So, I posted this on Tom’s Hardware and thought I would also post here also looking for Linux and hardware experts. Thanks.
Template questions included…
Approximate Purchase Date: Within the next month
Budget Range: $300 - $750
System Usage from Most to Least Important: daily usage like web browsing, home LAN administration (Linux CLI), school (BS degree), some gaming
Are you buying a monitor: No
Parts to Upgrade: Everything
Do you need to buy OS: No (use Fedora Linux)
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, Amazon
Location: Orlando, FL U.S.A.
Parts Preferences: AMD processor/GPU
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: N/A
Your Monitor Resolution: 2560x1440
Additional Comments: prefer pre-built PC
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I am still using an old pre-built PC purchased from Newegg from 8 years ago. It is has an Asus motherboard, Intel i5-4690, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970. Some of the games I play (Insurgency: Sandstorm, Red Dead Redemption 2, Spider-Man) aren’t smooth and I am ready for a better gaming experience. Also, because I am a Linux user, I am done with having to deal with incompatibility and issues that often appear with NVIDIA in Linux. I am ready to move to AMD GPU that has better Linux support.
I have been hearing that there are some mini-PCs out there, like Beelink and Minisforum, that work really well as a mid-range gaming PC at 1080p, and most importantly, are affordable. I came here looking for experts to point me in the direction of an affordable PC that is all AMD (CPU, GPU) that will outperform my current build. In my current build I still dual-boot with Windows due to the fact Insurgency: Sandstorm still doesn’t work that great with Linux so I play it in Windows. But, I think it is getting there with ProtonDB. I tried to play Sandstorm under Fedora Linux once and it wasn’t that great, probably because of my older build and NVIDIA’s Linux driver mess. So, it may be that in my new build I won’t have to dual-boot and will be full on Fedora. Truthfully, I am a lite gamer as I don’t have a lot of time to play games these days due to family, work and school. So, I just need something that will be 90% daily driver and 10% gaming. I would really like to afford a highend gaming machine, like an Alienware PC, but for now I just need something to get me by until I can afford the pricetag of highend and the time in a couple of years. I stated that my budget tops $750 but I really perfer something around $500 and below.
Would one of the mini-PCs work for me? If so, which would be best that would suite my needs and completely outperform my current build?
One thing I forgot to state is that I have dual monitors also (use only one for gaming). I noticed that some mini-PCs have just one Display-Port and one HDMI, which would work for me.
My apologies for the long read and appreciate your time and advice.