Mini PC - dual nvme??

[bloodyskullz]

Hi everyone,

Looking to get some options for a mini PC i want to use for virtualization via proxmox but I some minor requirements:

- Ryzen 7 5700U preferably because of lower power consumption and its a bit cheaper
- Dual NVME SSD's (preferable but if only options are hybrid of nvme and sata, i can live with it)
- 64GB of RAM (ddr4 memory is cheap)
- 2.5Gbe is ideal but not a deal breaker at all

I have looked at some options such as minisforum and beelink but they didnt have dual nvme, i don't know if there is a mini pc off Aliexpress I overlooked or other brand names I haven't heard of.

All suggestions are welcome.

 

[T_Minus]

"mini pc" is kind of vague at this point with how small, very small, mini, micro, tiny, etc things are now and all the naming conventions.

Can you share examples of what 'mini pc' you're after?

If you don't need the ultra tiny package you can just get a PCIE to M2 adapter they're very low profile, and USB to 2.5Gig work

 

[alaricljs]

CWWK 56-58 not available w/ 5700 but my 5825U idles at ~14w with all 4 nics connected and 2 SATA SSDs. "Idle" being proxmox, 1x W10 VM, 1x Arch Linux VM, and portainer managing docker (directly on proxmox) w/ NPM, semaphore, and connections to 2 other nodes. It does boost to 110w when I load all cores with synthetics.

My recommendation is (if you're in the US) find the unit on Amazon and wait for October's dealio days (Prime). I ordered the 5800u for 338 before tax and they sent me the 5825u

 

[bloodyskullz]

"mini pc" is kind of vague at this point with how small, very small, mini, micro, tiny, etc things are now and all the naming conventions.

Can you share examples of what 'mini pc' you're after?

If you don't need the ultra tiny package you can just get a PCIE to M2 adapter they're very low profile, and USB to 2.5Gig work

Mini PC being something like this:

Beelink SEI10 10th Generation Mini PC,Intel i5-1035G7 Processor（up to 3.70GHz), Windows 11 Pro Mini Computer ,Supports 6MB Smart Cache,4K Dual HDMI,WiFi 6,BT5.0.

Beelink SEi10 pre-installed with Windows 11Pro, and built-in faster 10th Generation intel Core i5-1035G7 systemTurbo Frequency up to 3.70Ghz ,Supports 6MB Smart Cache, 4k Dual HDMI Screen Display, which can provide a very smooth experience for your visual home entertainment, streaming video, web...

www.bee-link.com

Not looking to use adapters in anyway.

 

[bloodyskullz]

CWWK 56-58 not available w/ 5700 but my 5825U idles at ~14w with all 4 nics connected and 2 SATA SSDs. "Idle" being proxmox, 1x W10 VM, 1x Arch Linux VM, and portainer managing docker (directly on proxmox) w/ NPM, semaphore, and connections to 2 other nodes. It does boost to 110w when I load all cores with synthetics.

My recommendation is (if you're in the US) find the unit on Amazon and wait for October's dealio days (Prime). I ordered the 5800u for 338 before tax and they sent me the 5825u

I am in Canada so my pricing is different by about 40% thanks to our unfortunate exchange rate. So are you recommending the cwwk unit from ali express?

I should note that I don't need multi nic, one is enough as I already have one of those mini PC's being used for Opnsense

 

[alaricljs]

I don't see it on ali from CWWK and I would not buy from Topton even w/ someone else's money. I would only ever recommend something I bought myself or had reputable evidence of it working out for multiple others.

 

[bloodyskullz]

I don't see it on ali from CWWK and I would not buy from Topton even w/ someone else's money. I would only ever recommend something I bought myself or had reputable evidence of it working out for multiple others.

That is a fair practice to live by.

Open to suggestions but if there isn't any then I guess im settling for what is out there. Anyone had experience with these other brands like Trigkey etc...from amazon? I see them as alternatives but I don't know much about the brand name or reputation.

