Im no engineer or anything, but imo instead of an internal psu, they shouldve done an external brick, that has optional dual 8 pin pcie connectors/12vhpwr for powering the whole thing off of one ac plug, instead of the dock being a separate purchase
The dock is basically this exactly. The dock is a pcie riser with 600watt PSU. It's quite affordable especially if you take into account the price of a riser and the price of a 600watt PSU.
Yes but that would have been a rather big power supply, as the one included in the dock is 600W, Together with the one for the mini it would be 740..... So nice idea but not really feasible considering not everyone will get the dock.
Ordered the dock and Ultra GTi14. Shipped this morning. Pretty excited to get rid of my full size gaming PC where this will probably provide overall better performance.
It’s a novel idea to put a standard x8/16 pcie slot in a mini pc, at least to me. The theoretical reparability/upgradability of this modular design is a nice thing to see in this form factor too. You hit the nail on the head with your final point in how niche this product will be unfortunately. There’s probably people out there who would have a use-case for this pc, but for me, I’d rather just build my own PC. As far as I’m aware this is the first example of a mini pc with an expandable gpu slot. I hope we see more with a more refined design and implementation, since it is interesting. Excellent video too btw, glad you popped up on my feed.
Minisforum‘s B550 mini pc had PCIE 3.0 slot and also had a dock. I’m currently rocking this set up and it’s pretty good. The difference is that it uses a pc PSU unit for powering the whole system (the mini pc & the external GPU). They have yet to release a follow up model. Beelink’s new attempt looks not bad. But compare to what Minisforum offers, it needs a revision to iron out the hassles. Not to say Beelink’s one is bad, but it just looks half thought after.
I've a half height Asrock A380, no 6/8 pin power delivery connector. I'd love to try running it on this. Wouldn't be gaming, mostly using it for 4k upsampling of my old movies.
Now just need an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 version, and move the PCIe slot to the top, so the case fan faces the opposite direction and isn't pitching against the GPU fans when docked, then I'm right there..!
Agreed. A Ryzen version would be preferable because I prefer to NOT give any money to Intel. There's no telling how far they set PC's back by bribing OEMs like Dell to NOT offer AMD products, something that they were found guilty of in multiple jurisdictions around the world. This began in the early 2000s when AMD was actually outperforming Intel, and who knows how things would have been different had this not...perhaps AMD would have found greater success in that time period and would have prevented Intel's defacto monopoly with 4 core stagnation and 4% generational "uplifts" that last all the way until 2017 when Ryzen debuted. Plus objectively speaking, in a duopoly like the x86 CPU industry, the best situation for consumers would be those two companies having an even 50%/50% split in marketshare. This would create the fiercest competition and therefore the lowest prices and most innovation. Intel still holds the majority marketshare in every single x86 segment, so any increase in that marketshare is therefore bad for consumers and any decrease in that marketshare is therefore good for consumers....in this way, Intel fanboys are literally cheering against their own self-interest as a consumer.
With regards to the unit being warm when powered off, Beelink support via Amazon helped me resolve this by turning off “quick start” in Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options\System Settings. Not sure how that works with system being down but I assume windows sets/resets some bios value before shutting down. I still have the issue of 3.2W power draw while shut down. If you figure out how to fix it please share.
Oh my god how can they mess up the power for the system? Obviously it needs to be able to pull 75W + the full load of the system and speccing it for less is just baffling :O
I got mine today to test, I compared it to the atomman g7 ti and I’m seeing a big gap. No idea where it’s coming from but the Multi threaded performance is significantly lower on the Beelink. I might have missed a setting somewhere, I did make sure to set the CPU to performance mode in the BIOS, disable core isolation etc. Have you seen anything like this with your unit?
I don't like it... Why they wasted space for speakers? Why they installed PSU inside the case? what if it breaks? where will I find replacement? Will it kill them to install 64gb of RAM or more? why only 32? I think Minisforum AR900i or BD790i is better for someone who want to use eternal GPU
Thanks for the video, I'm looking into getting a new PC NOT for gaming, but for 3-D on Blender 4.5 that's is my primary focus as a 3D designer, animator/illustrator. I will be running graphic design software packages like Affinitydesigner, Affinityphoto and Davinci Resolve for video editing. I have acquired a Nvidia Quadro RTX 4000 graphics card to plug-in this unit to reap the performance benefits in Blender in 3-D and video production. I would like to see benchmark test on Blender what's the Beelink Multi-Functional EX Docking Station comes out.
