Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station mini PC review: More affordable than expected
A major complaint about Beelink mini PCs thus far is that they all come with integrated graphics only. While the latest GTI Ultra series doesn't directly address this, it's still Beelink's first foray into officially supporting eGPUs via the EX Docking Station to appeal to power users or gamers.
Our test unit is the GTI12 Ultra equipped with the Core i9-12900H, 1 TB SSD, and 32 GB DDR5-5600 RAM for approximately $740 USD when paired with the EX Docking Station. Newer Meteor Lake CPUs are available under the model name GTI14 Ultra which is visually identical to the GTI12 Ultra.
We've acquired a personal Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3070 GPU for testing the EX Docking Station, but the dock itself can support GPUs up to the RTX 4090 at 600 W maximum.
More Beelink reviews:
Potential Competitors in Comparison
Rating | Version | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 76.5 % | v8 | 10 / 2024 | Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station i9-12900H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 | 1.3 kg | 55.8 mm | x | ||
| 76.7 % | v8 | 10 / 2024 | Minisforum MS-A1 Ryzen 7 8700G, Radeon 780M | 1.7 kg | 48 mm | x | ||
| 67.3 % | v8 | 09 / 2024 | GMK NucBox K9 Ultra 5 125H, Arc 7-Core | 528 g | 47 mm | x | ||
| 74.7 % | v8 | 08 / 2024 | Asus NUC 14 Pro Ultra 5 125H, Arc 7-Core | 525 g | 37 mm | x | ||
| 78.4 % | v8 | 08 / 2024 | Geekom AX8 Pro R9 8945H, Radeon 780M | 548 g | 37 mm | x | ||
| 86 % | v8 | 08 / 2024 | Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 Ultra 9 185H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU | 2.6 kg | 50 mm | x |
Case
The GTI12 Ultra is essentially an enlarged SER8 utilizing the same metal chassis materials, plastic bottom, and smooth matte finishing. Internally, however, the two models are very different as the GTI12 Ultra integrates a 145 W PSU instead of relying on an external power brick. It also integrates two speakers to be one of the very few mini PCs with both integrated audio and a PSU.
Another unique feature is the PCI x8 slot on the bottom of the unit for attaching to the EX Docking Station as shown by the image below. We appreciate that the connector is not proprietary unlike with the Asus ROG XG Mobile.
The unit is significant larger and heavier than most other mini PCs with integrated graphics due to the unique characteristics mentioned above.
| Mini PC | EX Docking Station | Mini PC + EX Docking Station |
| 1316 g | 1419 g | 2735 g |
Connectivity
Port options are greater than what the SER8 and many other NUC-sized mini PCs have to offer since the GTI12 Ultra is so large. The model integrates an SD card reader alongside additional USB-A ports and RJ-45 ports.
There is no Kensington lock.
SD Card Reader
| SD Card Reader | |
| average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 (AV Pro SD microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB) | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 (AV Pro SD microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
Communication
Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 are not supported likely to save on costs.
| Networking | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| GMK NucBox K9 | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| GMK NucBox K9 | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 6GHz | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 6GHz | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Maintenance
The GTI12 Ultra is much more difficult to service when compared to its smaller siblings due to it having more integrated parts not found on other models. The speakers, dust filter, and integrated PSU sit atop the motherboard and they each have different size screws to make servicing even more of a headache.
Sustainability
Beelink advertises no sustainability measures taken to manufacture the GTI12. The packaging consists of mostly paper with some LDPE wrapping and plastic.
Accessories And Warranty
The EX dock includes two 6+2-pin power cables and two small plates for securing the GPU and mini PC onto the dock. The M.2 Wi-Fi slot and antenna are optional for those who wish to install a WLAN module onto the docking station instead of inside of the mini PC. Virtually all mini PCs come with integrated WLAN and so this specific feature of the dock can be ignored by most users.
Performance
Testing Conditions
We set Windows to Performance mode prior to running the benchmarks below.
Processor
The Core i9-12900H is two to three generations behind the current Raptor Lake-R series and the benchmark results reflect this. The newer Core i9-14900HX, for example, provides almost 2x the multi-thread performance over our Beelink unit. Even cheaper mini PCs like the Beelink SER7 can offer nearly identical processor performance.
Newer Meteor Lake Core Ultra processor options are available for this model called the GTI14.
