Can 800 $mini PCs replace desktops? After a month of experience, my feelings

A while ago, I bought an 800$ mini computer and made a special evaluation. Many old fans should have seen my evaluation. To be honest, when I first used this mini computer, I didn't expect too much. I just wanted to help me with my office software temporarily at home. I just wanted to watch the video. As a result, I found that although this EGSMTPC S600 mini computer I bought is just a mini computer for office use, However, I found that its potential is still very great. I can even play some games with configuration, such as playing a LOL. It is not a problem to start a medium high quality game. Therefore, I became more and more interested in this kind of mini pc. Therefore, I plan to increase the budget to 800$ this time to see if I can buy a computer with more mainstream configuration and better performance.

In fact, this time I want to change to a more powerful mini computer. For me, the biggest goal is to replace my home desktop with it. Don't mention RGB light pollution to me. To be honest, I'm really bored. I want a simple and clean desktop now. The 200$ mini computer I bought earlier can meet my office needs, but I want to change to a more powerful one. I'd better play a large 3A game. Intel's NUC was originally considered, but the budget of 800 $was really unable to buy a better configuration. Finally, I bought an EGSMTPC S600, a mini computer with AMD 5900HX processor. To be exact, this S600 minicomputer of EGSMTPC is the middle and high-end minicomputer of EGSMTPC product line. Compared with the plastic body of Intel NUC, the S600 is equipped with an all metal body design. I have been using it as the main machine in the last month. Whether it is easy to use or can it replace ordinary desktop computers, I also summarized several problems and shared them with you.

First of all, I bought this host at my own expense. I bought the 16G version at 800 $, which is dozens of dollars cheaper than the 32G version. For me, this configuration has the highest cost performance. Some of the experiences and views on the products in this article are subjective, so we'll talk about the advantages and disadvantages, as well as some issues that we care about, such as how about the performance of mini computers at this price? The smoothness is good, including heat dissipation and power. After all, the machine body is so small. Even if the CPU is strong enough, if the heat dissipation is not good, the CPU will become meaningless when running in the reduced frequency state. Also, can the S600 mini PC equipped with the AMD 5900HX processor play large 3A games? Wait, these questions.

The first step to get the machine is to disassemble it for inspection, because the 512GB hard disk version was purchased. I want to see if we can expand a hard disk for it later, and then see if the memory module can be upgraded. Disassembling the machine is actually very simple. Unscrew the four screws of the bottom cover, and then carefully open the back cover. When opening the back cover, be careful not to tear the hard disk cable. After disassembling, we can see that the interior design of the S600 is very neat, delicate, and feels like a big factory.

Back to the point, we can see that there are two memory module sockets inside the machine body. My 16G version has been filled with two 8G memory modules of DDR4-3200. The brand is Crucial, a big factory, and I am very conscientious. There is still room for upgrading the memory. If you want, you can upgrade the memory to two 16G memory and set up a 32G memory dual channel. For hard disk bit, we can see that there are two hard disk bits, one is M 2 For the hard disk bit of the Nvme protocol, the original factory has attached a 500GB Kingston solid state disk, which is also a large factory. It seems that it is willing to use materials. In addition, this S600 has a 2.5-inch HDD or SSD hard disk space reserved. You can insert a 2.5-inch hard disk to increase storage space.

The S600 Mini computer is equipped with a wireless network card of Intel AX 201. It supports WIFI6 and Bluetooth 5.2. It has a very fast Internet access speed and is a mainstream network card for the current flagship computer.

CPU

The key point is that the S600 is equipped with AMD Ryzen9-5900HX processor with a TDP of 45W. This processor uses TSMC's 7nm FinFET process technology, eight Zen3 architecture CPU cores, 16 threads, 16MB L3 cache, and the operating frequency is 3.3GHz. Users can reach the maximum frequency of 4.6GHz. In addition, AMD's core display has always been very strong. This SoC also integrates the AMD Radeon Vega 8 core graphics card with the operating frequency of 2100MHz. The performance of this core display is almost the same as that of the Geforce MX450 independent graphics card. So, just looking at the configuration, the performance of this mini computer is compared with the performance of a notebook with a price of about 900 $.

Pc size

The whole body size of the S600 is 150 X 145 X 40 mm. However, it is important to know that the S600 has active heat dissipation. To make the body so small, it is still a test of the manufacturer's technological level. Although the fuselage is small, EGSMTPC seems to be equipped with rich interfaces in the limited space.

Rich and multi-functional interface

There are two USB3.2 interfaces, a full-featured Type-C interface and a power key on the front of the host. The Type-C interface can not only transfer data, but also support the highest 4K@60Hz And supports the PD 3.0 power supply protocol. Therefore, through this interface, you can directly connect an external portable display to power the display and transmit video at the same time.

A 3.5mm audio jack (compatible with microphone), four USB2.0 interfaces, one HDMI2.0 interface, one DP interface, two gigabit LAN network interfaces and one DC power interface are set on the back of the machine body. In this view, the S600 with two HDMI interfaces can easily connect two monitors at the same time. With the front full-featured Type-C interface, it can support the simultaneous connection of three monitors to form three screens. This is also good news for many users who like dual screen and triple screen.

Powerful thermal design

In terms of heat dissipation, I am also concerned about it. From the appearance, we can see that EGSMTPC engineers are trying to achieve the best heat dissipation of this host, including the large metal heat dissipation mesh of the body, the MOS anisotropic radiator (dual fan) and the dual copper tube heat dissipation system design adopted by the host as a whole, so that the heat dissipation performance of the whole machine is very good.

In the month after receiving the pc, including a series of tests such as opening more browsers and web pages, watching high-definition videos, and playing large games at the same time, the heat dissipation effect of the whole machine is very good. Under the indoor environment of 26 °, the measured heat dissipation is much better than I thought, and there is no loud noise like the laptop often encounters, and the sound of the fan running wildly. The surface of the body is not like my laptop, After a long time of operation, it is often hot. I am personally satisfied with the overall heat dissipation performance, which also dispels my concerns about the heat dissipation of such high-performance minicomputers.

Finally, I'd like to summarize my experience of using this EGSMTPC S600 mini computer in the past month. Obviously, as a 700 $mini computer, compared with a laptop, it has fewer screens and is more portable without a laptop. However, the cost performance ratio is very high. You should know that the AMD Ryzen9-5900HX processor with a TDP of 45W on the S600 has very strong performance. The price of the same laptop is about 1000 dollars. But I think this mini computer is the best solution to replace the heavy desktop computer at home. If you like the simple desktop as much as I do, the S600 is very suitable for home use as the main computer.

It is not as difficult to place as using a mainframe computer. Various power cords are very messy. If you also buy a portable monitor and connect it with the computer through a wire, the desktop looks more simple and clean, and you can even take it away from home occasionally when you are on business. Compared with traditional desktop computers, it is easier to move it, and you can even move it to the living room occasionally for TV use. In terms of expandability, if you like double or even three screens, this mini computer can also be connected to three monitors at the same time, which can fully meet our multi screen needs. There is no problem with office work. You can even play large games occasionally, turn the picture quality down, adjust the resolution, and play large games smoothly. It's really more convenient than my old desktop, don't you think?

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