UPDATE: I had a chance to test an upcoming build of Batocera v36 and it resolves the issues I had when getting Batocera to boot on this mini PC. So it will be a very capable Batocera mini PC once v36 is released!
How well does PS2 run on the Batocera side for v36? Been looking for a solid mini PC to turn into a dedicated emulation console and the UM580 is my dream PC for that purpose.
Hi Retro Game Corps, I'm a new subscriber. Thanks for the update! I plan on getting one of these barebones and installing a 16gb x2 kit and a 1tb M.2 SSD. I want to make an 'all in one' PS3 and back console with an easy to use UI for my brother who is not computer literate at all. Is there any chance that you could maybe do another video on this device after Batocera v36 gets released? I would really love to see what it's capable of within Batocera as that's how I plan on using it if it is the mini I decide to go with.
I'm not sure if it would be possible for you, but I'd love to see sort of a "budget" emulation desktop, one where you sourced used stuff and cobbled something together that could maybe handle up to ps3. That's sort of out of your usual content, but you do such an amazing job that I'm sure it'd be great. Thanks Russ!
I agree. This would make a great guide. I would love to know the cheapest machine that I could reliably play 1080p GameCube. Also how to set it up with the best emulation front end (batocera for example) so it's more like just turning on a console that's ready to play.
Phison (SSD) is a Taiwanese company from Zhunan, Miaoli. It primarily designs, manufactures and sells controllers for NAND flash memory chips. In April 2022, Phison announced a long term partnership with data storage company Seagate to develop and distribute enterprise NVMe SSDs.* *from Wikipedia article PS: I never played GTA V either😉 Some time ago, BioShock Infinite did receive a "quality of life improvement update." Oh, what kind of improvement, I was wondering? A proprietary 2K Games Launcher!🙄 Thank you very much, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. How could I have lived so far without yet another f****** games launcher?!😠😤 Edit: Batocera is a no-go again?🤨 ... ... this has to be down to the firmware or motherboard/system drivers. On purpose, maybe? Twice in a row is a pattern now. Let's hope that new Batocera version could solve the issue here...🤔 Now that you mentioned it at the end of the video, could you test Xbox 360 emulation, since you're already testing PS3?✌
I thought about that a lot while testing, this definitely outperformed the Xbox Series S running RetroArch when I did my testing on it a while back, but I think I would need to re-test the Xbox to make a better assessment.
thank you for considering the "dairy minded" in this video. it's nice to see a TH-camr take the time nowadays. people always seem to forget us and just try to get likes and subs but you sir are a true hero
The SSD controller is a Phison. I'm still looking for the brand since one in a UM580 I have here is failing... I want to run diags on it but can't find the brand manufacturer's toolbox.
I feel like there are so many mini PC’s that it’s getting hard to choose one. We really need the stick figures to come out and tell me what group I’m in.
The 5800H is a capped CPU so it befenits a ton from some tweaking with Ryzen Master, Ryzen controller or AMD APU Tuning Utility. Give it a try if you have some free time and your power brick can stand to it.
My exact use case for wanting a mini of is to install a 2.5 drive with Batocera on it so I can use either windows or boot to Batocera. Do you still have any of the Beelink mini PCs? Does the Batocera drive work on those? Have you found any mini PCs where it works? Thanks Russ!
Hi, yes if you check the spreadsheet link in the video description you'll see a list of all the mini PCs I have tested, and there is a column for Batocera where I give an indication of whether it can boot into the OS and how it performs. The SER line of Beelink machines work great with Batocera (with the exception of SER5).
Love your videos! I feel the deck broke the market with its price to performance ratio. No tech sub $700 makes sense anymore to me. But ill watch and like as usual :D
I’m not even into gaming but I’m in the market for something that I can use for music production and video editing. I think for under $500 it seems like a great deal. Someone I know is trying to get me to let him build me a machine for twice as much but now I’m thinking I don’t need that. My current machine is a Lenovo Legion i7/16G RAM laptop from about 5 years ago and it does nearly everything I need. I’m pretty sure this will do just fine for me. I was also hoping the power draw for my next machine would be lower than the 50w or so that my laptop takes (I live in a van and mostly use solar). But a little more isn’t a dealbreaker.
