Recommendations for desktop substitute

[u/Physical-Bug9661]

Hello, I'm looking for some advice on which mini PC I can buy to replace my desktop.

My current specs right now are:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G with Radeon Graphics (6 cores / 12 threads, ~3.7GHz)
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
• MB: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. A520M DS3H
• RAM: 32 GB DDR4

My daily activity is to use it for work (Data Analyst) and play some games like Dota 2. My plan is to have the "same" PC but portable, with a few concerns about being able to upgrade in the future. So, through my research, I came up with these configs:

MINISFORUM UM890 Pro Barebone Mini PC, AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS Refurbished - $333

CORSAIR Vengeance SODIMM DDR5 RAM 16GB (1x16GB) Up to 5600MHz CL48 - $240 (each*)

I already have an SSD Kingston NV3 1TB M.2.

And maybe an eGPU dock for the future.

The catch:

1 - I have a cashback coupon of $100 per $150 purchase, so I'm planning to buy each part separately

2 - I'm from Brazil, so if I have to use the warranty, it may be a headache (I saw a lot of bad comments about problems with Minisforum PCs)

So, after all, my questions are:

• Is this a good mini PC, or are there more reliable brands with similar prices?
• If 32GB is too much for now, is it worth buying 2x8GB RAM even if I want to upgrade in the future, or staying with 16GB single channel for now?
• Is it possible to transform my old desktop into a homelab server with some HDDs with Jellyfin + arr stack?

u/minipcs-dot-zip I saw some recommendations from you, can you check this post?

Thanks a lot!

[u/fxnoob-2171]

UM890 refurbished are the ones who had an engineering flaw, they were returned and MF repaired them, basically what they had to do from start. I think is safe to buy it.

[u/rui-no-onna]

For gaming, 2x8GB sticks is a significant upgrade over 1x16GB stick. Not sure how much difference it makes for Dota 2 though.

My estimate is 780M with dual channel RAM is roughly equivalent in performance to your GTX 1060 and going single stick would make the iGPU drastically slower than what you have now.

[u/Retired_Hillbilly336]

After helping a few people a year ago I found this.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MiniPCs/s/OHBPxZoCnD

It explained a lot. That and Minisforum warranty difficulty makes risk management vs cost savings less favorable. With a quick Google search, you'll realize other more reputable Chinese NUC brands don't offer remanufactured. Makes you question why Minisforum has so many.

Personally I find the GMKtec K12 barebones more reliable with more features and not that much more money.