Advice Pls: Smallest PC with ‘Proper’ Core i7 Chip

FrankFalcon

Hi all

i am looking to buy a new PC for our small desk at home. I really dig those tiny form factor PC’s that are about the width of a breakfast cereal bowl and a couple of inches thick. However, whilst doing my research I have read in some places that these tiny PC’s use laptop processors or special low power processors, which is not what I want. Saying that, I don’t want to go back to the days of having a full size PC Tower sat on the desk or on the floor. As I said, I have done some research and I have come to the decision that I want a core i5 or i7 (or AMD equivalent), 32 GB Ram, 512 SSD etc etc.

I know some people might say ‘Well, you’ve already told us what you want, simply go out and buy it’, but the bit I am stuck on is the CPU. I’d hate to go out and spend my money on a PC with the specs I have specified above only to find that I had purchased a PC with one of the less powerful (laptop or low power)  CPU’s I mentioned earlier. I should note that we are not interested in gaming etc and will never want to install a dedicated GPU. 
So, as you can see, I am being cheeky.  I want to have my cake and eat it. Am I asking the impossible in wanting a tiny PC form factor/footprint with a full power desktop CPU? 

Or, another way of putting it, what is the smallest footprint PC that utilises full, desktop powered processors/memory etc
Thanks all. 

MattMattMattUK

Remember that even the fully fledged i7 will come in multiple TDP options and will also thermally throttle if it overheads in a small, badly cooled case. All current Intel chips seem to have high TDP vs performance and in my opinion run hot, the AMD chips offer far better performance per watt and also win at the top end (although you are unlikely to need that). 

What might help is what you actually want to do with this PC? Very few people need an i7, for non gamers and people who are not editing, coding, running CAD etc. then an i5 is probably more than adequate. Do you use any software that specifically performs better on Intel (it is rare, but it does happen, developer build of Unreal (a game engine), some CAD and editing software etc.)?

Also and perhaps most importantly what is your budget? One can get a small form factor PC that is running a top end i7, overclocked, but also with water cooling to mean it never overheats, however that is expensive, alternatively many cheaper systems will use a basic heatsink and fan, will run very hot (shortening the chip life) and resulting in regular throttling of the chip and perhaps most annoyingly having a fan that sounds like a hairdryer trying to keep the thing within thermal limits. 

FrankFalcon

Thank you for your in depth reply. The PC will be used by all the family. It will deffo by used for lots of web browsing, MSOFFICE, VSDC low end video editing, maybe the odd web based game but deffo no high end games or CAD. The reason we need this is because the family are getting frustrated at the slow response from our current HP Compaq  8200 pc which has an i5-2400s and 8gb RAM. We have 2 teens who need to do online education courses and anyone who’s ever experienced the whine of a teen with a slow PC will testify the pain. None of the family are gamers. 

Hope this helps. 

Neil_Jones

FrankFalcon said:

Thank you for your in depth reply. The PC will be used by all the family. It will deffo by used for lots of web browsing, MSOFFICE, VSDC low end video editing, maybe the odd web based game but deffo no high end games or CAD. The reason we need this is because the family are getting frustrated at the slow response from our current HP Compaq  8200 pc which has an i5-2400s and 8gb RAM. We have 2 teens who need to do online education courses and anyone who’s ever experienced the whine of a teen with a slow PC will testify the pain. None of the family are gamers. 

Hope this helps. 

That machine shouldn't be a slouch, though that being said that processor is from 2011 and is a Sandy Bridge model, which was quite badly affected by the fix Intel/MS had to put in place due to the Meltdown/Spectre vulnerabilities.  You can verity this with this utility: https://www.grc.com/inspectre.htm

Have you put an SSD in the computer?

I don't think you need an i7, and depending on your definition of "low end video editing", you probably don't even need anything super powerful.

MattMattMattUK

FrankFalcon said:

Thank you for your in depth reply. The PC will be used by all the family. It will deffo by used for lots of web browsing, MSOFFICE, VSDC low end video editing, maybe the odd web based game but deffo no high end games or CAD. The reason we need this is because the family are getting frustrated at the slow response from our current HP Compaq  8200 pc which has an i5-2400s and 8gb RAM. We have 2 teens who need to do online education courses and anyone who’s ever experienced the whine of a teen with a slow PC will testify the pain. None of the family are gamers. 

