You know would be interesting? A table linking chipset to emulation performance. So like if you have the 4500u, here is how high you can go. Or if you want GameCube at 1080p, this is the minimum chipset. This would help folks spend the minimum possible for their desired performance target. Just a thought. Cheers!
Well I think it's pointless getting the 4500u, right now you don't get any mini PCs with older chiosets for cheap, I just got one from aliexpress and it was cheapern than a 5700u PC I got a 6800h mini pc(rdna 2 GPU)and I got a bargain on aliexpress due to black Friday. I paid 240 gbp, for the pc ram(16gb) ssd(256g)and a 1440p 60hz 15 inch monitor. I would say go nothing below 6000, as u miss out on too much the only time I'd go for a 4th or 5th gen Ryzen laptop chip is if it's under $100,cuz u can literally get a 5600g or 5700g with a motherboard and maybe ram for like $100-150 for mobo cpu and ram depending on how much ram u get
It's safe to assume Ryzen 6800U as a "base config" as Ryzen 7000 & 8000 offer only modest increases in performance. The Ryzen 8840U is only 15% faster than 6800U in most benchmarks. I also looked a handful of benchmarks results that included Fortnite, Cyberpunk 2077, Geekbench 6 and Cinebench and the results were surprisingly consistent with Ryzen 8000 series providing about 13-15% better results over Ryzen 6000 series. The HX 300 series with 12c CPU & 16 CU GPU just didn't scale as well as AMD suggested it would, making it insanely expensive for mini gaming PC. I wouldn't even consider an HX 300 APU for gaming, regardless if it's AAA or retro games. The specs looks great, but just don't deliver results. I found several name brand notebooks with Ryzen 8c AND RTX 4060 for less than $1000, available for pickup TODAY at Best Buy. There are far better gaming solutions than HX 300 until AMD offers some serious discounts on it. It's not even competitive with AMD's previous releases.
that's a good deal, first time heard of mini PC being bundled with monitor on AliExpress, which store/seller? But for people who dont need that much power, or who don't want a H series (45-60w) device or who want to avoid some video playback related bugs with rdna2 (google madvr drivers and check the PDF in the 1st doom9 thread), a 4500u is still more than decent mini pc, I would say far better value than those n100 ones. Even during non sale period, a 4500u barebone mini PC is only around 110 USD on taobao. I seen a lot more newer products with slightly different designs/ports etc with 4500u/5500u recently there from more generic brands, maybe due to higher profile companies no longer making them and ordering the chips. A few months back, I got a 5500u barebone for around 130 usd and a 7840hs one for about 260 USD, good times. Those more generic ones (such as the "texhoo" ones I got) just work as well as beelink/minisforum/GMK devices, though my 7840hs has limited bios options.
I have a Minisforum HX90 (?) with a AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX and a RX6600M. From a generation back, but not expensive and it does all modern games at 1080p. Very happy with it.
I have the exact same mate. Mainly got it for Ps2 and Gamecube/Wii emulation and the games run great as you know. Had it 2 years now it was about £950 back then so just shows how things drop in price 😊
@@VictorContesBlackSon I actually have the non RX6600M version too :) It runs on the R9 5900HX APU with Vega 8. Not the fastest, but still great for strategy games, casual gaming, and is a beast for emulation.
Fyi, you can "upgrade" it with an oculink dock. I have hx80g (5800hx + 6600m), I hook an rx7800xt into 1 of the 2 m.2 slot and instantly play everything at 1440p60 ultra.
I have been looking at these, but ended up getting the Minisforum hx99g. It is significantly faster at gaming and much cheaper. It has a dedicated GPU, so power draw is higher and it is large for a “mini” PC. I’m liking it a lot so far. IGPU are coming along, but if gaming is a focus, they are not there yet. There are newer mini PCs with dedicated graphics, but they are unreasonably expensive.
I’m glad you said that, that’s exactly the scenario I found myself in and wanted to know which way to go. I’ve see a barebones for 558. I’m jumping on it right after this comment
I say this again. Beelink/Trickey has better mini pc units compare to minisforum. But these comparison was one of the best on youtube channel. Thank you for your time and and hardwork Mr.
I got a BeeLink SER5 with a 5850U and 32GB of RAM (it was the cheapest version at the time with the sale they were running). This is really all you need for emulating up to PS2 and GC and maybe some Switch. For the price of these $1000 minis you may as well built a gaming PC and get even more performance.
This is actually what I'm eyeballing now and getting close to pulling the trigger on just nervous how it might work if I want to do some PC gaming as well.
Thanks for another great video! These new chips seem really impressive in a lot of ways (and with that taken into consideration it's even more impressive how Intel's newest iGPUs seem to be at least kind of competitive as well). One thing I missed from this review: comparisons to the M4 Mac mini. Seeing how you just reviewed it it would have been a very natural inclusion IMO, with its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
Very comprehensive review. Thanks. I think I would buy the Beelink over the Minisforum because of better, quieter cooling. I would like to see more choices, though.
