Best mini pc for Overwatch, Fallout 76, League of Legends, etc.
...is dependent on your budget.
The most comfortable our clients are purchasing currently is
With better than 70% optimizing the mini by installing 2Rx8 dual rank RAM
The additional bandwidth throughput optimizes GPU VRAM performance.
With coupons, that's less than $350 USD. And $100 more, you can get into the more serious DDR5 RDNA2 Radeon RX 680M integrated graphics.
Budget dictates a great deal.
MaxProAndU Team
The ram you posted looks like 1rx8. The rule of thumb is: if it doesn't explicitly specify dual-rank, it is more than likely single-rank. The same goes for this one from Crucial. The only one I've seen that guarantee dual-rank are the CT2K16G4SFD832A model and Timetec ones.
First, when our clients get into these questions and concerns, especially with a budget, they focus on the emulator in question
Requirements for PCSX2
CPU Requirements
•AVX2 support
•PassMark single thread performance above 2100
•4-cores/8-threads
•Dual channel memory controller
GPU Requirements
•Radeon X1900 GT equivalent or greater
•2GB of VRAM, dedicated or shared
RAM Requirements
•1Rx8 dual rank DDR4, 2Rx8 preferred, in dual channel mode
These will meet the required specifications to run @ 60 FPS. PCSX2 is a CPU demanding emulator. Running the software from a PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD with read write speeds of 3,000/2,000MB/s is suggested for optimum performance.
Requirements for Dolphin 5.0
CPU Requirements
•4-cores/8-threads
•Dual channel memory controller
GPU Requirements
•Direct3D 11 or greater
•OpenGL 4.4 or greater
•Vulkan 1.1 or greater
Integrated graphics may work, depending on driver support.
The above, is your starting point.
As far as CPU performance, what clients are finding to be the most optimal is the Infinity Fabric Architecture found in AMDs Ryzen Zen 3 APUs, like the Cezanne and Barceló 5000 Series.
With the requirements, this places your starting point with the Ryzen 3 5400U or 5425U, and the new 7330U.
Currently, the most client purchased model in the price range, is the ATopNUC MX60, which is slightly over your budget
It does bring more to the table, with the Ryzen 5 5600U 6-core/12-thread upgrade, as well as 7 Vega compute units.
Post clients will eventually upgrade to a 2Rx8 dual rank RAM kit, to optimize both CPU and iGPU to maximum PTR (Peak Transfer Rate) for the best, bandwidth/throughput.
But without downgrading quite a bit, it's hard to hit the $220 budget. Most of our clients shooting for emulators often have budgets much higher. But they're trying to get the most out of the emulator as possible.
MaxProAndU Team
From what I learned Kingston and Crucial does not guarantee anymore that it will be 2rx8 RAM, you can get 1r, 2r, x8 or x16. All depends when it was produced and you cannot directly make sure before buying what you will get.Only one I found that specifies it was Timetec
The one our clients have been purchasing the most recently, due to its sale price, is this MSI model
...with this modification
With no complaints so far.
MaxProAndU Team
There's often a bit of confusion when it comes to a few of the more unfamiliar minis
KAMRUI / NiPoGi / CTONE are official sub-brands under ACEMAGICIAN's (ACEMAGIC) ODM/OEM umbrella.
The two most popular purchases made by our clients, with the more powerful 5800U and additional integrated GCN 5th gen Vega CU, have been these models
And these are often optimized with 2Rx8 dual rank memory to reach full bandwidth throughput, which allow for increased iGPU performance.
Clients have actually purchased the AMR5 more as a project board, then a mini PC. With its dual M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 slots, it's easy to add an external GPU.
Although the stronger choice in your budget based on current client purchases would be the Nucbox K1
...as the RDNA2 Radeon RX 680M integrated graphics are on a whole different level. That's within range of a GTX 1050 Ti desktop GPU.