Hope this helps. 

A modern i5 would be more than adequate, as an example that CPU has a PassMark score of 3,164, the current (i5-13400) has a score of 24,890 and the single threaded score of 1,476 vs 3,692. Those scores were for the 65w installation of that CPU, but it was also set up at 45w and that lowers the scores by around a third which could make even more difference. As Neil says it could have also been further handicapped by the Spectre fix, that could have halved performance in worst case scenarios. 

I agree with Neil that if you do not have an SSD then that would make a difference, but for a 12 year old PC I would be thinking it is time for a new one anyway and nothing on the market now comes with hard drives. 

I also agree with Neil that you do not need an i7, even a modern i3 would far outperform the i5 you currently have on both single and multi-threaded performance. 

I would probably be looking at one of the Dell Inspiron desktops, i5, 16GB of RAM (no need for more, 8GB would be less than optimal), you are trading a bit bigger than a full on small form factor for better build, better components and far better thermals. Something in the £450-600 range. I would also think about getting a new monitor if the current one is 12 years old. 

Neil49

Your list of requirements has created a conflict of interests in that the processors in a standard full size pc kick out an excessive amount of heat which in turn requires fans to cool down the unit. Stick one of those processors in a small form factor case and it will fry. 

Current laptop processors are still extremely powerful and are well up to the job you describe. 

Take a look at Minisforum and Beelink small form factor units. Computer Active magazine frequently reviews models from these companies and they come out well. 

These aren't the smallest units you can get but are powerful and have plenty of connections. Prices are around £600 ish

Cisco001

Have a look at Lenovo tiny/ Dell micro/ minisforums, etc.

Or Self-built itx option. 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/9MVzQP

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 8700G 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor  (£259.99 @ Amazon UK) 

CPU Cooler: be quiet! Pure Rock LP CPU Cooler  (£44.99 @ AWD-IT) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte B650I AX Mini ITX AM5 Motherboard  (£151.99 @ CCL Computers) 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory  (£89.99 @ Corsair UK) 

Storage: Western Digital WD_Black SN850X 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (£72.95 @ Amazon UK) 

Case: In Win Chopin MAX Mini ITX Desktop Case w/200 W Power Supply  (£144.47 @ Amazon UK) 

Total: £764.38

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-19 12:20 BST+0100


However, I can't see why you need powerful cpu nor the need of 32GB RAM?

To save money, I would probably suggest you go for used PC. £100 - 150 SFF. These would sufficient for web browsing...
These are at CEX

Lenovo IdeaCentre 3 07IMB05/i3-10100/8GB DDR4/256GB SSD/W10/B £90

HP 290 G3 SFF/i3-10100/8GB DDR4/250GB SSD/DVD-RW/W10/B £100

HP 290 G3 SFF/i5-10505/16GB DDR4/256GB SSD/DVD-RW/W11/B £140

Acer ES2740G/i5-10400/8GB DDR4/256GB SSD/GT 710 2GB/DVD-RW/W10/B £145

RumRat

Have a look around this site...Fanless PCs: Reliable and Quiet Computing | Inside Tech (inside-tech.co.uk)
They built me a small Ryzen 7 Fanless PC about 18 months ago and it's run flawlessly since then.
I do the odd light gaming and Video edit and then use it pretty much daily for the usual stuff.
Getting a fanless PC was a real revelation after the noisy fans of my last one...It's never over heated and in fact, runs cooler than my last one.
Oh yes, and the customer service and communication were excellent.

FrankFalcon

To all that commented, thank you. I have learned a thing or two. Just bought this, which is a great price compared to similar PC’s on EBay 

Item: HP 290 G3 SFF/i5-10505/16GB DDR4/256GB SSD/DVD-RW/W11/B
Category: Desktops - Windows
Quantity: 1
Unit Price: £140.00

facade

That will be alright, i5-10505 is a 6 core 3.2Ghz 65W desktop processor.

The RAM & SSD are exactly half what you wanted though.

If you go to the HP website you can download the manuals and look at how to upgrade it, If you are lucky you can add another 16GB stick of RAM but you will need to swap the SSD for a larger one. You can get all the drivers from the HP site too.

DullGreyGuy

What's your budget?

Why do you think you need 32gb of ram and i7?