The beelink SRR6 Pro would have been a great candidate for these speakers because of that cloth top, just make the plastic frame under the mesh quite a bit thinner, or just remove it entirely above the driver
I'd rather put that $1k into a normal PC if the budget is going to go that high and still require all the normal PC peripherals like a monitor/screen and need wall power.
If you build it yourself, 1k budget will get you something good, it's worth the effort if money is tight. Here you're paying for "small, quiet, and works out of the box". I personally got a ~usd$550 laptop a while ago with integrated graphics. $20 for another 8GB ram stick for dual channel ( big performance boost ). Plays enough games for me ( up to Deep Rock Galactic ). I didn't want to bother with ordering parts and risk faulty parts or breaking something. I didn't have a screen beforehand, that's extra cost too. Convinience has its costs.
I can remember 4 generations of mini pc's now that after inflation all had $1100 entry points. And the funny thing is that within 2 years that same latest greatest will be a $500 unit. Myself? Im going to be torn between wanting a fancy looking mini tower and one of these units in a couple years. To be honest any of the 780M chips could probably handle my Minecraft and Factorio.
@@djayjp When did you supposed they arrive on market. Especially on mini pc like beelink ? I don't know if i wait, want learn to code + learn some blender + gaming... In this little box totally silent, premium material, beelink mini's pc will be a must have for me but... If it's take 4-6 months i dont know what to do...
Since base config M4 Mac Minis are around 500 usd can you please compare 780m vs 890m vs M4 vs M4 Pro Mac Mini gaming and emulation performance. With proper AAA games and native resolutions. No upscale and FG . Ultimate mini pc gpu showdown would be great. Thanks 👍
I'm okay with the Bee-Link. The higher price seems reasonable even though RAM upgrades are not possible. They did that on purpose to increase performance due latency issues. That's why the score is slightly higher, but the base model is 32gigs at 7500mhz so there isn't much to complain about in the long run. I heard later models will have higher ram options so I'm waiting on that. I want at least 64gbs because you can share your system RAM with the IGPU, pushing it well beyond what they put into discrete desktop GPUs. That means you can run games like Space Engineers or Minecraft with insane render distance without any lag caused by lack of memory. If I heard correctly, I think it could have a VRAM capacity around 90+ Gbs shared, but I'm not certain.
That little Beelink is an excellent PC if you are OK with the price (7-800 would be a lot more reasonable).Runs quiet, has an option for 8000 MT/s RAM and rudimentary overclocking/TDP adjusting features. And that little APU is a beast, super efficient but also works well with higher TDP in some games. For me it replaced my 5800X3D/7900XT in a tiny package, and its even faster in stuff like emulation. That being said, the IGP is still limited in the newest games unless you aim for 900/1080p low and value wise there are definitely better option. But it can run everything on 1140p ultra at least until 2014-2015, 1080p high/ultra until 2018/2019 (currently playing FH4 in 2560x1080 mainly ultra settings in 70+ fps, 3440x1440 would be in the 40s), and around 900/1080p mid/low in the newest stuff. This could be significally improved with frame gen and upscaling if you don't mind that, with those I can play with settings like I used to do with my old 2060.
Speaking of Mini PC’s, did you ever do a review of the Atari VCS? I just saw a post on reddit and apparently its a full on mini PC with an AMD APU that you can install windows/linux on. It goes on sale for $100 and comes with a xbox like controller and Atari joystick. It could make for an interesting review!
Cant wait for the beelink to go cheaper. this is impressive!! i got a beelink ser 7 and i'm always impressed by what it can do. but the ser 9 is twice as fast at lower temperatures? need this
Just want an emulation minipc... That can do 1080p upscale, 60fps, for most of RPCS3... Do we really need to spend $900+ for that? (CPU/GPU suggestions appreciated!)
Man, I'm about to build a new mid-tier PC since my old one is practically on its last legs, but Strix Point is really making me reconsider after looking at benchmarks for both gaming and graphical work with the mini-PC/laptop form factor. $1100 might be kind of crazy for a mini PC without dedicated graphics considering what we're used to, but these chips seem like they give M3 Pro and X Elite a run for their money. Still, I'll wait for Strix Halo. Going for first gen stuff has never worked well in my favour.
You know actually the AI engine NPU cores are something I've held out for this generation to get. I know most people think that its just a gimmick but honestly Im stoked to be running my own local LLM without subscriptions. Lol
What are the inconsistencies in CPU usage? For example you see control was using more CPU perf and better FPS on the minisforum but the beelink was using 8/10 watts more power. From all of my prior testing in hardware this isn't correct. I'm wondering if a program pre installed was using more? In this case the Minisforum chipset seems way more consistent
How come you didn't add these 2 mini PC'S to your gaming chart for emulation? And did you try them in Batocera? I'm thinking about buying a mini pc just to hook it up to my tv and use it for higher end emulation like PS3, PS2, XBOX 360, Switch and still trying to decide what to get. I was originallly thinking the Minisforum UM790, but dont think it will have the longitivity power. Then I saw the Beelink Ser9 on a big discount sale and came across this video , but not sure its powerful enough for PS3 to upscale? Then I came across the Minisforum HX99G (which is a lot bigger) and it might be good, but not sure its small enough. Its a hard choice.
