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The cheapest Oculink setup I've found was around $160 and you still had to piece it together yourself (riser adapter, case, PSU). A retail kit is closer to $200.
So at $519 + $200 + however much you spend on the GPU, you're looking at pretty close to a normal desktop build.
And then you have to contend with the fact that thermals aren't going to be nearly as good with no room for expansion or upgrades.
The cheapest Oculink setup I've found was around $160 and you still had to piece it together yourself (riser adapter, case, PSU). A retail kit is closer to $200.So at $519 + $200 + however much you spend on the GPU, you're looking at pretty close to a normal desktop build.And then you have to contend with the fact that thermals aren't going to be nearly as good with no room for expansion or upgrades.
You can spend $180 to get Aooster AG01 OCulink eGPU dock with 800W PSU intbuilt (Posted here as well). You don't need to put anything together, it has 3 GPU Power connector, X16 Slot and PSu integrated.
And didn't understand your comment "no room for expansion or upgrades." Apat from CPU, which is almost always soldered Mobile CPU with these Mini PCs, you can upgrade literally everything, wi-fi card, Ram, SSD.
The cheapest Oculink setup I've found was around $160 and you still had to piece it together yourself (riser adapter, case, PSU). A retail kit is closer to $200.
So at $519 + $200 + however much you spend on the GPU, you're looking at pretty close to a normal desktop build.
And then you have to contend with the fact that thermals aren't going to be nearly as good with no room for expansion or upgrades.
You make valid points.
The Minis are a niche market for users that don't need a gaming power house or extra furniture in the office or home. You also get a a lot of up to date features for the price. If you do not do frequent upgrades or change outs of your systems they start at a great price point.
Last edited by MasterRigger April 12, 2025 at 01:32 AM.
You can spend $180 to get Aooster AG01 OCulink eGPU dock with 800W PSU intbuilt (Posted here as well). You don't need to put anything together, it has 3 GPU Power connector, X16 Slot and PSu integrated.
And didn't understand your comment "no room for expansion or upgrades." Apat from CPU, which is almost always soldered Mobile CPU with these Mini PCs, you can upgrade literally everything, wi-fi card, Ram, SSD.
The one posted recently isn't an enclosure. The card just sits in it, docked.
And, no, compared to a full-fledged desktop, you can't upgrade everything.
There's literally no room in the case, nor are there additional PCIe lanes.
The components you did mention won't need upgrading.
You make valid points.
The Minis are a niche market for users that don't need a gaming power house or extra furniture in the office or home. You also get a a lot of up to date features for the price. If you do not do frequent upgrades or change outs of your systems they start at a great price point.
So, I suppose the question is how much does Oculink add to the price?
I would expect this build to be closer to $400 without it.
The one posted recently isn't an enclosure. The card just sits in it, docked.And, no, compared to a full-fledged desktop, you can't upgrade everything.There's literally no room in the case, nor are there additional PCIe lanes.The components you did mention won't need upgrading.
Dude, this is a Mini PC, not a SFF desktop. You can upgrade whatever is possible in a Mini PC. And Regarding your opinion about enclosure, eGPU dock or enclosure does not literally mean it has to be enclosed in a box to be called a eGPU enclosure, you are just trying too hard to negate my points. There are literally no OCulink eGPU dock which comes with aftermarket enclosed box. That one, AOOSTAR AG01 I have posted, is literally the best Plug & Play OCulink eGPU dock you can find today. And why Ram, SSD or Network card won't be needing any upgrades or not valid upgrades? I mean Ram and SSD upgrades are literally the most common upgrades people do, even in full sized Desktop PCs.
Dude, this is a Mini PC, not a SFF desktop. You can upgrade whatever is possible in a Mini PC. And Regarding your opinion about enclosure, eGPU dock or enclosure does not literally mean it has to be enclosed in a box to be called a eGPU enclosure, you are just trying too hard to negate my points. There are literally no OCulink eGPU dock which comes with aftermarket enclosed box. That one, AOOSTAR AG01 I have posted, is literally the best Plug & Play OCulink eGPU dock you can find today. And why Ram, SSD or Network card won't be needing any upgrades or not valid upgrades? I mean Ram and SSD upgrades are literally the most common upgrades people do, even in full sized Desktop PCs.
I get what it is.
And my point is that if you're buying it specifically for Oculink, you may as well go with a full desktop since it will cost the same.
As for a dock versus an enclosure, that's a matter of necessity and preference. Obviously, an enclosure is safer for the card. And, yes, you can assemble an enclosed setup for around the same price as that dock.
Buying a bunch of upgrades defeats the purpose of getting a fully stocked mini PC.
If I'm going to put my own RAM, NVME, etc in, that's what barebones units are for.
