Mini PC for gaming?

A

AzBat

Agent of the Bat
Legend
Anybody have any experience with the Mini PC form factor for gaming? I'm wanting something small to replace a Xbox One X in my bedroom. I considered a Series S, but it's $300 new or $260 used & it still doesn't give me Windows/Steam games. Plus, it's still twice as big as a
Mini PC. So if I decide to take my gaming with me, then my backpack is already probably too full with my Chromebook & other accessories. I guess I could buy a portable monitor to go with the Mini PC, to help get rid of the Chromebook? Hmm.

Anyway, I've been seeing a few Mini PCs lately with the new Ryzen 7 7735HS. And I figured that could give me equivalent performance to my One X or a Series S in 1080p games. Thoughts?

The Mini PC will be used almost exclusively on my 55" 1080p TV. So I don't want another laptop. I have a phone & Chromebook for those purposes. I'm mainly wanting to run it on my TV to get access to the large PC gaming library. I don't ever do PC work at home. I do enough of that at the office. 😎
 
As long as you are okay with the spec, should be no problem.

You may need to strategically position it if you use Bluetooth controllers tho.
 
Mini ITX boards for Amd are unholy expensive, and if you go for Micro ATX the cases are huge to accommodate a full size power supply and while they are on it, a full lenght gpu board
 
AzBat said:
Anyway, I've been seeing a few Mini PCs lately with the new Ryzen 7 7735HS. And I figured that could give me equivalent performance to my One X or a Series S in 1080p games. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
The performance is probably closer to just the One S.

edit: hmm I guess it is more powerful than that... I still think it won't bring the same gaming experience as a Series S, but could be close enough.
 
Last edited:
Ok. So probably between a One S & One X? I might be able to live that. Especially considering it will have a SSD. Has Digital Foundry tried benchmarking it yet? Would be interested to hear what they figure out.
 
arandomguy said:
If you have a gaming PC already I would just look into streaming off that instead.
Click to expand...
I don't own a Windows PC much less a Gaming PC. I'm Team Xbox. Only Xbox I don't own is the Series S.
fehu said:
Mini ITX boards for Amd are unholy expensive, and if you go for Micro ATX the cases are huge to accommodate a full size power supply and while they are on it, a full lenght gpu board
Click to expand...

The Mini PCs with the Ryzen 7 7735HS APU I'm looking at are the NUC size. Not evening messing with ITX/ATX or discreet GPUs.

um773-lite_04.jpg71+ji6H66UL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg
 
I like to get my hands dirty in ram and mb, but nice! How much for these? What's the cpu's configured tdp?
 
AzBat said:
Ok. So probably between a One S & One X? I might be able to live that. Especially considering it will have a SSD. Has Digital Foundry tried benchmarking it yet? Would be interested to hear what they figure out.
Click to expand...
The 7735HS is the same as the 6800H from what I can tell. Pretty nice but wouldn't the One X clobber that in GPU performance? It has over 4x the memory bandwidth (326GBps vs 77GBps).
 
I think they are configured for 54 watts from a few videos I watched below. Did some searching & it looks like AMD says PC makers can go down to 35 watts. Amazon has a Beelink SER6 Pro 32gb/500gb version for $689. I've also seen a Minisforum UM773 Lite go as low as $559 for a 16gb/512gb direct, but I don't think they ship until end of March.


 
homerdog said:
The 7735HS is the same as the 6800H from what I can tell. Pretty nice but wouldn't the One X clobber that in GPU performance? It has over 4x the memory bandwidth (326GBps vs 77GBps).
Click to expand...

Yes, but I wont be using it at 4K, just 1080p on a TV or 720p in portable mode. I'm ok with reducing some quality settings.
 
AzBat said:
I think they are configured for 54 watts from a few videos I watched below. Did some searching & it looks like AMD says PC makers can go down to 35 watts. Amazon has a Beelink SER6 Pro 32gb/500gb version for $689. I've also seen a Minisforum UM773 Lite go as low as $559 for a 16gb/512gb direct, but I don't think they ship until end of March.


Click to expand...
The barebones is only $410.
store.minisforum.com

Minisforum UM773 Lite

Minisforum UM773 Lite AMD Ryzenâ„¢ 7 7735HS & AMD Radeonâ„¢ 680M MINI PC
store.minisforum.com store.minisforum.com

Throw in 16GB DDR5 and a 512GB SSD and you have a full system for around $500.
 
homerdog said:
What is portable mode? Does it have a display built in?
Click to expand...

Should have used that in quotes. There's no such mode or screen. "Portable mode" is just me throwing it in my backpack with a portable monitor.

Now you're probably saying why not get a Steam Deck with dock? I don't want an integrated screen & controller. Plus, if I want to change the screen, controller or upgrade the memory or hard drive, etc, then it's a much easier task if everything is modular.
 
AzBat said:
Yeah, just seen that. But barebones also doesn't include a Windows license. 😕
Click to expand...
Oh yea that's a bummer but understandable. Gotta admit I never take that into account since I've always had access to Windows licenses through work or school.
 
I built myself a gaming mini HTPC. It's got a Geforce GT 1030 which is about Xbox One (non X) level of power, though obviously there are far better choices out there today in the form of Ryzen APUs.
 
Theeoo said:
I built myself a gaming mini HTPC. It's got a Geforce GT 1030 which is about Xbox One (non X) level of power, though obviously there are far better choices out there today in the form of Ryzen APUs.
Click to expand...
So why not go the Ryzen route? Cost?
 
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