Interesting that you say you've never seen Wipeout Fury HD running at 60 FPS. With a 3080 Ti and a 5800X3D, I can get it to run at 1440P with 80 - 120 FPS. With the rise of work from home and energy prices getting ridiculous, I'm becoming tempted to get one of these Mini PCs to work on. Maybe it will be best to wait for the Ryzen 7000 mini PCs? I don't really need the power, but previous generations like Ryzen 5 mini PCs should reduce in price once they release.
Anyone think that with GPUs dropping in price now that Ethereum switched to POS and crypto-mining no longer becoming as profitable, there will be even more, and cheaper mini PCs coming out in the near future?
thank you for the review. since you've tested this mini pc at 35 W TDP, does this mean that the beelink ser 5 pro who have the same ryzen 7 cpu and clocked at 35 w TDP will have the same performance especially when it comes to emulation? i just ordered the beelink and wanted to know if i have made the right choice
How is the response time? I've been playing the ps2 emulator on my Xbox series X and although it looks amazing with lots of settings options, the response time makes a lot of games unplayable for me
I really feel like a mini PC is best for me I'm more of a console gamer but I want to have the power to play retro games I still have my ds 3ds and Wii U but down the road they may not work anymore so I want to ensure that no matter what happens I will have a way to play the games I loved as a child
Thanks for another great video. Just recognized in the Excel that you seem to never have tested any 5900HX system. That's one I'm considering at the moment as 6000 systems seem to be nowhere near.
Since Windows 11 is installed that means Safe Boot and TPM2.0 are enabled by default, and from my experience Linux-based OSes wont boot correctly or at all with those enabled.
@@3godzilla3 Yes, unless the OEM enabled them. There are ways to disable Win11's requirements, but I'd just turn them off as is and see if Win11 still boots before installing Win10
@@RetroGameCorps I think it's a UEFI vs legacy boot issue. Windows 11 needs UEFI mode and batocera uses legacy mode to boot. I'm trying to install batocera on a second ssd in Asus laptop and I'm having the same boot issue with batocera. I am currently exploring a few options but nothing has worked so far. Maybe Kerrygold butter might be the solution. Thanks Russ for your amazing content!
@@chaosgerbil1240 Sadly that's not it either, UEFI and Legacy both boot into Batocera fine, it's Batocera that crashes when loading. I even went so far as to wipe the m.2 SSD and reload it with Windows 10 to see if that would change anything (it didn't). So to me it's not a boot issue per se, it doesn't matter what boot mode is used, or whether secure boot/TPM2 are enabled, because no matter what I can boot into the Batocera OS fine, it just freezes afterwards. I thought it might be the version of Batocera, or the media I was using, so I tried several versions (34 stable, 34 beta, 35 beta) and also several media (HDD, SSD, USB flash drive, sd card). It's something with how the OS handles the chip/motherboard.
Can someone suggest the most budget/inexpensive device I can get that can play 3ds and dreamcast games? I already have a USB controller so only need the box. Is there a site/subreddit for this type of discussion? Many thanks!
Man, if only this could have had a 6800H instead. I cannot wait for APUs to get RDNA2 instead of Vega. Vega is starting to get too old and underpowered for being built into CPUs.
I'm pretty sure your problem with batocera is Windows 11. Something to due with the security on Windows 11 stops you from booting into any operating system.
Recently I have using the Retroid Pocket 3 via steam link with my laptop but it's uncomfortable to use my laptop like that because it is a little big . It would be great to use this type of machine like a "personal cloud gaming server" since they are very portable and you can put it in the salon or any desk without problems
All this technology in such a small package, yet they can’t provide holes in the rubber feet so you don’t have to peel them off to open the back? That’s hilarious.