I never said this wasn't a good deal. Rather, it should be bought for what it is instead of trying to make it everything it's not.
I get what it is. And my point is that if you're buying it specifically for Oculink, you may as well go with a full desktop since it will cost the same.As for a dock versus an enclosure, that's a matter of necessity and preference. Obviously, an enclosure is safer for the card. And, yes, you can assemble an enclosed setup for around the same price as that dock.Buying a bunch of upgrades defeats the purpose of getting a fully stocked mini PC.If I'm going to put my own RAM, NVME, etc in, that's what barebones units are for.I never said this wasn't a good deal. Rather, it should be bought for what it is instead of trying to make it everything it's not.
Yes, I agree with you on that point that most people don't normally go for any kind of eGPU setup with these Mini PCs, even the one with USB4/TB4. But there are folks who want a Mini PC which they can carry with them and plug them in home with some kind of eGPU enclosure to play games, it is not just about price. I have a Minisforum Mini PC, HX99G, 6900HX and 6600M which I carry when I go to places. However, I do a lot of Video encoding and open source Video encoder development and for that I needed different GPU for testing (for development) and different hardware Encoders. So, I use a basic TB4 dock with an Intel A770 GPU (as that had the AV1 Encoder, missing from Nvidia and AMD cards of the same time) and a RTX 3060 12GB for HEVC and H264 encoding for development testing and Encoding as per Clients' requirements. This may sound like a niche use case but believe me, there are people who need these kind of flexibilities
Yes, I agree with you on that point that most people don't normally go for any kind of eGPU setup with these Mini PCs, even the one with USB4/TB4. But there are folks who want a Mini PC which they can carry with them and plug them in home with some kind of eGPU enclosure to play games, it is not just about price. I have a Minisforum Mini PC, HX99G, 6900HX and 6600M which I carry when I go to places. However, I do a lot of Video encoding and open source Video encoder development and for that I needed different GPU for testing (for development) and different hardware Encoders. So, I use a basic TB4 dock with an Intel A770 GPU (as that had the AV1 Encoder, missing from Nvidia and AMD cards of the same time) and a RTX 3060 12GB for HEVC and H264 encoding for development testing and Encoding as per Clients' requirements. This may sound like a niche use case but believe me, there are people who need these kind of flexibilities
Sounds like you need a laptop with Oculink and an Intel processor with QuickSync.
What you're doing is needlessly complicated.
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Sounds like you need a laptop with Oculink and an Intel processor with QuickSync.What you're doing is needlessly complicated.
You did not understand what I do exactly. I do development of the various open source hardware accelerated software for encoding and that's not for just a single hardware accelerator. On top of that, there are various performance parameters which just having QuickSync won't solve.
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So at $519 + $200 + however much you spend on the GPU, you're looking at pretty close to a normal desktop build.
And then you have to contend with the fact that thermals aren't going to be nearly as good with no room for expansion or upgrades.
And didn't understand your comment "no room for expansion or upgrades." Apat from CPU, which is almost always soldered Mobile CPU with these Mini PCs, you can upgrade literally everything, wi-fi card, Ram, SSD.
So at $519 + $200 + however much you spend on the GPU, you're looking at pretty close to a normal desktop build.
And then you have to contend with the fact that thermals aren't going to be nearly as good with no room for expansion or upgrades.
The Minis are a niche market for users that don't need a gaming power house or extra furniture in the office or home. You also get a a lot of up to date features for the price. If you do not do frequent upgrades or change outs of your systems they start at a great price point.
And didn't understand your comment "no room for expansion or upgrades." Apat from CPU, which is almost always soldered Mobile CPU with these Mini PCs, you can upgrade literally everything, wi-fi card, Ram, SSD.
And, no, compared to a full-fledged desktop, you can't upgrade everything.
There's literally no room in the case, nor are there additional PCIe lanes.
The components you did mention won't need upgrading.
The Minis are a niche market for users that don't need a gaming power house or extra furniture in the office or home. You also get a a lot of up to date features for the price. If you do not do frequent upgrades or change outs of your systems they start at a great price point.
I would expect this build to be closer to $400 without it.
I would expect this build to be closer to $400 without it.
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And my point is that if you're buying it specifically for Oculink, you may as well go with a full desktop since it will cost the same.
As for a dock versus an enclosure, that's a matter of necessity and preference. Obviously, an enclosure is safer for the card. And, yes, you can assemble an enclosed setup for around the same price as that dock.
Buying a bunch of upgrades defeats the purpose of getting a fully stocked mini PC.
If I'm going to put my own RAM, NVME, etc in, that's what barebones units are for.
I never said this wasn't a good deal. Rather, it should be bought for what it is instead of trying to make it everything it's not.
What you're doing is needlessly complicated.
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