ecosse_011172
Gold Member
Specs?
How Come Mini PCs Are Smaller and More Powerful Than Modern Consoles?
- Thread starter SuperC
- Start date
Quasicat
Member
That's a nice and clean setup. Once the kids are a bit older, I can drop the cabinet with the doors and have a more open design.
You want my awesome PC case, loads of space for big, quiet fans and living room friendly.
Similar seem harder to find sadly these days.
hououinkyouma00
Member
RTX 4070 Super
9700x
32GB DDR5 6000
Had a 5600x/16gb DDR4 prior.
There's obviously some fan noise, but it's not loud at all and honestly not really noticeable. I move my PC back and forth between a desk setup where it's within 24 inches of my head and my TV so ITX make it all a lot easier.
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ecosse_011172
Gold Member
Great that it's so quiet.
hououinkyouma00
Member
Yeah, as long as my cat doesn't lay on top of it (like she is right now unfortunately) I don't really hear it especially when playing games.
This is the most impressive case I've ever used.
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
Have you looked into Moonlight at all? I switched to an AMD mini PC for normal desktop adn it's enough for indies. But for games that need more performance I stream from the now TV PC. It keeps the office quiet and cool.
How did we end up with such a huge consoles when there are mini PCs out there with an RTX 4070 laptop and an i7 CPUs that are way smaller and much more powerful?
Draugoth
Gold Member
Also Windows is an unoptomized
bloatware that eats anything from 10% to 20% of a game's performance, any console will be mote efficient than a PC with the same equivalent specs, there's a reason why portable consoles are switching to Steam OS.
Edit: Mini PC with RTX 4070, so I'm assuming it's the mobile version which Nvidia has on their laptops. Consoles don't have dedicated GPUs, but with Upscaling you can achieve some impressive results with dedicated AI chips om gaming.
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brokenwatch
Member
What are these mini PCs you are referring to specifically? Brands and prices?
I need a new mini PC to run my home automation.
https://www.bosgamepc.com/products/bosgame-m5-ai-mini-desktop-ryzen-ai-max-395 ?
I need a new mini PC to run my home automation.
https://www.bosgamepc.com/products/bosgame-m5-ai-mini-desktop-ryzen-ai-max-395 ?
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rodrigolfp
Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
Isn't past time your meds??
Mister Wolf
Member
Zacfoldor
Member
Absolutely mate, absolutely.
Let me say that first I wasn't intending to brag about being in IT for a long time. I kinda hate IT and basically I'm a janitor that knows how to google-troubleshoot windows.
Second, I don't want anyone with a mini-pc to be upset about my comment. When we ran NUCs, we had both passive and active cooled and I've had several myself over the years. Eventually I did stop buying them because they are hard to work on and come with some issues that are often complicated to resolve when the worst happens. I've had a mini PC that I loved and some that I've hated and everything in between.
In my experience for a gaming rig, you are really going to be putting that rig thru a lot of stress, so you want to give it the best chance possible for stability. You also want to stick with the popular experience, as there is safety in numbers. Gaming on a micro pc would not be safety in numbers as likely there are not a lot of people out there using that type of device as their only dedicated gaming device. If they are, the zeitgeist hasn't settled on a model that is recommended for that, so everything is really obscure one would be dealing with. Add in all that heat in a small form factor and I can just see a random freeze machine being a possibility and it would be something I would worry about if I went this route. If it does start happening there is really nothing to do but try to have the device replaced. I would feel much more covered with a console or a real PC that I built and that I know I could work on and that is modular. I'm really not trying to be an asshole or a braggart ever man, seriously. I don't think working in IT gives many any special insight and I kinda regret mentioning it but just wanted you to know that I'm not an asshole in that way(in other ways sure, but not that way, lol).
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
I did a build in the Jade Terra last year with 7800X3D and a Asus Pro Art 4070 Ti Super. It was such a great build. That case looks amazing. So, so small and so much power that you can cram in it, if you are mindful of your component specs.
I often think of putting a FE 5090 into one.
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I've been looking for a modern alternative to the Alienware Alpha which is getting kina old now.
Zontac Magnus series seem to good to be true for its size, and possibly require the unit to be well ventilated for it to be reliable. The only other mini alternatives I've seen is the MSI MAG Trident S 5M with comes with a Ryzen processor with integrated graphics. Asus did acquire the Intel NUC line and have their own GeForce range of NUC's which are console sized. Intel also did their own NUC 12 Enthusiast that had a Arc A770M GPU.
If you don't mind fiddling around with it, HP did have Elite G9 that can take a GeForce card, along with an updated power supply. It's a custom designed HP part, but is possible.
There is also the Lenovo ThinkCentre Neo Ultra Gen 2 with has the option of an RTX5060.
Ideally you need something with its own TV frontend interface, since Windows 11 isn't very well designed for a controller/TV interface since they axed Windows Media Center. You can configure Steam to start in Big Picture Mode, but having it replace the Windows shell can be tricky, especially with the Windows GAC updates that tend to reset things.
