790IDEAL
After posting my previous deal i went searching on reddit and apparently theres another version just released with 7940hx, should be unbeatable for cores/dollar
MINISFORUM Bd790i SE Ryzen 7940HX 16 Core CPU US$361.90 (~A$533) Delivered @ Minisforum Store
660
Referral Links
Referral: random (3)
Referrer & referee receives $2 off coupon.
Related Stores
Comments
Depends. Are you building an itx PC?
It's cheaper to buy pre-built than to buy parts.
Prices start at $748 for a complete system https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/868308
I wouldn't bother with the board in this deal unless it meets some specific need you have. ITX gaming comes with more expense and more problems, for nothing but the smaller size in return.
Thanks for the advice 👍
Not sure why you got negged, mostly true. If you've built a few systems then it isn't more of a problem, it's just more expensive.
For sure if you don't mind a big desktop then a pre-built will be the cheaper option to get you up and runningsmall and efficient can be a reasonable tradeoff for premium though
@0jay: Yeah I understand, I use an ncase M1 and love it. But in terms of bang for buck there are definitely some good value pre-builts
For more context, it's comparing a 6 core (5600) vs 16 core (7940HX) setup
The main question for people is. Do you need the extra cores or SFF? If you have to ask, the answer is no
The $748 complete system will be best for 90% of people I'd argue. But there's definitely a crowd that this is amazing for
I purchased a system from Techfast back in 2020 (didn't ship till 2021). Shortly after the warranty ended the PSU went, now the GPU is failing. Funnily enough my 770, 980ti, 1070, and 1080ti I purchased off the shelf still work fine. I think paying the extra 15-20% for quality parts is more than worth it for the increased longevity they bring.
Pretty sure you've just hit bad luck, don't let it sour your mind that cheaper parts just break.
I remember my 'Shaw' PSU in one of my first PC's ran for like ten years or more. They were known as time bombs.
paying the extra 15-20% for quality parts is more than worth it for the increased longevity they bring.
Paying extra for parts doesn't bring any increased longevity - that's a myth.
Things fail if you buy them off the shelf, and things fail if you buy them from Techfast. You can't escape hardware failure - sometimes it just happens.
@Nom: You can buy higher quality parts from card manufacturers with a good reputation for QC and customer support. That guarantees nothing but it improves your odds considerably. There's a reason "Buy cheap, buy twice" is a common saying.
@Nom: So you're saying that higher quality caps, transformers, MOSFETs, protection circuitry, thermal solutions etc. don't affect the longevity of a component/system? Higher-priced parts will almost always contain higher quality electrical components.
Things fail if you buy them off the shelf, and things fail if you buy them from Techfast
I never claimed parts purchased off the shelf don't break (this seems like a bit of a strawman), simply that a higher quality component will often last longer than the cheaper counterpart (barring an actual manufacturing defect). Some have higher rates of failure than others (for example, the ones certain prebuilts often contain). These failures usually stem from poor design (lack of OTP/OCP for example), low quality components (Nichicon vs CapXon) and lousy QC processes. There is a reason some manufacturers only offer one year of warranty coverage, while others can offer ten. Go read some of JonnyGuru's PSU reviews on the Wayback Machine to get an idea of the number of corners these manufacturers will cut to save a couple of bucks.
The fact that Techfast decided not to advertise the model of the power supply in question should be a major red flag to any potential buyers (based on the description, you can infer that it isn't even 80+ certified).
@oshkoshjosh4: What a load of crap.
Apart from the PSU (and the shit PSU killing the rest of your system via shoddy voltage regulation), none of what you said holds true. You need to acknowledge that a Techfast system that's advertised here + the cost of replacing the PSU [immediately] with a Tier 1 unit and tossing out the brand new PSU Techfast sent you is still significantly cheaper than the cost of the same parts off the shelf (without buying 2 PSUs).
Do you have any evidence to suggest that a Gigabyte AORUS GPU will outlast a Gigabyte EAGLE, or MSI SUPRIM will outlast an MSI VENTUS? Or even ASUS STRIX outlast a PNY XLR8? You get more features, slightly better factory OC, more bling, etc with the premium parts, but it's generally not buying you longevity.
There are some issues with Techfast builds, but apart from the PSU, none affect longevity, and does end up cheaper than buying parts even when factoring in the cost of the replacement PSU.
With all of that said, I'm NOT buying anything from Techfast, since in the last few years, others have entered that market (pre-builts cheaper than parts), a bit more expensive than Techfast, but offer:
1. Better PSU, saving time to replace yourself.
2. No inhouse stuff. Techfast sometimes ship "Allied" which is their own inhouse brand, so quality is a big fat ?.
3. All parts specified. No surprises on which part you're getting (except the rare case where they give you a free upgrade).
