Mini PCs 2023 - any good?

[yusoffb01]

Thanks!

Ryzen 9 4000 series better or Ryzen 5 5000 series? Totally confused with numbers that don't seem to make sense...

4000 and 5000 similar performance per core

 

[chiu2000]

I only need to surf internet, watch YouTube, edit some photos using Photoshop CS 5, use Handbrake to re-compile videos, that kind of stuff...

CS5 cannot make full use of modern GPU acceleration, thus don't need anything too fancy

i would suggest the Tiny/Mini/Micro series from the 3 big brands, namely Lenovo ThinkCenter Tiny series, HP EliteDesk Mini series and Dell Optiplex Micro series

these are business grade desktops and come with 3 years next day warranty as standard

sometimes you may even be able to pick up some not too old 2nd hand models that companies dump out when they upgrade or close down

even new ones are not too expensive, since the companies really make them in bulk

 

[limcc]

The Ryzen 4000 notebook APUs are base on Zen 2 architecture, L3 cache is 8MB.

The Ryzen 5000 notebook APUs are base on Zen 3 architecture, L3 cache is 16MB.

Other than the L3 cache, they are more or less have similar features and performance, with 5000 series faster by 5~10% clock for clock. Beside more core counts, Ryzen 7 APU usually-but not always-have more Vega CU than Ryzen 5's, and faster gfx clock speed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_Ryzen_processors
The H and HX-35~54 W TDP-have fast base clock than U-10~25W TDP. Higher TDP allow the H and HX to stay at max clock for longer period. Which mean more heat=-more fan noise. BTW, you can tweak the TDP with tools like Ryzen Controller:
https://www.xtremegaminerd.com/ryzen-controller-presets/

 

[Teo Ming Ern]

The Ryzen 4000 notebook APUs are base on Zen 2 architecture, L3 cache is 8MB.

The Ryzen 5000 notebook APUs are base on Zen 3 architecture, L3 cache is 16MB.

Other than the L3 cache, they are more or less have similar features and performance, with 5000 series faster by 5~10% clock for clock. Beside more core counts, Ryzen 7 APU usually-but not always-have more Vega CU than Ryzen 5's, and faster gfx clock speed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_Ryzen_processors
The H and HX-35~54 W TDP-have fast base clock than U-10~25W TDP. Higher TDP allow the H and HX to stay at max clock for longer period. Which mean more heat=-more fan noise. BTW, you can tweak the TDP with tools like Ryzen Controller:
https://www.xtremegaminerd.com/ryzen-controller-presets/

Thank you! Very informative... so ideally I should go for Ryzen 5000 with H suffix right?

Then why is there Ryzen 3, 5, 7 & 9? What's that? Why have 2 sets of numbers?

 

[sacredrays]

if can wait for the mobile ryzen 7x40 series cpu, just wait ba.

but it's need to wait a bit.

 

[yusoffb01]

just get 5560u from amazon. ready to use

faster than intel 12th gen 10 core 1235u
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/4765vs4883/Intel-i5-1235U-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-5560U

 

[Teo Ming Ern]

Looks

just get 5560u from amazon. ready to use

faster than intel 12th gen 10 core 1235u
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/4765vs4883/Intel-i5-1235U-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-5560U

Looks good bro... only $400 very attractive... would 32 GB RAM be better? More futureproof? I tend to use my desktops for very long...

 

[yusoffb01]

Looks

Looks good bro... only $400 very attractive... would 32 GB RAM be better? More futureproof? I tend to use my desktops for very long...

buy and use first. can upgrade later

 

[NightRaven49]

The Ryzen 4000 notebook APUs are base on Zen 2 architecture, L3 cache is 8MB.

The Ryzen 5000 notebook APUs are base on Zen 3 architecture, L3 cache is 16MB.

Other than the L3 cache, they are more or less have similar features and performance, with 5000 series faster by 5~10% clock for clock. Beside more core counts, Ryzen 7 APU usually-but not always-have more Vega CU than Ryzen 5's, and faster gfx clock speed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_Ryzen_processors
The H and HX-35~54 W TDP-have fast base clock than U-10~25W TDP. Higher TDP allow the H and HX to stay at max clock for longer period. Which mean more heat=-more fan noise. BTW, you can tweak the TDP with tools like Ryzen Controller:
https://www.xtremegaminerd.com/ryzen-controller-presets/

not 100% true. some 5000 series apus are zen 2 based, specifically the 5300u, 5500u and 5700u (rebranded 4600u and 4800u for the latter 2 respectively), which are very common on mini pcs; i actually have not seen many mini pcs use the proper zen 3 u series apus. the one yusoff linked is also likely zen 2 based instead of zen 3. 5000h/hx/hs series is guaranteed zen 3. multicore performance (applicable to handbrake) should be similar between zen 2 and 3; zen 3's main improvement is in single core performance over zen 2, so some apps like photoshop can see decent gains with zen 3. general system responsiveness is already pretty good with zen 2 though. u can see the relative performance of most of these apus here:

so ideally I should go for Ryzen 5000 with H suffix right?

Then why is there Ryzen 3, 5, 7 & 9? What's that? Why have 2 sets of numbers?

for general day to day use, i dont see the point spending the premium getting h series over u series.

the numbers are for general market segmentation (not always accurate). 3 for entry level, 5 for mainstream, 7 for enthusiast and 9 for extreme high end. same idea with core i3, i5, i7 and i9 from intel.

