Beelink SER7: Tiny Gaming and Emulation Powerhouse

[@jarby7305]

I absolutely love how you defined what “beast” means to you in order to justify the label. Attention to detail, that’s why I’m here. You’re the best!

[@Hanuwa]

I find it outstanding how you are able to produce multiple of these very informative reviews each week at such a high quality while being very entertaining too. W

[@mattbtv]

Have been seriously considering picking up a Beelink to run consolized, pushing past what the RPI4 can handle. It seemed the SER5 Max was the best deal in terms of cost and driver stability, but here I am again questioning how much performance I really want out of the thing. Thanks for this Russ, helpful food for thought 🤔

[@PinkDan12345]

KZbin: “Do you really want to watch Retro Game Corp’s new video?” Me: “Yeah man, I wanna do it”

[@LVDEJ]

Seeing Sea of Stars as the lightweight pc game for testing put a smile on my face. Great video!

[@markyoungsmagic]

Excellent video, I ordered the SER7 and was almost afraid I made the wrong choice until I watched your video. Very informative and made me feel like I definitely made the right choice!

[@bobroberts3968]

I love mine.

[@TheNickerous]

This just might be my first mini pc buy. Looks great for gaming and it should handle video encoding just fine...at least better than my current setup that takes 4-5 hours to encode a two hour video.

[@AndySomething]

Looks great! I'm only looking for a mini-pc for throwing under the tv to run Batocera so I don't think I can justify $600. Ideally i'd spend like $400 or less, but then i'll get no-where near the emulation performance for systems like the ps3 😅

[@mattbtv]

The Beelink SER5 Max is under that price point and can apparently handle PS3 too.

[@AndySomething]

​@@mattbtvAhh thanks for the recommendation! Just noticed that Ross has the SER5 (non-max?) on his list of mini-pc's. That could be an option, he showed the SER5 as being untested with 3DS games, but I'd assume if it can handle PS3, 3DS should be fine. I'll look into the performance difference between the SER5 and Max 😅

[@MobileDecay]

Get a Steam deck and a dock. 😊

[@mattbtv]

@@MobileDecay If you're already covered for handhelds thanks to this channel, and don't have a gaming PC, these become interesting : )

[@thegamelounge659]

Yes, but if shameless self promotion. But I find the SER5 PRO/MAX to be incredible. It won’t do all PS3, but it hits the sweet spot for me. My emulation review: Beelink SER5 5800H: An Affordable Emulation Powerhouse? kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpbNeHajj617nLs

[@declangallagher1448]

I love these mini PCs (not that ever go for one over building my own desktop) when they start coming out with Oculink we gonna see some crazy gaming possibilities

[@rzkrdn8650]

For a basically display-and-keyboardless laptop board i think it would be a killer if it were to be priced accordingly. Definitely not at this price

[@Riggy931]

I feel like the price on this is pretty fair. Similarly spec’d laptops go for more than double what this does. There are some cheaper alternatives with lower end processors that would still kick ass for emulation and game streaming.

[@masteriw]

​@@Riggy931laptops do have screens, keyboards and extensive warranties though

[@RandomPlaceHolderName]

@@Riggy931 Far from a fair price. ROG Ally has a very similar config, $700. Fair to say the $1200+ you claim is highway robbery.

[@extrajava9175]

@@RandomPlaceHolderName ASUS is dozens of times bigger than BeeLink though, not to mention it had significant backing from Microsoft for development of the Ally. This is actually a fairly competent little PC at $620; certainly it provides more value than most pre-built towers at that price point.

[@Riggy931]

@@RandomPlaceHolderName the ROG Ally has a different processor. The processor in this will perform slightly better then it. Even if it’s similar you can’t just say they should be the same price because you want them to be. A quick google search shows a good amount of laptops with the same 7840H going for over 1200 and as much as 2000. We all want products to be cheaper but they can’t just magically be cheaper with the current price of CPUs. I still fail to see how this price isn’t fair. Fair implies within market value btw.

