Always surprised to see companies bothering to give you products to review considering that you won't just give them a free pass. As usual, you justify your place on my (small) list of youtube subscriptions!
Thanks for the in-depth closeup look at the BIOS. I noticed C states is enabled by default. It's the first thing I change when setting up GMKtec boxes, looks like they've (finally) enabled by default. Makes a big difference by the way.
Cyberpunk 2077 hates Intel Arc GPUs. I've seen some reviewers fix the issue temporarily by reinstalling the Arc drivers, but it comes back eventually. Thanks for the honest review! 👍
Yup the noctua would do well, many others familiar with mini pcs would just 3d print or mod the it with 120 or 140mm silent fans on top also but this requires work but am sure it would be well worth it. Sad to see manufacturers still not use silent or quiet fans.
I have this GMKtec mini PC. I don't play games, so it's an excellent choice for my purposes. I've never noticed any fan noise; it's silent during regular use and remains cool to the touch everywhere. Even the air flowing out is cool. There is no mouse lag, ever, which is not related to the computer's build. I also have a Geekom mini PC with an Intel I9 13000k. It's hot to the touch and produces air that could heat a small bathroom, but the CPU temperature is satisfactory. So, the only difference for me is the heat output. Apart from the that, I find no significant difference between them. I recommend the GMKtec, especially if you're not planning to use it as a primary gaming PC. Oh, PS: Per my experience and a UA-cam fix channel, the power buttons on all of these randomly fail out of nowhere. There is fix per the video. That's why I bought the second mini PC.
thanks great review and its nice you showed the noisy fan issue and stutter issue and how to fix it so others can avoid the issue. You also touched on the hdmi 2.0, 1.4 dp issue, sadly even more expensive mini pcs have the same issue and there are some that say 2.1 but manufacturers/other site says 2.0 so its a bit sneaky. I still prefer Intel over AMD, there are chipset, driver and stability concerns with AMD mini pcs imo but they are improving.
Found a 125H minipc on sale for about 330$ on Aliexpress. Would suit as a nice replacement for my previous MiniPC to control my telescope and astronomy software. It will be strapped to the telescope almost 24/7 outdoors and be powered from the telescope mount and controlled remotely via LAN. Let's see how it compares to a N305. PS! When the N350 MiniPc's release, would you review one please?
I'm not really the guy to ask about linux, but according to your screen of the logs, 'Systemd' is failing to initialize. Probably due to WIFI/bluetooth/Ethernet driver issues. Other Linux distros that don't use Systemd may boot until you fix the driver issues, something other than Manjaroo like Arch for example. :)
Good point there. I just didn't want to waste more time with this unit as I had to reinstall Windows before and it was really starting to annoy me. This Manjaro build I have is normally fine on everything else so it was odd.
Looks like there's a price to Early adoption for GMKTEC. Intel driver support us always too little, too late, but I wonder if that stutter is the comouter switching to the ultra-low power cores?
It's basically a bit rubbish! lol As someone currently on the lookout for a decent mini-pc to use as redundancy for an older PC this was a really useful video in order to know what to avoid! thx. What's your recommendation for the most powerful (for gaming) and absolutely-silent in operation mini PC? Is everything moveing towards ARC gfx now?
The stutters might be due to the last Windows Security Update KB5036893 which is causing a lot of problems and once installed is pretty much impossible to uninstall....
there are no differences between smart TVs and normal monitors "PC screen is not a word used anywhere" in terms of veing used by any device. As long as your screen/and or TV has a HDMI or Display port, these devices will work with no issues. Of course, you would need a wireless keyboard and mouse to use it, unless you plan to sit in front of your TV. 😊
@@tomislavbosnjak66 no problem :). It depends on your setup. SmartTVs are big in size usually and are used in living rooms / while you sit on a sofa or something. So I assumed you have the same setup as well. If you plan to put your TV on a desk/chair and sit in front of it, you won't need a wireless setup. The same usb ports that you would/could use for a normal wired Keyboard/mouse can be used for a wireless one. Wireless can either be through the built-in Bluetooth or 2.4 GHZ using a dongle.
Yeah, all those mini PC's are a bit the same and lacking. I myself have an NUC 11 Enthousiast and I never saw anything better regarding price, performance and IO. They are not sold anymore strangly enough. Maybe the HX99 is close but not like for quality and IO. You might be interested in the Minix Z100 as it's relative high quality, has decent IO and is completely fanless. I am always looking forward to your reviews as you keep them objective, bikes or pc Edit: Minix has also a new 100% sRGB portable screen and usb-c hdmi dongles. Just the company you would be interested in I think. It doesn't get the attention it deserves, innovative company for a change.
Intel graphics driver issues. I think it took about a year or two for my UHD 730 Graphics to run smoothly on desktop. thhat is sad, price isn't that bad considering the chipset is latest and greatest, on-par with AMD's latest mobile APUs. Just look or wait for alternatives having the Ryzen 8840U chipset.