For a similar price, I prefer the ultra-portable GDP Pocket 4 with an 8.8" 144 Hz screen-same HX 370 chip, but better specs with 64GB RAM and a 2TB SSD.
$1466 for that version. 40% more $ is similar pricing? You may have meant a lower spec version. Still, has the screen and keyboard, worth it for some. However, these ones have a form factor that can allow for longer sustained boost clocks due to better thermal management. May, is the magic word here
@@deansmits006 I’m sorry, on the Indiegogo site, the GDP Pocket 4 is priced at 1268 Euros, and the EliteMini AI370 is 1149 Euros in European online store. So, about a 10% difference, which for me more than justifies the advantage of the GDP Pocket 4, as it is an ultrabook touchscreen and has double the memory and storage space. I’m not sure if there’s a different price discrepancy in American stores or in other markets.
Ross, can you please do a review of the Abxylute S9? There are a lot of positive Amazon reviews about it, but I have doubts because.... it's impossible for a product to have like 100% 5-stars reviews, especially someone making a controller for the first time...
I would love to see a comparison between Steam Deck docked and the Beelink (running Bazzite). I am sure the Beelink would win but I am just curious how the price to performance compares.
The thing is both are way underpowered compared to the Atomman that you already reviewed, which is maybe $200-$300 more but performs maybe twice as good. Russ you reviewd the intel version, with everyone trying to avoid intel it would be nice to know how good the AMD version is: AtomMan G7 Pt I haven’t seen anyone really deeply testing this PC, that would be interesting!
Maybe a bit late, but I'll throw in my two cents. I don't know about "they", but there are lots of options. You could do something like a lapdock (nexdock or dopesplay) or AR glasses (rokid, xreal, others), wireless keyboard and mouse and plug it into the hotel TV, plenty of portable monitors. They all have their pros and cons.
What do you think the best option is for someone that wants the best performance to run recent emulators like PS3, Xbox 360 and Switch at the best possible graphics where its small and I csn just leave it hooked up to my TV and sit it on my tv stand?
I stopped watching eta prime because he stopped doing switch emulation. This is why I love your channel, you see the importance of why we still love switch 3mulation, thanks.
I still watch, but zip through the videos. He seems to find "Deals" that don't exist. "I got this on AliExpress" or EBay. Not to be found. Especially aggravating when he shows a windows desktop and you see the date is only a couple of days before the vid was posted. All he had to do was look again to see availability. He just did one and said $X and someone said "How about $X + $100?".
Is there a way to set them up as a really powerful TV box? Been thinking about this for a while, would be amazing machine for my dad, but can't find a good enough front-end.
it depends whether you want more of a emulation machine - then batocera is your best bet (russ has video on that - search how to transform any pc into emulation machine or something similar). if you want more of modern games but with option to emulate, try chimera os (with emudeck).
You can see the GPU temperatures in every game its much better on beelink even if the FPS are the same. Which mean better performance if you can change TDP in BIOS
1. Think you were quite conservative with the PS2 emulation? GPU utilization doesn't seem high and you should easily go 6x or more on most games, without a need to drop to 5x as you mentioned. 2. Is 30+ fps with fsr3 really playable? Wouldn't the fps without frame generation be sub 20fps with the inherent latency at such low fps which frame gen does not improve? 3. I personally prefer to see more tests at 1080p but at medium or even high/ultra graphics rather than 1440p at low/minimum, though that's more the way I play them, I prefer to put off playing a game (or play it on a different device) if I cannot even run at medium settings at the resolution. 4. If possible, brief test showing capped performance at 10-20w would be interesting to see how similar chips would perform in more handheld-like settings. 5. Part of the improvement over previous gen products you tested in the past is due to the extra memory bandwidth from lpddr5x 7500 compared to ddr5 sodimm which seems to be still capped to 5600.
Pretty sure for the MINISFORUM Mini PC the last gen option after the AI370 is the UM890 not the UM870 they're overall similar enough that jumping from UM870 to UM890 isn't going to be a big enough diffference to warrent buying the UM890 if you already own the UM870.
I'm leaning with toward the BeeLink SER9, but add an external Wi-Fi because I do not trust their Wi-Fi with the metal casing interfering with the Wi-Fi card. Other reviews show it performs better minus the Wi-Fi. Both has an ugly port setup in the back.
I really like these apus, would love to use them for a system, but... I just cant. Most of my gaming these would be perfect, probably, but there are certain fames, that needs a lot of juice, so i anyway plan to build a beefy rig, just cant justify to get one of these until... Until then i am more than happy to stick to my steam deck as pc.