[@neoturfmasterMVS]

I have had Beelink SER7 for about 2 weeks. Why? I had a TV mounted over a fireplace and I wanted a gaming PC but I needed it to be tiny and mount behind the TV. I used a lenovo metal bracker for one of their tiny pc's which is actually much bigger, but I used the VESA mount for the SER7 and it worked perfect. The performance is great. The computer has been stable, rock solid and running for day after day without an issue. 32gb of ram, 4gb dedicated to graphics and I'm running any game I throw at it from Steam. I honestly don't play games at 4k and run everything at 1080p which is all good for me. If your cool with 1080p gaming your good to go.

[@MrMann-vb6xt]

if u can answer my question can u add a WD_BLACK 4TB SN850X NVMe SSD, Internal Gaming Solid State Drive - WDS400T2X0E

[@bobroberts3968]

I'm not certain but I think you are limited to a 4TB NVME SSD. @@MrMann-vb6xt2

[@bobroberts3968]

Just did a quick search and it says it can handle up to 4TB NVME SSD

[@bobroberts3968]

2280 size without heatsinks.@@MrMann-vb6xt

[@VonDutchNL]

Nice, it's 1080p LOW settings mostly tho.

[@bobroberts3968]

I've had my SER7 for about a month now and I am very pleased. It does get warm playing Diablo4 but not worryingly so. This little package has done a great job replacing an older huge gaming PC.

[@alejoromagnoli2391]

hello there, im thinking of getting one. but I have the feeling that after a couple of months the minipc is going to suddendly stop working well. But is in the other side I feel that this little thing can replace the classic tower pc. hows your experience at the moment, still working good?

[@bobroberts3968]

Haven't had so much as a hiccup with mine. Running in performance mode with 8gb ram set aside for the GPU. Diablo IV runs in 1080 p smooth but mostly on lowest settings. Still very fun to play.@@alejoromagnoli2391

[@bobroberts3968]

@@alejoromagnoli2391 Still going strong. I actually bought another lower end Beelink Mini PC for another of my rooms.

[@Rundajuless]

I'm curious 2 if u see this

[@rolvs]

Are you using a emulation frontend or do you run the emulators separatly? Can you do or recoment a video that describes how to get all emulators up and running in an easy way?

[@RetroGameCorps]

I would recommend EmuDeck for Windows, it will set everything up for you. kzbin.info/www/bejne/q320iIKJa7CqjK8

[@WannaKnowMyName]

I got a GMTek K1 Mini PC, with a Ryzen 7 6800H, 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB of SSD for $380 and couldn't be happier. The price of the unit from this video is way too high.

[@PaulVanced-jl5gk]

The mysterious 3d open world game is ape escape, right?

[@kevino8420]

I was beginning to wonder what happened to the Kerrygold measurement standard, and there it is, now in Kirkland generic! I thought maybe you had given it up in favor of your extra fancy digital calipers!

[@PDot585]

Instead of Egpu review how bout you compare a $700 setup to the $700 XGmobile or just review GPD G1 GPU dock!

[@NicHasegawa]

Wow I’m so early I haven’t prepared a snack and drink yet!

[@GATORSK8TER]

Best get to it son the show is starting😂

[@paperoverflow]

🍹🥤🍿🌭

[@k.mustafa5455]

Another great vid, Russ! Curious what your setup is when you test emulation on these mini PC reviews. Do you just reinstall retroarch and the stand alone emulators? Or do you setup some kind of front end package to have it all in one place? Or do you have a plug-and-play type of setup on an external storage device? Just curious cuz I recently got a SER6 max and want a quick and simple setup for the casual retro game here and there…not the full blown emulation machine I have elsewhere. Thanks!

[@RetroGameCorps]

Good question, I re-install RetroArch every time when doing testing, but for all the other emulators I have them self-contained on a portable SSD which is plugged into the USB4 port. So I am generally using the same configuration for everything I test.

[@k.mustafa5455]

@@RetroGameCorps thanks man! Good to know…I’ve got some fully set-up devices, but making a quick plug and play solution would be nice too.

[@manuelgurrola]

Love the spreadsheet. More spreadsheets please.

[@luked4587]

I will NEVER understand people who buy these.. On sale you can easily find a gaming laptop for the same price with a weak GPU. Or go used and get a 3060 laptop.

[@paperoverflow]

It's the size and the idea of having a cool retro console you can seamlessly sneak in a bag.

