them about that CMOS button! :)
Regarding fingerprint not working when eGPU is attached: This _might_ be related to the fact that plugging in an eGPU might be changing the values of TPM's PCR (Platform Configuration Registers). If the cryptographic material used to enable Windows Hello is bound to a "quote" (exact hash chain of PCRs from PCR0 to PCR where N is maximum 23). I guess a quick test for this theory would be to make sure BitLocker is enabled and try to boot the machine with eGPU attached. If BitLocker complains and asks for restoration key, it's very likely this is related to TPM and keys bound to quotes.
It might be, but I just thought it was interesting. If you sit someone non-technical down and ask them how it should function, they would say the fingerprint reader should work no matter what.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo No doubt it should work without hitch but measured boot and most TPM related things in the PC world are cumbersome and don't really offer a stellar user experience, say, in comparison to proprietary (as in non-open) attestation and key custody systems of Apple's T2 (and whatever they're now called on M1/M2 chips as embedded SEPs) or Google's Titan 2 on their own devices.
What has **ALWAYS** bothered me about these is the need to clear CMOS happens so frequently that they have to put a button for that action on the front of the chassis. Reminds me of that scene in the movie Broken Arrow when the guy says "Not sure I am more worried that you can lose a nuclear missile, or that it happens so often they have a name for it!". Just sayin' LOL
I don't even get to the clear CMOS issue, I have issues with the bios update (or lack there of). The support for after purchase seems to be lacking. Also don't like the high sticker price for the GTR7. Was looking forward to getting 7840hs, not anymore.
Love this review and I'm super intrigued by the GTR7. It's hard to replace the single-use NUCs that I already have but this might just do it. Especially if I could use it as a mini-lab.... thanks for all the great info!
@@ServeTheHomeVideo I am interested to hear how the UM790Pro stacks up against the GTR7Pro. While I don’t use it on the daily, dual NICs is my default config and I will take the larger size for quieter/cooler operation. Still bonkers how good miniPCs have become lately, love it.
You could set this up for a client. 2xNVME in mirrored ZFS with 64GB of RAM that would handle 4 virtual machines with an Icy Box/Orico external USB4 drive bay for backups. You'd be looking at a $2000-$4000 solution for a small business instead of the $10,000-20,000 OEM rack mounted i3 systems. Though I do wish they had a normal power connector and removed the SATA SSD section and put in a bigger but quieter fan.
@@night_h4nter I think you meant janky. XD Where I live slow internet is the norm and there are a lot of businesses who have hub offices or franchises. You might have 20 floating staff spread between multiple locations based on bookings and skillset. You want to give the hub offices as much mobility supported functionality for the best performance and price. Ideally you would setup cloud, but where the business owners won't or can't to you want to be able to offer them better solutions rather than just expensive solutions. There's so much functionality you can provide to a hub office with 1-2 of these and you'll still be paying less than the i3 system with ECC RAM.
I've had four Beelink computers in my hands. First the GTR5 (Jan 2022), which had display crashes/lockups. Then they replaced it with another GTR5 (June 2022, they did not replace, I had to buy$$ another, swap the drive and then send the old one back. They don't understand the concept of making a living using the computer....). That one was just as bad, a different type of display anomaly, but now add in complete shutdowns. Then again, I bought the GTR6 (May 2023) and within ten minutes, that shutdown. Four display ports but my Samsung monitor did not like any of them, it takes 30 seconds to come out of sleep (maybe, until I found the right port, I had to recycle power). #2 display was OK. On the last computer I paid only $619, but they only refunded me that amount, not the original $949 I paid for the first. I returned a GTR5 but did not get a full refund (of $949). They said I got a better computer (no, it still crashes), but they essentially want me to pay $949 when everyone else pays $619. They call it swapping, but I bought and paid for a GTR6, it should have nothing to do with the refund I got from the GTR5 that crapped out. Then I bought a SER4. Well, that computer has display problems as well. That came from Amazon and I am beyond the return date. Tech support was no help. They would tell me to reload the operating system, neglecting to tell me that it would erase everything on the computer. Stay away from Beelink. Tech support is incompetent and their computers just don't work. Four computers and they all had unresolvable, serious problems. Over 19 months and just a boat load of aggravation and a ton of lost work. Stay away!!!!
Is Beelink a low key Nissan fan? They have the SER and now the GTR? (both are Nissan performance trims for the Sentra and the Skyline/R35 GTR respectively).
The only downside to these mini pc's are the giant transformer power bricks. Those things really suck. Granted, they're easier to replace than some proprietary unit inside the case. I'm looking forward to the mass adoption of fanless GaN solutions. I have an HDPlex unit in a sff case and it's awesome.
I agree with the LTT screwdriver "chonk" getting in the way sometimes. They should make a "precision bit" adapter so we can get a 1" extension and use the smaller iFixIt-style bits!
I upgraded the ssd drive on my SER6 pro to 1 tb. Before installing it, I downloaded windows from the Microsoft site onto a flash drive and made sure to select the option that said use the configurations for this computer. When I installed the new drive and loaded windows from the flash, everything was perfect including the activation.
I'm looking at buying one of these. I am currently using a MinisForum B550, but I've always been a compact system user. Can't wait til we start to get some of these with 12 cores.
FYI, the usb 4 reboot issue is not related to graphics. It also happens with a qnap 10G thunderbolt adapter. I was confused when I saw the adapter disappear from the usb list, but then I saw there is a separate list of thunderbolt devices.
The system looks super cool. Thanks for the review. I have noticed many of the videos for small devices focus on desktop however if one was to build a redundant solution to serve numerous containerized apps at home serving where excessive noise might be an issue but space less so what would be your suggestions? I am thinking 2-3 app servers, 2 redundant storage machines.
@GregFurmanek keep in mind that if you are planning to run a kubernetes cluster, a lot of deployments of replicasets suggest 3 worker nodes. I would recommend nodes in multiples of 3. But for physical hardware you can set up 2 physical systems and virtualize the k8s cluster and worker nodes on top of the bare metal. Just make sure the host systems and hypervisor support nested virtualization. I can't wait to see what Patrick shows us in his upcoming video.
I have a miniPC with 4 x 2.5GB ETH port that is used as a home "router" and doubles up running multiple containerized services. It's barely breaking a sweat, I had to get creative to force it to go under load when I was doing stress testing. I'm going all miniPC where ever it suits the need. I have a new mini for replacing my aging DT tower, there's no point in huge boxes anymore (with some exceptions), and I can easily take the miniPC on trips. I got the idea from STH where Pat mentioned taking a "portable monitor" to a tech show. I bought two 4K portable monitors, and my miniPC + peripherals will fit into a backpack. I took the miniPC setup on a month long road trip just a while ago, it worked really well for me (a portable laptop still has a use case that a portable mini cannot replace). I have an aging HTPC which I thought was very small when I first bought it a few years ago, it'll soon be replaced with a much smaller and much more powerful miniPC (only concern is dealing with dust build up, filters may not fit on the air intake vents). The main thing a miniPC is not good for are housing a massive dGPU or a bank of HDDs (I have a rack server for that stuff). BTW I prefer Ryzen APU's, they've been working really well for me and have decent iGPUs.
