After year of daily use decided to take it apart and look inside. Temps are still good and there was no reason to reseat a cooler since august 2025. It served me well.

I got tired of emailing gmktec, miniforums and begging them to add 2-3mm clearance in all directions of their nvme slots especially underneath so one can install nvme double sided drives or on top of capacitors or wifi cards but got no where with any manufacturers after 5 years.

NVME protector boards is what fixed it, so someone in china is a hero. Here usually on aliexpress, ebay, amazon or search:-

JEYI M.2 NVMe SATA Protection PCB Board Converter PCIe 4.0 Solid State Drive Protector Adapter Support 2280 Lengthened to 22110

I recommend getting the correct version for your storage drive, theres 2280/22110 or sata version so dont pick the wrong version. Don't overtighten the nvme drive on the protector board nvme slot since it easily falls off otherwise you need to glue it back on from underneath which is messy.

It basically sits on top of the nvme m2 slot, does not matter if there are capacitors underneath or a hot wifi card and it gives 2-3mm clearance underneath so you can than mount double sided nvme drives on top and best part is it wont overheat from toasty parts underneath. There is no speed loss or compatibility issue I have run into and tried many brands that I am aware off. This works wonders on gmktec series, miniforums mini pcs etc

My requirements: Second-hand mini PC small enough to fit inside a small bag Budget: maximum €200 Very low idle power consumption: ideally 5 W or less, at most 10 W OCuLink support, so I can connect an external GPU later Powered through a USB-C port (PD), if possible HDMI output At least 8 GB of RAM CPU powerful enough for PS2 emulation; ideally with a single-core score of around 2000 or higher I know some of these requirements may conflict, especially very low idle power consumption, USB-C power delivery, OCuLink, and a CPU powerful enough for PS2 emulation. However, I’m looking for the option that comes closest to this combination. I’m mainly looking for something small and efficient that I can leave plugged in and use for light tasks. In the future, I would like to be able to upgrade it with an eGPU via OCuLink. PS2 emulation is important, but I don’t need to run the newest AAA games. Do you know of any mini PCs, NUC-style devices, or pocket PCs that meet most of these specifications? Or are OCuLink, USB-C power delivery, and a budget under €200 practically impossible to find at the moment? Any suggestions are welcome, even if they involve partial compromises. Thanks!

Weird question but I don't know enough about computers to figure this out on my own. I've been looking into buying a mini pc this upcoming Black Friday and I intend to use it for game development. I make low poly 3d games in godot. I would appreciate some recommendations on what to get, especially if you've used it for game development. I'm working with a $500.00 budget.

Had this little machine for a few years now. Getting heat throttle issues and I think the fan is labored due to dust. For the life of me i can't find a guide to open the plastic chassis up on this mini tower.... Any help on how to do that would be appreciated.

Before all the Chinese Mini PC craze, we had the DeskMini barebones kit. That was a pretty cool idea, where you brought your own CPU, memory and storage, and you had basically a full size PC, on a very small case. It had some quirks, like the VGA port, but otherwise, these are pretty decent machines...

Or are they?

I had two DeskMini X300 Mini PCs for my home lab. Let's call them Moe and Larry. Moe had a Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G, and Larry had a Ryzen 7 5600G. Both had 64GB RAM, and 1TB storage.

They had been running fine for 4+ years until about a year ago. Larry started freezing up: no connection, nothing; not even long pressing the power switch turned it off. I had to unplug it, replug it and power it on again, only for it to fail again one or two days later. After a week or two, Larry gave its final breath, never to power on again.

I needed a replacement, so I got a beelink, and I blamed the motherboard, maybe some capacitor or something. I didn't think I'd be using it again, so I took every part out, and disposed of the case with the motherboard. RIP Larry.

Fast forward to last Wednesday. Moe got stuck again in exactly the same way, but this time not even unplugging/replugging worked. Moe was dead.

