Mini PC - Smallest foot print without compromising performance

[sweols]

Good morning fellow nerds,

I've been inspired by the new Mac-Mini form factor. While I appreciate it's not a new concept, it appears to be a decent powerhouse in such a small space. Before going any further, I am not interested in going down the Apple route, as I regularly play games. However, the small factor has such appeal, and I would like it to sit on my desk (again). I am limited to 1200mm desk, so there isn't a lot of space. Ideally, I want the case to have a 200mm by 200mm footprint, height as low as possible. I've searched high and low for a CPU with decent integrated graphics, but that appears to be completely out of the question. Can someone give me a bit of guidance on next steps please, I am not necessarily limited to a budget.

Kind regards,
M

 

[sweols]

What is your budget? do you have a monitor already?, if so what res\make\model is it?

What games do you also play? This will give us an idea of where to start.

I don't have a set budget as such, but probably looking around £1500 for the PC itself. I play on 1440P, I have a Samsung LC32G7xT. I play Squad (CPU intensive) and Predecessor primarily. Sometimes do light 3D modelling in Sketchup.

 

[sweols]

slightly off topic, as a fellow owner of that, it is so not suitable for small desks Hope you have it on an arm

another slightly off topic shower thought... A gaming laptop standing on its side vertically would make a powerful small footprint computer

Yeah, my wife started working from home, we needed two sit-to-stand desks in a 2500mm foot plate. I was limited to 1200mm desk.. I bought an arm, ended up not working.. I think I'm missing the adaptor plate for VESA but it's on my to do list.

Whilst a laptop have a smaller foot print, upgradability is poor.. I actually have a 5800x3d, not the 3700x listed below.

 

[sweols]

Right-O.

I've had a little dabble. I'm limited to 135mm height for CPU cooler in this particular case and 280mm for the GPU. I couldn't find many good low-profile options, and ideally want to try and steer away from liquid cooling if I can, this particular model can reportedly cool up to 170w, 7800x3d tops at 120w, so should be OK?

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Raijintek Metis Evo ALS Mini-ITX Case - White (SKU: CA-04A-RT) = £79.99
• 1 x Asrock Radeon RX 7800 XT Challenger OC 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ASR-02993) = £449.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £479.99
• 1 x Asus ROG Strix B650E-I Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 Mini ITX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6JZ-AS) = £229.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02517) = £84.95
• 1 x Jonsbo HX4170D Low Profile CPU Cooler Black – Intel and AMD (SKU: HS-00W-JB) = £33.95
• 1 x Kingston FURY Beast EXPO 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-KNG-03705) = £99.94

Total: £1,458.80 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[sweols]

Scrap the above.

My boss 'wife' has agreed for me to upgrade, but I'll need to balance the upgrade cost vs longevity.

I have a Asus Prime X570P, AMD 5800X3D, GTX 2070Super, Seasonic 750w PSU and 32gb Ram 3200mhz, Be Quiet 500 Midi Case. Everything but CPU reaching 5 years old in March '25

The upgrade paths are
1. GPU and PSU - Budget £700

2. GPU, PSU, CPU, CPU cooler (air), Motherboard (ATX), DDR5 memory - (I intend to keep Windows, NVME's and Case) Budget £1300-1500

3. Entirely new build Budget £1800

Realistically, I would prefer to choose option 2. Although the 5800X3D performs well, it lacks single-core performance, which I believe the Unreal engine benefits from, particularly #4. I have already carried out a 'midlife' upgrade, and it's only a matter of time before components begin to fail. I do not generally overclock, at least not manually. I play on 1440p and refresh rate up to 240hz although I usually limit FPS to 80 to a 100.
Must need connectivity
Built in wifi
USB-C ports (2)
Nice to have
Bluetooth for connectivity

Thank you,
M

 

[sweols]

Hi all. Just an update
Ended up getting the 9900x, 7800xt, Fractal Pop Mini among many other specs.