I use gtr6 for Proxmox server. Actually there are 2 containers running (blockchain nodes), overall cpu usage is about 10% and the server is up since early June. Little bit noisy when it's too quiet, but hundred times silent than rack or mini tower servers. Gtr7 should be even better than mine
The magnetic power connector will be an issue in the future when they start magnetizing dust and other smaller particles if you constantly disconnect and connect if used in a portable setting.
Great video. One suggestion, Use this VGA inside a desktop and later use this VGA in the EGP in the mini pc, to compare results, since even being 40GB/S, maybe it can reduce performance of the VGA
This is definitely looking like a decent little node box to set up a home HA cluster with. Although, I think the GPU is a bit overkill for that. It does make for a great Plex, Emby, or Jellyfin server, though.
@@WhiteG60 As long as you don't need H264 it probably works with modern kernel/mesa, since I've not seen any indication that AMD improved the atrocious quality of the H264 encoder yet
Any chance you'd be willing to do another video featuring this as a virtualized pfSense/OPNsense box? I bought one, and am waiting to get it, but hopefully passthrough works fine for everything. I figure I'll set it up as a Proxmox host with pfSense/OPNsense, and with a VM and a Docker server as well. I really want to run Plex and be able to use that GPU for hardware transcoding! Apparently the RAM run CRAZY hot too, and the power supply isn't adequate enough if you run long benchmarks, it'll just kill the system with a power shortage. I think they are supposed to be doing a BIOS update to resolve it though (which likely just means turning the TDP down a bit).
Awesome device! On the other side - I open Topton shop and see new 8port I226 / 4port i2226 + 2 10 Gb SFP+ mini PC on Intel 10th generation CPUs. Oh...
You're positivity is always nice watch :) As much as I'd like to go mini, I need those big 3.5" HDDs in my PC so Full Tower is where I stay. Maybe mid-tower one day.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo Could you do a review video about UPSes. Most consumer options are just plain unreliable or insufficient and anything last longer than an hour is uber expensive.
Love the amount of RAM on this system. But would upgrade to 2 x 2TB WD SN570 drives. At around $100 each you can add 4TB of total space to the system for $200. I've used Beelink for a lot of customers for HTPCs and they work great. I always upgrade the SSDs and sometimes the RAM as well depending on how much is included and how they are going to use the system. I have the SER5 myself with the 5600H. I upgraded the RAM to 32GB and the main drive to a 2TB SN570 myself. I have not decided yet if I will use the 2.5" bay or do an external NVMe for additional storage yet. The Beelink has built a very stable system. I have worked with a lot of NUCs including 10th, 11, 12 gen CPUs and have problems with them especially the LAN ports, but also USB and BSOD issues. Unfortunately the intel NUCs just are not as stable and not as well engineered as the Beelink AMD systems. Out of 37 systems I have not had to RMA a single system yet for any reason. Their QC is obviously aces! While the BIOS isn't as feature rich as a full enthusiast desktop system, it has a lot of granular control that you wouldn't expect out of a system like this. Glad to see they are using the 5600MHz RAM in these systems too and that they obviously support this speed. It really makes a huge difference with the integrated graphics. The integrated graphics in this system is on par with the desktop version of the GTX 1650 TI.
@@terrytibbs951 It's an HTPC so all of my media files. Movies and shows I've bought and encoded, music files, home movies and family photos. Honestly could use more than 4TB. Thankfully I also have a NAS with 3 x 18TB HHDs in RAID 5 as well.
Really nice looking hardware. The price on this is completed out of its mind though - you can absolutely build a gaming rig that will smoke this for the buy-in cost for this. These tiny PCs are great...until they aren't. One cap goes on this board and the whole thing is $900+ e-waste. Want to expand or upgrade? Forget it. These machines should really be aimed at the sub-$500 market where they truly become competitive arguments against buying gaming consoles.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo Thank you for the reply - I did enjoy the video btw, and your lessons learned hit all the right notes. It's definitely a handsome unit, but my god that power adapter looks like it came off my brother's C64! XD
Guys we need to start putting pressure on the mini pc makers to do proper bios updates. Beelink doesn’t do any! For those wondering why. Every year there is a new intel me or uefi or cpu vulnerability. All supposed to be addressed by bios update !!
Not too crazy about the power adapter solution. Otherwise, it ticks most of the boxes. If im being greedy, it would be great to have the option of a PCIe extension card, so that you can either get more display ports, or a 10GbE option :)
the idea of the power adapter, which I think is great, is that it makes it almost impossible to pull the power out accidentally. no doubt that does look proprietary tho, I have no idea if they made it up or are following a standard.
Thanks for the review. You did not mention what support you get with this PC. Is there a support center in the US? This PC is similar to the Minisforum UM790 Pro. Can you do a review on the Minisforum or possibly a comparison between the two PCs. Thanks.
For Internet browsing, a NUC is great. Frankly for that, I think I would buy something simple like the EQ12 Pro ruclips.net/video/69ZsA_QToBE/видео.html
Don't know if you checked this, but other reviewers and several users are experiencing reboots when benchmarking with Cinebench. After two Bios updates from Beelink, the problem remains. Some are starting to say it may be a problem of the power adapter not been able to sustain the watts. Not powerful enough. A bummer when it also supports PD hence possibly powered via one of the USB4s...but out of the standard of 100w over usbc? Another comment seen is RAM reaching 90°C on heavy loads... I was really waiting for this unit but it looks not polished.
We have not seen RAM temps that high nor the reboots. It is interesting that is happening on Cinebench since Cinebench is a relatively cache-core count bound benchmark and is not a great CPU benchmark.
@ServeTheHomeVideo yeah.... sounds strange but it was reviewed that way by TechTablets 13 days ago, and confirmed by other users. To me, it just raised my suspicions and forced me to wait for the um790 comparison. Weird you didn't notice anything during benchmarks
@@Vinterloftit's bottom casing isn't helping it's choking the intake fan that's used to cool the ram and SSD they've already revised that but only Chinese buyers see it available for free.
Though I like this model it's a shame that there have been so many complaints about the system rebooting. Has this problem been fixed by beelink yet? Great video.
This mini PC seems awesome and I'm tempted to get one but why would i choose this over an MSI Gaming laptop with an RTX 3060 thats around the same price? I really want to like these new mini PCs but hard to justify getting one over a lower end gaming laptop with a dedicated GPU
Laptops are IMPOSSIBLE to place in a tight space where a mini fits the bill perfectly. It all depends on need... that's why there are choices. I would also venture to say cooling on a Mini PC is far better than any laptop ... in my own experience. My 12900H Dell XPS is not nearly as cool as long as my Mini PC 12900H ... YMMV
Great device and great review :) Two questions: 1. Can we put 2 sabrent or mp600 8tb nvme SSDs on there? 2. Can we put on the SATA port the Micron 9400 30tb U.3 you reviewed a while back?
We tried a 8TB in the GTR7 Pro not this GTR7. My sense is yes. On the 9400 I am not sure how that would work since you would need to get power as well as a M2 to U.2 adapter and then somehow find a place to mount it and a way to cool it.