[@luked4587]

@paperoverflow Why would you ever put this in a bag? It needs a screen, keyboard and mouse to be functional?

[@paperoverflow]

@luked4587 dude, have you ever heard about hdmi out? What's the matter with you? This could be used for a lot of things. Arcade machines, jump to a friend to play retro games. Or just the geek factor alone. The NEVER understand is a lack of imagination of yours!

[@rope435]

You will never understand.

[@87crimson]

Yeah, I know that people want the tinkering and flexibility that A pc can provide. But a Series S will play the latest games and is also great at emulation for much less. These devices dont make much sense unless they are sold at 300 USD at most.

[@racingaerials4493]

I was literally just thinking to myself yesterday "Russ hasn't reviewed any mini PCs in a while..." 😱

[@-rimurutmpst]

AMD APU still doesn't have a competitor.

[@il_duce254]

Enjoying all the way from Kenya... You really help with retro gaming

[@jacksonrazorback5626]

Wait what? Do you have pc and internet in kenya?

[@marcelomoura6685]

Im prefer the AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS processor.

[@invisible2985]

Was it a thunderbolt 4 connected connected via USB 4? Does that matter at all for the eGPU performance?

[@RetroGameCorps]

The Razer X Chroma eGPU enclosure, while being their most recent release, is older and only Thunderbolt 3 capable, so that's where the bottleneck is coming from. At this time there aren't any mass-produced Thunderbolt 4/USB4 enclosures other than the GPD G1.

[@superghetto420]

​@RetroGameCorps any chance of you trying the G1 on this and seeing any improvement?

[@Mescherje]

620 USD is crazy high price for this kind of computer. Its only advantage is small size, which is really very niche for a non-portable device.

[@driesvl]

that mysterious open world 3D game :')

[@fazaramputra6876]

is it zelda totk?

[@MobileDecay]

I feel like a gaming laptop in the same price range would be better. Even though this is smaller than a gaming laptop it ends up being bigger because you still need a display, mouse, and keyboard. A laptop can just be plopped down anywhere and work. That proprietary power port is a no go for me.

[@oldcouchcushion1545]

I have one (not this model) and it stays right below my tv. I use it as a HTPC and also boot it into batocera for emulators. Maybe just depends on your needs but they're fun little guys to have and surprisingly capable. If you're intending to use it more as a PC and you don't have those peripherals already then id agree with you.

[@Mustis91]

the question is : what do you want? i want a device for emulation that is portable so i can take it to friends and connect it to a tv and something for my bedroom which i will also connect to a tv. This is just enough performance to upscale my old games to 4k. If i wanted a laptop with that performance, it would be way more expensive and kind of pointless for my usecase

[@jonnywishbone1342]

Then don't buy one....pretty simple solution....but for others who find that it fits their needs it is a great option....

[@MobileDecay]

@@jonnywishbone1342 I'm not stopping you from buying this. Lol.

[@jonnywishbone1342]

@@Mustis91 what the hell are you writing.....I said a mini PC has a place in the market where a customer may not want a laptop or a large form factor....that is the point of making multiple devices to satisfy the varying demands of customers...

[@jpallen]

Thanks for a great review. Question, I've seem you run a lot of games on it, would you recommend it for heavy video and photo editing? (Photoshop, Affinity Photo, DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere) or should I consider something else?

[@Mustis91]

22:05 Thank you! that list is so helpful. You really are a retro gamers best friend. i'm just confused why the beelink ser7 and gtr7 only have 30fps in 1080p pc gaming when the minisforum 7940hs models run at 60fps

[@marcelomoura6685]

This model suppports Opera browser and Steam games?

[@marcelomoura6685]

The HD JMachen external HD 1 Terabyte, sistem Launchbox Games is compatible for this Mini PC?

[@TortoRacoon]

The real question and what you needed to test was GTA 5 / GTA Online... does it run it or not, it's that simple

[@easymoney480]

Yes GTA 5 will run on this pc and it will run just fine on lesser pcs too at 1080p

[@digitizer3627]

Excellent specs but still above the 400 dollar mark. Maybe next year prices will drop. But overall this is awesome if you have the cash to spend.

