Mini PC Help

[Mockingbird]

On 16/05/2024 at 06:08, Dick Montage said:

I would strongly suggest buying via Amazon, and also on a credit card. Look, mistakes happen during manufacturing, parts themselves can be faulty too - but I experienced not only a hardware fault but also HORRENDOUS customer service that was on the verge of being rude. So if you can protect your purchase and better your aftercare options - then sure, do that.

I agree with that.

It’s a small Chinese company.

Horrendous customer service is pretty much expected.

Look, I am not trying to make excuses for MinisForum, but this is baked into the expectation.

MinisForum is serving niches that are not being addressed by larger companies (who would have more resources for customer service).

I did look on Amazon for reviews specifically about the Neptune HX99G (Amazon likes to mix together reviews from different models) and nothing indicates to me a higher than normal failure rate.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

On 16/05/2024 at 15:57, Mockingbird said:

Look, I am not trying to make excuses for MinisForum, but this is baked into the expectation.

Fully agreed. They are a boutique builder and it goes with the territory - just so long as everyone is aware

[LilSnoop40]

man I was really interested in going the mini pc route. seems like it could do all that I am looking for it to do, but the unknowns are scary its a lot of money to spend and not have any type of warranty to help out if there is an issue. @Mockingbird this is the model you suggested on Minisforum I think, I might of found it on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/MINISFORUM-Neptune-HX99G-Windows-6900HX/dp/B0CP63BXJ8?th=1

I have built pc's in the past for personal and business use but haven't done it in years and not sure if its the same with a mini pc. I wouldn't feel comfortable purchasing the barebone and then having to try find the correct memory and ssd to go with it even though I like the idea of picking better brands.

if its not clear if it includes windows 11 or not, but for safety I would by 3 year amazon warranty with them to cover any issues (hoping there isn't any).   do mini pcs work the same as a desktop, laptop or a surface where I could do a clean install using a bootable usb flashdrive and load Windows 11 on it.  the mini pc isn't running custom Windows 11 version is it?

[Steven P. Administrators]

On 17/05/2024 at 00:41, LilSnoop40 said:

man I was really interested in going the mini pc route. seems like it could do all that I am looking for it to do, but the unknowns are scary its a lot of money to spend and not have any type of warranty to help out if there is an issue. @Mockingbird this is the model you suggested on Minisforum I think, I might of found it on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/MINISFORUM-Neptune-HX99G-Windows-6900HX/dp/B0CP63BXJ8?th=1

I have built pc's in the past for personal and business use but haven't done it in years and not sure if its the same with a mini pc. I wouldn't feel comfortable purchasing the barebone and then having to try find the correct memory and ssd to go with it even though I like the idea of picking better brands.

if its not clear if it includes windows 11 or not, but for safety I would by 3 year amazon warranty with them to cover any issues (hoping there isn't any).   do mini pcs work the same as a desktop, laptop or a surface where I could do a clean install using a bootable usb flashdrive and load Windows 11 on it.  the mini pc isn't running custom Windows 11 version is it?

I don't want to hijack the thread, but you could also consider building an NR200P Max with an AMD CPU (super efficient)  https://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Mini-ITX-Triple-Slot-Tempered/dp/B09CF4YGJ8 you'd still come out at around $1,000 if you don't go crazy on the dGPU.

From personal experience.. do not pair the NR200P Max with an i7-14700K unless you are cool with screwing around in the BIOS to lower power and tweak it so it stops throttling. You'd be better off going AMD 7xxx series.

I ran this (and other benchmarks) today, look at the CPU temp.. I am running these with the default BIOS settings on ASRock Z790 PG-ITX/TB4, I only switched to the XMP profile (7600 MT/s CAS 36 memory).

I have the default NR200P Cooler Master water cooling (top of PC) and extra bottom intake fans (2x 120mm slim Noctua) which helped a bit.

But that is also a route you can go if you don't want a huge tower. A 4060 Ti/4070 Super or 7800 XT would fair better than the 7900 XTX that I built into mine, which killed air flow.

[Mockingbird]

On 16/05/2024 at 15:41, LilSnoop40 said:

man I was really interested in going the mini pc route. seems like it could do all that I am looking for it to do, but the unknowns are scary its a lot of money to spend and not have any type of warranty to help out if there is an issue. @Mockingbird this is the model you suggested on Minisforum I think, I might of found it on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/MINISFORUM-Neptune-HX99G-Windows-6900HX/dp/B0CP63BXJ8?th=1

I have built pc's in the past for personal and business use but haven't done it in years and not sure if its the same with a mini pc. I wouldn't feel comfortable purchasing the barebone and then having to try find the correct memory and ssd to go with it even though I like the idea of picking better brands.

if its not clear if it includes windows 11 or not, but for safety I would by 3 year amazon warranty with them to cover any issues (hoping there isn't any).   do mini pcs work the same as a desktop, laptop or a surface where I could do a clean install using a bootable usb flashdrive and load Windows 11 on it.  the mini pc isn't running custom Windows 11 version is it?

If you want to choose your own memory and SSD...

According to MinisForums, you would need DDR5 4800 dual-channel memory for laptops (SO-DIMM x2) and M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 SSD.

Here is an example:

Crucial CT2K16G48C40S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-4800 SODIMM CL40 Memory ($84.99)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09S2PNYTY

OR

Corsair Vengeance 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-4800 SODIMM CL40 Memory ($164.99)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09X5SNVF9

AND

Crucial T500 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($79.99)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CK39YR9V

BTW, there are components that I would personally buy, not the cheapest components, but there are plenty of others to choose from.

This is not cheaper than buying Neptune HX99G with SSD and memory installed, but you know the components.

From research, MinisForum appears to be shipping its PCs with OEM Kingston SSDs and OEM Kingston memory, but I can't find information about them other than the model numbers.

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Mini PCs are laptops minus the screen, put into a box.

You can download Windows 11 from here:  https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11

You will need a 16 GB USB 3.0 flash drive. (Don't use a USB 2.0 flash drive or it would take forever).