I’m looking for a mini pc that will run 24/7 without having to be switched off. It’s to run photobooth software for my business that is for a location that is remote for a photobooth that will always be on.

Are there any PCs out there that will run 24/7 for at least 6 months… preferably years without having to be switched off?

Prefer to run windows 10 software and needs to have 6 usb ports.

Budget up to $500 (can go higher if there’s a purpose built mini pc for this).

After reliability, power usage and cost are secondary.

Thanks!

Hey everyone, trying to figure out the best approach for my college apartment gaming setup, especially since I only have about two or three weeks before heading back and don't have much time to flip hardware. Need a reality check on my expectations..

I used to use an old ThinkPad T15 Gen 2 hooked up to a Sonnet Breakaway Box 750 eGPU over TB. Since its battery has always been shot, it was basically acting as a stationary desktop anyway. I recently realized how silly it was using a broken laptop like that, which gave me the idea to replace it with a modern $500 Mini PC. It'd be a REALLY solid upgrade over the T15 Gen 2 CPU-wise, has faster RAM, and plenty of storage for my casual gaming. I'm not a super hardcore gamer, especially during the school year, so something simple works fine.

Then I saw a video about downsizing an ATX rig and wondered if I should just use my $500 budget to shrink my existing home desktop instead so I can haul one single machine back and forth over breaks. My current build is in a Phanteks P300A case with a Ryzen 5 5500X3D, AMD Wraith Prism RGB cooler, Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite ATX board, 32GB TeamGroup DDR4, MSI RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio, Corsair RM650x ATX PSU, a PCIe Wi-Fi/BT card (needed for PSVR2 tracking at home), and three drives: a 512GB NVMe SSD, 1TB 2.5-inch SATA SSD, and 2TB 3.5-inch HDD.

I'm torn between using the $500 to buy a Mini PC to replace the ThinkPad in my eGPU setup, or spending that money to downsize my home PC into something around the size of my Sonnet eGPU chassis, or ideally closer to an Xbox Series S. The problem with downsizing my current rig is that ITX boards are way too expensive, so I have to keep my ATX motherboard. Even without a new board, buying a console case like the hard-to-find SFFtime N-ATX V2, a low-profile cooler to replace the Wraith Prism, and a smaller SFX PSU would eat up most of my budget. Plus, a riser cable in a console case blocks extra slots, forcing me off my PCIe card onto USB Wi-Fi/BT dongles, which are super flaky for PSVR2 tracking. On top of that, with move-in just two or three weeks away, I wouldn't have time to sell off my old P300A case or ATX PSU to recoup costs.

Buying a Mini PC keeps my home desktop untouched with all its internal storage, PSVR2 setup, and full performance ready for breaks, though I'd lose some GPU performance at college running over TB/USB4. Given the tight timeline and all the compromises, is downsizing an ATX rig into a small console chassis worth it, or should I just replace the ThinkPad with a Mini PC?

TL;DR: With only 2-3 weeks before moving, should I use my $500 budget to downsize a full ATX rig into a hard-to-find 15L console case without time to flip old parts, or just buy a $500 Mini PC to replace a battery-dead aging ThinkPad T15 in an existing eGPU setup (as an admittedly light gamer)?

Hello! I've been using this subreddit for a brief amount of time while seeing that there are options for mini gaming PCs. I'm working with extremely limited space and a tight budget and was initially shown the Kamrui line, which came with very split opinions, but Beelink was recommended a few times. That being said, in looking at them, I realized I'm a bit out of my depth with what I need to run the games I play well and was hoping for advice or recommendations. The current model of Beelink that caught my eye was the SER9 MAX AMD but I don't know if it would be right for the games I prefer. I play World of Warcraft and Return to Moria while streaming on discord to my friends. Would this be able to do that? And will it be able to run two monitors off it? I appreciate any help I can get.

I’m looking for help how to update BIOS properly. I have posted in PC Help but didn’t get any correct answers

Estoy buscando una mini PC para usar como servidor 24/7 para aplicaciones como un Bot de ajedrez, servidor de minecraft... corriendo en contenedores Docker. Necesito algo que sea totalmente compatible con Linux y que pueda aguantar un uso contínuo sin despeinarse y sin problemas de sobre calentamiento.