I remember when the 7840HS machines came out you could get them for ~$550, less for barebones, that is a big price increase, especially for non-upgradable RAM This is a pass for me, i generally upgrade to 48-96GB, and if i'm expected to use this for AI i'd want at least 96GB
I just scored a used minisforum hx99g with 32gb of ram and two SSDs at 1 and 2 TB. Spent less than 500 in an eBay auction I didn't expect to win. Maybe I'll try one of the abcxyz124 AI chips in anothet 2 years.. 😂😂😂
The M4 Mac Mini with 24GB Ram and 512GB storage is similar in price with these two. The M4 benchmarks are blowing this AMD chip. I’m really torn, as I like upgrading the storage. With the M4, I’ll probably just settled on external as I don’t want to spend on the ridiculous storage upgrade path from Apple. I won’t be playing games, but I’ll be editing a lot of photos (Topaz AI), and some video encoding (Davinci Resolve). Since the Ser 9 was released, I’ve been excited to see what Minisforum will released as I really liked what they did with the UM890 Pro. But it was a disappointment. I’m leaning towards the M4 now.
You're not plugging a brick into your power strip. It's a thin rectangle, therefore it won't take up as much space as a square brick. How did you miss that? :)
I ask myself if that's really worth for that price considering you could get a Mac mini m4 or wait for a snapdragon 8 elite mini pc, I'm waiting for one.
The cheapest Mac mini with a bit more RAM, maybe, and an external SSD is a lovely option compared to these two, I'd say. Of course, it depends on what the primary use for the device is.
@@bulletpunch9317The M4 has significantly better GPU performance and a decently better CPU. There’s a decent amount of native games but with Crossover you can get Steam Deck levels of compatibility. So unless the game has anti-cheat you can run it
You should make a setup/room tour and show all the gadget you've gathered.
He made one of those some time back. He didn't show all of his gadgets because a lot of them are simply stored.
A new one would be awesome
fr
You can tell Russ is a pro because he did the butter test with the PCs powered off and cool 😂
You know would be interesting? A table linking chipset to emulation performance. So like if you have the 4500u, here is how high you can go. Or if you want GameCube at 1080p, this is the minimum chipset. This would help folks spend the minimum possible for their desired performance target. Just a thought. Cheers!
It’s something I’ve been looking for a while.
He has a mini pc table. But not based on chip
Well I think it's pointless getting the 4500u, right now you don't get any mini PCs with older chiosets for cheap, I just got one from aliexpress and it was cheapern than a 5700u PC I got a 6800h mini pc(rdna 2 GPU)and I got a bargain on aliexpress due to black Friday. I paid 240 gbp, for the pc ram(16gb) ssd(256g)and a 1440p 60hz 15 inch monitor. I would say go nothing below 6000, as u miss out on too much the only time I'd go for a 4th or 5th gen Ryzen laptop chip is if it's under $100,cuz u can literally get a 5600g or 5700g with a motherboard and maybe ram for like $100-150 for mobo cpu and ram depending on how much ram u get
It's safe to assume Ryzen 6800U as a "base config" as Ryzen 7000 & 8000 offer only modest increases in performance. The Ryzen 8840U is only 15% faster than 6800U in most benchmarks. I also looked a handful of benchmarks results that included Fortnite, Cyberpunk 2077, Geekbench 6 and Cinebench and the results were surprisingly consistent with Ryzen 8000 series providing about 13-15% better results over Ryzen 6000 series.
The HX 300 series with 12c CPU & 16 CU GPU just didn't scale as well as AMD suggested it would, making it insanely expensive for mini gaming PC.
I wouldn't even consider an HX 300 APU for gaming, regardless if it's AAA or retro games. The specs looks great, but just don't deliver results. I found several name brand notebooks with Ryzen 8c AND RTX 4060 for less than $1000, available for pickup TODAY at Best Buy. There are far better gaming solutions than HX 300 until AMD offers some serious discounts on it. It's not even competitive with AMD's previous releases.
that's a good deal, first time heard of mini PC being bundled with monitor on AliExpress, which store/seller?
But for people who dont need that much power, or who don't want a H series (45-60w) device or who want to avoid some video playback related bugs with rdna2 (google madvr drivers and check the PDF in the 1st doom9 thread), a 4500u is still more than decent mini pc, I would say far better value than those n100 ones.
Even during non sale period, a 4500u barebone mini PC is only around 110 USD on taobao.
I seen a lot more newer products with slightly different designs/ports etc with 4500u/5500u recently there from more generic brands, maybe due to higher profile companies no longer making them and ordering the chips.
A few months back, I got a 5500u barebone for around 130 usd and a 7840hs one for about 260 USD, good times.
Those more generic ones (such as the "texhoo" ones I got) just work as well as beelink/minisforum/GMK devices, though my 7840hs has limited bios options.
I have a Minisforum HX90 (?) with a AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX and a RX6600M. From a generation back, but not expensive and it does all modern games at 1080p. Very happy with it.
I have the exact same mate. Mainly got it for Ps2 and Gamecube/Wii emulation and the games run great as you know. Had it 2 years now it was about £950 back then so just shows how things drop in price 😊
@@pbarratt73 And still futureproof as of this day :)
Still better than any apu mini pc for gaming haha
@@VictorContesBlackSon I actually have the non RX6600M version too :) It runs on the R9 5900HX APU with Vega 8. Not the fastest, but still great for strategy games, casual gaming, and is a beast for emulation.