@@FrankelysHernandezThis is the one I'm going to build and the dock is out now. It has the potentcial to be the fastest mini pc on the market right now, because you can setup raid 0, ram is upgradable to 96gb DDR 5 and it has the faster pcie gpu connect x8 with is much faster than thunderbolt and oculink.
This is the one I'm going to build and the dock is out now. It has the potentcial to be the fastest mini pc on the market right now, because you can setup raid 0, ram is upgradable to 96gb DDR 5 and it has the faster pcie gpu connect x8 with is much faster than thunderbolt and oculink.
@Codeblack_the_1 agreed. I bought it: the 185h version, an extra 1TB Crucial P3, and a 96GB upgrade. It should arrive on Monday. I'll focus on Proxmox, so I don't think I'll get the dock anytime soon. But it's great to know it's a future possibility.
I gave up on these, they just can't compete with a real rig but are getting too close in price to one now ALSO! It will be great though when they can run games at 60 at 4K stable and all of them, but realistically 1080p 75Mhz would probably be great for most users.
Too bad they didn't use an external brick and drive the PCIE lane to provide 75w of power. The RTX 3050 6GB would have been an easy companion with this setup, with it's max power draw of 70w, and while it doesn't offer amazing performance, it would offer a reasonable upgrade to the internal graphics here, while being a drop in solution.
This is the one I'm going to build and the dock is out now. It has the potentcial to be the fastest mini pc on the market right now, because you can setup raid 0, ram is upgradable to 96gb DDR 5 and it has the faster pcie gpu connect x8 with is much faster than thunderbolt and oculink.
Thanks for the nice review! A few days back I got my GTi14 with the Core 9 Ultra. Just a few minutes back I upgraded to 96GB ram and dropped a 4T ssd in (both Crucial). My under monitor server cube is now waiting for the already ordered Beelink EX dock and RTX 3090 ... for ML experiments. ALL AWESOME! Experiments with a Linux boot from USB failed because of the not yet available WIFI driver for this particular WIFI7 module ... sooon hopefully soon. (choosing the boot device with F7 and booting POP OS 22.04 worked though ... just the wifi adapter not yet)
If want to add desktop discrete graphics to the PCIe, maybe get the Lenovo Yoga Portal which has a desktop intel cpu and desktop rtx 4070 all in a slightly bigger form factor. Yes, it’s more expensive, but adding an external gpu to this beeline like a 4070 and that dock will end up making it expensive too
For me the most important question is whether it is possible to use this Mini PC instead of Mac Studio for color correction in Da Vinci Resolve? Moreover, I have an ATi RTX 6800 16GB card and I can buy a Docking Station. If anyone has experience using a mini PC for color correction, please share.
Is it possible to attach it behind a monitor like the Acemagic or the smaller Geekom? If yes is it possible to do this to which all monitors or only with some? Thank you in advance for your kind answers.
Because of your video I ended up pulling the trigger on buying the GTi14 185H. Thanks for the review and all the details. One question, during the testing did you run Proxmox on it?
Did he run proxmox 😂 But in all seriousness it will run well on that machine but you might be better off with a smaller device like the MS-01 for home lab use (it also has a PCIe 4 x8 slot).
I believe you may be right, David. But after watching some MS-01 reviews, I understand that it would be very tricky to use any GPU on it. It's too narrow. Maybe I'll regret it, but I already pulled the trigger; it should arrive tomorrow. Another reason I chose this one is because of how silent it is since it would sit on my living room.
