Gaming Mini PC K8 Plus AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS(8C/16T, up to 5.1GHz) 32GB DDR5 RAM 512GB SSD, Desktop Computer Dual NIC 2.5G, HDMI 2.1, USB4

In my real life, I am a Technical Writer and Knowledge Manager for the company I work for, so if this review seems a little long or maybe too detailed, I wanted to make sure you got as much information as possible as I started using the computer. At home I am an avid movie and personal video collector and I just completed rebuilding my video server. It is in a tower case and is occupying the only space I have in my office for such a computer. As part of the rebuild, I intended to separate the serving and processing functions, so I was searching for a compact solution that would allow me to render video content for the server. This computer has provided everything I was looking for and more. These are the criteria I used in deciding on a replacement computer High speed processing I needed a computer that would help with video rendering. I am not a gamer but the performance of a gaming computer would speed up the video work I do. With the initial testing, this design is completing the rendering tasks about 20% faster that my previous computer. A compact Design. I have limited space on my desk for a PC. This mini PC was great as the size gave me options on my already crowded desk. Its size allowed me to place it behind a monitor, but there were also 2 mounting screw holes in the case so I decided to mount it to the back of my desk. Convenience of Several connection options. With 4 USB A ports I was able to connect my printers, keyboard and mouse and still had USB C connection options for my USB monitor and an External SSD device. See the picture Exterior Pictures Showing Ports and Top Removal Along with that connectivity there are options to connect wireless networks and to use Bluetooth top connect audio devices like headphones. Expandability In this small package I could still add an additional standard sized SSD. The surprise expandability is found in the Oculink Port this port gives PCIe connectivity speed for external devices. What Came in the Box The computer Introductory Booklet (Unfortunately not an English Page, but other picture have some English labels.) Power Supply and Power Cord HDMI cable (Must boot first time on HDMI) Mounting Bracket (No instructions on the exact uses. I mounted mine using the mounting holes on the back of the case.) See the Picture What's In the Box Setting up the Computer Unpacking the computer was straight forward. There was no assembly required. The only things needed to get started is a monitor to connect the HDMI cable (provided), a keyboard & mouse and to plug in the power supply. I followed the instructions on the yellow notice over the network ports advising that the system would set up much more quickly without Windows attempting to update during the initial boot up. This worked great and I will use this process on any other computer I will build. Within a few minutes, I was at the windows desktop. I was in a position to start installing software. See picture Original Desktop. I then connected a network wire and I was able to install my software and connect to my Microsoft account. There was a bit of disappointment, as there were no instructions in English supplied. There were about 10-12 languages in a pamphlet included in the box but none were English. The drawings were labeled well enough to identify the details of the ports well enough for my trained eye, but the standard user may be left with questions about a few of the ports. I decided to add a second SSD to the computer and found the access inside very simple. Turned the top shield a quarter turn to the left and it unlocked exposing 4 screws that held the top fan in place. Once those were removed, the fan lifted out easily (be careful of the wire connecting the system board to the fan.) See the picture Disassembly with SSD 2 Slot Identified As part of the final setup, I had to decide where the computer would be on my desk. I had a option to put it behind my monitor See Picture Behind the Monitor, but instead, I took advantage of the mounting holes on the bottom of the computer to hang the computer from the back of my desk. See the picture Desk Mount BIOS Notes I did look at the BIOS. I was curious about how configurable it was as I have found with other units that the BIOS is very focused and not designed to allow tweaking. While the interface was not very fancy (very DOS like) it appeared to have several settings to adjust memory and processor. See the picture BIOS Advanced There are many drill down options. Summary Overall this computer provides a significant performance boost over the equipment I had. In my research I found that the AMD products provide better performance for the dollar, combined with integrating the GPU into the chip design it made the unit compact while still providing enough horsepower to drive 3 monitors effectively. In the few days I have worked with this unit, I still find myself marveling at how fast bootup times are and how quickly applications launch and web pages load. If you are looking for a gaming computer I would give this one a chance, I think you will be surprised at the speed of this computer and its ability to keep up with some of the most demanding games.