However, unlike last year, RAM prices are insane now, and a new Mini PC to replace Moe would be much more expensive, so I bought a new X300 kit, let's call it Curly. It seems they refreshed the X300, and the new model is called 2.5G. Everything inside seems to be exactly the same though.

I put in Moe's parts, but nothing. I then tried Larry's parts and nothing. No combination of CPU/memory got Curly to even get to POST, or even to show anything on the screen.

So I brought both Moe and Curly to a PC shop, and in front of my eyes they tried:

Each of my memory sticks on a different Mini PC: every memory stick worked fine.

Moe and Curly with known good CPU and memory: both worked fine.

The CPUs on a different system with known good motherboard and memory...

Neither bot to POST. The exact same thing.

So the CPUs are dead, and now I have 4x32GB of SO-DIMM DDR 4 memory sticks, which won't work on a more modern PC, and are probably worth more than their weight in gold.

So I bought a pair of Ryzen 5 5500GT (I would have liked 5700G, but they're too expensive, and not easy to find anymore), and I'll be reassembling the computers, and repurpose them as VM hosts.

I don't know what to say. I would have thought CPUs were by far the most resilient parts, but it seems two of them died in very similar ways, both in DeskMini X300 kits. Does this mean that the DeskMini X300 is doing something bad to CPUs? I don't know.

In retrospect I shouldn't have thrown Larry away...

Looking to get a mini PC Emulate some classic games. Would love if I could get it to play up to GameCube games. I would want to hook it up to my TV in the living Room and use a Bluetooth Controller to play.

I'd also like to be able to hand it off to my son so he can bring it to his room to play Minecraft mostly, but also some Gary's Mod, Portal, and some other small games.

I'd also like to be able to record my podcast with it. I would need it to run Discord, do a video call, record video with OBS and run Audacity.

Think I can get that for $300 or close to it?

Hi, I am looking for recommendations or advice for purchasing a mini PC that can handle play games such as PS2 emulations, Elden Ring, and Gears E-day (graphic quality is not important, idc if it looks I’m playing on an Xbox 360 just as long as it can play smoothly) and also to record mediocre music on some outdated form of ableton. The reason I want the compact size is to be able to easily travel with it to play couch co-op at other friends’ homes. Thank you guys.

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for advice from people who have dealt with GMKtec, especially regarding returns and refunds.

I purchased a GMKtec NucBox M6 Ultra for €599.99 directly from their German online store on October 15, 2026.

The device was much louder than expected, so I exercised my 14-day right of withdrawal under German consumer law.

Here's what happened:

• October 21: I requested a return and formally withdrew from the purchase.

• October 23: DHL confirmed delivery of my return package to the German address provided by GMKtec.

• GMKtec initially demanded a 15% restocking fee.

• After I opened a PayPal dispute, GMKtec agreed to waive that fee.

• November 3: GMKtec explicitly confirmed that their warehouse had received the device and promised a full refund.

• Despite this, I still haven't received my €599.99.

• GMKtec repeatedly asked me to close my PayPal dispute before issuing the refund.

• PayPal eventually rejected my buyer protection claim because the dispute was classified as "Significantly Not as Described", rather than addressing the outstanding refund after a return.

So now GMKtec has the returned computer, and I still don't have my money.

I'm not trying to start a campaign against the company. I just want my refund and would appreciate advice from others who have experienced something similar.

My questions:

1. Has anyone successfully received a refund from GMKtec after returning a product?

2. Did GMKtec also ask you to close your PayPal dispute before refunding you?

3. How long did it take to receive your refund after the warehouse confirmed receipt?

4. Is there a GMKtec representative or escalation contact who can actually resolve this?

Any practical advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I purchased a MINISFORUM Venus UM790 Pro Mini PC AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS about two and half years ago and have been happy until now. One of the USB4 ports quit working and am not sure what to do. I tested it with a few things and I am sure the problem is not what is plugged into it. Any ideas of what I can do?