Fyi, you can "upgrade" it with an oculink dock. I have hx80g (5800hx + 6600m), I hook an rx7800xt into 1 of the 2 m.2 slot and instantly play everything at 1440p60 ultra.
Wow I just looked up this comparison the other day and didn't find anything! I'm so glad I decided to look it up again today lol
That transition was so clean 5:53
also I love the quick-version of the unboxing, wish all unboxings were like this
Just bought a tower PC based on this and the GTI14 with Doc video and they were super helpful in deciding between tower vs mini pc
Thank you,
This comparison that I've been searching for.
Thank you for relieving my heart.
😊
Ngl i didnt read the title and figured itsimilhim comparing the new mac mini to a similarly priced mjni pc, that would be a cool video to see
Would be interested to see "esports" titles for PC testing like valorant, CS2, overwatch, LoL, rocket league etc.
I tested lol on a geekom a7, 200+ fps lane and 100-150 teamfight. When alot Happens can dip below 100, the missing 16mb l3 Cache hurt
I'm realy happy with my Beelink SER7 (Ryzen 7840HS Radeon 780m)
My next mini-PC must have a Thunderbolt 5 so I can plug a eGPU
well, you can do with those models having oculink..UM890 Pro, etc.., but, in those cases, better a normal tower pc
Man, these are going to be even better 3 years from now
...and 3 years after that even better
You can print that on a t-shirt. It'll always be true.
i think a "tiny tower" genre will emerge with a form factor like a shrunken Xbox Series X with compact GPU's.
Russ, completely unrelated to the video but you’re always wearing great band shirts. Jet Black by Jawbreaker is one of my all-time favorite songs.
At this price point, Oculink ports should really be included.
I have been looking at these, but ended up getting the Minisforum hx99g. It is significantly faster at gaming and much cheaper. It has a dedicated GPU, so power draw is higher and it is large for a “mini” PC. I’m liking it a lot so far. IGPU are coming along, but if gaming is a focus, they are not there yet. There are newer mini PCs with dedicated graphics, but they are unreasonably expensive.
I’m glad you said that, that’s exactly the scenario I found myself in and wanted to know which way to go. I’ve see a barebones for 558. I’m jumping on it right after this comment
I say this again. Beelink/Trickey has better mini pc units compare to minisforum. But these comparison was one of the best on youtube channel. Thank you for your time and and hardwork Mr.
I got a BeeLink SER5 with a 5850U and 32GB of RAM (it was the cheapest version at the time with the sale they were running). This is really all you need for emulating up to PS2 and GC and maybe some Switch. For the price of these $1000 minis you may as well built a gaming PC and get even more performance.
This is actually what I'm eyeballing now and getting close to pulling the trigger on just nervous how it might work if I want to do some PC gaming as well.
Good video - I'm waiting for you do do one on the Brick.
Great video Russ, but how about a new temperature test: How long does it take each to melt a stick of butter placed on top?
Thanks for another great video! These new chips seem really impressive in a lot of ways (and with that taken into consideration it's even more impressive how Intel's newest iGPUs seem to be at least kind of competitive as well). One thing I missed from this review: comparisons to the M4 Mac mini. Seeing how you just reviewed it it would have been a very natural inclusion IMO, with its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
Oh man. That pixelated “wild boy” footage. 🤞🏽
Very comprehensive review. Thanks. I think I would buy the Beelink over the Minisforum because of better, quieter cooling. I would like to see more choices, though.
The beelink SRR6 Pro would have been a great candidate for these speakers because of that cloth top, just make the plastic frame under the mesh quite a bit thinner, or just remove it entirely above the driver
Hello, your review was great and helpful. Thanks.
What, a mini PC with the power button on the side?
Apple: Write that down! Write that down!!
Russ loves these mini PC’s so much, he’s reviewing them both! 😏
I'd rather put that $1k into a normal PC if the budget is going to go that high and still require all the normal PC peripherals like a monitor/screen and need wall power.
Well with that kind of budget you can push 1440p 120 fps without any problem, even 4k 60. So yeah, I agree.
im gonna go with the last gen. Im getting it to turn into an emulation device for my living room.
If you build it yourself, 1k budget will get you something good, it's worth the effort if money is tight.
Here you're paying for "small, quiet, and works out of the box".
I personally got a ~usd$550 laptop a while ago with integrated graphics. $20 for another 8GB ram stick for dual channel ( big performance boost ). Plays enough games for me ( up to Deep Rock Galactic ).
I didn't want to bother with ordering parts and risk faulty parts or breaking something. I didn't have a screen beforehand, that's extra cost too.
Convinience has its costs.
I can remember 4 generations of mini pc's now that after inflation all had $1100 entry points. And the funny thing is that within 2 years that same latest greatest will be a $500 unit. Myself? Im going to be torn between wanting a fancy looking mini tower and one of these units in a couple years. To be honest any of the 780M chips could probably handle my Minecraft and Factorio.
