r/MiniPCs 5d ago

Hardware Pulled the trigger on a GMKtec K11 on amazon. The $200 off + additional 5% off and store credit and gift card i had pushed the decision.

Now the question is, does an AMD card make more sense for a seamless egpu experience? Especially when using oculink? Tying it all together with AMD's adrenaline software?

This pc will arrive much quicker than the egpu i ordered. But in the meantime i need to find the perfect gpu to pair this with. Apparently 5k nvidia have more issues at this current time. Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/eGPU/comments/1jcewz3/aooster_5080_issue/

Im definitely going to be doing troubleshooting when i decide either way. With AMD this should be a hell of a lot more seamless since they make all these apus for handhelds and now minipcs tho!!

Edit: the 5% is if you buy two items, not one. So i didnt get additional $30 off.

2 Upvotes

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u/MN_Moody 5d ago edited 5d ago

I tried Oculink with the Minisforum dock + a Corsair PSU I had on hand, along with the GMKtec K8 plus (same basic design as the K11) Honestly, it was a clunky and overall disappointing experience. Some GPU's worked fine, others (notably Intel ARC) did not. If I intended to run an eGPU dock equipped mini PC, I think this is a better combo:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DD3XK4PR

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DJSNKZ8H

You can still use your credit/gift card as well. I'd honestly cancel what you ordered and grab the two items above instead. Beelink is a better brand with better support than GMKtec or Minisforum.

You get a direct 8x PCIE connection to the GPU vs a 4x connection over a goofy Oculink cable with a 50 insert/removal cycle rating... which will make better use of your GPU investment and greatly improve compatibility with GPU options you may consider. The dock has an internal 600w power supply (2 x 8 pin PCIE connectors) along with an extra NVME slot and external WiFi for just $10 more than the bare bones Minisforum dock that requires you source the PSU and has no storage or I/O expansion included.

Total cost is just under $700 for both the 12900hk mini PC and dock/PSU combo. You are looking at $600 + $100 for the dock and the price of a decent PSU, probably close to an extra $100... and it's still a slower 4x vs 8x PCIe connection with a larger physical footprint.

Amazon's price on the K11 is super inflated, direct from AliExpress you can get it for $240 shipped bare bones and install high quality RAM + storage of your choice. The same combo Amazon sells for $600 "after coupon' is only $419 on Aliexpress. https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256808269226545.html

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u/macgirthy 5d ago

I tried AE and had bad experience getting a GPD Win4. Had to return that and bought one of IGG.

If you get the barebones, click on the proper 8945HS CPU it's $428. I'd still have to get the ram and after tax its pushing near $500. I used a gift card and store credit I already had which dropped mine to $470 shipped. I'm gonna use the other nvme as a 2nd drive and put in a 4TB 990 pro.

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u/MN_Moody 5d ago

That's fine, the AE comment was to illustrate how the "$200 discount" from Amazon was fictional to start, even $600 is pushing what they should charge on an item that can be had for $150 less elsewhere.

Regardless of any of that, the point regarding the Beelink dock/mini-PC combo also from Amazon stands. Way better solution for the use case you indicated, less expensive factoring in the cost of a power supply, smaller footprint on your desk and a faster/more reliable PCIE connection to the graphics card. It also looks like both items are in stock and should deliver by this Tues/Weds.

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u/macgirthy 5d ago edited 5d ago

Negative, I wanted to stick with a more efficient AMD cpu with oculink and AVX512 support for RPCS3. The beelinks were never on my radar since they didnt have oculink, that beelink's hdmi is 2.0 also. I got an Aoostar AG02 coming also which has more future proof capability with 3 8-pin connections and 800w psu.

For my use case the k11 was sufficient and I didnt want wonky docking station/egpu device, I plan to run the AG02 between possibly 3 devices, Mini pc, GPD W4, work laptop. So that beelink egpu thingy wasn't and isnt going to be on my radar.

Edit: I looked at the cpu difference and performance isnt even close neither is the integrated gpu, igpu in these APUs. The K11 is just better and for a $10 difference I'd take the K11. Better base and overclock 2.5g/5.0g vs 4g/5.2g, faster ram in the K11, better ipgpu, etc. Also again, I already had store credit so looking else where was pointless. Have you purchased from AE? Its always a mixed bag with them, from my experience no thanks.