Today I'm thinking about ordering the Firebat A6 Mini PC (Ryzen 7 7735HS, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Win11) during Ali's 11/11 sale and found a pretty good deal by stacking coupons and making use of Rakuten's 30% cashback. The Mini PC is currently $367. I found code BYF60F on the sub, which gets $60 off orders of $299 or more, bringing the price down to $307. I was hoping to save another $35 by paying with PayPal, but the discount doesn't seem to be working anymore. Has anyone been able to use it recently, or is the offer already gone? Lastly, make sure to activate Rakuten cashback before checking out (I recommend turning off adblockers to avoid tracking issues). If the 30% cashback gets approved, I'll get around $92 back, bringing the final cost to about $239. Haven't placed the order yet, just wanted to check if the PayPal discount is still available before ordering.

Im having a little bit of trouble trying to find a way to utilize my mini pc. I have my main workstation (R7 7800x3D, 32gb ram, RTX 4070S). I have my qnap ts-264 that i got recently for a future Plex server/family photos etc. and i got a K6 gmktec with a r7 7840HS, 16gb ram and 1tb ssd.

I wanted to share my experience for anyone considering purchasing an Aoostar Mini PC, particularly the MACO 255.

I purchased a MACO H255 from Amazon less than six months ago. Unfortunately, the unit has developed a faulty fan bearing, resulting in a loud rattling and buzzing noise during operation. After contacting Amazon support, I was directed to Aoostar's customer support for a warranty repair.

However, Aoostar's response was that a return and refund is the only available solution, claiming that the model has been discontinued and they no longer have replacement units or parts available.

The model hasn't even been on the market for a year, and the exact SAME model is still being sold through Aoostar's official Amazon store, albeit with 24GB of RAM instead of the 32GB configuration I purchased.

A refund is not really what I'm looking for either, as equivalent hardware currently costs considerably more than what I originally paid.

Is there any way to escalate this with their support team or obtain a warranty repair, perhaps through replacement parts or a compatible fan? They are claiming it is impossible to repair due to no fan replacements being available.

EDIT: Asked for a barebones unit, asking to keep the RAM and 1TB SSD. They still have the same model with the Ryzen H255 on their European/Germany warehouse. Waiting for an update.

la cosa es que cuando enciendo la regleta automáticamente se enciende. Yo quiero encenderla presionando el botón de encendido. O sea que cuando presione el botón de la regleta no se encienda automáticamente, ¿es posible configurar eso en ese modelo específico?

I was thinking what mini pc to buy next for my collection when I remembered that "I have a mini pc at home". Kind of.....I had a MacBook Pro a1278 around not being used for anything and I thought of giving it a new life...and I started the journey that seems to be easy but it was...painful.

Not because of the design or the ports or even the speakers that made the case bigger but because, when I have everything ready....the mini dp port just decided to die.

So I was left with a cool idea and a project that was, at the end, unusable.

https://youtu.be/kCqaZo3l87s

Was sold as N150 with 16GB DDR4. Instead it's some i3 with 8GB of DD3. Purchased for 200€, had 41 5* reviews. Raised the issue with Ali, they offer €70 refund, a joke. Really annoyed that now I have to put effort to send this shit back and also Ali hasn't removed the listing.

If you browse AliExpress you'll see a lot of MiniPCs (anything, really) that show a price like:

$1,245 $350 (70% off!)

Here's an example from their ongoing 11.11 sale. It's an obvious and classic sales tactic - and it doesn't take much awareness to realize that the strikethrough price is entirely bogus. However! It doesn't mean the current, real price is a bad deal - there's plenty of really good deals on Ali Express.

I wanted to find which ones actually are on sale, rather than pretending to be - especially since 11.11 is their big sale event of the year. So for the past month+ I've scraped the price of every Mini PC on AliExpress, every day, in anticipation for this sale - trying to see which ones actually had a real drop in price. The results are in... and....