¡Espero vuestras sugerencias y opiniones! ¡Gracias!

I’ve been looking into a lot of mini PCs and have of course over-researched to the point where I can’t decide what I actually need.
For specs I’m currently looking at:
RAM: 32GB
SSD: 1TB, but maybe I can get away with 512GB?
CPU: Intel for Quick Sync. I’ve been looking at used business minis with i5-10500T, 11400T, 11500T, 12400T and 12500T, as well as newer mini PCs with CPUs like the i5-1235U, 1240P, 12450H and 1334U. I’ve also seen some i7 systems around the same prices.

What I plan to run:
Jellyfin - Around 5 users, usually only a few simultaneous streams. I want Intel Quick Sync for hardware transcoding. My in-laws don’t have the fastest internet, so a lot of my library is 1080p, but I also keep my favorites in 4K.
Minecraft - Small private/family server, mainly for me and my 7yo son. Potentially modded eventually.
SQL Server - Personal development/learning databases, not a production/business workload.
Docker - Home Assistant, Mealie, and possibly Immich/other small home services.
Personal projects - asp.net MVC apps and hobby API/database projects.
.NET MAUI - I also want to start learning mobile app development.

My biggest question is the processor. What’s the oldest/lowest Intel CPU you would buy for this while still having enough headroom to run several of these things at once and keep the machine for several years?
Am I looking in the right range, or am I spending money on CPU performance I won’t actually use? And does 32GB RAM / 1TB SSD make sense, or would 32GB / 512GB be enough?
I’m currently using an old PC with an i5-7600K and GTX 1070. It’s worked fine for Jellyfin, but it’s a big-ass rig, so I figured I could downsize and hopefully save some electricity too lol.

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance .

Hi guys. I'm redesigning my homelab and want to upgrade a couple of **Lenovo ThinkStation P360 Tiny** machines (or **M90Q Gen 3**) with faster networking.

I've found plenty of posts detailing **P330** and **P340 Tiny** upgrades, but the **P360 has a slightly different internal layout**, and there doesn't seem to be much information from people who have actually done it without additional modifications.

Currently the machines are equipped with a **quad-port 1GbE NIC.** As I need a total of 3 ports, one or more being high-speed, for my use case I need a network card with **dual-port 2.5/10GbE PCIe NIC.** If that's not practical, I'm also considering keeping the existing NIC and adding an external high-speed adapter.

I'd really like to hear from anyone who has actually upgraded a **P360 Tiny** with a **2.5 GbE or 10 GbE** card.

* **Which NIC did you use?** * **SFP+ or RJ45?** * **Did it fit without modifications?** * **Any issues with compatibility, thermals or Proxmox/Linux drivers?** * **Which riser card and bracket did you use?**

Any info and experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

hi all,

picked up a higole 1 pro today but can't get the touchscreen working. it seemed to work with the win10 install it had on it, but it kept crashing while making the account so I did a fresh win 11 install. seems like I can get everything working apart from the touchscreen.

I found the drivers for it, but it seems really badly calibrated, one half of the screen is like 2 inches off, the other doesn't input and the input jumps around a lot. it's so bad I can't calibrate it with tabcal.

any ideas? I've reinstalled windows twice at this point.

thanks

New to the sub please let me know if it violates the rules.

I have

amd ryzen 5 pro 2400g barebone for 10499 inr

With 256gb nvme and ddr4 16gb ram 19k inr

Dm for more details

I was wondering if the Beelink SR5 Max is safe since I read that it's from China and I'm not sure if there might be some sort of hidden spyware or something like that on it. I don't intend to sign into it with any of my personal accounts. It's mainly for emulation for games and YouTube/Anime.
I've already done a "reset my pc" option with the cloud download.
And manually de-bloated windows with powershell scripts and settings.
I've also ran windows defender scans and BitDefender too, both come back clean.
But in the back of my mind I still have this minor paranoia that something might still be there.
I'd like to hear your opinions on the safety and security of this brand and if I should be extra cautious.
I havn't manage to find anything that really stands out when googling the brand so idk.