 

[ToniCipriani]

I am in Canada so my pricing is different by about 40% thanks to our unfortunate exchange rate. So are you recommending the cwwk unit from ali express?

I should note that I don't need multi nic, one is enough as I already have one of those mini PC's being used for Opnsense

FWIW, I ordered my 6-NIC N305 unit from Ali, it arrived via DHL and miraculously I still haven't got a duty/brokerage bill yet.

 

[ToniCipriani]

I don't see it on ali from CWWK and I would not buy from Topton even w/ someone else's money. I would only ever recommend something I bought myself or had reputable evidence of it working out for multiple others.

Curious what happened? Mine was from Topton and seems fine. Granted their support was a bit slow and didn't get the question right until I started speaking in Chinese to them.

 

[alaricljs]

Enough people got shafted when there were hardware issues that I wouldn't risk it seeing as how their products are available elsewhere.

 

[piranha32]

Curious what happened? Mine was from Topton and seems fine. Granted their support was a bit slow and didn't get the question right until I started speaking in Chinese to them.

Having to learn Chinese just to get support is quite a steep price for a cheap PC.

 

[bloodyskullz]

Of all the brand names I am seeing these are the most consistent ones:

Beelink
Minisforum
Trigkey
GMKTec

Anyone have experiences with these? Beelink and minisforum seem to be the most popular, last two i never heard of unless amazon displayed them when I was searching.

 

[blunden]

Of all the brand names I am seeing these are the most consistent ones:

Beelink
Minisforum
Trigkey
GMKTec

Anyone have experiences with these? Beelink and minisforum seem to be the most popular, last two i never heard of unless amazon displayed them when I was searching.

I still use an old Beelink Z83 as a small low power fanless Linux server for things like the Unifi controller a few web applications, etc. It's been running perfectly fine for years at this point. There were some inital issues with Linux support due the BIOS (Beelink had already released an update) and lack of driver support for some features of the Intel Atom X5-Z8300 platform at the time (could be solved with custom kernels). It still worked as a server at that point, but the rest of the features were later mainlined.

Note that the device was actually marketed as an office PC and shipped with Windows, so I can't really fault Beelink for the Linux support.

However, I never contacted their customer support, so I can't speak to that part.

 

[zer0sum]

Hi everyone,

Looking to get some options for a mini PC i want to use for virtualization via proxmox but I some minor requirements:

- Ryzen 7 5700U preferably because of lower power consumption and its a bit cheaper
- Dual NVME SSD's (preferable but if only options are hybrid of nvme and sata, i can live with it)
- 64GB of RAM (ddr4 memory is cheap)
- 2.5Gbe is ideal but not a deal breaker at all

I have looked at some options such as minisforum and beelink but they didnt have dual nvme, i don't know if there is a mini pc off Aliexpress I overlooked or other brand names I haven't heard of.

All suggestions are welcome.

The Lenovo m90q hit's all of these except the Ryzen CPU requirement, but I'm not sure you really need it as the i5-11500 will idle at 8-12W anyways.
It will take 64G ram, 2 x nvme, and 1 x sata, and has a built in 1Gbps port. Then you have a low profile PCIe slot so you can add whatever network card you feel like.

All that for less than $300 on Ebay with factory warranty remaining

 

[bloodyskullz]

The Lenovo m90q hit's all of these except the Ryzen CPU requirement, but I'm not sure you really need it as the i5-11500 will idle at 8-12W anyways.
It will take 64G ram, 2 x nvme, and 1 x sata, and has a built in 1Gbps port. Then you have a low profile PCIe slot so you can add whatever network card you feel like.

All that for less than $300 on Ebay with factory warranty remaining

They are definitely worth considering and I actually completely forgot about those entirely but they do have a larger footprint that I would like considering the space I have to work with. Models could determine for me if its worth considering or not so I will have to investigate with pricing and everything if they can be a viable option.

Thanks for that recommendation.

Edit: I should mention that $300 for you (guessing USD) won't be the same amount for myself in the great white north (most likely no warranty either).