Can't order barebones or 64GB right now. Would hope they offered 64GB for this level of CPU performance or had a barebones option to allow us to get our own RAM kit.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo Do they have 48GB Sodimms now?? I built out a 192GB ryzen 'server' with desktop parts. Didn't know if they would ever have 48GB SODIMM.
I'm sure it's obviously common knowledge now, but when I originally got my GTR 5, I couldn't find any documentation or explanation for what that rubber 'pull tab' was for? I tried pulling it to the point of just short of snapping it off, but then I just left it alone from that point on. Now, when this guy says 'after you remove the screws' it all makes sense to me now... ;-)
Makes sense that a figureprint reader would use the graphics engine i guess. Never really thought about it before Interesting challenge from a platform initialization and bios perspective tho. Makes me wonder how secure it is
@@ServeTheHomeVideoideally a security module like that would be independent of and isolated from the operating system. I suspect there's some bios trickery going on to keep it independent. If you can redirect the processing to another device you can also defeat the security
Great review, thanks. Btw, does this support VESA mounting? And yes, one more here in agreement that the CMOS reset button is a lousy placement. I wonder how this compares noise-wise to the GTR7Pro?
Another reason is the limited PCIe tunnelling ability of USB 4 connection. It allows PCIe 4.0 x4 to be tunnelled via a USB 4 connection. This is not enough for a decent external GPU. Internal CPU cards usually plug in x16 PCIe slot. x4 is simply no use for them.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo I wouldn't mind a large GPU dock, it could work for example with a Steamdeck to plug into a TV for high FPS / resolution gaming Or even as a standalone GPU game server over an ethernet connection Or something to connect to quickly when necessary while rendering out a 3D scene for example or while using VR Many applications - there is definitely a gap here
@@catchnkill This Is the reason I have not got a mini pc to replace my desktop. What they need is a Oculink Port on the rear, that would give direct pci express access and be way faster then usb4. It would be amazing to have a external gpu hiding in a dock in the desk and have the mini pc sit on the desk. No huge tower to worry about.
@@catchnkill x4 on PCIe 4.0 should be fine, I've only ever seen significant bottlenecks once you approach 3.0 x4 in most cases, but it's not a common thing reviewers test fr obviusly
it could be a great machine, but the magnetic power connector is a deal breaker. Despite its potential stability issue in the long run, it is just super super stupid to use a magnetic connector on a desktop.
Tell you what, when that shroud came off and I saw the three wires plugging into the motherboard, I felt a lot more comfortable with that proprietary power plug. Would not be a huge issue to rewire a barrel jack later if needed.
I think you are right on that, but also a lot of folks would not want to go through that (or know how to) so they purchase something like that assuming it works out of the box.
Sorry for the double post... this is the thread I meant to post it in :) The links to the Bee Link GTR7 Pro continue to go to the wrong page... is there a guaranteed link that points to the correct product? Thank you.
7:45 I have this currently happening on my NUC 11. If the egpu is plugged it, it won't boot. Just stalls out. If I plug in after it's hit the login screen, no issues. Tbh it's really annoying. Wish they'd fix it
It totally may be the case. However, if you are a non-technical user (remember 99% do not know what a DMA attack is) you would expect it works no matter what is installed.
I have a Beelink with Intel N100 for a home server, but what I would really like Beelink to do is to create one of these Mini PCs with room for more than one NVMe or more than one SATA SSD, maybe :( A dream would be a model with maybe an AMD Mendocino or a 6600U, having: 2x space for NVMe and 2x SATA. Would be a monster for PROXMOX and great Power consumption with power
I like these videos. Any chance you have one that shows performance w/ and w/o the eGPU and what eGPU you are using? I skimmed your videos and didn't see anything that popped up but guessing I probably just missed it because I am lazy. :D
hmm according to its official site for the Beelink GTR7 2023 model specs the front usb c is only USB 3.2, the both rear is usb c ports are USB4 (40 Gbps bandwidth/100 W USB-PD/DisplayPort 1.4).. so possibly could connect up to 5 monitors if the front usb c port, USB 3.2 is capable of display output... and lastly the both headphone jacks can be plugged and automatically adjusted to usage.. if the rear jack is plugged (to a speaker) with the front jack connected, it will disconnect the audio output (in the rear jack) and redirect it to the front jack... if the front jack is disconnected, it redirects back to the rear jack..
Typically you cannot play CS:GO consistently at that level if you get FPS drops or bad frame latency. Back then it was around the top 0.5% and that included folks that were cheating and later got banned. A frame rate dip usually means you are an easy frag at that level.
I'm still waiting for a passively cooled mini pc that has just enough CPU/GPU to decode 4k video and doesn't cost north of 500. Am I too out of touch with current prices on that one?
Awesome review, Makes me regret my K49 SGPC itx 13900 build (:D) got the 13900 for a steal and have it paired wit ha cheap gtrx1080 ($100 used). Would happily trade it for the size here. I'll be watching these, would definitely be worth getting especially if I can ever find it bare bones or used for cheaper.
We had a few shots on B-roll with the Orange and Grey GTR7 Pro's in this. We have that and the UM790 Pro in the queue. Expect at least 2 weeks though. I somewhat prefer the lower cost and lower performance GTR7 non-Pro actually.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo buy I bet price is bigger too. I just bought the intel nuc a week ago before I saw this video hehe. But i use it as a home server 😊
Now what i want is a Lenovo Tiny with this, we've got a few hundred aged out 6th-8th gen intel and 2000g AMD that need to be replaced soon. Now i'm, probably personally going to get 2 of these GTR7, i've got the GTR6 PRo, but its inability to address more than 32GB above 4800MT/s(mine dropped down to 4800 with 2:1 ratio when i added 64GB) The primary one would be top end HTPC and light 4K gaming, the GTR6 Pro i have is just barely enough, but i feel like with the GTR7's RDNA3, and support for faster RAM it will do exactly what i want it to do. The second one i want to replace my old Athlon 200GE based firewall, though i would prefer to have this in a 1U chassis. But those two 2.5G intel ports has me drooling.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo I agree, i'm just waiting for N100 devices that have dual intel 2.5G(i may just not be seeing them) And i refuse to pay i3 money, for what is an atom in every sense other than name and price. Hopefully Intel offers an OEM/ODM discount to make the N305 more reasonable, because id much rather have the i3-1215U if i'm paying the same price for both devices listed on Intel's site.
@@denvera1g1 For firewalls, Patrick has a handful of good videos on that. Some re tiny PCs that have 4 or more ports - although I've noticed that with more internet ports they're usually 1 GbE ports, whereas 2x+ 2.5 GbE ports would be better, and where are the models with 4x 2.5 GbE ports plus 2x 10 GbE ports? You know, so that on the other side of the firewall you can have 2x MacBooks and/or Mac Minis with 10 GbE on them plus 3x PCs with 2.5 GbE.
Why does it need a Clear CMOS button on the front? It should be hidden out of the way. And where's the 10 Gb ethernet that the Mac Mini has? I hope you do a follow-up showing external GPU performance.
No idea on Clear CMOS. On the 10GbE I think the option is to get a TB3 adapter which is good since you can also get SFP+. Still dual 2.5GbE is not bad these days with SMB3 Multichannel. You can get almost 5Gbps transfer speeds to a modern NAS with basically no setup and an unmanaged switch.
