HTPC/ Mini PC's

[kurtskyKG]

Sorry but I couldn't find a thread about this.

 

Any feedback on these devices? They seem to be for casual gaming and tv & movie watchers

PC's seem to be smaller these days. Could they replace desktops in the future?

[Hailst0rm_2]

As a casual entertainment device certainly, as a workstation or for hardcore gaming never (or at least not within the foreseeable future)

GPU's are getting smaller though, so its possible to have an htpc with some impressive performance like a Steambox.

[kurtskyKG]

Thanks man. I am eyeing on the HP Stream Mini or the Steam box

[Neputyunu]

MiniPCs are somehow dead, there are not many news about it meanwhile. The variety also isnt that great, also the next step of minimalisation was introduced. Google: Intel HDMI Stick

Also are MiniPCs somehow expensive. If you find one with an AMD A4 or A6, good, but keep in mind that AMDs APUs are staying and falling with the RAM. Means, most times you must upgrade it by yourself to unlock their full potential. MiniPCs with AMD have fair pricetags. Also you should prefer them if you want gaming. On the Intel-side of it, basicly everthing that is weaker than i7 4770R is uninteresting (because their iGPU), but it costs like 700€, so its a NoNo. The last time Ive checked eg Zotac ZBox EI750 (Intel Core i7 4770 + Intel Iris Pro 5200) it was suddenly 150€ more expensive.

 

I found a laptop (HP 355 G2) for 270€ with AMD A4-6210 (4x1.8GHz, 15W TDP) and dedicated R5 M240 gfxcard. It can handle (@720p) Starcraft2 at high, Anno2070 at medium, WoW at ultra with disabled shadows. ... Thats impressive imo and enough for me, because basicly these are the most modern PC-games Im interested in. I even got rid of my idea in building a 360€ PC (AMD Athlon X4 860 + AMD Radeon R7 360), because I prefer it smaller and with a seperate screen. Sure the PC would be way stronger, but I simply dont care about it. I left ePenis-society as I was around 14 years old.

 

edit: ohhh, this topic is about Steamboxes? Well, no idea about them. Never cared about them.

 

 

edit:Before someone is going to tell me that Im fanboying AMD and that Intel/nVidia are better: Actually nVidia has nothing that beats AMDs 360 in this priceclass. Sure in game-benchmarks Intel is way superior, but all these CPU benchmarks got created with highend gfxcards like 780 or Titan. Yes AMDs are bottlenecking them, but nobody who is sane would combine a lowbudget CPU with a highend gfxcard anyway. Combine both, Intel and AMD, with a midclass gfxcard and its nearly on par with Intel, for much less of a budget.

Edited August 11, 2015 by Neputyunu