AMD Ryzen™ 5 5500 6-Core, 12-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler
Silicon Power 1TB NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen3x4 2280 TLC R/W up to 3,400/3,000MB/s SSD (SU001TBP34A80M28AB)
Windows 10 Professional (32/64 Bit) 1 PC
At this point, you just choose a GPU that is 200mm overall length, or less. Choices range from
ASRock Challenger Arc A380 6GB GDDR6 PCI Express 4.0 ITX Video Card A380 CLI 6G OC to a GIGABYTE WINDFORCE OC GeForce RTX 3060 12GB GV-N3060WF2OC-12GD
It's a little over budget, but it's easy to build and it gives you some options to grow with both CPU and GPU.
MaxProAndU Team
We have clients with both Acer models, and ironically, the customer complaints come down to memory.
The Acer Swift X SFX14-41G-R1S6 have satisfactory memory, but it is 16GB of LPDDR4X soldered on RAM. And if you won't enhance the gaming, there's not much you could do. Still, this laptop is very well built.
The Acer Nitro 5 AN515-57-79TD ships with one crippling stick of half performance 1Rx16 8GB RAM. But it's upgradable, and most of our clients went with this installation to optimize performance
Still yet, our clients looking for similar purchases, actually bought more of these
It comes with 16 GB RAM, they can be upgraded. Clients also appreciate this model, because if it's accidentally damaged, it's easy and inexpensive to repair.
MaxProAndU Team
Without the actual model numbers for each laptop, it's definitely too hard to say.
This week, a number of our clients are picking up the 82K201XCUS for $599, and this Ideapad model has better GeForce RTX 3050 Ti dedicated graphics than the two listed.
Regardless of which model you choose, You're going to need to match up the missing stick of RAM that's already in the one purchased, but our clients have found a complete upgrade optimizes gaming considerably.
Timetec 32GB 2Rx8 Dual Rank Kit 76TT32NUS2R8-16G
So the attention to detail will separate the two
MaxProAndU Team
A number of our clients pick up this model here
...and install this 2Rx8 memory kit to enhance performance, expand graphics, and increase battery life
Some of our clients upgrade the drive after purchase
Silicon Power 1TB NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen3x4 2280 TLC R/W up to 3,400/3,000MB/s SSD (SU001TBP34A80M28AB)
Others wait and do it later
MaxProAndU Team
If you're looking at that model,
It's on "DEALS" right now
Most of our clients purchase these, and install a 2Rx8" RAM kit to optimize performance
Or for a little more money, noticeably better graphics
It's also on "DEALS" right now, and considering it comes with 32GB of RAM, and DDR5 at that, it's a better investment.
Graphics performance, our clients say, is relatively great
Ryzen 7 7735HS and Radeon RX 680M Gaming Calculator
But the unit are clients have purchased the most in the last 10 days, budget permitting, has been this model here
The RX 6600M discrete graphics really bring this combination to a new level
Ryzen 7 5800HS and Radeon RX 6600M Gaming Calculator
This, according to our clients descriptions, is closer to a desktop PC with a Ryzen 5 5600 and Radeon RX 5500, but small enough to be carried around in a book bag.
Hope these options gave you some insight, but if you have questions, please let us know
MaxProAndU Team
We've upgraded four of these 27-xa0013w for our clients.
Between the inadequate 8GB of RAM and the completely inadequate 7200RPM hard drive (what was causing all the problems), they didn't hold up long without crashing.
But after installing a 2Rx8 Dual Rank 32GB RAM kit
Ditched the hard drive for a Gen3x4 SSD
Silicon Power 1TB NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen3x4 2280 TLC R/W up to 3,400/3,000MB/s SSD (SU001TBP34A80M28AB)
Clean the fan and heat sink assembly, replace the thermal clay with fresh thermal grease
And install a clean installation of Windows using the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool
Windows 10 Media Creation Tool
The above fixed all the problems and greatly enhanced the performance of the 27-xa0013w our clients brought in. And afterwards, you can use it as a monitor for your PlayStation.