 

[Teo Ming Ern]

not 100% true. some 5000 series apus are zen 2 based, specifically the 5300u, 5500u and 5700u (rebranded 4600u and 4800u for the latter 2 respectively), which are very common on mini pcs; i actually have not seen many mini pcs use the proper zen 3 u series apus. the one yusoff linked is also likely zen 2 based instead of zen 3. 5000h/hx/hs series is guaranteed zen 3. multicore performance (applicable to handbrake) should be similar between zen 2 and 3; zen 3's main improvement is in single core performance over zen 2, so some apps like photoshop can see decent gains with zen 3. general system responsiveness is already pretty good with zen 2 though. u can see the relative performance of most of these apus here:

for general day to day use, i dont see the point spending the premium getting h series over u series.

the numbers are for general market segmentation (not always accurate). 3 for entry level, 5 for mainstream, 7 for enthusiast and 9 for extreme high end. same idea with core i3, i5, i7 and i9 from intel.

Oh and then with each single digit series, the 4000, 5000, 6000 & 7000 series numbers represent relative performance within the single digit series? So Ryzen 5 3000 series should be lower performing than Ryzen 5 5000 series? Is that how it works?

 

[Teo Ming Ern]

buy and use first. can upgrade later

Yeah I know... but I don't know if the RAM is 1 stick 16GB or 2 sticks 8 + 8 GB... if the latter then a bit wasted if got to throw away the 8 + 8 GB RAM... anyone knows?

Ok answered my question with this video: It's 8 + 8 GB Crucial RAM...

 

[NightRaven49]

Oh and then with each single digit series, the 4000, 5000, 6000 & 7000 series numbers represent relative performance within the single digit series?

they typically represent the generation, though for laptop cpus amd will retire this in favour of lumping everything into a single 4 digit code starting with the 7000 series this year.

So Ryzen 5 3000 series should be lower performing than Ryzen 5 5000 series? Is that how it works?

usually yes, but not necessarily always. eg r3 3100 vs 4100, they switched from a chiplet design of the 3100 to a monolithic one for the 4100, while both were zen 2 the reduced cache meant that performance was really no better (sometimes worse) with the 4100. u also lost pcie gen 4 as the 4100 was actually a laptop cpu repurposed for desktop.

 

[Teo Ming Ern]

Would a Creative Stage Air V2 be suitable for this mini PC?

 

[GotBetrayed]

Why not just get m2 Mac mini base model 849, student price 709 sgd.

 

[Teo Ming Ern]

Why not just get m2 Mac mini base model 849, student price 709 sgd.

Pay double for what? For the Apple premium? And to jump through all the hoops to get it to work on Windows? Not for me...

 

[GotBetrayed]

Pay double for what? For the Apple premium? And to jump through all the hoops to get it to work on Windows? Not for me...

It’s way more efficient… and cheap, small form factor. How much you wanna pay? 709 is totally reasonable for me

 

[Teo Ming Ern]

It’s way more efficient… and cheap, small form factor. How much you wanna pay? 709 is totally reasonable for me

I just bought a Beelink SER 5 with 16 GB RAM, 500GB NVME SSD, AMD Ryzen 5 5560U with Vega graphics in a tiny little package with 6 x USB-A ports, 1 x USB-C port, 2 x HDMI ports + 1 x 2.5 Gbps LAN port for S$396... good enough for me... comes with Windows 11 Pro pre-installed and activated...

Maybe you like MacOS but I prefer Windows... so I won't pay the premium for Apple lor...

 

[Teo Ming Ern]

Just also to update - I added a simple, cheap Creative Stage Air V2 to pair with this mini PC... my almost 2 decades-old Altec Lansing ACS45.1 speakers just died on me... paid $110 for it and used it to the end... the new Creative Stage Air V2 only $59 from Creative's website...

 

[Teo Ming Ern]

Finally need to ask for more help... I added a new thread... but if prefer to post here also can...

https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/threads/recommend-4-bay-3-5-hdd-enclosure.6864461/
Hello,

Need some help here... I am changing from a mid-tower ATX PC to a mini PC (Beelink SER 5). So I have 3 SATA 3.0 HDDs (1 + 1 + 3TB) that I have to house elsewhere... I am looking for a 4-bay HDD enclosure which will allow me to connect the enclosure to the mini PC via USB 3.0.

I currently have a 4-bay ProBox which is used in office but that is also quite old now... just wondering if there is any cheap 4-bay enclosure that is available anywhere? I have looked at Amazon.sg and the cheapest is an Orico costing $143...

I'm not looking to do RAID or NAS or anything... all I want is to use these as external storage (which is accessed relatively frequently)... a 4-bay enclosure looks pretty neat and easy to maintain... would having 4 separate single HDD enclosures work as well? I mean they need to be securely stackable so that they don't fall off and hit the tabletop...

Any recommendations welcomed!

Thank you very much!

Regards
ME

 

[laksa2003]

I just bought a Beelink SER 5 with 16 GB RAM, 500GB NVME SSD, AMD Ryzen 5 5560U with Vega graphics in a tiny little package with 6 x USB-A ports, 1 x USB-C port, 2 x HDMI ports + 1 x 2.5 Gbps LAN port for S$396... good enough for me... comes with Windows 11 Pro pre-installed and activated...

Maybe you like MacOS but I prefer Windows... so I won't pay the premium for Apple lor...

how is the performance bro?
fast bootup? good reponsive windows?
output to monitor ok?