So many of the 5000 series boxes have been reviewed. As much as these serve a purpose, there not a touch on the 6000 series and unless they skip the 6000 series you’re far better holding off until they’re finally released.
Thanks a lot for the testing! I want to buy a mini pc and the Mini PC spreadsheet is very helpful. Just makes me a little sad that prices for those machines are like 20-50 % higher in Europe. Would you rather recommend the MinisForum UM580 with 32gb ram for 716 $ or the Beelink SER5 5600H with 32gb ram for 670 $?
@@RetroGameCorps It's a hit and miss with GC games, but some of them support wide screen. Even a handful of N64 games support widescreen, though with significant hit on framerate. I recommend checking out Hybrid Heaven, its a super weird Konami game, but with widescreen support.
![This Ryzen 7 Mini PC EMULATES IT ALL! 🎮 [GEEKOM A5 REVIEW]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/i4zQRaKS0co/mqdefault.jpg)
UPDATE: I had a chance to test an upcoming build of Batocera v36 and it resolves the issues I had when getting Batocera to boot on this mini PC. So it will be a very capable Batocera mini PC once v36 is released!
Thanks for testing other version (stable) of Batocera 👍
How well does PS2 run on the Batocera side for v36? Been looking for a solid mini PC to turn into a dedicated emulation console and the UM580 is my dream PC for that purpose.
Hi Retro Game Corps, I'm a new subscriber. Thanks for the update! I plan on getting one of these barebones and installing a 16gb x2 kit and a 1tb M.2 SSD. I want to make an 'all in one' PS3 and back console with an easy to use UI for my brother who is not computer literate at all. Is there any chance that you could maybe do another video on this device after Batocera v36 gets released? I would really love to see what it's capable of within Batocera as that's how I plan on using it if it is the mini I decide to go with.
I'm not sure if it would be possible for you, but I'd love to see sort of a "budget" emulation desktop, one where you sourced used stuff and cobbled something together that could maybe handle up to ps3. That's sort of out of your usual content, but you do such an amazing job that I'm sure it'd be great. Thanks Russ!
Yes ! Would be a fun watch and learning experience
Could also be a good collaboration!
Already in the works! :)
@@RetroGameCorps question which handheld emustation can handle ps3
I agree. This would make a great guide. I would love to know the cheapest machine that I could reliably play 1080p GameCube. Also how to set it up with the best emulation front end (batocera for example) so it's more like just turning on a console that's ready to play.
Just hope they can also send you the HX90G that with a 6600M discrete GPU to preview
Yes, I'm on the list!
Vesa is pronounced vay-suh. Love the videos! And the cat breaks are always welcome.
I'm interested in seeing your review on the new rg353v when it finally comes out.
Phison (SSD) is a Taiwanese company from Zhunan, Miaoli. It primarily designs, manufactures and sells controllers for NAND flash memory chips. In April 2022, Phison announced a long term partnership with data storage company Seagate to develop and distribute enterprise NVMe SSDs.*
*from Wikipedia article
PS: I never played GTA V either😉
Some time ago, BioShock Infinite did receive a "quality of life improvement update." Oh, what kind of improvement, I was wondering? A proprietary 2K Games Launcher!🙄
Thank you very much, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. How could I have lived so far without yet another f****** games launcher?!😠😤
Edit: Batocera is a no-go again?🤨
... ... this has to be down to the firmware or motherboard/system drivers. On purpose, maybe? Twice in a row is a pattern now. Let's hope that new Batocera version could solve the issue here...🤔
Now that you mentioned it at the end of the video, could you test Xbox 360 emulation, since you're already testing PS3?✌
So how does this compare to an Xbox being used for emulator? That'll be the real comparison for price.
I thought about that a lot while testing, this definitely outperformed the Xbox Series S running RetroArch when I did my testing on it a while back, but I think I would need to re-test the Xbox to make a better assessment.