For me the benefit of having a full tower are the extra drive bays & the expansion slots. I do not care for the SSDs at all. I want to have 2 Blu-Ray burner drives inserted into my tower PC. I want to have 5 or more 3.5 inch HDD bays. I want the extra room to tinker within it if I so choose. Smaller computers can cost more than a tower PC. Then you get sacrifices in your performance, room for storage, lack of an optical drive, limited RAM and CPU and GPU upgrade options.
Like seeing the two sets of USB ports on the back, and nice to have 3 USB-D. Lose 2 for mouse keyboard. Have one for my speakers, scanner, and I have a multi-terabytes external 3.5" hard drive, and then backup drive. Then if I add my head seat and camera. Quickly run out of ports. Like to see two sets of double USB on the back . Also why not just go to dual HDMI. Seems to me DP is a waste.
Hey there Patrick! Great review, But … Do you think this little powerhouse will run Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 - 2024? I’m looking for a mini that I can use for my flight sim gaming. Would appreciate your professional opinion. TY Sir! 👍🏼
It seems really loud. Maybe we're not getting a good understanding of the noise, but it sounds so loud. I suppose that's only under load. Is it not a problem during regular use?
That is 100% flat out that sounds loud (and it is not really too bad compared to a lot of systems.) It barely moves the studio sound floor at idle and in normal use. Even gaming in a lower noise floor room we were only getting 37-39dba.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo My use case would more likely be a storage shelf, so unlikely to trigger this issue, but it still makes me quite uncomfortable to see when many of its peers exhibit no such issue.
The biggest reveal in the whole video was actually that Patrick had 3 csgo global elite accounts, this man frags like a pro!
Ha! I think I talked about this in an old STH main site article some time ago www.servethehome.com/intel-core-i9-11900k-review-two-perspectives/3/
I had no idea our host was a CS god.
I just played CSGO for the first time in 20 years a few days ago. For a game that came on CD, the 30gb download from steam was surprising.
When measuring noise levels produced by some noise source, you should place the SPL meter at the distance of 1 meter away from the noise source with microphone pointing at the direction of source. Measures should be taken to avoid any flat surfaces between noise source and mic which would cause sound reflections to also arrive at the mic.
It doesn't take much but makes measured values considerably more meaningful.
The studio has a 34dba noise floor due to the light fans, camera fans, and etc. Even with all of the sound absorbing materials around, it still makes absolute sound measurements fairly useless on set. Also, these devices are likely to be used within a 1m distance from a user.
@@ServeTheHomeVideoA standard @1m figure, maybe taken with studio equipment off for devices near the noise floor, would be a great addition to the information you capture and help me compare devices between videos.
good to see they're still trolling everybody with the clear cmos button
Ha! Yes.
Why would everyone needs clear cmos on a daily basis?
Stupid engineering
in the ser5 models is standard clip hole reset, don't know who in their right mind would make it a huge button next to the power button.
Patrick, would be great to do an interview with some Beelink people, tour the factory, or something. Might give us a better idea if this company could really replace an HP/Lenovo/etc. on a bunch of desktops. You could ask them about that CMOS button! :)
Great idea. I do have a Chinese 10 year visa.
Got my GTR7PRO since a week. It is perfect. Small and powerful.
What color?
Such a great video. Thanks for the analysis. We are truly spoilt for choice with these high end affordable, feature-rich mini PCs now.
Glad it was helpful.
Regarding fingerprint not working when eGPU is attached: This _might_ be related to the fact that plugging in an eGPU might be changing the values of TPM's PCR (Platform Configuration Registers). If the cryptographic material used to enable Windows Hello is bound to a "quote" (exact hash chain of PCRs from PCR0 to PCR where N is maximum 23).
I guess a quick test for this theory would be to make sure BitLocker is enabled and try to boot the machine with eGPU attached. If BitLocker complains and asks for restoration key, it's very likely this is related to TPM and keys bound to quotes.
It might be, but I just thought it was interesting. If you sit someone non-technical down and ask them how it should function, they would say the fingerprint reader should work no matter what.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo No doubt it should work without hitch but measured boot and most TPM related things in the PC world are cumbersome and don't really offer a stellar user experience, say, in comparison to proprietary (as in non-open) attestation and key custody systems of Apple's T2 (and whatever they're now called on M1/M2 chips as embedded SEPs) or Google's Titan 2 on their own devices.
What has **ALWAYS** bothered me about these is the need to clear CMOS happens so frequently that they have to put a button for that action on the front of the chassis. Reminds me of that scene in the movie Broken Arrow when the guy says "Not sure I am more worried that you can lose a nuclear missile, or that it happens so often they have a name for it!". Just sayin' LOL
I totally agree.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo I'd prefer that button to be recessed... or further away from the power button.
I don't even get to the clear CMOS issue, I have issues with the bios update (or lack there of). The support for after purchase seems to be lacking. Also don't like the high sticker price for the GTR7. Was looking forward to getting 7840hs, not anymore.
@@coffeejn check minisforum
@@Angultra this gtr7 you have to compare to the um790 pro, they now also added nvme and memory cooling.
Love this review and I'm super intrigued by the GTR7. It's hard to replace the single-use NUCs that I already have but this might just do it. Especially if I could use it as a mini-lab.... thanks for all the great info!
If it helps, we have the GTR7 Pro and the UM790 Pro reviews in progress. This one I like a LOT though.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo I am interested to hear how the UM790Pro stacks up against the GTR7Pro. While I don’t use it on the daily, dual NICs is my default config and I will take the larger size for quieter/cooler operation. Still bonkers how good miniPCs have become lately, love it.
You could set this up for a client. 2xNVME in mirrored ZFS with 64GB of RAM that would handle 4 virtual machines with an Icy Box/Orico external USB4 drive bay for backups. You'd be looking at a $2000-$4000 solution for a small business instead of the $10,000-20,000 OEM rack mounted i3 systems. Though I do wish they had a normal power connector and removed the SATA SSD section and put in a bigger but quieter fan.
Watch next week's video. It is very much along those lines (but a bit bigger on the memory using a TinyMiniMicro 1L PC)
@@ServeTheHomeVideo Thanks, will do.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo Can't wait!
well, it's quite a janky setup, but hey, it's cheaper, yes
@@night_h4nter I think you meant janky. XD Where I live slow internet is the norm and there are a lot of businesses who have hub offices or franchises. You might have 20 floating staff spread between multiple locations based on bookings and skillset.
You want to give the hub offices as much mobility supported functionality for the best performance and price. Ideally you would setup cloud, but where the business owners won't or can't to you want to be able to offer them better solutions rather than just expensive solutions.
There's so much functionality you can provide to a hub office with 1-2 of these and you'll still be paying less than the i3 system with ECC RAM.