Zontac Magnus series seem to good to be true for its size, and possibly require the unit to be well ventilated for it to be reliable. The only other mini alternatives I've seen is the MSI MAG Trident S 5M with comes with a Ryzen processor with integrated graphics. Asus did acquire the Intel NUC line and have their own GeForce range of NUC's which are console sized. Intel also did their own NUC 12 Enthusiast that had a Arc A770M GPU.
If you don't mind fiddling around with it, HP did have Elite G9 that can take a GeForce card, along with an updated power supply. It's a custom designed HP part, but is possible.
There is also the Lenovo ThinkCentre Neo Ultra Gen 2 with has the option of an RTX5060.
Ideally you need something with its own TV frontend interface, since Windows 11 isn't very well designed for a controller/TV interface since they axed Windows Media Center. You can configure Steam to start in Big Picture Mode, but having it replace the Windows shell can be tricky, especially with the Windows GAC updates that tend to reset things.
simpatico
Gold Member
PS6 coming in BeeLink sized guaranteed?
Durin
Member
Not shocking it can outperform a console that's likely cheaper and running older architecture.
We've been seeing mobile hardware also make good headway in performance, and the PC emulation happening on Android is impressive.
I'd still opt towards something mini-itx around the size of a console though, because you can get better cooling, dust filters in the case that make it easier to clean less often, and just more longevity to the components. Otherwise I'd just go for a handheld or tablet if I want anything smaller since they can easily plug into TVs now with wireless controllers.
We've been seeing mobile hardware also make good headway in performance, and the PC emulation happening on Android is impressive.
I'd still opt towards something mini-itx around the size of a console though, because you can get better cooling, dust filters in the case that make it easier to clean less often, and just more longevity to the components. Otherwise I'd just go for a handheld or tablet if I want anything smaller since they can easily plug into TVs now with wireless controllers.
Crayon
Member
A $500 mini pc from 2020? A $550 mini pc from now?
Look at the heat sink in that original ps5 that had bom ~$500. Look at the heat sink in the $700 bom xbox. Sony engineered circles around ms and one tradeoff was higher clocks/waste heat and an enormous heat sink that was much cheaper to make.
Look at the heat sink in that original ps5 that had bom ~$500. Look at the heat sink in the $700 bom xbox. Sony engineered circles around ms and one tradeoff was higher clocks/waste heat and an enormous heat sink that was much cheaper to make.
reinking
Gold Member
How Come Mini PCs Are Smaller and More Expensive Than Modern Consoles? 
Mini PCs with the specs you mention are well over 1K. If the next Xbox console rumors are true, we will find out if console gamers are willing to spend that kind of money for that kind of performance.
Mini PCs with the specs you mention are well over 1K. If the next Xbox console rumors are true, we will find out if console gamers are willing to spend that kind of money for that kind of performance.
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Power Pro
Member
Sorry to derail the thread a little bit, but I've been thinking about getting a mini-pc recently for my living room. My main gaming PC is in another room, but sometimes I'd like to have a comfy couch experience with some of those games, so I was thinking of maybe having a mini-pc as basically a steam link, and maybe an emulation machine for the living room.
Does anyone know a good low cost one that would be perfect for that?
Does anyone know a good low cost one that would be perfect for that?
Guardian Monkey
Member
The 4060/5050/60s run low watt compared to the 30 series and before. As long as you can run you CPU not on overdrive you can get laptops that run pretty cool and as about as fast. Also cost can get close to the 2020 systems.
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Well you will probably want to use moonlight/sunshine - much better than steam link in my experience. My J4125 powered mini PC actually performs pretty satisfactory for what you described although only emulation for arcade and early consoles, but if making a Frankenstein portable isn't a requirement then there are definitely better options - probably one of the ryzen 7 powered ones.
Power Pro
Member
I looked into that moonlight/sunshine stuff, and I was honestly confused...i installed both on my desktop and tv the way it said...and it didn't find each other. at that point, it was already more trouble then i wanted.
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
I found it as easy as installing an app. It's probably worth another shot before giving up on it, the streaming quality is better and the ability to interact with your PC is more advanced.
Power Pro
Member
i really don't want to interact with the PC though. I just would like to be able to bring up my steam library and launch a game like it was another console.
I'm not sure what your budget is in terms of low cost, but I use one of these as a desktop daily drivers and it's fine for indies. It's the same specs as the AMD Z1 extreme as the more powerful handheld PCs. I do use Moonlight from a rig I have connected to my TV for AAA games.
https://www.amazon.com/MINISFORUM-DeskMini-Barebone-Version-Graphics/dp/B0DTHCR5KM
I actually ended up ordering another one of these off Aliexpress for just over $200. Note that this doesn't come with RAM or storage. It uses DDR5 SODIMMs and can take standard m.2 2280 NVME drives. The new one is going to be connected to a TV and running official SteamOS. We'll see how it goes in a few weeks when I get it.
This is the version of the server I'm running. It's called Apollo and adds extra features the original Sunshine doesn't have. https://github.com/ClassicOldSong/Apollo