I had freezes like this when i got my 12th gen laptop, i sent it back and replaced it with the same laptop again, thankfully no issues with the replacement, i think your unit might be faulty
He fixed those freezing issues, mentioned it at end of video he reloaded windows fresh. This review was more out of the box review. If he had reloaded with a fresh Windows which is always advised anyhow this review would have been completely different and much better imo.
Hi, no I updated drivers and rebooted many times but the issue kept coming back. So in the end the new ISO pen drive fresh install was the only fix. I was going to redo the testing part due to the lag issues but thought no. No as that is exact how others will get it like me.
Hi, no I updated drivers and rebooted many times but the issue kept coming back. So in the end the new ISO pen drive fresh install was the only fix. I was going to redo the testing part due to the lag issues but thought no. No as that is exact how others will get it like me.
Thank you for going through this for us 🙏 let's hope for intel (and for us consumers obviously) intel will get their sh# together with lunar and arrow lake... i like the formfactor
Just 256 MB dedicated to the graphics out of 32GB is a shame. I think it is dynamically allocating the RAM for the iGPU and it is never as good as dedicated RAM. They should have at dedicated 6 GB or 8 GB for the iGPU of this miniPC.
Always surprised to see companies bothering to give you products to review considering that you won't just give them a free pass. As usual, you justify your place on my (small) list of youtube subscriptions!
Thanks. And I doubt they will be sending me anymore units!
Appreciate the honest reviews as per usual Chris. Always enjoy your videos, even the ones where the product doesn't live up to expectations.
I appreciate that!
Thanks for the in-depth closeup look at the BIOS. I noticed C states is enabled by default. It's the first thing I change when setting up GMKtec boxes, looks like they've (finally) enabled by default. Makes a big difference by the way.
Cyberpunk 2077 hates Intel Arc GPUs. I've seen some reviewers fix the issue temporarily by reinstalling the Arc drivers, but it comes back eventually.
Thanks for the honest review! 👍
Yes in certainly does terrible performance with Arc.
Replace the small fan for a small noctua, those should be quieter. Maybe gmktec will provide a bios update or something.
Yup the noctua would do well, many others familiar with mini pcs would just 3d print or mod the it with 120 or 140mm silent fans on top also but this requires work but am sure it would be well worth it. Sad to see manufacturers still not use silent or quiet fans.
thnx for the honest review as usual, please keep reviewing mini pcs at least those worth it from time to time
I have this GMKtec mini PC. I don't play games, so it's an excellent choice for my purposes. I've never noticed any fan noise; it's silent during regular use and remains cool to the touch everywhere. Even the air flowing out is cool. There is no mouse lag, ever, which is not related to the computer's build.
I also have a Geekom mini PC with an Intel I9 13000k. It's hot to the touch and produces air that could heat a small bathroom, but the CPU temperature is satisfactory. So, the only difference for me is the heat output. Apart from the that, I find no significant difference between them. I recommend the GMKtec, especially if you're not planning to use it as a primary gaming PC. Oh, PS: Per my experience and a UA-cam fix channel, the power buttons on all of these randomly fail out of nowhere. There is fix per the video. That's why I bought the second mini PC.
thanks great review and its nice you showed the noisy fan issue and stutter issue and how to fix it so others can avoid the issue. You also touched on the hdmi 2.0, 1.4 dp issue, sadly even more expensive mini pcs have the same issue and there are some that say 2.1 but manufacturers/other site says 2.0 so its a bit sneaky. I still prefer Intel over AMD, there are chipset, driver and stability concerns with AMD mini pcs imo but they are improving.
Mini pc manufacturers continue to use these tiny fans with poor ventilation to cool the ram/ssd and it's a shame.. Please STOP doing this y'all.
Found a 125H minipc on sale for about 330$ on Aliexpress. Would suit as a nice replacement for my previous MiniPC to control my telescope and astronomy software. It will be strapped to the telescope almost 24/7 outdoors and be powered from the telescope mount and controlled remotely via LAN. Let's see how it compares to a N305. PS! When the N350 MiniPc's release, would you review one please?
I'm not really the guy to ask about linux, but according to your screen of the logs, 'Systemd' is failing to initialize. Probably due to WIFI/bluetooth/Ethernet driver issues. Other Linux distros that don't use Systemd may boot until you fix the driver issues, something other than Manjaroo like Arch for example. :)
Good point there. I just didn't want to waste more time with this unit as I had to reinstall Windows before and it was really starting to annoy me. This Manjaro build I have is normally fine on everything else so it was odd.
virtualization work good ? how many threads see ?
Looks like there's a price to Early adoption for GMKTEC. Intel driver support us always too little, too late, but I wonder if that stutter is the comouter switching to the ultra-low power cores?
So happy I've found your channel ❤
I've unsubscribed from other all positive no issues other channels
Unfortunately there are so many now to keep brands happy and the free review units incoming.
Excellent video. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
By the way: please review the realme gt neo 6 se when it comes out.