I've had four Beelink computers in my hands. First the GTR5 (Jan 2022), which had display crashes/lockups. Then they replaced it with another GTR5 (June 2022, they did not replace, I had to buy$$ another, swap the drive and then send the old one back. They don't understand the concept of making a living using the computer....). That one was just as bad, a different type of display anomaly, but now add in complete shutdowns. Then again, I bought the GTR6 (May 2023) and within ten minutes, that shutdown. Four display ports but my Samsung monitor did not like any of them, it takes 30 seconds to come out of sleep (maybe, until I found the right port, I had to recycle power). #2 display was OK. On the last computer I paid only $619, but they only refunded me that amount, not the original $949 I paid for the first. I returned a GTR5 but did not get a full refund (of $949). They said I got a better computer (no, it still crashes), but they essentially want me to pay $949 when everyone else pays $619. They call it swapping, but I bought and paid for a GTR6, it should have nothing to do with the refund I got from the GTR5 that crapped out. Then I bought a SER4. Well, that computer has display problems as well. That came from Amazon and I am beyond the return date. Tech support was no help. They would tell me to reload the operating system, neglecting to tell me that it would erase everything on the computer. Stay away from Beelink. Tech support is incompetent and their computers just don't work. Four computers and they all had unresolvable, serious problems. Over 19 months and just a boat load of aggravation and a ton of lost work. Stay away!!!!
Now this is what I was looking for, reliability issues, yuck. I hope they can fix it as the price and form factor are sure compelling.
I recall other reviewer said the Type C in the back can also power the device without the original adapter.
At 12:27 the label at the top says 7735HS, it should be 7840HS. The same error is on the STH written article. Great review I was waiting for this one.
DOH! Just updated the main site one. Not sure if I can ninja update the video one :-( Thanks for the catch.
Would be interested to know if the GPU is recognised in Proxmox and can be used in containers (LXC)
Other reviews suggested it has memory cooling issues (like the um690)
We did not hit that on ours. The UM680 Pro had massive frame rate drops because of it in LoL that did not happen with this unit.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo it seems they solved this with the latest bios update.
Is Beelink a low key Nissan fan? They have the SER and now the GTR? (both are Nissan performance trims for the Sentra and the Skyline/R35 GTR respectively).
Ha that is funny!
The only downside to these mini pc's are the giant transformer power bricks. Those things really suck. Granted, they're easier to replace than some proprietary unit inside the case. I'm looking forward to the mass adoption of fanless GaN solutions. I have an HDPlex unit in a sff case and it's awesome.
Not anymore since they now have the proprietary magnetic connector.
@@FreezeSand when it fails how do you get a new one? May be able to get one now but time will tell if you can in the future.
@@Bob_Smith19 that's exactly what I was saying.
Need to be USB-C PD
@@Bob_Smith19it supports pd over usb c
I agree with the LTT screwdriver "chonk" getting in the way sometimes. They should make a "precision bit" adapter so we can get a 1" extension and use the smaller iFixIt-style bits!
why would u use a ltt screwdriver?
@nielsdebakker3283 LOL
I wish they released a slightly bigger box that would compete with Mac Studio on the near noiseless operation.
To effectively compete with the Mac Studio they also need to get AMD's new AI-enabled chips and have those AI blocks. along with the GPU blocks used.
I upgraded the ssd drive on my SER6 pro to 1 tb. Before installing it, I downloaded windows from the Microsoft site onto a flash drive and made sure to select the option that said use the configurations for this computer. When I installed the new drive and loaded windows from the flash, everything was perfect including the activation.
AMD needs to release the official chipset and graphic drivers for the 7040hs series asap
Fr
yes, I'm waiting this before buying the pc. could you warn us when avalaible? please
I'm looking at buying one of these. I am currently using a MinisForum B550, but I've always been a compact system user. Can't wait til we start to get some of these with 12 cores.
FYI, the usb 4 reboot issue is not related to graphics. It also happens with a qnap 10G thunderbolt adapter. I was confused when I saw the adapter disappear from the usb list, but then I saw there is a separate list of thunderbolt devices.
The system looks super cool. Thanks for the review. I have noticed many of the videos for small devices focus on desktop however if one was to build a redundant solution to serve numerous containerized apps at home serving where excessive noise might be an issue but space less so what would be your suggestions? I am thinking 2-3 app servers, 2 redundant storage machines.
Check our video next week. It is very much along building something just like that.
@GregFurmanek keep in mind that if you are planning to run a kubernetes cluster, a lot of deployments of replicasets suggest 3 worker nodes. I would recommend nodes in multiples of 3. But for physical hardware you can set up 2 physical systems and virtualize the k8s cluster and worker nodes on top of the bare metal. Just make sure the host systems and hypervisor support nested virtualization. I can't wait to see what Patrick shows us in his upcoming video.
@@joe_ferreira Yup, I was considering 3 machines for the workers and redundant storage, so 2 boxes for that.
I have a miniPC with 4 x 2.5GB ETH port that is used as a home "router" and doubles up running multiple containerized services. It's barely breaking a sweat, I had to get creative to force it to go under load when I was doing stress testing. I'm going all miniPC where ever it suits the need. I have a new mini for replacing my aging DT tower, there's no point in huge boxes anymore (with some exceptions), and I can easily take the miniPC on trips. I got the idea from STH where Pat mentioned taking a "portable monitor" to a tech show. I bought two 4K portable monitors, and my miniPC + peripherals will fit into a backpack. I took the miniPC setup on a month long road trip just a while ago, it worked really well for me (a portable laptop still has a use case that a portable mini cannot replace). I have an aging HTPC which I thought was very small when I first bought it a few years ago, it'll soon be replaced with a much smaller and much more powerful miniPC (only concern is dealing with dust build up, filters may not fit on the air intake vents). The main thing a miniPC is not good for are housing a massive dGPU or a bank of HDDs (I have a rack server for that stuff). BTW I prefer Ryzen APU's, they've been working really well for me and have decent iGPUs.
I use gtr6 for Proxmox server. Actually there are 2 containers running (blockchain nodes), overall cpu usage is about 10% and the server is up since early June. Little bit noisy when it's too quiet, but hundred times silent than rack or mini tower servers.
Gtr7 should be even better than mine
You convinced me, all my PC building skills are about to bite the dust! Next PC will be a mini.
The magnetic power connector will be an issue in the future when they start magnetizing dust and other smaller particles if you constantly disconnect and connect if used in a portable setting.
just wipe it once a year more than sufficient XD
Use a magnet to repel the magnetic dust
@@reviewer_random yeah good luck with that
Great video. One suggestion, Use this VGA inside a desktop and later use this VGA in the EGP in the mini pc, to compare results, since even being 40GB/S, maybe it can reduce performance of the VGA
This is definitely looking like a decent little node box to set up a home HA cluster with. Although, I think the GPU is a bit overkill for that. It does make for a great Plex, Emby, or Jellyfin server, though.
@@WhiteG60 As long as you don't need H264 it probably works with modern kernel/mesa, since I've not seen any indication that AMD improved the atrocious quality of the H264 encoder yet
Any chance you'd be willing to do another video featuring this as a virtualized pfSense/OPNsense box? I bought one, and am waiting to get it, but hopefully passthrough works fine for everything. I figure I'll set it up as a Proxmox host with pfSense/OPNsense, and with a VM and a Docker server as well. I really want to run Plex and be able to use that GPU for hardware transcoding!
Apparently the RAM run CRAZY hot too, and the power supply isn't adequate enough if you run long benchmarks, it'll just kill the system with a power shortage. I think they are supposed to be doing a BIOS update to resolve it though (which likely just means turning the TDP down a bit).