STRONGLY RECOMMEND waiting until Strix Halo comes out shortly.
Yeah but it's gonna cost 2000 dollars and not 1000 dollars like HX 370
@@BusAlexey Lol no chance.
@@djayjp
When did you supposed they arrive on market. Especially on mini pc like beelink ?
I don't know if i wait, want learn to code + learn some blender + gaming...
In this little box totally silent, premium material, beelink mini's pc will be a must have for me but... If it's take 4-6 months i dont know what to do...
@@BusAlexey
Hope no !
@@djayjp perfectly expected outcome
Thanks for reviewing the ser 9 I bought the geekom ax8 pro I would of bought the ser 9 but no removable ram and I can’t wait for ser 10 🔥🔥
I have no intention of buying these and yet for some reason I watch the entire video... Every time 😂
I'm definitely going to wait and probably 600 is my price point.
i just picked up the k8 plus and i'm dying to play Wild Boy Wandering and the Dynamic Plumber's 3d Global Adventure.😄
Since base config M4 Mac Minis are around 500 usd can you please compare 780m vs 890m vs M4 vs M4 Pro Mac Mini gaming and emulation performance. With proper AAA games and native resolutions. No upscale and FG . Ultimate mini pc gpu showdown would be great. Thanks 👍
I can already see myself scrubbing off the Beelink logo, the design looks premium quality.
I'm okay with the Bee-Link. The higher price seems reasonable even though RAM upgrades are not possible. They did that on purpose to increase performance due latency issues. That's why the score is slightly higher, but the base model is 32gigs at 7500mhz so there isn't much to complain about in the long run. I heard later models will have higher ram options so I'm waiting on that. I want at least 64gbs because you can share your system RAM with the IGPU, pushing it well beyond what they put into discrete desktop GPUs. That means you can run games like Space Engineers or Minecraft with insane render distance without any lag caused by lack of memory. If I heard correctly, I think it could have a VRAM capacity around 90+ Gbs shared, but I'm not certain.
It would be really neat if you could do a retro game review sometime.
hm, they both are more expensive than base mac mini (10/10core). are they better option...
Integrated graphics that don't suck quickly improved in recent years.
Ah yes, the standard measuring tool the Kerrygold butter brick, glad to see its return
That little Beelink is an excellent PC if you are OK with the price (7-800 would be a lot more reasonable).Runs quiet, has an option for 8000 MT/s RAM and rudimentary overclocking/TDP adjusting features. And that little APU is a beast, super efficient but also works well with higher TDP in some games. For me it replaced my 5800X3D/7900XT in a tiny package, and its even faster in stuff like emulation.
That being said, the IGP is still limited in the newest games unless you aim for 900/1080p low and value wise there are definitely better option. But it can run everything on 1140p ultra at least until 2014-2015, 1080p high/ultra until 2018/2019 (currently playing FH4 in 2560x1080 mainly ultra settings in 70+ fps, 3440x1440 would be in the 40s), and around 900/1080p mid/low in the newest stuff. This could be significally improved with frame gen and upscaling if you don't mind that, with those I can play with settings like I used to do with my old 2060.
Speaking of Mini PC’s, did you ever do a review of the Atari VCS? I just saw a post on reddit and apparently its a full on mini PC with an AMD APU that you can install windows/linux on. It goes on sale for $100 and comes with a xbox like controller and Atari joystick. It could make for an interesting review!
Hey Russ. Could you also Compare to Mac mini m4 base pls.
Cant wait for the beelink to go cheaper. this is impressive!! i got a beelink ser 7 and i'm always impressed by what it can do. but the ser 9 is twice as fast at lower temperatures? need this
Just want an emulation minipc... That can do 1080p upscale, 60fps, for most of RPCS3... Do we really need to spend $900+ for that?
(CPU/GPU suggestions appreciated!)
These new APUs are bonkers :O
Man, I'm about to build a new mid-tier PC since my old one is practically on its last legs, but Strix Point is really making me reconsider after looking at benchmarks for both gaming and graphical work with the mini-PC/laptop form factor.
$1100 might be kind of crazy for a mini PC without dedicated graphics considering what we're used to, but these chips seem like they give M3 Pro and X Elite a run for their money.
Still, I'll wait for Strix Halo. Going for first gen stuff has never worked well in my favour.
These are really expensive, any chance to compare this with the mac mini?
Honestly can't imagine paying that much for a Mini PC.
When will you make the rp5 starter guide video with the esde launcher? You said in the esde video that you would make a retroid pocket 5 version.
You know actually the AI engine NPU cores are something I've held out for this generation to get. I know most people think that its just a gimmick but honestly Im stoked to be running my own local LLM without subscriptions. Lol
What are the inconsistencies in CPU usage? For example you see control was using more CPU perf and better FPS on the minisforum but the beelink was using 8/10 watts more power. From all of my prior testing in hardware this isn't correct. I'm wondering if a program pre installed was using more?
