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Another option if you need single threaded performance along with decent graphics is used corporate mini PCs with Ryzen 5 Pro 2400G CPU from HP, Dell and Lenovo
by mrandish 2y ago
Another option if you need single threaded performance along with decent graphics is used corporate mini PCs with Ryzen 5 Pro 2400G CPU from HP, Dell and Lenovo. These are just starting to hit four years since first volume availability this Fall so corporate fleets are increasingly being recycled on eBay. They're already down to around $100 delivered with SSD and Win10 Pro installed and prices should fall even further in coming months as supply increases.
These are terrific for retro emulation as they can easily handle emulating everything up to and including PS2 and Gamecube at 60+ fps (with upscaling too). Toss in an old 2TB HD and it'll hold a library with many of the greatest games ever made that'll take a lifetime to play. Also, don't forget to check out the huge variety of community mods, HD texture packs, cheats and fan translations now available. Around our house we're pretty much opting out of the DLC, multi-service-login-required, 100GB-bloated, DRM hellscape that much of current gaming is devolving into and actually enjoying it a lot more.
- mvkel 2y agoFantastic idea. Any specific models I should search for on eBay?
- close04 2y agoAn HP EliteDesk 705 G4 (I can see some under 100EUR) or Lenovo ThinkCenter M715q Gen2. Both have the slightly lower clocked but lower TDP 2400GE.
- monkeydust 2y agohttps://www.backmarket.co.uk/en-gb/p/lenovo-thinkcentre-m910q-tiny-core-i5-6500t-25-ssd-256-gb-16gb/0e4d486e-eb43-4524-8bf5-7b266889f111#l=10 https://www.backmarket.co.uk/en-gb/p/lenovo-thinkcentre-m910... £100 16gb, ssd machine capable home assistant or plex server.
- theshrike79 2y agoIsn't that a full-ass PC with a DVD drive and all?
- mvkel 2y agoThese are wild. Why would anyone buy a Pi??
- theshrike79 2y agoHabit and old information. The pi 2 and 3 were very well priced for what they did. The 4 got hit by covid and is still selling at bonkers prices - more than the 5 in some places :D The 5 is a powerful machine, but also very expensive. Add a case, M.2 hat, power supply and you're hitting 150€ easily. Unless you need something very specific, like HDMI CEC, GPIO or the ability to swap to a new board in a bigger industrial device - the 5 is not a good choice. Any N97/N100 chinesium minipc or a used corporate machine like the Lenovo M700 will outperform the 5 in every metric along with having stadard M.2 + SATA + SoDIMM slots for upgradeability.
- mvkel 2y agoOld habits die hard! Just bought a Thinkcentre Tiny, and it's about 10X more powerful than anything I would have assumed I'd buy. Time to dust off the ol' home lab