Edit update again 01/10/2025: I fixed my fan issue and as promised raised the score back up to 5 stars. It is a good, fast little computer but does get hot when you are gaming. I recommend popping the top off and exposing the top fan to the outside as this really helps in keeping it cool. When you put the top back on, when your finished, don't snap the top back in place so it will be easy for you to remove when needed. I know this would bother some people but I am not bothered by it as it helps keep it cool. Still five stars for what it can do for it's size. Still highly recommended. Edit up date 01/09/2025: I had to reduce the GMKtec M5 Plus from five stars to three stars because the little top cooling fan will not work all the time. I have the lid on but not snapped in because I have to take it off to force the fan to run. A quick spin with my fingers gets it going but I got to keep an eye on it other wise the little computer will over heat even though it's only fifteen watts. This is serious and the reason for only three stars. I am going to try to contact them and if they help I will improve the review back to five stars. *Next is another concern that has a lot of YouTube press and that is, Mini PC's shipping out with Malware or viruses. Let me make clear that GMKtec has been cleared so far and I tested mine forward and backwards with zero positives but you should be made aware of this. The most offending company (watch YouYube to get the companies name as it is all over) still has not completely cleaned their computers and are being very sneaky in the way they hide the Malware. One buyer replaced his M2 SSD and loaded a fresh copy of Windows 11. If you are one of those people who are sensitive to computer security then you need to know what you are getting into with Mini PC's. I didn't know this before I bought mine. Please check out the problem on YouTube before you buy. If you do buy, do not connect to the net till you have run a complete check. I recommend the very long but important Windows 11, full virus scan and download the free version of Malwear Bytes and run a test with that. I hope Amazon allows this review update to be printed as this is an important issue that everyone should be made aware of before they buy a mini PC. First off, it worked right out the box. Early setup could not have been any easier, a smart 8 year old could have set this mini computer up. That's not stretching it either. However setting up all the drivers from AMD and getting Windows 11 up to date did take time and requires someone a little more knowledgeable. I bought this as a novelty but now using it all the time. My big gaming computer has taken a back seat to this amazing little mini computer. Pros: Very quite, Very fast, Yes it plays games but more on the casual level. Beautiful eye popping monitor visuals, It uses only 15 watts of power. That means it runs very cool. The AMD processor the 5825U is designed to run on 15 watts. Cons: Terrible instructions with tiny print. Example, they send you a piece of black metal with some black screws that looks like it might be some sort of mounting bracket but the instructions give you zero information on what it is for. It uses only 15 watts of power. I know I had that as a pro but it could also be a con if you want to play more powerful AAA games. But who would use a mini computer to play AAA games like Cyber Punk 2077 or Hogwarts. Come on, use common sense. I will end this by saying do your research. Not all mini computers are only fifteen watts like this one. And if you look you will find the newest mini computers are AM5 platform and use up to 70 watts. But those units run from seven hundred and fiftly to almost a thousand dollars. You start spending that much money you might as well buy a full size gaming rig. Highly recommended

This Mini PC is an awesome value for the price. While it will not be great for all games, it is excellent as a work PC. It is able to handle all kinds of tasks, watching videos, streaming movies, browsing the internet, running apps and streaming music. I have used it to run older games, but I have not tried it on any games newer than 2015. That's not a knock on this PC. It does struggle with graphics heavy screens in a game, but it is working and it's a minor inconvenience when it hiccups the video. I do recommend removing the top when gaming as it will get up to the 70's in centigrade. I have never seen it get above 45 degrees centigrade when doing normal PC work - even streaming music or videos - even with the top on. The 8 cores are excellent and even in gaming do not go above 45% usage on any one core. I love the 32 GB of RAM and the 1 TB of storage. The document retrieval is lightning fast. We'll see how the PC does as applications are installed and I bloat up the storage over time, but this little PC is a great buy. I have paired this PC with a USB C docking station so I could connect both monitors through Display Port. That may factor into the graphics hiccup. I also pair this with a USB dongle for a wireless keyboard. I love the Surface Pro mouse as it fits my big mitts comfortable, so I utilize that connection through Bluetooth. I have never had connection issues with either wireless device. I am currently utilizing 5GHz wireless connection for internet and it is lightning fast. Granted the router is only 1 room away in my house. There is maybe a 10 foot distance through a standard non-insulated wall. I have not experienced any network drops or issues. I would definitely buy this again. I love it!

Machine is serving me as a mini server that I’m hosting pve on it and works as a charm

Adorei, muito bom...

Approx 2 weeks after buying this computer Win 11 Pro stopped working and I was going to return it for a refund but decided to try it with Linux Mint. It performed flawlessly and because of that I decided to keep it. I have not been disappointed with it other than not been able to access some of my Windows apps. I reached out to GMKTec through Amazon and explained what had happened. Their rep, Julian contacted me very quickly, sent me detailed instructions on how to download the appropriate Win 11 Pro ISO and how to install it. I am happy to say I now have Win 11 Pro working again and couldn't be happier with my purchase. The M5-Plus is very quiet, runs most of my games, Fallout 4, Going Medieval, Hogwarts Legacy, EVE etc plus 3D software I use for 3D printing. As I spend a lot of time streaming YouTube/Prime videos this little computer is a perfect fit for me. Besides being quiet it also runs really cool even if left on for long periods of time. I would have no problems recommending it to anyone looking for a mini-PC to do similar things to what I use it for.

Eve kendi IT laboratuvarımı kurmak için aldım. Desktop alacak olsaydım yine bunu düşünmeden alırdım. Sessiz , stabil ve kaynak donanımlarına göre fiyatı bedava.

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