Question Planning new PC!

[King Friday]

I've had enough of my 4 year old HP Pavilion.

I'm going with a Mini-PC

MINISFORUM Venus UM790 Pro Mini PC AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS Barebone with AMD Radeon 780M, 4X USB3.2, 2X USB4, 2xHDMI 2.1, 2X PCIe4.0, Wi-Fi 6E/BT5.3, RJ45 2.5 G​

I'll put in a WD Black 1TB SN850X M.2 and 32GB (2x16) Crucial DDR5 5600MHz.

I'm also going to put together an eGPU with Sapphire Pulse RX 7600 8GB DDR6

You're comments and or questions would be very welcome!

 

[COLGeek]

I've had 3 similar devices, all still in use with friends and family members. For basic, day to day use, they are excellent. Quiet, efficient, and effective. Definitely not for high-end gaming because of the integrated video.

eGPUs? Not sure on that one, so I'll let others opine on that.

I would suggest a 2TB SSD, vice 1TB.

 

[King Friday]

I've had 3 similar devices, all still in use with friends and family members. For basic, day to day use, they are excellent. Quiet, efficient, and effective. Definitely not for high-end gaming because of the integrated video.

eGPUs? Not sure on that one, so I'll let others opine on that.

I would suggest a 2TB SSD, vice 1TB.

Thanks for the post, ColGeek. I'm been looking at LOTS of reviews and this integrated graphics Radeon 780M is pretty decent with 1080P, which is plenty good for me.

 

[COLGeek]

Thanks for the post, ColGeek. I'm been looking at LOTS of reviews and this integrated graphics Radeon 780M is pretty decent with 1080P, which is plenty good for me.

Agreed. It is amazing that they can cram so much performance into such a small configuration. I'm a fan. A couple of other moderators also have similar devices and they are very happy with them.

 

[USAFRet]

Why the eGPU? What will this system be used for?

 

[King Friday]

Why the eGPU? What will this system be used for?

Gaming and productivity. I've wanted to play Kerbal Space Program 2 and MS Flight Sim for some time.

 

[COLGeek]

Gaming and productivity. I've wanted to play Kerbal Space Program 2 and MS Flight Sim for some time.

MS Flight Sim is a beast of a program in terms of space, especially if you install all the available content.

Have you considered building a mini-ITX system instead of this one? It would be more suited to what you just described for usage.

 

[USAFRet]

Gaming and productivity. I've wanted to play Kerbal Space Program 2 and MS Flight Sim for some time.

Well...if you're going with a gaming system, and at that level of performance, I'd just go with a real desktop instead of the mini system.

Adding an eGPU negates all the size benefit of the mini, and gives less performance because you're trying to shove the graphics through the Thunderbolt port.

 

[King Friday]

Well...if you're going with a gaming system, and at that level of performance, I'd just go with a real desktop instead of the mini system.

Adding an eGPU negates all the size benefit of the mini, and gives less performance because you're trying to shove the graphics through the Thunderbolt port.

Actually, the USB 4 does have the 40GB throughput but I'll be connecting the eGPU via M.2 ribbon cable on this

JMT M.2 M Key NVMe External Graphics Card Stand Bracket 64Gbs Full Speed with PCIe 4.0 x4 Riser Cable.​

The Mini does have a second Gen4 M.2 slot.

As for building a full Desktop, I was planning that and was in the $1400 US range to get it done. But with what I'm talking about here, I can do it for about $1000.

 

[USAFRet]

Overall, I can't imagine the mini being 30% less expensive, given equal parts (except for the case) and performance.

 

[King Friday]

Overall, I can't imagine the mini being 30% less expensive, given equal parts (except for the case) and performance.

The Barebones on the Mini is $495. Once I drop in the Crucial Ram and the WD SN850X M.2, I'm at $680.00

I can bring the eGPU home for ~$400.

 

[Eximo]

Yeah, but you can get pretty much the same effect and have CPU upgrade options in the future.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor ($229.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B650I Lightning Wifi Mini ITX AM5 Motherboard ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL32 Memory ($103.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial P3 Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($98.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 7600 8 GB Video Card ($269.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox NR200 Mini ITX Desktop Case ($82.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Silverstone SX500-G 500 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply ($107.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1092.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-01-05 11:46 EST-0500

 

[King Friday]

That some fast shopping, there Tex. lol. Plus a liquid cooler brings that in for about 1200, tops.

Your significant other might want to hide the credit card from you.

 

[Eximo]

You don't need a liquid cooler for an R5 7600.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/q6...20-refined-se-6617-cfm-cpu-cooler-ax120-se-d3

Or if you want something quieter:

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hY...sassin-120-se-6617-cfm-cpu-cooler-pa120-se-d3

And Mini-ITX raises the costs a little, A Micro ATX or ATX build would drop a lot of cost on the PSU and Motherboard.

 

[USAFRet]

The Barebones on the Mini is $495. Once I drop in the Crucial Ram and the WD SN850X M.2, I'm at $680.00

I can bring the eGPU home for ~$400.

I see that GPU at $270.
https://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-11324-01-20G-Radeon-Gaming-Graphics/dp/B0C4WBW3XX

Plus power supply + enclosure....hmmm. Maybe.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

Smaller footprint with a 12600k and a 6700XT.

Find a 6750XT that fits inside the Sugo is tough 🙁

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3150620985...K+iB0ry6GqCz86CYlWpeK/Gw==|tkp:Bk9SR5aZruybYw

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3865119822...uFgfEQy/kN6v3Dm4dzbKwIYQ==|tkp:Bk9SR5aZruybYw

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600KF 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor ($184.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Alphacool Core Ocean T38 62.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($65.50 @ ModMyMods)
Motherboard: ASRock Z690M-ITX/ax Mini ITX LGA1700 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($54.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial T500 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($107.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: PowerColor Fighter Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB Video Card ($319.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Silverstone Sugo 16 Mini ITX Tower Case ($82.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 - TT Premium Edition 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1041.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-01-06 07:27 EST-0500