In this case the Minisforum chipset seems way more consistent
How come you didn't add these 2 mini PC'S to your gaming chart for emulation? And did you try them in Batocera? I'm thinking about buying a mini pc just to hook it up to my tv and use it for higher end emulation like PS3, PS2, XBOX 360, Switch and still trying to decide what to get.
I was originallly thinking the Minisforum UM790, but dont think it will have the longitivity power. Then I saw the Beelink Ser9 on a big discount sale and came across this video , but not sure its powerful enough for PS3 to upscale? Then I came across the Minisforum HX99G (which is a lot bigger) and it might be good, but not sure its small enough.
Its a hard choice.
@Retro Game Corps Russ, did you think about including the Apple M4 Mac Mini in this comparison? Just curious. 🤔
Yeah either an upgraded 32GB M4 or M4 Pro would be a much better option at that price point or even cheaper if you don’t upgrade
Got my SER9 32GB 2TB for $730
loved it
For a similar price, I prefer the ultra-portable GDP Pocket 4 with an 8.8" 144 Hz screen-same HX 370 chip, but better specs with 64GB RAM and a 2TB SSD.
Exactly my thoughts!
$1466 for that version. 40% more $ is similar pricing? You may have meant a lower spec version. Still, has the screen and keyboard, worth it for some. However, these ones have a form factor that can allow for longer sustained boost clocks due to better thermal management. May, is the magic word here
@@deansmits006 I’m sorry, on the Indiegogo site, the GDP Pocket 4 is priced at 1268 Euros, and the EliteMini AI370 is 1149 Euros in European online store. So, about a 10% difference, which for me more than justifies the advantage of the GDP Pocket 4, as it is an ultrabook touchscreen and has double the memory and storage space.
I’m not sure if there’s a different price discrepancy in American stores or in other markets.
When are we getting a Trimui Brick review!
Wild boy wandering & the Plumber 🪠
Ross, can you please do a review of the Abxylute S9? There are a lot of positive Amazon reviews about it, but I have doubts because.... it's impossible for a product to have like 100% 5-stars reviews, especially someone making a controller for the first time...
Insane prices. I built my 5600x 3060Ti PC for barely more than that four years ago.
Errrm shouldn’t the minisforum be opened up by a magnetic panel on the top instead of unscrewing the bottom parts?
Russ, can we get an Amazon / AliExpress Black Friday SD card and retro handheld list?
If they had camm upgradable memory and usbc pd I'd have considered them
Does this PC come with windows installed, or did you install your own OS? tx
Hi, could you also try how good they are at decoding AV1 streaming in Moonlight?
Thanks in advance.
I would love to see a comparison between Steam Deck docked and the Beelink (running Bazzite). I am sure the Beelink would win but I am just curious how the price to performance compares.
The thing is both are way underpowered compared to the Atomman that you already reviewed, which is maybe $200-$300 more but performs maybe twice as good. Russ you reviewd the intel version, with everyone trying to avoid intel it would be nice to know how good the AMD version is: AtomMan G7 Pt
I haven’t seen anyone really deeply testing this PC, that would be interesting!
It's quite interesting. So people getting mini PC on a trip now, instead of getting a laptop. What about a monitor? Which one do they take now?
Maybe a bit late, but I'll throw in my two cents. I don't know about "they", but there are lots of options. You could do something like a lapdock (nexdock or dopesplay) or AR glasses (rokid, xreal, others), wireless keyboard and mouse and plug it into the hotel TV, plenty of portable monitors. They all have their pros and cons.
What do you think the best option is for someone that wants the best performance to run recent emulators like PS3, Xbox 360 and Switch at the best possible graphics where its small and I csn just leave it hooked up to my TV and sit it on my tv stand?
Have you checked out the nab9?
Umm, could you please tell me where can I find this butter in Denmark? I just need to know how long it is compared to my cm scale. 🤔
Never mind, found it ordered online.
What’s the maximum storage for the beelink ?
Suggestion/request: run both single and multicore in cinebench.
oh, also power use out of the wall for idle/benchmarking/gaming
I stopped watching eta prime because he stopped doing switch emulation. This is why I love your channel, you see the importance of why we still love switch 3mulation, thanks.
Maybe he fooled me but all I saw was wild boy wii u.. link of course but not switch
I still watch, but zip through the videos. He seems to find "Deals" that don't exist. "I got this on AliExpress" or EBay. Not to be found. Especially aggravating when he shows a windows desktop and you see the date is only a couple of days before the vid was posted. All he had to do was look again to see availability. He just did one and said $X and someone said "How about $X + $100?".
THERE IS NO NINTENDO EMULATION GOING ON HERE, NOTHING TO SEE. MOVE ALONG NOW.
I meant generally he does show switch emulation.
Is there a way to set them up as a really powerful TV box? Been thinking about this for a while, would be amazing machine for my dad, but can't find a good enough front-end.
it depends whether you want more of a emulation machine - then batocera is your best bet (russ has video on that - search how to transform any pc into emulation machine or something similar). if you want more of modern games but with option to emulate, try chimera os (with emudeck).