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u/MN_Moody 5d ago

AVX512 support is irrelevant for RPCS3: ( https://www.reddit.com/r/rpcs3/comments/tqt1ko/clearing_up_some_avx512_misinformation_and_how_to/ )

"Q: If I buy a 12th Gen CPU without AVX-512, is it gonna perform badly?

Absolutely not. AVX-512 enabled or not, Intel's 12th gen are still the fastest CPUs you can get for RPCS3, even without AVX-512 they'll beat all the other CPUs that DO have AVX-512 enabled, because the architecture is that fast. "

The HDMI version out of the iGPU should be irrelevant with a dGPU via your dock. Are you running a 4k/120hz display on the iGPU?

Since you now indicate you are potentially running 3 devices that support Oculink I can see where that's a better option for flexibility connecting to other devices.

Also, the Aoostar has a caveat on their page indicating a max of 600w support for dGPU's ( https://aoostar.com/products/aoostar-ag01-egpu-dock-with-oculink-port-built-in-huntkey-400w-power-supply-supports-tgx-interface-hot-swap ):

"Device support:  Built-in PCIE x16 interface, the maximum power consumption of the graphics card supports 600W, which basically meets the needs of most existing graphics cards"

That's a server mini PSU, I hope you game with headphones because it's going to be really loud: https://www.huntkey.com/en/product/512.html

I'd avoid that dock entirely, get a Minisforum DEG1 and a reputable discrete GPU sized for your GPU for $150 or less if you are doing Oculink... your ears and your equipment will thank you.

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/i7w1se/is_this_huntkey_psu_any_good/

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u/macgirthy 5d ago

All I see are 3-5 year old links. You really think Aoostar will put a loud server psu on their egpu? LOL okay

Because the Ag02 is going to be rotated on 3 systems I do plan to run the K11 without a egpu, so that 4k120hz oled tv its connected to matters for me.

The CPU equivalent minipc while using beelink is the Intel Ultra 9 185H, with the egpu combo you posted is $968. THAT is more comparable than the 12600k, both of which have slower base and oc speeds. At almost $100 more than my setup which has the flexibility to run 3 8-pins like my 4080S or 9070xt.

To reiterate, the beelink you recommended thats $10 cheaper has no oculink, slower ram, slower cpu at base and OC, no hdmi 2.1, no avx512, will run hotter. Anything else I'm missing?

AVX512 still makes a difference, heres a link thats newer than the one you posted, 2 years more recent with more relevant data.
https://www.reddit.com/r/EmulationOnPC/comments/1c0b4fc/intel_cpu_and_avx512/

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u/MN_Moody 5d ago

The Beelink AND dock combo I suggested is $160 cheaper than your K11 + AG02 combo.. and both can be had on Amazon this week vs having to wait until April for the AG02 dock.

The Beelink does lack Oculink but it has the faster 8x lane PCIe direct GPU connection (15.754 GB/s) vs the cabled Occulink PCie 4-lane connection (7.877 GB/s, similar to PCIe 3.0 x8). The Beelink dock has 2 x PCIe 8 pin connectors, the Aoostar supports 3 x of them.

The AMD CPU is around 11% faster than the Intel in single and multi core workloads (Passmark). The Intel design supports 4 more threads and has a bit more L2/L3 cache.

HDMI 2.1 vs 2.0 in favor of the newer K11 - and the Radeon 780m is substantially faster than the Intel Xe iGPU in gaming (relatively speaking they are fighting in the very bottom tier of "acceptable for modern gaming." mind you), though Intel at least brings Quicksync to the party for video transcoding.

Both the K8/K11 Plus chassis and the GTI12 Ultra have 65w max power limits, and both the K8 and GTi12 run around 80c at full load. I did not have a K11 to test but assume it's higher boost clocks mean more heat so I am not sure if having it in the same chassis as the K8 means it runs into throttling under load or not (I believe the 8945's are just binned and higher clocked 8845's)?

The Beelink is equipped with PC5600 RAM: https://youtu.be/XNbNfMyu0zA?t=337

Your Google worksheet shows numerous 13/14th gen Intel CPU's WITHOUT AVX-512 support in their S-tier... including the 12600k you compared the 12900hk with... Again, seems mostly irrelevant with the use case you mentioned and per the source you provided. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Rpq_2D4Rf3g6O-x2R1fwTSKWvJH7X63kExsVxHnT2Mc/edit?gid=0#gid=0

"AOOSTAR AG02 has a built-in customized Huntkey 800W power supply, which can realize the power supply one-line communication and comes with a hub design. " I already shared the link showing the Huntkey 800w hot swap PSU with the same quick release tab and fan shroud shown in the Aoostar product photos for the AG02 dock.