Let me see if we still have time to get that into the GTR7 Pro video. They are largely the same except for the CPU IIRC.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo would be happy to help contribute whenever Amazon sends me my GTR7 too! Just shoot me a PM on the forum.
@@boosted_n that's super weird. are they using CUDA or something? well, I guess not since Intel GPUs work...
Awesome device!
On the other side - I open Topton shop and see new 8port I226 / 4port i2226 + 2 10 Gb SFP+ mini PC on Intel 10th generation CPUs. Oh...
Hmm. We may look into those after the N305
I’m interested in how many Plex hardware transcodes the GTR7 can power simultaneously. 🤔
You're positivity is always nice watch :)
As much as I'd like to go mini, I need those big 3.5" HDDs in my PC so Full Tower is where I stay.
Maybe mid-tower one day.
For me, personally, I moved all 3.5" to NAS units about 5-6 years ago. The noise reduction is awesome.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo Could you do a review video about UPSes. Most consumer options are just plain unreliable or insufficient and anything last longer than an hour is uber expensive.
Love the amount of RAM on this system. But would upgrade to 2 x 2TB WD SN570 drives. At around $100 each you can add 4TB of total space to the system for $200. I've used Beelink for a lot of customers for HTPCs and they work great. I always upgrade the SSDs and sometimes the RAM as well depending on how much is included and how they are going to use the system. I have the SER5 myself with the 5600H. I upgraded the RAM to 32GB and the main drive to a 2TB SN570 myself. I have not decided yet if I will use the 2.5" bay or do an external NVMe for additional storage yet. The Beelink has built a very stable system. I have worked with a lot of NUCs including 10th, 11, 12 gen CPUs and have problems with them especially the LAN ports, but also USB and BSOD issues. Unfortunately the intel NUCs just are not as stable and not as well engineered as the Beelink AMD systems. Out of 37 systems I have not had to RMA a single system yet for any reason. Their QC is obviously aces! While the BIOS isn't as feature rich as a full enthusiast desktop system, it has a lot of granular control that you wouldn't expect out of a system like this. Glad to see they are using the 5600MHz RAM in these systems too and that they obviously support this speed. It really makes a huge difference with the integrated graphics. The integrated graphics in this system is on par with the desktop version of the GTX 1650 TI.
What are you storing that takes up 4tb?
@@terrytibbs951 It's an HTPC so all of my media files. Movies and shows I've bought and encoded, music files, home movies and family photos. Honestly could use more than 4TB. Thankfully I also have a NAS with 3 x 18TB HHDs in RAID 5 as well.
Really nice looking hardware. The price on this is completed out of its mind though - you can absolutely build a gaming rig that will smoke this for the buy-in cost for this. These tiny PCs are great...until they aren't. One cap goes on this board and the whole thing is $900+ e-waste. Want to expand or upgrade? Forget it. These machines should really be aimed at the sub-$500 market where they truly become competitive arguments against buying gaming consoles.
I do think that the current ~$700 pricing on these is a bit much.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo Thank you for the reply - I did enjoy the video btw, and your lessons learned hit all the right notes. It's definitely a handsome unit, but my god that power adapter looks like it came off my brother's C64! XD
The timings are also important for memory, so just 5600MHz without timing is not indicating that the ram modules are faster than 4800MHz.
Guys we need to start putting pressure on the mini pc makers to do proper bios updates. Beelink doesn’t do any!
For those wondering why. Every year there is a new intel me or uefi or cpu vulnerability. All supposed to be addressed by bios update !!
Not too crazy about the power adapter solution. Otherwise, it ticks most of the boxes. If im being greedy, it would be great to have the option of a PCIe extension card, so that you can either get more display ports, or a 10GbE option :)
True, but then you can also use a TB3 10GbE adapter.
the idea of the power adapter, which I think is great, is that it makes it almost impossible to pull the power out accidentally. no doubt that does look proprietary tho, I have no idea if they made it up or are following a standard.
Thanks for the review. You did not mention what support you get with this PC. Is there a support center in the US? This PC is similar to the Minisforum UM790 Pro. Can you do a review on the Minisforum or possibly a comparison between the two PCs. Thanks.
We have the UM790 Pro and will have a video on that as well as the GTR7 Pro coming. I also talked about support a bit in the last EQ12 Pro video.
Do any of these mini / low power PC's support ECC?
Sadly no. We are going to have one that has in-band ECC but that is not as good as what you are thinking about.
Nice, currently using a NUC for internet browsing, cost over $600 will place on the wish list
For Internet browsing, a NUC is great. Frankly for that, I think I would buy something simple like the EQ12 Pro ruclips.net/video/69ZsA_QToBE/видео.html
There might be one con is the power plugin in case of damage or get lost? For travel around since it portable.
Don't know if you checked this, but other reviewers and several users are experiencing reboots when benchmarking with Cinebench. After two Bios updates from Beelink, the problem remains. Some are starting to say it may be a problem of the power adapter not been able to sustain the watts. Not powerful enough. A bummer when it also supports PD hence possibly powered via one of the USB4s...but out of the standard of 100w over usbc? Another comment seen is RAM reaching 90°C on heavy loads... I was really waiting for this unit but it looks not polished.
We have not seen RAM temps that high nor the reboots. It is interesting that is happening on Cinebench since Cinebench is a relatively cache-core count bound benchmark and is not a great CPU benchmark.
@ServeTheHomeVideo yeah.... sounds strange but it was reviewed that way by TechTablets 13 days ago, and confirmed by other users. To me, it just raised my suspicions and forced me to wait for the um790 comparison. Weird you didn't notice anything during benchmarks
@@cuentacasa Techtablets lives in one of the hottest parts of Spain which is suffering a drought so most likely unreasonable ambients there
@@Vinterloftit's bottom casing isn't helping it's choking the intake fan that's used to cool the ram and SSD they've already revised that but only Chinese buyers see it available for free.
Though I like this model it's a shame that there have been so many complaints about the system rebooting. Has this problem been fixed by beelink yet? Great video.
I'd watched this video once before, and just noticed today when watching it again that you had 3x GE accounts during the pandemic. Impressive!
This mini PC seems awesome and I'm tempted to get one but why would i choose this over an MSI Gaming laptop with an RTX 3060 thats around the same price?
I really want to like these new mini PCs but hard to justify getting one over a lower end gaming laptop with a dedicated GPU
Yes - for me a laptop wins hands down.
Laptops are IMPOSSIBLE to place in a tight space where a mini fits the bill perfectly. It all depends on need... that's why there are choices.
I would also venture to say cooling on a Mini PC is far better than any laptop ... in my own experience. My 12900H Dell XPS is not nearly as cool as long as my Mini PC 12900H ... YMMV
Does it not support USB PD? The proprietary power adapter seems like the largest red flag
Some feedback, would be nice to include cm/mm dimensions of the devices in addition to the imperial ones.
Yes.
Would love this system for a mini virtualization home server
If you are thinking that, then you might just love next week's video (hint ;-)
@@ServeTheHomeVideo awesome! 😎
@@ServeTheHomeVideo if you check it for server-like application, can you check if ECC memory works?
@@ThomasWaldmannI took a gamble and am waiting for delivery of my GTR7 Pro and 2 Kingston DDR5-5600 ECC SODIMMs. We'll find out!