I love my mini PC, but this may do the trick as one to use for an emulation box
Can it be used as 24/7 server ? Is this BIOS possible to update ? Or it is chineese BIOS, once released and forget ?
It's basically a bit rubbish! lol As someone currently on the lookout for a decent mini-pc to use as redundancy for an older PC this was a really useful video in order to know what to avoid! thx.
What's your recommendation for the most powerful (for gaming) and absolutely-silent in operation mini PC? Is everything moveing towards ARC gfx now?
Aoostar GEM12. One of the best for iGPUs and features. Not silent underload but not bad at all.
Personally I’m waiting for the m4 mac mini. They are way better than these windows mini pcs
The stutters might be due to the last Windows Security Update KB5036893 which is causing a lot of problems and once installed is pretty much impossible to uninstall....
Good point it might have been that. As my new ISO Win 11 on a new SSD was fine. Finally solved it but boy it was annoying.
thanks will keep a note of that update number and avoid it.
Can this one and other types of mini pc be used with the smart tv or it requires 'PC" screen?Thanks
there are no differences between smart TVs and normal monitors "PC screen is not a word used anywhere" in terms of veing used by any device. As long as your screen/and or TV has a HDMI or Display port, these devices will work with no issues. Of course, you would need a wireless keyboard and mouse to use it, unless you plan to sit in front of your TV. 😊
@@selimk.9458 Thanks
Bluetooth keyboard and mouse?
Why is that?No ports or?
@@tomislavbosnjak66 no problem :). It depends on your setup. SmartTVs are big in size usually and are used in living rooms / while you sit on a sofa or something. So I assumed you have the same setup as well. If you plan to put your TV on a desk/chair and sit in front of it, you won't need a wireless setup. The same usb ports that you would/could use for a normal wired Keyboard/mouse can be used for a wireless one. Wireless can either be through the built-in Bluetooth or 2.4 GHZ using a dongle.
@@selimk.9458 I understand
Thank you again 😁😁
Yeah, all those mini PC's are a bit the same and lacking. I myself have an NUC 11 Enthousiast and I never saw anything better regarding price, performance and IO. They are not sold anymore strangly enough. Maybe the HX99 is close but not like for quality and IO. You might be interested in the Minix Z100 as it's relative high quality, has decent IO and is completely fanless.
I am always looking forward to your reviews as you keep them objective, bikes or pc
Edit: Minix has also a new 100% sRGB portable screen and usb-c hdmi dongles. Just the company you would be interested in I think. It doesn't get the attention it deserves, innovative company for a change.
Intel graphics driver issues. I think it took about a year or two for my UHD 730 Graphics to run smoothly on desktop. thhat is sad, price isn't that bad considering the chipset is latest and greatest, on-par with AMD's latest mobile APUs. Just look or wait for alternatives having the Ryzen 8840U chipset.
I had freezes like this when i got my 12th gen laptop, i sent it back and replaced it with the same laptop again, thankfully no issues with the replacement, i think your unit might be faulty
Well it was either the SSD causing or Windows and my new SSD with new Windows 11 ISO download from MS was fine it finally solved my issues.
He fixed those freezing issues, mentioned it at end of video he reloaded windows fresh. This review was more out of the box review. If he had reloaded with a fresh Windows which is always advised anyhow this review would have been completely different and much better imo.
Hi, no I updated drivers and rebooted many times but the issue kept coming back. So in the end the new ISO pen drive fresh install was the only fix. I was going to redo the testing part due to the lag issues but thought no. No as that is exact how others will get it like me.
Hi, no I updated drivers and rebooted many times but the issue kept coming back. So in the end the new ISO pen drive fresh install was the only fix. I was going to redo the testing part due to the lag issues but thought no. No as that is exact how others will get it like me.
That's a beautiful TV. What is the manufacturer?
Philips. It's a 65" OLED.
Thank you for going through this for us 🙏
let's hope for intel (and for us consumers obviously) intel will get their sh# together with lunar and arrow lake... i like the formfactor
I really hope they do as my interest is Mini PCs this year is really gone.
Just 256 MB dedicated to the graphics out of 32GB is a shame. I think it is dynamically allocating the RAM for the iGPU and it is never as good as dedicated RAM. They should have at dedicated 6 GB or 8 GB for the iGPU of this miniPC.
Is it possible to change this yourself
Such a shame about that stuttering and halting. The I/O is very good.
Why a small fan, gmktec, way? We want quiet pc.
It's tehre to keep the RAM and SSD cool but it's also annoying so I unplugged it as I will not be gaming on it.
I understand that, but they can always put more metal in it. Or thermal pads connected with metal cover. Or larger and quieter fan...
Its true, but nearly all the other mini pc manfacturers often use noisy or whinney fans so the issue is across the board.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇
🥇 Thanks!
"Graphic driver is not approved"
Typical Intel 😂
Very true 😂
Looks like it's still too early to buy.
I'll wait.
and they are asking a lot of money for it , is not even worth 500.
🤔
e-waste.
1st