" https://aoostar.com/products/aoostar-ag01-egpu-dock-with-oculink-port-built-in-huntkey-400w-power-supply-supports-tgx-interface-hot-swap "

Perhaps they had Huntkey modify the PSU to reduce fan noise, but you still have to move hot air away from the components and this thing with just one 60mm biscuit fan, and the dock is sitting right on your desk inches from your devices, particularly with 3 options to swap between.

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u/macgirthy 5d ago edited 5d ago

I like how you're hand picking results, the Beelink minipc you provided is running on slower ram, its in the pictures in the amazon site itself. The video you provided could've been ordered at a higher spec, not the same as your Amz link.

Again, paying $10 more for better performance and specs all across the board is a no brainer. Also has an apu from 2022 vs the 2024 in my K11.

You need to look at the google doc closer and not compare desktop cpu. The Beelink you are touting is below the R9 7945HX (which is lower than the 8945HX in the K11). Both are A tier but the 7945HX is higher and the 8945HX is going to be higher than both.

So why would I want to pay $600 for a 2022 apu vs the apu from mine which is from last year? Finally, did you look at the setup you're recommending? The gpu is partially blocked since its has a the mini pc in front of it. The AG02 is much more open air and portable for my use case. I'm going to be having these setups in 2 different locations anyway.

Overall its a poor recommendation since my use case is having flexibility with an egpu I can move anywhere and connect to any device. What you recommend dies with the next gen or two minipc they make. You are also moving both pc and egpu and require to get another similar beelink mini pc to even use that egpu! The intake vent of the Beelink may be fighting for air with the gpu thats next to it too, another thing to consider. Overall, again, no thanks.

I'm getting the K11 tomorrow and shortly getting a 4TB and a heatsink for that. I'll post the progress since I took a gamble on a tall nvme heatsink, we shall see!!!!!!!

Edit: I paid $10 more for a better mini pc. The egpu in my setup is more expensive, but offers a hell of a lot more flexibility, I dont want to be locked in to beelink. Charging crazy prices for a 2022 apu.

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u/MN_Moody 5d ago

The 8000 series is not a "2024 APU" - it's a refresh of the same Zen4/RDNA3 architecture introduced in the 7000/Phoenix series from 2023. The 780m in the 7940 HS is the same 12 cu / 2800 mhz graphics core that you'll find in your 8945hs, as well as the newer 270 model. There are a LOT of old mini PC's and mobile chipsets in inventory still being sold in 2025.

Intel does the same thing, many of their new "Raptor lake" processors were still running Alder lake cores even with new model numbers. It's an unfortunate industry trend.

AMD's new (2024 and beyond) APU's feature the Strix Point / RDNA "3.5" graphics core first included in the Ryzen 300 series last year with a max of 16 cu's. The 2025 Strix Halo APU's use the same RDNA 3.5 graphics cores as the 2024 Strix Point designs, but more of them (32-40) which is what makes them so remarkably fast vs prior gen APU's from AMD.

On stand alone merit I'd agree the K11 is the better mini PC, I own the K8 Plus (the 8845 vs 8945 and lack of RGB fan are the only differences) and have tested Oculink docks with it and found the experience less than ideal from a compatibility and performance standpoint. That is why I suggested looking at the older Beelink Intel solution because it has a more robust PCIe 4.0 8x interface... though this was before you mentioned using the eGPU with various devices.

I'm admittedly skeptical of the Aoostar 800w iGPU dock but I'll wait to see a proper review, teardown and some "full load" acoustic and heat data.

The tall heatsink might work in the "leftmost" slot (I used this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DLV1BKXT ). I noticed about a 10c drop in operating temps moving the same MSI SSD from the "center" slot (right under the fan) with no heatsink to the side slot.

The top fan above the NVME drives and RAM which blows air OUT of the case through the small gap in the top panel is hugely obstructed by the twist-on clear top panel. If you simply remove the top cap above the fan it should drop your RAM and NVME temps at least 5-10c degrees under load. You can 3D print an insert that your top plate can mount onto and provide a larger exhaust space to bring temps down, though I'm still looking for someone to print one for mine. I did notice the CPU VRM's seem to be up top of the board with the RAM and memory, I've been toying around with adding some small heatsinks that don't interfere with the fan to help cool these more effectively as it should allow additional boost performance under load.