@@RetroGameCorps awesome. I'd love to see a Series X compare as they have similar price points
Does the UM580 have multiple TDPs to chose from, like the hx90 or hm90 (10, 15, 25, 35, 45, 54W and auto)?
Does this come with games preloaded? Minisforum X400 4650G Mini PC
thank you for considering the "dairy minded" in this video. it's nice to see a TH-camr take the time nowadays. people always seem to forget us and just try to get likes and subs but you sir are a true hero
Ya just gotta respect a man who has so many handhelds that he needs a rack for them.
I have like seven racks of handhelds! They are mostly mail sorters or dish drainers :)
but when will the 6000 series mini pcs come? :(
Amazing spreadsheet hoping it would get bigger and help a lot of people
The SSD controller is a Phison. I'm still looking for the brand since one in a UM580 I have here is failing... I want to run diags on it but can't find the brand manufacturer's toolbox.
HELLLL YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHH SILICON GREAASSSEEEEEE
I feel like there are so many mini PC’s that it’s getting hard to choose one. We really need the stick figures to come out and tell me what group I’m in.
gotta setup vulkan for doom eternal on hardware like this, and 1080p would run great on ryzen apu's.
The 5800H is a capped CPU so it befenits a ton from some tweaking with Ryzen Master, Ryzen controller or AMD APU Tuning Utility. Give it a try if you have some free time and your power brick can stand to it.
I would like to see, Microsoft + sony + nintendo + sega = joint forces team up and make a super ultimate console together. 🤝💯💥✔🔥
I'm gearing up for this unit. Once it release I will add this to my collections. ETA Prime preview this and this Channel Review this.. Great job.
I wonder when ryzen 6000 mini desktops will be showing up. I thought they would've been here by now.
For 4K video editing is it OK with 16GB RAM? 32 GB RAM?
why does my zelda wiiu lag on beelink ser5? anyway thanks for the new review
Do you think this can run crt royale shader with 16 bit systems
Only 1 LAN port is a bummer these should really come with dual lan by default.
My exact use case for wanting a mini of is to install a 2.5 drive with Batocera on it so I can use either windows or boot to Batocera. Do you still have any of the Beelink mini PCs? Does the Batocera drive work on those? Have you found any mini PCs where it works? Thanks Russ!
Hi, yes if you check the spreadsheet link in the video description you'll see a list of all the mini PCs I have tested, and there is a column for Batocera where I give an indication of whether it can boot into the OS and how it performs. The SER line of Beelink machines work great with Batocera (with the exception of SER5).
@@RetroGameCorps EXCELLENT!
Nice. Any thoughts on using these mini PC’s (this or other triple display capable ones) to run a virtual pinball setup?
Hmm, I'm not sure, that's not really my area of expertise. But I imagine they would be plenty powerful enough for a setup like that.
Dam hooking this up to my TV is a dream
Do you use external ssd or hdd on this video? Love your channel.
What’s the name and model of the watch you are wearing?
Interestingly, it seemed to do better than the B550 at a lower price point (and specs).
the usb-c power cable is too short
I was just wondering about this yesterday!
On the dot. Thanks for reviewing this.
You know what's better than extra rubber feet? NOT COVERING SCREW WHOLES WITH RUBBER FEET.
Probably easy enough to get some felt feet.
Can this thing also emulate n64 games like the original paper Mario I have always wanted to play that
Most definitely.
Love your videos! I feel the deck broke the market with its price to performance ratio. No tech sub $700 makes sense anymore to me. But ill watch and like as usual :D
Retrogamecorps, i have poketgo s30, but i lost fikware of it. Please send me the download link for it, thank you so much
I’m not even into gaming but I’m in the market for something that I can use for music production and video editing. I think for under $500 it seems like a great deal. Someone I know is trying to get me to let him build me a machine for twice as much but now I’m thinking I don’t need that. My current machine is a Lenovo Legion i7/16G RAM laptop from about 5 years ago and it does nearly everything I need. I’m pretty sure this will do just fine for me. I was also hoping the power draw for my next machine would be lower than the 50w or so that my laptop takes (I live in a van and mostly use solar). But a little more isn’t a dealbreaker.