You can see the GPU temperatures in every game its much better on beelink even if the FPS are the same. Which mean better performance if you can change TDP in BIOS
1 year warranty vs 2 year warranty as well. I'd still probably choose the SER9.
can you change the tdp in the beelink in bios?
Can we hook up external gpus?
1. Think you were quite conservative with the PS2 emulation? GPU utilization doesn't seem high and you should easily go 6x or more on most games, without a need to drop to 5x as you mentioned.
2. Is 30+ fps with fsr3 really playable? Wouldn't the fps without frame generation be sub 20fps with the inherent latency at such low fps which frame gen does not improve?
3. I personally prefer to see more tests at 1080p but at medium or even high/ultra graphics rather than 1440p at low/minimum, though that's more the way I play them, I prefer to put off playing a game (or play it on a different device) if I cannot even run at medium settings at the resolution.
4. If possible, brief test showing capped performance at 10-20w would be interesting to see how similar chips would perform in more handheld-like settings.
5. Part of the improvement over previous gen products you tested in the past is due to the extra memory bandwidth from lpddr5x 7500 compared to ddr5 sodimm which seems to be still capped to 5600.
Pretty sure for the MINISFORUM Mini PC the last gen option after the AI370 is the UM890 not the UM870 they're overall similar enough that jumping from UM870 to UM890 isn't going to be a big enough diffference to warrent buying the UM890 if you already own the UM870.
No Oculink?
I'm leaning with toward the BeeLink SER9, but add an external Wi-Fi because I do not trust their Wi-Fi with the metal casing interfering with the Wi-Fi card. Other reviews show it performs better minus the Wi-Fi.
Both has an ugly port setup in the back.
I like them both more of Beelink guy though Minisfourm cool too I’ve seen and have all from 1980-Now
Beelink GT version is the only one worth buying at the moment.
I really like these apus, would love to use them for a system, but... I just cant.
Most of my gaming these would be perfect, probably, but there are certain fames, that needs a lot of juice, so i anyway plan to build a beefy rig, just cant justify to get one of these until... Until then i am more than happy to stick to my steam deck as pc.
I remember when the 7840HS machines came out you could get them for ~$550, less for barebones, that is a big price increase, especially for non-upgradable RAM
This is a pass for me, i generally upgrade to 48-96GB, and if i'm expected to use this for AI i'd want at least 96GB
I just scored a used minisforum hx99g with 32gb of ram and two SSDs at 1 and 2 TB. Spent less than 500 in an eBay auction I didn't expect to win. Maybe I'll try one of the abcxyz124 AI chips in anothet 2 years.. 😂😂😂
Damn thats a great pickup
The M4 Mac Mini with 24GB Ram and 512GB storage is similar in price with these two. The M4 benchmarks are blowing this AMD chip. I’m really torn, as I like upgrading the storage. With the M4, I’ll probably just settled on external as I don’t want to spend on the ridiculous storage upgrade path from Apple. I won’t be playing games, but I’ll be editing a lot of photos (Topaz AI), and some video encoding (Davinci Resolve). Since the Ser 9 was released, I’ve been excited to see what Minisforum will released as I really liked what they did with the UM890 Pro. But it was a disappointment. I’m leaning towards the M4 now.
m4 is a super great deal. I bought one it is much faster than any windows PC just because it is macOs.
Wild Boy Wandering 🤣
Which mini PC the best for playing PlayStation 5 or below?
You're not plugging a brick into your power strip. It's a thin rectangle, therefore it won't take up as much space as a square brick. How did you miss that? :)
Its great, but far to expensive for an APU. If this were just a budget laptop with no discrete GPU added, I'm pretty sure it'd be around £600.
Just bought the SER8. Totally sufficient for me.
Anyone knows if SER9 can output 8k2k 60Hz to external monitor?
I would prefer to have a tower PC with a dedicated graphics the size of a PS 4 or 5 if that is possible.
Tbh at that price point a M4 Mac mini makes a lot more sense
For emulation? Sure. For gaming in general? Not really.
@ yeah for gaming in general unless you’re playing something with anti cheat
I ask myself if that's really worth for that price considering you could get a Mac mini m4 or wait for a snapdragon 8 elite mini pc, I'm waiting for one.
Can the m4 even match this things gaming perf
The cheapest Mac mini with a bit more RAM, maybe, and an external SSD is a lovely option compared to these two, I'd say. Of course, it depends on what the primary use for the device is.
@@bulletpunch9317The M4 has significantly better GPU performance and a decently better CPU. There’s a decent amount of native games but with Crossover you can get Steam Deck levels of compatibility. So unless the game has anti-cheat you can run it
@chidorirasenganz m4 has 4k in steel nomad light while 890m has 3.5k. cpu is where its like 50% faster, edit, nah its about the same in cpu too.
@ It’s 50% faster in Geekbench and +290% faster in Blender. Steel Nomad isn’t necessarily the best measurement for performance
I wish these came with an oculink port :0(
You can get the gmktec ones slightly cheaper and has Oculink but I'd say they're overpriced at the moment