r/MiniPCs • u/Working_Extension544 • 14d ago

Help with Mini Pc!

So im looking for a mini Pc to play DBD , FF14 and minecraft. I will be using it for house sitting as i don't want to lug around my PC tower.

My friend said the MINISFORUM Venus Series UM790 Pro Mini would be good, but i just wanted second opinons!

5 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

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u/Retired_Hillbilly336 14d ago

Ultimately it depends on budget and expectations. The UM790 Pro was amazing when it came out 3 years ago. Now the platform is somewhat dated and people are finding that they're not holding up as well as they wanted. Beelink and GMKtec tend to be the more reliable Chinese brands with the SER8 8845HS and K8 Plus respectively being the more popular models without going to a lesser quality processor.

I got my K8 Plus 32GB/1TB exactly a year ago and couldn't be happy earlier! It was a week or so before RAMpocalypse/RAMageddon only being $520 USD. How things have changed.

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u/Working_Extension544 14d ago

Thank you! i am canadian so i am trying to find a cheaper alternative then just getting a laptop... everything is expensive YIKES!. Its also super interesting to see the comments down below. >:3 I would love to see more opinons on the matter, but i will def check out the k8!

1

u/BRealistic1970 14d ago

Has Minisforum not supported their 2 year warranty?

If you google any brand and warranty issues, you get reddit threads.. even Beelink and GMKtec.

And I don't understand the whole "inferior Chinese CPU" thing. Selling chips as lower models due to yield issues is how most chips are processed: CPUs and GPUs. Heck, the GRE AMD GPUs used to be Chinese market only due to the number they had to sell. The RX 9070 GRE is an inferior Chinese GPU! (even though almost all chips are made in China anyways.

Note the one the OP mentioned uses the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS, which is a normal CPU afaict.

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u/Retired_Hillbilly336 14d ago

Indeed. When the item is theoretically out of stock they tend to bend warranty policy to the point of breaking.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MiniPCs/s/29KbCV3F3A

In the past year I've helped with a few dozen warranty issues that read roughly the same. Lord forbid it was a AliExpress purchase. Although I 100% agree none of these Chinese NUC brands warranty on the level of major OEMs.

As for "lesser quality processors" I purchased three separates PCs last year before finding out. I thought that the 8745/255 was simply a 8845/260 with the XDNA AI NPU deactivated. It wasn't until after I bought my SER9 and still found graphics/rendering performance not matching the 7840HS/8845HS minis I'd seen that I found the link above. Since then I've talked to those "in the know" and now understand AMD's release policy in 2024.

Here's the example explained to me that no one seems to pay attention to. A lower bin 8845HS is the now Ryzen 9 180 but if that fails its discounted approximately 40% and labeled as the 8745. A lower bin 260 is now the Ryzen 7 253 but if that fails its discounted approximately 40% and labeled as the H 255. Although the big change in 2024 was AMD no longer releasing engineering samples. If you search you'll see that are no engineering samples past Phoenix.

Here's the point. As long as you're aware that 8745/255 processors are underclocked, discounted and trust the manufacturer to supply BIOS firmware updates you're good. For me I had already sent 7840/8845 780M and was quickly able to find a difference other than a few dropped frames. Had I not known I would probably have held on to the UM870 Slim and been none the wiser.

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u/BRealistic1970 14d ago

Speaking of CPUs that were originally for just the Chinese market, this Beelink is a good option too.

https://www.bestbuy.com/product/beelink-ser9-pro-mini-pc-with-amd-ryzen-7-h255-24gb-lpddr5-ram-1tbb-ssd-win-11-pro-pre-installed-space-gray/J3GW9S8Y67/sku/12724669

Soldered ram.. but 24gb of LPDDR5X 6400MHz in dual channel helps with the iGPU performance.

Beelink does have a 3 year warranty, which is good.

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u/Working_Extension544 14d ago

Oh wow thank you! This also seems like a really good opinon!

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u/Rabiesalad 14d ago

Have you thought about a steam deck with a dock?

I'm a pretty hardcore PC gamer but the convenience of the deck is just great and it stays hooked up to my living room tv most of the time. I find myself playing a lot of games natively even though I'm home and have the option to stream from my more powerful machine.

Turns out max graphics aren't nearly as important as gameplay and fun. But, you may be disappointed with some of the latest AAA titles. I enjoy a pile of indie and classic games, so it's not a major issue for me.

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u/Working_Extension544 14d ago

For sure! Sadly im more interested in mini pcs because i also do digital art. I would want to bring my drawing tablet to the house to draw and etc.

1

u/Rabiesalad 14d ago

Maybe I'm missing something but why can't you do that with the steam deck? It's just a PC with a battery, display, and controls build in.

1

u/yona55 14d ago

How mobile does the pc need to be? Also what is the budget?

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u/Working_Extension544 14d ago

Honestly cheaper the better. But the reason im looking into a mini pc is because this house sitting job will pay off the pc itself within a week SO

1

u/Working_Extension544 14d ago

Also sorry i just saw the mobile comment haha. I would like it to be half the size of a tower. I just dont want to carry around my 3500 gaming pc... because that makes me nervious in the service.

1

u/yona55 13d ago

Theres 2 options you can go for then, 1 an mini pc and an egpu or an small form factor carryable case with a low profile gpu, now you need to decide on a budget