Interesting that you say you've never seen Wipeout Fury HD running at 60 FPS. With a 3080 Ti and a 5800X3D, I can get it to run at 1440P with 80 - 120 FPS. With the rise of work from home and energy prices getting ridiculous, I'm becoming tempted to get one of these Mini PCs to work on. Maybe it will be best to wait for the Ryzen 7000 mini PCs? I don't really need the power, but previous generations like Ryzen 5 mini PCs should reduce in price once they release.
Anyone think that with GPUs dropping in price now that Ethereum switched to POS and crypto-mining no longer becoming as profitable, there will be even more, and cheaper mini PCs coming out in the near future?
thank you for the review. since you've tested this mini pc at 35 W TDP, does this mean that the beelink ser 5 pro who have the same ryzen 7 cpu and clocked at 35 w TDP will have the same performance especially when it comes to emulation? i just ordered the beelink and wanted to know if i have made the right choice
Since batocera doesn’t load up can launchbox be used instead ?
Sure, you could use all sorts of other gaming solutions -- LaunchBox, Playnite, or RetroBat should all work fine since they run on Windows.
Is it possible to use only the 2.5" SSD instead of the M.2 SSD?🤔🤔
why weight it not gonna carry it
How is the response time? I've been playing the ps2 emulator on my Xbox series X and although it looks amazing with lots of settings options, the response time makes a lot of games unplayable for me
I really feel like a mini PC is best for me I'm more of a console gamer but I want to have the power to play retro games I still have my ds 3ds and Wii U but down the road they may not work anymore so I want to ensure that no matter what happens I will have a way to play the games I loved as a child
You are a treasure, man. Great work!
Did anyone have issues with the UM580 not powering on right out of the box? If so does anyone know a work around to get up and running?
Thanks for another great video. Just recognized in the Excel that you seem to never have tested any 5900HX system. That's one I'm considering at the moment as 6000 systems seem to be nowhere near.
You used egpu?
Thanks 4 the awesome video. Major bummer that Batocera doesnt work. :(
can you help me with a decision? I'm undecided between a560 and th50 which do you think is the best choice?
Great video! Just made a purchase based on this video. Your spreadsheet is super helpful! Thanks!
Thanks❤❤
Do any of the minisforum have a graphics card in them?
Is this unit any louder than the UM560? Are they both quiet?
Since Windows 11 is installed that means Safe Boot and TPM2.0 are enabled by default, and from my experience Linux-based OSes wont boot correctly or at all with those enabled.
So in other words, if it were Windows 10 he wouldn't have run into that issue at all?
@@3godzilla3 Yes, unless the OEM enabled them. There are ways to disable Win11's requirements, but I'd just turn them off as is and see if Win11 still boots before installing Win10
Unfortunately I've tried all that -- disabling Secure Boot or TPM 2.0, or any combination therein, won't work.
@@RetroGameCorps I think it's a UEFI vs legacy boot issue. Windows 11 needs UEFI mode and batocera uses legacy mode to boot. I'm trying to install batocera on a second ssd in Asus laptop and I'm having the same boot issue with batocera. I am currently exploring a few options but nothing has worked so far. Maybe Kerrygold butter might be the solution. Thanks Russ for your amazing content!
@@chaosgerbil1240 Sadly that's not it either, UEFI and Legacy both boot into Batocera fine, it's Batocera that crashes when loading. I even went so far as to wipe the m.2 SSD and reload it with Windows 10 to see if that would change anything (it didn't). So to me it's not a boot issue per se, it doesn't matter what boot mode is used, or whether secure boot/TPM2 are enabled, because no matter what I can boot into the Batocera OS fine, it just freezes afterwards. I thought it might be the version of Batocera, or the media I was using, so I tried several versions (34 stable, 34 beta, 35 beta) and also several media (HDD, SSD, USB flash drive, sd card). It's something with how the OS handles the chip/motherboard.
