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GMK NucBox 2 Mini PC (i5-8279U, 8GB RAM, 256GB NVMe SSD, 2.5" SATA, Win10, Dual HDMI) US$379.99 (~A$527.84) Delivered @ GMKTEC

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$80OFF-AU-KB2

An alternative to the Intel NUCs and Gigabyte BRIX that comes with the RAM, storage and OS included, as well as the option to upgrade the components. These are a good option if you're after a small PC with low power, have a homelab to run as a server/cluster, light gaming or as a media player. I personally use similar boxes to run small Hyper-V servers to run SQL as I work with a lot of DBs in my day job.

It comes preloaded with Windows 10 Home, has a quad-core Intel i5-8279U CPU with Iris 655 Graphics, 8GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM with dual channel slots, 256GB NVMe SSD, spare 2.5" SATA SSD/HDD slot, Dual HDMI 1.4 supporting 4K, USB-C Gen 2, 4x USB 3.0 Gen 1, WiFi 5, Bluetooth and more.

Many Mini PCs will restrict the TDP of the CPU which results in lower clock speeds, however the i5 in this has been unlocked so you'll get the full 28W TDP. There's also a large heatsink with a fan to keep it cool.

Reviews from ETA Prime and Techtablets.

  • Apply the coupon $80OFF-AU-KB2 at checkout

AU$ based on current Mastercard rate and includes free shipping.

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closed Comments

  • +1

    This is not a particularly good deal for an 8th gen I5.
    You'd be much better off going with an 11th gen i3 nuc for a similar price with RAM/SSD.

    https://www.scorptec.com.au/bundle/branded-systems/nuc-&-min…

    • +5

      But the 8th gen i5 is still faster than that 11th gen i3. Basically 4c/6t @ 4.10 GHz max turbo vs 2c/4t @ 4.10GHz max turbo.

    • +3

      The CPU performance of the 11th gen i3 (i3-1115G4) in the Scorptec box is weaker than the 8th gen i5 (i5-8279U) in the GMK box.

      Same clock and turbo speeds, but the 8th gen i5 is a quad core/ 8 thread vs the 11th gen's i3's dual core/ 4 threads.

      Don't automatically assume an older processor performs worse than a newer one.

      • +2

        Thats not the full picture. The i3 1115g4 in multi-threaded workloads often is quite comparable to the 8279u so there not as much of a difference as your suggesting. Architecture improvements with 11th gen mean that just cores and clockspeed can't be use for an apples to apples comparison. If that was true, people would still be rocking with i7 2600k as you could overclock the snot out of them.
        That's not saying everyone has to go by the nuc11, but based on it being better performance per watt and comparable in multi-threaded workloads I'd put my money on the 11th gen.

        • I was still using the 2600K up until a year ago along with a 1080. Most games don't use more than 4 cores and like you said the clock speed was more than enough. It did start struggling on more recent titles which is why I replaced it in the end but that CPU lasted me well.
          I find each gen CPU is only a slight improvement over the last and sometimes it only looks better on paper.

        • +1

          Single core performance on the i3 will be a bit better, but the i5 will perform better on multi-core. Of course the 11th Gen introduces support for much faster RAM so that's another bonus at least.

  • Still for the use case ( office, youtube, etc ) the difference is academic.

    Also the send it back to China warranty is a pain in the arse

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