Yeah you’re right to be cautious. I had to get a custom cooler for the card I put in it. You can use a PCI riser card but then you need to mod the case and that just looks ugly. You’ll love the Beelink, it’s a strong machine.
yuuuuup. been saying it for years. These mini pc's make zero sense unless they have pcie access. Now I just have to wait 3-5 more years for other companies to catch up with this feature, this will allow me select a model between others, and prices will be lower due to competition
The PCI-e adapter is a neat concept, but I can't figure out who this feature is aimed at? Surely if you (the consumer) know you want dedicated graphics then you would just buy/build a regular sized PC - having multiple power supplies just seems so janky. I can understand doing this with a laptop as you would atleast have some level of portability still but I doubt people who buy Mini PCs are actually moving them a lot. Great video as always
I have a mini pc I take with me everywhere, its convenient to hook up in hotels, small, light and they sell small displays for quite cheap. The entire setup cost even with the screen and everything was still a load cheaper than an actual laptop with the same specs.
I have 2 micro-PCs in my collection already, both powered by N100 chips (before Intel CPU's started self-destructing). That and the built-in PSU would keep me from buying this. Having the extra heat source inside one of these cases just doesn't make sense.. and having a slot for an external GPU makes even less sense, since you'd need an external power supply as well. Might as well just build a normal gaming rig and be done with it.🤪
it's more for future expandability IMO. someone may only have enough to get a fully integrated mini pc like this, but in a year or so will want the ability to buy a GPU when they finally have the extra money to waste on an upgrade and do so.
@@MrScottyTay I can see it but it will cost you more in the long run. If you're using a mini pc like this that costs $900, you can build a pretty decent ITX build for that with a GPU so def not worth it. But if you were to buy a cheaper $300 one and try to add a thunderbolt EGPU later I can see it. But again, it will cost you more in the long run because the thunderbolt gpu case will run you the price of an entry level gpu.
@@Watchandlearn91 yeah I'm not saying that this is the right one for my argument, due to its price and whatnot. but that is the reason why people want these mini pcs to have PCIe slots. It also makes it so they're less likely to become ewaste when they're older. a new GPU could breathe new life into such a device.
@@MrScottyTay Yes that's true - instead of just chunking it later on when the CPU isn't good enough you could make it a console replacement or something. For me, these mini PCs make excellent servers and that's what I have two of them for. They also make great retro gaming consoles if you load up Retroarch on them.
Thanks for the detailed review! I was keen on this unit because it is one of the few mini pcs with a decent CPU and integrated PSU (not a fan of wall warts or external power bricks), however the off power draw is abit of a concern. Please post an update if you receive any more information from Beelink about this. Additionally, I was wondering if you could test if the DisplayPort supports Multi-Stream Transport (MST)? i.e. daisy chaining two monitors over DisplayPort. Thanks again!
When it comes to iGPU performance and comparing AMD to Intel, i think its important to memtion that while Intel usually wins in synthetic benchmarks, AMD absolutely dominates in actual FPS in real games. Also that thr A8 has the 8945/8845HS which contains the 780m, the LAST generation of iGPU. The new 880m and 890m are shown to absolutely obliterate meteor lake's best iGPU with 8Xe cores
@@ElevatedSystems I didnt say the bandwidth. I was referring to Oculink as a viable option to the ability to slap a graphics card onto this little box. An Oculink dock provides a place to mount a power supply and the ability to use any size graphics card, I believe. Plus the heating issues is why you want to separate the power supply and graphics AWAY from the CPU. Its tough enough for these fans in these small minis to keep it cool. Cooling also = noise.