4. Better turnaround time. Techfast is shockingly slow… 4+ weeks from order to delivery. BPC took less than a week for the same.I did buy from them a few times before these other companies started competing with them, and every time, I replaced the PSU from the start. I haven't seen anything to indicate longevity issues after removing the effects of the shoddy PSU.
Bro, you've been commenting on MiniPC deals telling people to get a full-sized desktop as a better solution.
While its the most valuable option but some people still prefer small itx built for a reason. @Deterrence's question of asking whether there is a need for ITX build is correct as otherwise if there is no need for a small PC build then go ahead get those Techfast builds.
Don't get me wrong, I have a full-sized desktop PC running 4080 so i still prefer full size desktop for gaming as I hate smaller PCs due to the thermal space itself.
I also used to have the perk of buying a new gaming laptop every year from work so I've lived through years of whining fans and thermal throttling.
But I still can see why anyone would buy one of these for miniITX builds or similarly if anyone prefers MiniPC that you can hide behind the monitor but with an Oculink instead.
This board is for a server type PC or for some other productivity uses. It has a relatively weak on board iGPU for the class of CPU and doesn't have an option to mount a bigger GPU.
It has a pcie 5.0x16 slot for gpus, you can definitely put a gpu in it
This seems to be a phenomenal amount of compute power for the money, am I missing something?
I'm with you, whats the catch?
Someone fat-fingered the price. Seems to me like it should have been "539" but they put "359".
It was announced at $359 several days ago: https://videocardz.com/newz/minisforum-intros-amd-ryzen-9-79…
am I missing something?
Probly not the kind of catch you had in mind but there're some reasons to pause mentioned in the other deal
TLDR board has issues but apparently fixed from July onwards.
"Stay away from the BD790i. The first batch are all defective." as above
https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/1cqrpbe/gaming_cpu_7…@marcozmitch: Define first batch though, at what point do we know that production has ticked over and the issue remedied?
Edit:
This is the B790i SE not the standard B790i as well as being likely apart of next production cycle (estimated to be last July by the same Reddit comment so should be remedied)
- The board is a cut down 7950X, with slower single core and multi-core speeds (of course a 7950X is more expensive then the entire board).
- The integrated gpu is very weak - a Radeon 610M with only two cores (compared to the 680M with 12 cores).
- It has no sata ports at all - only two nvme ports.
- It does not include a wifi card, though you should be able to install one
- No SSD heatsink
- Non-standard cpu heatsink mounting holes
- Poor Minisforum bios
- "only" pcie 4.0 for the ssd slots instead of pcie 5.0
- CPU is soldered
That said, it is still very cheap. I ordered one a week ago and it hasn't shipped yet. I haven't seen any reviews of the SE version it though, so order at your own risk.
Add two so-dimm sticks, ssd and it good for home users.
Seems like a nice, compact kubernetes cluster.
Could i stack 3 of these (and a 12cm fan each) 'naked' with ~10cm standoffs between each one?
I think the CPU is rated at ~50w TDP, so even accounting for 100 to 200w per system, can i use 1 PSU to power all 3 boards? Or perhaps its better to look at a micro-PSU instead?
what will you run inside your kubernetes cluster?
I'm curious to know that possibly needs a 3 node cluster with 96 threads in total to run. I'm quite a sucker for all those threads and CPU cores. When I see these types of setups I need to constantly remind myself that I don't need that much :)
just saw the video on the site of the person building a sff with it, the amount of flex they put onto the board when putting the 24pin (wasnt even mounted with screws), not sure if the fan is designed to putt the heat away when it was mounted and also the flex on the board when they janked the gpu in, oof. what a nightmare.
video link?
Its on the product page, but this is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl-uiW2gYqE
Lol, i got negged for this comment, some real fan boys out there.
Just thinking about what the comparable price for a AM5 ITX board ($350) and then a 7950x ($830) = $1180 - faster and upgradable, and this is less than half the price, being slightly slower … tempting.
The main purpose of having this board with mobile CPU is lower power consumtion. I recon 7950X at idle would consume about 40-50w (just the CPU, not the whole system)
Gave in and bought one, coming from a 5900x which already had basically no upgrade path. This is a work, dev and gaming machine.
Nice. Enjoy!
Could I add a graphics card to this and have a decent gaming pc?
Yeah
https://youtu.be/8jZmrMpoCyM?si=nAqTfaMzfb5iem32
CraftComputing video on this. Used for virtualization.
had the 7945hx variant before setting it up with my nephew as a Gaming PC. It was pretty solid overall, I'll probably go for a similar board for my next build. Mobile variants are great on power/cooling while being pretty close to the desktop counterparts now.