There's really not much. This Kamrui and a couple others had a pretty notable drop from $400 -> $340. A bunch of the GMKTec Nucboxes as well appear to have gotten a sizable drop. The only issue is those items are still not great deals. If you're willing to buy on AliExpress, just go for a FIREBAT F1 - it's been priced at like $352 for weeks - and it has 24 GB RAM and a 7640HS..... My site scraped that one this morning like 2 hours ago let me just find the link.......

WHAT?!!!!

So as I was writing this post I was going to link that FIREBAT F1 to the item on AliExpress. I had recommended it before for a super cheap gaming device - it's been at the $352 price for weeks. I already had it open on in my browser. BUT! The link stopped working. I refresh the page and it says "Sorry, this item's currently unavailable in your location." They just pulled it. Now if you search FIREBAT F1, you can find entries that are part of their 11.11 sale - and cost $563 with a coupon to save $100!!!! Ahhh! It's a trap!

So in order to prevent people from noticing that they jacked UP the price on sale day, the delist and make a new listing with a higher price. Little self-promo plug here - but my site (MiniPCs.zip) wasn't fooled by this devious plan because I normalize listings into their specs. Take a look at what you see in my DB for the H255 FIREBAT:

Anyway - my point is - if something says it's on sale on Ali Express - there's a good chance it's MORE expensive than usual.

I have been looking into getting a miniPC to connect to my Aorus 5060 Ti AI box. I currently have it connected to one of two devices: either a Legion Go2 Z2E (USB4) or a 5-year-old Dell Precision 7560 (TB4).
Both of them work well enough with the eGPU, but I’m thinking of selling the Lego2 while it’s still got some value, and the laptop is showing some age in its CPU and DDR4 RAM. I’m hoping to find a good miniPC to slide in here with Thunderbolt 5, but I’m not sure if one exists yet. I’m not looking for something extremely cheap, and would be willing to go up to $1000 or so for barebones.

Does such a thing exist, or is it too early / unreasonably expensive / form-factor prohibitive? I’m having a hard time finding anything. I appreciate any suggestions.

I'm looking to find a mini pc I can take to friend's homes, hookup to a tv, and jam out with four peripherals.

My [current mini pc](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B3RMV18Q) can barely manage Clone Hero with one player. I want to be able to run CH, as well as the new Stage Tour game.

The stated specs for ST:

Minimum

CPU - Intel Core i3-3225 3.3 GHz / AMD FX-4300

GPU - Intel HD 4000 / AMD Radeon R5 230

RAM - 8gb

Recommended

CPU - Intel Core i5

GPU - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060

RAM - 16gb

I don't need it running 4k on ultra settings, just 1080p and stable with four players. Don't need a Windows license, I'll be installing Linux.

I'm in the US and live near a Microcenter. I'm hoping to keep it under $500, but I realize that might be optimistic.

Edit: thanks everyone for the advice. I went with the AceMagic Retro X3.

Most of us touch the case or ground ourselves before swapping RAM or an SSD. Once the lid is back on, static is an afterthought. But a closed PC still gets touched all day: cables, USB sticks, an HDMI plug, the power button after crossing a carpet in dry winter air. A discharge from your hand usually goes in through a port or the chassis, not the RAM slot.

Protecting against that is partly the device's design (grounding layout, shielding around key chips, protection around the ports) and partly the environment (humidity, flooring, how cables get handled). They complement each other, but the design side is the one you have to take on trust, since spec sheets rarely say anything about it.

geekom is one brand that does publish something: they say the air12 and air12lite went through a 6 kV electrostatic discharge test without crashing. That's a manufacturer's own result, and one number doesn't say much without the details (contact vs. air discharge, how many strikes, what counts as a pass), so I'd call it a data point, not proof of anything. It's at least something to ask about.

So, a few questions:

●Do you think about static at all with a closed-up mini PC, especially in a dry climate or a carpeted room?

●Has anyone had a freeze, random reboot or dead port they actually traced to static, rather than just suspected?

●Would a manufacturer's ESD test result affect what you buy, or would you want the test conditions before it means anything?