Cinebench R15 Multi Loop
Cinebench R23: Multi Core | Single Core
Cinebench R20: CPU (Multi Core) | CPU (Single Core)
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 6.3: Multi-Core | Single-Core
Geekbench 5.5: Multi-Core | Single-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
Cinebench R23: Multi Core | Single Core
Cinebench R20: CPU (Multi Core) | CPU (Single Core)
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 6.3: Multi-Core | Single-Core
Geekbench 5.5: Multi-Core | Single-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
* ... smaller is better
AIDA64: FP32 Ray-Trace | FPU Julia | CPU SHA3 | CPU Queen | FPU SinJulia | FPU Mandel | CPU AES | CPU ZLib | FP64 Ray-Trace | CPU PhotoWorxx
| Performance Rating | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| Average Intel Core i9-12900H | |
| GMK NucBox K9 | |
| AIDA64 / FP32 Ray-Trace | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| Average Intel Core i9-12900H (4074 - 18289, n=28) | |
| GMK NucBox K9 | |
| AIDA64 / FPU Julia | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| GMK NucBox K9 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-12900H (22307 - 93236, n=28) | |
| AIDA64 / CPU SHA3 | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| Average Intel Core i9-12900H (1378 - 4215, n=28) | |
| GMK NucBox K9 | |
| AIDA64 / CPU Queen | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| Average Intel Core i9-12900H (78172 - 111241, n=28) | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| GMK NucBox K9 | |
| AIDA64 / FPU SinJulia | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station | |
| Average Intel Core i9-12900H (5709 - 10410, n=28) | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| GMK NucBox K9 | |
| AIDA64 / FPU Mandel | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| Average Intel Core i9-12900H (11257 - 45581, n=28) | |
| GMK NucBox K9 | |
| AIDA64 / CPU AES | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| GMK NucBox K9 | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-12900H (31935 - 151546, n=28) | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| AIDA64 / CPU ZLib | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| Average Intel Core i9-12900H (449 - 1193, n=28) | |
| GMK NucBox K9 | |
| AIDA64 / FP64 Ray-Trace | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| Average Intel Core i9-12900H (2235 - 10511, n=28) | |
| GMK NucBox K9 | |
| AIDA64 / CPU PhotoWorxx | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| GMK NucBox K9 | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| Average Intel Core i9-12900H (20960 - 48269, n=29) | |
System Performance
PCMark results are comparable to laptops and other mini PCs running on discrete graphics including the Asus ROG NUC 14. Our Productivity score is relatively low, however, likely due to the older 12th gen Intel CPU.
CrossMark: Overall | Productivity | Creativity | Responsiveness
WebXPRT 3: Overall
WebXPRT 4: Overall
Mozilla Kraken 1.1: Total
* ... smaller is better
| PCMark 10 Score | 7689 points | |
Help | ||
| AIDA64 / Memory Copy | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| GMK NucBox K9 | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station | |
| Average Intel Core i9-12900H (34438 - 74264, n=28) | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Read | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| GMK NucBox K9 | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station | |
| Average Intel Core i9-12900H (36365 - 74642, n=28) | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Write | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| GMK NucBox K9 | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station | |
| Average Intel Core i9-12900H (32276 - 67858, n=28) | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Latency | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| GMK NucBox K9 | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-12900H (74.7 - 118.1, n=27) | |
* ... smaller is better
DPC Latency
4K video playback at 60 FPS is nearly perfect. There is strangely always a few skipped frames immediately after pressing the Play button which we do not normally experience on other PCs. Otherwise, there are no skipped frames throughout the rest of the test video.
LatencyMon is incompatible with the current version of the system.
Storage Devices
Our unit comes with a 1 TB Crucial P3 Plus SSD. Maximum transfer rates reach 5200 MB/s before falling to 4800 MB/s after a few minutes of stress. The faster Samsung PM9A1a in the Asus NUC 14 can sustain 6700 MB/s in comparison.
| Drive Performance Rating - Percent | |
| Beelink GTI12 Ultra EX Docking Station | |
| GMK NucBox K9 | |
| Minisforum MS-A1 | |
| Geekom AX8 Pro | |
| Asus ROG NUC 14-90AS0051 | |
| Asus NUC 14 Pro | |
* ... smaller is better
Disk Throttling: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
GPU Performance
The GeForce RTX 3070 has been heavily tested and so its performance offers no surprises. We're instead interested in any performance deficits that our docked RTX 3070 may have against a "proper" desktop PC with the RTX 3070. In this case, performance is essentially on par with our reference desktop RTX 3070 PC or even slightly faster by a few percentage points to show no tangible performance losses. Of course, results may vary if installing much faster GPUs like the RTX 4090 where the PCIe x8 interface can become a more limiting factor.