The main things I'd like to see different were a better BIOS, usb-c fp connector and a more standardised cooler mount. The cooler on these is pretty decent but does leave you wondering if you can't get something better.
Was the cooler fan loud? That's my one hesitation. I used to have a gaming laptop and couldn't stand it due to how loud it was all the time.
The motherboard only come with a heatsink. You will need to install your own fan. From my experience the Notua 120x15 is loud when used in small case like the Dan A4-SFX. I changed to a Notua 120x25 and now it is cooled better and quite.
Ah thanks, I somehow didn’t clock that I could choose my own fan, was too distracted by it having the integrated heat sink.
Very tempted to grab this to replace my aging 11400 ITX setup.
Crazy price
The 7945HX is hot. Put it Dan A4-SFX and the temp easily spike to 80 degree. I had to change to slightly bigger case CoolerMaster NR200 and Notua 120x25 fan on top of the heatsink. The temp is now tolerable.
80 degrees is completely acceptable temp for the 7945hx
Isn't this standard operating procedure on most if not all consumer cpus?
My understanding is under load, they will continuously adjust themselves to cloak as high as they can, while maintaining a temperature threshold, usually around 80deg C.
This is why almost none manually overclocks these days, it does it automatically.
How does the 7940HX perform as compared to an 8700G?
This has 2x multicore perf
Any recommended case for this beast?
I put it in Dan A4-SFX that fit a Notua 120x15 fan and the fan was too loud. I now have it in CoolerMaster NR200 with a Notua 120x25 and now it run cooler and quieter. No additional fans in NR200.
I'm looking at the Fractal Ridge with a 7900 XTX, although you'd need to swap the fans for slims.
How many watts will this draw under idle load?
Anyone having issues getting payment to go through?
Good upgrade if you have a 13700k or 14700k in terms of power reduction, impluse bought for exactly this reason from 253watts down to 75watts plus seems to have more gen 5 lanes usable lets see how it goes!
I've been in a real debate for a bit recently about this vs a Ryzen 9600X. Home server, but specifically wanted it to host one or two game servers (single threaded performance preference). TDP seemingly is seemingly not that much worse either.
But dam…the core difference…it's hard to ignore that. A comparable build between the two would be of a similar-ish price.
Just a note to potential buyers that this is just a slightly worse binned 7945HX which is in turn a delidded 7950x just tuned for lower wattages and better power curves for use inside a laptop chassis.
At least how it was on laptops, this thing does around 32k within a stock rig to, after tuning and what not about a max of 35k in r23 mc. A stock 7950x is what? 37k? Single core results also dip accordingly. Another issue is ram compatibility- 'at least how it was for laptops', 7945HX is even more picky about ram and (at least given my personal experience and others I personally know playing with it) we couldnt push stable 5600mhz with any sodimm tick avalible. I have no experience with these psudo desktop mobos so correct me if the ram situation is actually better here.
Price is good, but I personally wouldnt bother especially with minisforum being a hit and miss brand (like, sorry im being sceptical here, are they even an official amd partner? when even big brands have had issues with theirss (there were some issues with both dragon ridge and phoenix laptops early on), I find it hard to trust, well, minisform which does not have a perfect track record, unless you are big on SFF and this suits your usecase 100%. Not worth it, if it fails then its both parts that fail vs building your own you can switch out and test which is broken and rma accordingly (and with longer & better warranty).
That's over $700?
See, here is where you have to thank amd with brillant naming scheme for mobile:
7940HX =/= 7940HS.
Former is a dragon ridge chip, which is really a repurposed desktop 7950X tuned for laptop use. 16c32t, 64mb l3 cache, more connectivity options and the whole shebang.
Latter is a phoenix chip, which is designed from the ground up for laptops. This have only 8c16t, 18mb l3 cache, but built in usb 4 support, much better igpu and far better power consumption, of course, that last point doesnt mean much in these psuedo desktop motherboards.
Hmm this might fit in my HP Microserver Gen8 with a bit of creative modding lol.
It has 0 sata ports… if you already have an LP HBA that will fit into the G8, I guess you can order the ITX mod kit for the G8 which costs a fortune (> $100).
BUT… the main draw of the G8 is ECC (as well as IPM) in a compact size for a cheap ZFS Z2 array…
So the question is - does this MB support ECC SODIMM?
Price is $394.40 (~$570 AUD) including tax. Shipping was free though.
My Alienware r10 is playing up. Anyone know of any issues plugging a 4070 into this and plugging this into the R10?
Clearly this would have not trouble physically fitting into my R10, I guess it may be worth holding out for a bigger motherboard with more slots and connectors anyway.
Is it cheaper to get this and buy parts to build a gaming PC, or just get a prebuilt?