@@Beerfloathow’d this go for you?
WOW did not expect Patrick to be Global on CSGO... That for the uninitiated is pretty hard core.
This was pre-ranking bumps for almost everyone as well.
I would buy one just to use as an HTPC and console in the living room.
I think folks will love this use. I can imagine this as a HTPC and a light gaming box.
Can't wait for the GTR8!
Agreed
Great device and great review :)
Two questions:
1. Can we put 2 sabrent or mp600 8tb nvme SSDs on there?
2. Can we put on the SATA port the Micron 9400 30tb U.3 you reviewed a while back?
We tried a 8TB in the GTR7 Pro not this GTR7. My sense is yes. On the 9400 I am not sure how that would work since you would need to get power as well as a M2 to U.2 adapter and then somehow find a place to mount it and a way to cool it.
I would really like to have that much features on a ITX B650 mobo 2 x 2.5 GbE and USB4
Can't order barebones or 64GB right now. Would hope they offered 64GB for this level of CPU performance or had a barebones option to allow us to get our own RAM kit.
I totally agree with this. Or 96GB (see the video coming next week.)
@@ServeTheHomeVideo Do they have 48GB Sodimms now?? I built out a 192GB ryzen 'server' with desktop parts. Didn't know if they would ever have 48GB SODIMM.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo good foreshadowing ;)
I'm sure it's obviously common knowledge now, but when I originally got my GTR 5, I couldn't find any documentation or explanation for what that rubber 'pull tab' was for? I tried pulling it to the point of just short of snapping it off, but then I just left it alone from that point on. Now, when this guy says 'after you remove the screws' it all makes sense to me now... ;-)
I had no idea either until we figured it out. Luckily we have a team of folks so one sees it and thinks "pull tab" and then it makes sense.
I wish this was available barebones! Hopefully soon
I agree. Barebones needs to happen.
Makes sense that a figureprint reader would use the graphics engine i guess. Never really thought about it before
Interesting challenge from a platform initialization and bios perspective tho. Makes me wonder how secure it is
TBH I thought this should work so I was surprised when it did not
@@ServeTheHomeVideoideally a security module like that would be independent of and isolated from the operating system. I suspect there's some bios trickery going on to keep it independent. If you can redirect the processing to another device you can also defeat the security
I always question how you work that fingerprint sensor when the box is vesa mounted ;)
The audio jack at the back is very very good for my dream setup. But the power adapter ... hmm ....
Great review, thanks. Btw, does this support VESA mounting? And yes, one more here in agreement that the CMOS reset button is a lousy placement. I wonder how this compares noise-wise to the GTR7Pro?
We have the GTR7 Pro units and will have a video on them soon-ish.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo looking forward for this video
External GPUs would still be a great idea. Why aren't they being pursued in a serious way?
I think it is hard when low-end GPUs are being taken over by integrated graphics, high-end GPUs are bigger than these machines.
Another reason is the limited PCIe tunnelling ability of USB 4 connection. It allows PCIe 4.0 x4 to be tunnelled via a USB 4 connection. This is not enough for a decent external GPU. Internal CPU cards usually plug in x16 PCIe slot. x4 is simply no use for them.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo
I wouldn't mind a large GPU dock, it could work for example with a Steamdeck to plug into a TV for high FPS / resolution gaming
Or even as a standalone GPU game server over an ethernet connection
Or something to connect to quickly when necessary while rendering out a 3D scene for example or while using VR
Many applications - there is definitely a gap here
@@catchnkill This Is the reason I have not got a mini pc to replace my desktop. What they need is a Oculink Port on the rear, that would give direct pci express access and be way faster then usb4. It would be amazing to have a external gpu hiding in a dock in the desk and have the mini pc sit on the desk. No huge tower to worry about.
@@catchnkill x4 on PCIe 4.0 should be fine, I've only ever seen significant bottlenecks once you approach 3.0 x4 in most cases, but it's not a common thing reviewers test fr obviusly
it could be a great machine, but the magnetic power connector is a deal breaker. Despite its potential stability issue in the long run, it is just super super stupid to use a magnetic connector on a desktop.
Please do an update and show how you hooked up egpu.
Tell you what, when that shroud came off and I saw the three wires plugging into the motherboard, I felt a lot more comfortable with that proprietary power plug. Would not be a huge issue to rewire a barrel jack later if needed.
I think you are right on that, but also a lot of folks would not want to go through that (or know how to) so they purchase something like that assuming it works out of the box.
Yes, I did noticed you really like this one, wow!! So do I!!
May be an upgrade noise wise over the GTR6. But it’s still loud. Minisforum still wins out on noise level.
Since we have the UM790 Pro I am going to save most of that for the review, but I would not be so sure on that one.
On your 7-Zip graph (@12:26) you mislabeled the 7840HS as the 7735HS (There are two of those...). Guessing it's suppose to be the top one???
Yes. It is right on the STH main site but a typo here.
I have the 6 and it's insane for what size it is. Fastest pc I've ever owned.
Sorry for the double post... this is the thread I meant to post it in :)
The links to the Bee Link GTR7 Pro continue to go to the wrong page... is there a guaranteed link that points to the correct product?
Thank you.
If you are thinking Amazon - the issue is that they are now sold out on Amazon so they are taking you to a different listing. That is the right link.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo AHA!
Thanks ... didn;t even think about that.
7:45
I have this currently happening on my NUC 11. If the egpu is plugged it, it won't boot. Just stalls out. If I plug in after it's hit the login screen, no issues. Tbh it's really annoying. Wish they'd fix it
It is a bummer more folks do not talk about this stuff in reviews.
👍Great video.
Taking a second look at the GTR7. So much to like except for that power connector -- proprietary.
There is a good chance the reason that the fingerprint scanner not working when an egpu is connected, is a protection against "Drive-by DMA" attacks.
It totally may be the case. However, if you are a non-technical user (remember 99% do not know what a DMA attack is) you would expect it works no matter what is installed.
Isn't the advantage of having a magnetic power cable, that you can't tug it and break it, rendered obsolete by the shape of the plug?
Yes. Exactly
I have a Beelink with Intel N100 for a home server, but what I would really like Beelink to do is to create one of these Mini PCs with room for more than one NVMe or more than one SATA SSD, maybe :(
A dream would be a model with maybe an AMD Mendocino or a 6600U, having:
2x space for NVMe and 2x SATA.
Would be a monster for PROXMOX and great Power consumption with power
Check next week's video
👀
I like these videos.
Any chance you have one that shows performance w/ and w/o the eGPU and what eGPU you are using? I skimmed your videos and didn't see anything that popped up but guessing I probably just missed it because I am lazy. :D
Great review, thank you! Could you also compare or review the GTR7 PRO please?
Yes. The GTR7 Pro arrived later so we are working on that as well as the UM790 Pro reviews.
I saw on their official reddit, beelink is offering replacement bottom covers with a vent for the gtr 6 and gtr7
Saw that this morning. I think Cliff is going to have a main site piece on that tomorrow.