Generally speaking, what’s the point of making a mini-PC that can expand with an eGPU? You have some big dock or eGPu sitting on your desk. With a small pc that is not portable and runs hot. Get a thin and light Laptop that is portable, which you can then dock at your desk with an eGPU. Otherwise, get a small desktop PC. The target market for mini PC’s are for people who want small and cute and desk space is a premium. And then your supposed to put an eGPU on your desk? Just get a small desktop PC with discrete GPU 😂
It s a bit of a failure in my opinion, let s wait and see if the egpu dock will add a "Yes" value to this already expensive Mini PC, I was a bit surprise to see that a 250$ GMKtec M6 could in some Hatdware benchmark and gaming benchmark being only 10% or less behind, So far Oculink Mini PC'soffers the best option for performance upgrade, i do disagree with him when he said that Oculink had visible bottleneck, i ve seen Oculink bench scoring equal performance or even better than some Desktop PC in 3DMark and gaming FPS with high end GPU like the RTX 4080 S,
@@ElevatedSystems servers have a fail rate of 25% right now, also there are number of reports saying laptops are crashing too. "we have several laptops that have failed with the same crashes. It's just slightly more rare then the desktop CPU faults. Update (7/20/2024): The laptops crash in the exact same way as the desktop parts including workloads under Unreal Engine, decompression, ycruncher or similar. Laptop chips we have seen failing include but not limited to 13900HX etc. Intel seems to be down playing the issues here most likely due to the expensive costs related to BGA rework and possible harm to OEMs and Partners. We have seen these crashes on Razer, MSI, Asus Laptops and similar used by developers in our studio to work on the game. The crash reporting data for my game shows a huge amount of laptops that could be having issues."
beelink is from china, right? i just dont feel good about a device that still warm and 'active" and pulling power from the wall when you have turned it off and have its own in house chinese AI chip running a MICROHONE SETS on it. how that sounds to you? it sounds an alarm for me. also curious how that PCIE slot would work with desktop GPU that requires at least one 5 volt cable from a desktop power supply to work. i mean the idea is sound.i love the idea of a MINI PC with a BUILT IN PCIE x16 SLOT. but IF it comes with an actual PRACTICAL implementation. maybe when the external GPU dock solution has come out later. at the moment, the minisforum MS-A1 implementation is still far better FUNCTIONAL implementation of mini PC plus desktop GPU scheme using minisforum's own EGPU dock the DEG1 with its complementary oculink support to the MS-A1. more over, the MS-A1 lets you use AMD's DESKTOP CPUs. they said it could use ALL 7000 series ryzen desktop CPU, and explicit claim of all 8000G variant ryzen CPU (im curious if the 8000F are also supported), and already said by minisforum to get full BIOS update support for the ryzen 9000 desktop CPUs once those line up is out. for "desktop" CPU and GPU implementation in low voltage MINI PC forms, the minisforum MS-A1 is the better more interesting functional one yet.
So: Intel. Internal power brick. "A.I." powered mic listening. Win 11. The PCI slot does ***NOT*** work for a graphics card... Never fail to fail here. Nice of you to NOT mention the non-functional PCI slot until 15:00 minutes in. Nope.
Why do you quote the pcie specs in transfers rather than what everyone actually knows, it's pcie 4.0 x8 slot. No one gives a shit about the actual numbers. For comparison thunderbolt4 is a slower version of pcie3.0 x4 and oculink is a full speech pcie3.0 x4. (Which is to say, they are both about a quarter the speed of pcie4.0 x16)
The complete setup with an external GPU is janky as hell, more expensive than an equivalent mini-ITX build, less expendable, and less powerful. These wannabe towers look fancy on the paper but my god they're so stupid in practice.
Because realistically Intel’s current internal meltdown only affects a tiny fraction of their product stack and impacts an even smaller fraction of their customer base. The customer buying a 14900k is a completely different demographic than the customer buying a mini PC. As far as I can tell crap going on with their desktop team hasn’t infiltrated the mobile, server, or GPU teams.
A mini with an external GPU or an Itx build with a full metal case are better. I don't like big gay microwares cases; I'm not a fan of glass and gay colors on my desktop. Im waiting for the next video. Beelink send him the PCIE dock.
I said the realtime nose cancelation was excellent. Did you hear anything from the very loud AC unit blowing directly into the microphone during the entire demo? It does need some de-easing however. Also I don’t do paid promotions or ad reads, ever.
@@ElevatedSystems so it's misunderstanding, the microphone is really bad, so if you add noice cancelation to the bad microphone you will still have bad microphone 🙃
They need to collab with someone legitimate like Seasonic and build and enclosure for gpus where this slots in externally. It has to be turnkey. We are still in jank mode.
I think they just look integrated due to the polished metal plates around them. There was actually a weird Dell docking port in the early 2ks that looked a bit like this though....
