Deal | AMD-powered mini PC with 32 GB DDR5 RAM reaches all-time low, packing 8-core Ryzen 9 8945HS APU and OCuLink
In our review of the GMKtec NucBox K11 mini PC, we praised the product's affordable nature, respectable performance, and OCuLink support for eGPUs. Courtesy of an ongoing sale on Amazon, the K11 mini PC can once again be purchased for an all-time low price oft just $599.99 on the platform.
Reliable price trackers such as Camelcamelcamel indicate that the K11 mini PC hits this price almost every month, but only for a few days. Amazon offers a risk-free return and refund policy, which is always welcome.
AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS: Great 8-core APU for majority of typical workloads
At its core, the GMKtec K11 mini PC is powered by the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS APU with eight Zen 4 cores and sixteen threads. The APU unsurprisingly shines in CPU benchmarks, revealing performance that keeps it in close proximity to the Apple M4 and the Intel Core Ultra 7 255H chips, both of which are respectable performers. In simpler terms, the K11 mini PC is unlikely to break a sweat in the vast majority of workloads the typical user can throw its way.
The Radeon 780M iGPU is no slouch either, although it is obviously nowhere near as powerful as a dedicated mid-range GPU. While perfectly decent for low-end casual gaming and 1080p editing, those with higher demands can go the eGPU route, courtesy of the fast OCuLink (PCIe 4.0 x4) port on offer. The rest of the I/O is as follows:
- Dual 2.5G Ethernet
- Dual USB4 Type-C
- Dual USB 2.0 Type-A, dual USB 3.2 (10 Gbps) Type-A
- HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 2.1
- WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
This specific variant of the GMKtec K11 mini PC comes equipped with 32 GB of DDR5-5600 memory and a terabyte of solid-state storage. Both the RAM and the storage are user-upgradeable, up to 96 GB and 8 TB respectively. Our in-depth review of the K11 mini PC reveals that the cooling system performs pretty well, allowing for excellent sustained performance.
However, we did note that the system drops more frames in 4K60 playback than we would like, which potential customers should definitely take note of. The plastic covering also scratches rather easily, and we found the lack of faster WiFi 6E or 7 quite disappointing.
In every other aspect, the GMKtec K11 mini PC is a very capable system for customers with moderately intensive workloads. At its current record-low price on Amazon, the mini PC is even more bang for buck, especially considering the skyrocketing DRAM prices.
Disclaimer: Notebookcheck is not responsible for price changes carried out by retailers. The discounted price or deal mentioned in this item was available at the time of writing and may be subject to time restrictions and/or limited unit availability.
Source(s)
Amazon (linked above)
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