Gran video y gracias por la plantilla. Si esperando el siguiente vídeo de lo que recomiendas según precio de Mini pc
Shame about Batocera but a great machine otherwise, would love to see a comparison video, thank you for the spreadsheet in the meantime!
Another bummer with the batocera issue. Love the price and the performance.
a Mini PC with dual channel ram out of the box?! Finally!
Can someone suggest the most budget/inexpensive device I can get that can play 3ds and dreamcast games? I already have a USB controller so only need the box. Is there a site/subreddit for this type of discussion? Many thanks!
@Retro Game Corps I'm guessing this is spam?
You should do a video on how to get Render96 on the steam deck!
Thanks, Russ, for the spreadsheet, it makes cross-shopping so much easier
Could you use a dock for an external graphics cards?
i still dont understand what the barebone type means
It means you’d have to add your own RAM and storage drive. Great for those who already have those components!
@@RetroGameCorpsty
Man, if only this could have had a 6800H instead. I cannot wait for APUs to get RDNA2 instead of Vega. Vega is starting to get too old and underpowered for being built into CPUs.
True, I think it's only a matter of time before we see those APUs in mini PCs.
Butter review roundup when?
MINISFORUM UM690 is out!! WOO
I'm pretty sure your problem with batocera is Windows 11. Something to due with the security on Windows 11 stops you from booting into any operating system.
I can load up batocers fine on my 560 and that came with win11
Recently I have using the Retroid Pocket 3 via steam link with my laptop but it's uncomfortable to use my laptop like that because it is a little big .
It would be great to use this type of machine like a "personal cloud gaming server" since they are very portable and you can put it in the salon or any desk without problems
All this technology in such a small package, yet they can’t provide holes in the rubber feet so you don’t have to peel them off to open the back? That’s hilarious.
Good point!
So many of the 5000 series boxes have been reviewed. As much as these serve a purpose, there not a touch on the 6000 series and unless they skip the 6000 series you’re far better holding off until they’re finally released.
I think it's just a matter of time before we see 6000 series mini PCs. All the handheld PC manufacturers keep snatching them up!
Do you think that a game such as Champions of Norrath would run just as great (at 2x native) on a 4900h apu?
Yes, I would think it should run a bit better on the 4900H even though that chip is a little older.
Great review! Thank you!
Loved the video ! The chart at end was spectacular !
Good review..
can you make a review also of "Neptune HX90G"?
Yes, they said they will send me one as soon as it is ready.
For the price that’s an absolute bargain.
That Spreadsheet though!! Thank youu!!!
Is the NIC an Intel or Realtek NIC?
These mini pc needs to have hdmi 2.1 to support VRR in the future, especially for emulation this is a game changer.
no need, not made 4k console gamng, full hd
can you try gran turismo 5 or 6 ?
I want one for an arcade machine
Loved the spreadsheet!
You should do one for Handhelds too.
The spreadsheet is every nerds dream
hopefully mine ships sooooon!
Thanks a lot for the testing! I want to buy a mini pc and the Mini PC spreadsheet is very helpful.
Just makes me a little sad that prices for those machines are like 20-50 % higher in Europe.
Would you rather recommend the MinisForum UM580 with 32gb ram for 716 $ or the Beelink SER5 5600H with 32gb ram for 670 $?
10:40 F-zero GX supports 16:9 natively you know... It's in the settings.
I learned something new today.
@@RetroGameCorps It's a hit and miss with GC games, but some of them support wide screen. Even a handful of N64 games support widescreen, though with significant hit on framerate. I recommend checking out Hybrid Heaven, its a super weird Konami game, but with widescreen support.
MINISFORUM UM690 review please
So can it run properly gen 7 Gen consoles? 60fps full HD.
Yup got a Trigkey S5 with this same CPU for just $299!!!