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

 

[ED209]

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

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.

 

[Quartz]

Go look at the ETA Prime and ServeTheHome channels on YouTube.

 

[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.

 

[alec]

Samsung LC32G7xT

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

 

[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

 

[mickyflinn]

I think you should be buying a decent GPU and putting in your existing machine 4080 super, 7900xtx or wait for the new release in January.

If you not happy then it's time to go 9800x3d build either reusing case, etc and selling you old stuff to offset the cost .

 

[Cyber-Mav]

If you want small look at a MINISFORUM AI370

 

[sweols]

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