I have been looking for a second pc to play flight sim for a dual pc set up. This seems like it would do the trick?
hmm according to its official site for the Beelink GTR7 2023 model specs the front usb c is only USB 3.2, the both rear is usb c ports are USB4 (40 Gbps bandwidth/100 W USB-PD/DisplayPort 1.4).. so possibly could connect up to 5 monitors if the front usb c port, USB 3.2 is capable of display output... and lastly the both headphone jacks can be plugged and automatically adjusted to usage.. if the rear jack is plugged (to a speaker) with the front jack connected, it will disconnect the audio output (in the rear jack) and redirect it to the front jack... if the front jack is disconnected, it redirects back to the rear jack..
I don't need one, but damn I sure want one! 😂
14:10 What are these GE accounts and what do they have to do with FPS/latency?
Typically you cannot play CS:GO consistently at that level if you get FPS drops or bad frame latency. Back then it was around the top 0.5% and that included folks that were cheating and later got banned. A frame rate dip usually means you are an easy frag at that level.
I hope you can do a review of the Minisforum UM790 pro... Im stuck trying to decide between purchasing that model and the GTR7.
Yes. We have that in progress as well as the GTR7 Pro.
“Or of course Windows Defender is going” 😂 touché
I was expecting to get blasted in comments for that one if the team left it in the edit :-)
@@ServeTheHomeVideo lol 😂 and it’s true 💯
I'd love to see a comparison with the Minisforum NPB5/7 series.
We have the UM790 Pro that we will do a video on.
I'm still waiting for a passively cooled mini pc that has just enough CPU/GPU to decode 4k video and doesn't cost north of 500. Am I too out of touch with current prices on that one?
Decode a single 4K stream only? Does the N100/ N305 not do that for you?
@@ServeTheHomeVideo Those look interesting... soooo do you know of a mini PC that comes without a fan and costs below 500 non-barebone?
Awesome review, Makes me regret my K49 SGPC itx 13900 build (:D) got the 13900 for a steal and have it paired wit ha cheap gtrx1080 ($100 used).
Would happily trade it for the size here. I'll be watching these, would definitely be worth getting especially if I can ever find it bare bones or used for cheaper.
Even the color is pretty cool.
This is the mini PC I've been waiting for. However, the proprietary power connector is a deal breaker for me. Sorry, Beelink.
Currently waiting budget approval at work for one of these. Are you going to review the pro right away when it comes in?
We had a few shots on B-roll with the Orange and Grey GTR7 Pro's in this. We have that and the UM790 Pro in the queue. Expect at least 2 weeks though. I somewhat prefer the lower cost and lower performance GTR7 non-Pro actually.
I saw you had the intel nuc 13th gen. How do you think this device compared to that in performance productivity and gaming. And price? :)
This is notably larger, but it has a much better iGPU and is not as loud because of the size.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo buy I bet price is bigger too. I just bought the intel nuc a week ago before I saw this video hehe. But i use it as a home server 😊
Now what i want is a Lenovo Tiny with this, we've got a few hundred aged out 6th-8th gen intel and 2000g AMD that need to be replaced soon.
Now i'm, probably personally going to get 2 of these GTR7, i've got the GTR6 PRo, but its inability to address more than 32GB above 4800MT/s(mine dropped down to 4800 with 2:1 ratio when i added 64GB)
The primary one would be top end HTPC and light 4K gaming, the GTR6 Pro i have is just barely enough, but i feel like with the GTR7's RDNA3, and support for faster RAM it will do exactly what i want it to do.
The second one i want to replace my old Athlon 200GE based firewall, though i would prefer to have this in a 1U chassis.
But those two 2.5G intel ports has me drooling.
I think the mini PCs with the N100/N305 are a better bet for firewalls.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo I agree, i'm just waiting for N100 devices that have dual intel 2.5G(i may just not be seeing them)
And i refuse to pay i3 money, for what is an atom in every sense other than name and price.
Hopefully Intel offers an OEM/ODM discount to make the N305 more reasonable, because id much rather have the i3-1215U if i'm paying the same price for both devices listed on Intel's site.
@@denvera1g1 For firewalls, Patrick has a handful of good videos on that. Some re tiny PCs that have 4 or more ports - although I've noticed that with more internet ports they're usually 1 GbE ports, whereas 2x+ 2.5 GbE ports would be better, and where are the models with 4x 2.5 GbE ports plus 2x 10 GbE ports? You know, so that on the other side of the firewall you can have 2x MacBooks and/or Mac Minis with 10 GbE on them plus 3x PCs with 2.5 GbE.
I'm interested in how good the wireless connection is, since I'd need to connect that way?
Why does it need a Clear CMOS button on the front? It should be hidden out of the way. And where's the 10 Gb ethernet that the Mac Mini has? I hope you do a follow-up showing external GPU performance.
No idea on Clear CMOS. On the 10GbE I think the option is to get a TB3 adapter which is good since you can also get SFP+. Still dual 2.5GbE is not bad these days with SMB3 Multichannel. You can get almost 5Gbps transfer speeds to a modern NAS with basically no setup and an unmanaged switch.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo But it needs to match the competition: even with SMB Multichannel you're still only getting half the bandwidth.
For me the benefit of having a full tower are the extra drive bays & the expansion slots. I do not care for the SSDs at all. I want to have 2 Blu-Ray burner drives inserted into my tower PC. I want to have 5 or more 3.5 inch HDD bays. I want the extra room to tinker within it if I so choose. Smaller computers can cost more than a tower PC. Then you get sacrifices in your performance, room for storage, lack of an optical drive, limited RAM and CPU and GPU upgrade options.
I''m looking for a mini pc that has room for 2 x 2.5" SSDs like my current Minisforum. Can they fit in this or any recommendations? Thanks.
Most of the newer mini PC's have at most 1x 2.5" bay because it restricts airflow so much. Usually the newer systems focus on 2x M.2 SSDs.
I grabbed the Beelink SER6 Mini PC, AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS (put in 32GB ram and a 2TB m.2) a couple months ago. It rocks!
If you saw our review, I am a fan of that box
Like seeing the two sets of USB ports on the back, and nice to have 3 USB-D. Lose 2 for mouse keyboard. Have one for my speakers, scanner, and I have a multi-terabytes external 3.5" hard drive, and then backup drive. Then if I add my head seat and camera. Quickly run out of ports. Like to see two sets of double USB on the back . Also why not just go to dual HDMI. Seems to me DP is a waste.
The one thing that needed fixing was internal temps, that wasn’t addressed in this video.
Hey there Patrick! Great review, But … Do you think this little powerhouse will run Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 - 2024? I’m looking for a mini that I can use for my flight sim gaming.
Would appreciate your professional opinion. TY Sir! 👍🏼
It seems really loud. Maybe we're not getting a good understanding of the noise, but it sounds so loud. I suppose that's only under load. Is it not a problem during regular use?
That is 100% flat out that sounds loud (and it is not really too bad compared to a lot of systems.) It barely moves the studio sound floor at idle and in normal use. Even gaming in a lower noise floor room we were only getting 37-39dba.
Seeing that little box just *reset* means I'm never building a server with it xD
That was a Thunderbolt eGPU pull causing that reset.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo My use case would more likely be a storage shelf, so unlikely to trigger this issue, but it still makes me quite uncomfortable to see when many of its peers exhibit no such issue.