Question Which Mini PC for local AI, not extreme video editing & gaming ?

[flyingchair]

Hi all,

I had glimpsed a discussion on reddit where I found out that you can connect a dock to the mini-pc and on the dock put a GPU (called eGPU). A PSU must also be connected to this to power precisely the GPU. Although some docks have an internal PSU.

This sounds like an interesting idea because it would suit me:

1. I only turn on the mini-pc for work that does not require the eGPU - and consumes less wattage than a gaming tower.
2. I only plug in the eGPU when I need to do AI work locally, video-editing and heavier gaming

I saw that there are different brands for mini-pc / dock / etc. I wonder:

Does it make sense to aim for such a configuration?

What are my goals?

non-heavy video-editing (for YT videos)
run some LLM offline locally in a decent way, without having to take crippled models
run 2025 games at medium details (I play very little, 2h/week), like Doom Dark Ages

Some example links retrieved from reddit: mini-pc / egpu dock
Which psu? / which eGPU?

Initially I might even buy just the mini-pc and see how far it goes, if for example it's worth waiting to buy the eGPU, I don't know.

 

[LordVile]

Hi all,

I had glimpsed a discussion on reddit where I found out that you can connect a dock to the mini-pc and on the dock put a GPU (called eGPU). A PSU must also be connected to this to power precisely the GPU. Although some docks have an internal PSU.

This sounds like an interesting idea because it would suit me:

1. I only turn on the mini-pc for work that does not require the eGPU - and consume less WATT than a gaming tower.
2. I only plug in the eGPU when I need to do AI work locally, video-editing and heavier gaming

I saw that there are different brands for mini-pc / dock / etc. I wonder:

Does it make sense to aim for such a configuration?

What are my goals?

non-heavy video-editing (for YT videos)
run some LLM offline locally in a decent way, without having to take crippled models
run 2025 games at medium details (I play very little, 2h/week), like Doom Dark Ages

Some example links retrieved from reddit: mini-pc / egpu dock
Which psu? / which eGPU?

Initially I might even buy just the mini-pc and see how far it goes, if for example it's worth waiting to buy the eGPU, I don't know.

Your use case doesn’t really make too much sense. You still need a decent CPU and some RAM to run a LLM, most of the work is on the GPU but a mini PC won’t have the CPU to efficiently use it.

External docs use TB which is equivalent to PCIE 3.0x4 which is simply not fast enough. There are some that act as glorified PCIE risers but a mini PC does not have a PCIE x16 slot. Basically you’re limiting a cards data throughput potentional by 8x and theres a marked difference now between full speed PCIE 3x16 and 4x16.

Thirdly GPUs sip power while at idle. Even a 5090 draws under 50W at idle. Something more sensible like a 7800XT or 4070 is around 15W.

You are better off getting an ITX build.

 

[flyingchair]

Your use case doesn’t really make too much sense. You still need a decent CPU and some RAM to run a LLM, most of the work is on the GPU but a mini PC won’t have the CPU to efficiently use it.

External docs use TB which is equivalent to PCIE 3.0x4 which is simply not fast enough. There are some that act as glorified PCIE risers but a mini PC does not have a PCIE x16 slot. Basically you’re limiting a cards data throughput potentional by 8x and theres a marked difference now between full speed PCIE 3x16 and 4x16.

Thirdly GPUs sip power while at idle. Even a 5090 draws under 50W at idle. Something more sensible like a 7800XT or 4070 is around 15W.

You are better off getting an ITX build.

Thank you! I did not know that those docks can't use the maximum potential of the eGPU.

So with a ITX build I will still have the GPU that draws power even in idle, but a ITX build is better with respect to mini-pc in any way? (except for size).

I see that Mini PCs use laptop-oriented CPUs so they are more efficient. While normal PC use desktop-oriented CPUs and those have a worse efficiency in terms of Watt/performance.

 

[LordVile]

Thank you! I did not know that those docks can't use the maximum potential of the eGPU.

So with a ITX build I will still have the GPU that draws power even in idle, but a ITX build is better with respect to mini-pc in any way? (except for size).

I see that Mini PCs use laptop-oriented CPUs so they are more efficient. While normal PC use desktop-oriented CPUs and those have a worse efficiency in terms of Watt/performance.

You have to be careful with efficiency. If something uses half the power but provides a quarter of the performance it’s not really more efficient. If you want performance per watt get a Mac. Nothing else gets close.

Overall the idle draw of a full desktop system is basically nothing. A desktop at idle will draw less power than your monitor.

Performance wise you’re better off with a mini ITX. You also get things like more ports, better thermals, less noise etc.

Question is why do you want a mini PC? They’re generally only good for moving around, which they’re worse for than a laptop, or for strapping to the back of a monitor.

 

[flyingchair]

Question is why do you want a mini PC? They’re generally only good for moving around, which they’re worse for than a laptop, or for strapping to the back of a monitor.

Basically because I was enthusiastic about their decent performance, compact size and the ability to use a eGPU when needed.

But you mentioned these eGPU are limited by TB, even if this thing is not mentioned in videos like this.
Also with a mini-pc I am stuck at upgrading (except for RAM/STORAGE).
Also I do not need portability, I just don't want a giant tower sitting under my desk.

So SFF PCs seems the way to go, like Mini-ITX or Micro-ATX, not sure which to pick.