[@darrenwilliams5615]

Picked one of these up for just under £400 brand new it's being delivered today. Cheers Russ you made me pick it

[@andreicunha8814]

Hello, do you have a spreadsheet like this, but for the main handhelds (anbernic, retroid, ayn, etc) ?

[@RetroGameCorps]

I don't maintain a handheld spreadsheet, but here is a very good one that is made by the community: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1irg60f9qsZOkhp0cwOU7Cy4rJQeyusEUzTNQzhoTYTU/edit

[@michaeldonaghy4703]

I have a ser5 max, thinking of upgrading to the new Ser8 because PS3 emulation with RPCS3 playing Modern Warfare and uncharted even with patches ran terribly using Vulkan, 20FPS with Uncharted. Your spreadsheet (which is great) says Ser5 great for PS3 emulation. Did you have any tricks to achieve that or games your generally test PS3? No worries if thats too many questions.

[@BandoidView]

I really appreciate your selective use of the terminology 'emulation beast'! :)

[@usafballer79]

is it weird I want to take my nice PC build with 9700K/3060TI and is already mini ITX size, but just replace it with this? Something nice about not chasing more pixels and frames. I bet 900P would lock 60FPS in most of these games and look pretty close to 1080P.

[@leearnie]

Hello, may I know what emulator you used for this video? I bought Ser7 but unfortunately, I can't play LOL, Valorant or Wuthering waves without encountering GPU errors so I might as well just play emulators.

[@QuietMisdreavus]

Russ comparing the mini PC to an "angry toddler" sent me 😂

Hello ! What is the cheapest option if I want WiiU emulation at 60fps/1080p for Xenoblade Chronicles X and Zelda BOTW ? I have a Steam Deck but I feel it's not powerful enough and I never play handled

[@electrofreak0]

This is the amount of performance I want from a handheld PC before I'll commit to one after my steam deck. I wanna see something that can crush emulation on all fronts and manage decent frames in most games at 1080p.

[@Black_Cat_997]

Close. Probably one AMD gen away.

[@loulu8297]

I bought mine, but it keeps on crashing while playing. And I'm only playing older games like battle realms and left4dead2. The error says the software has detected a driver timeout. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers to the latest versions, even tried refortmatting for clean start up, but the error still persists. Anyone has same issues?

[@mowcowbell]

Stay away from this model. I bought one, the poorly designed magnetic power connector would cut power to the computer upon the slightest touch. Even Beelink recognized their error with the SER8 which went back to a reliable barrel connector for power.

[@user-mg9mk2xn1r]

Bought the SER6 Max, died after 1 week. Seems more of a Windows issue but I was unable to get anything going and the Bios was also of zero help. Will try a different brand.

[@MrMann-vb6xt]

can i use aWD_BLACK 4TB SN850X NVMe SSD, Internal Gaming Solid State Drive - WDS400T2X0E on this product

[@hongkaiyuan]

Hi Retro Game Corps, just to confirm this mini pc (SER 7) listed on your Amazon link doesn't come with Windows and Microsoft Office?

[@leearnie]

Could you share what you tweak in your BIOS setting? I'm curious how much vram, fan speed, and is it in performance mode?

[@erykadolphson6714]

Its 20% off on amazon rn. Just got mine for about $488.

[@erykadolphson6714]

That's with the 512 not 1t mind you

[@cmdredstrakerofshado1159]

Very boardline choice used laptop with a 3050 on ebay could run circles around this with some patient shopping

[@skittlebites1319]

Can confirm, angry toddlers are indeed beast.

[@KatRollo]

Hey Russ, my SER7 crashes on PS2 emulation. Running PCSX2 nightly with D3D12. Can you try Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition and see if you can complete Mission 1? Perhaps try at least 3 times just to see if it's consistent. Curious to know if the crash happens with other SER7 units. I know you really don't respond to comments, but I hope you do for this one. Thanks.

[@DaveAdams222]

"It's about one and a half blocks of grass fed butter from Costco". Man, American's will use anything instead of the metric system.

[@alzathoth]

looking for a mini pc that i can play cyberpunk on the highest settings. any recommendations?

[@jonathont5570]

I am looking to get one now with a price drop and larger coupon, looks like a good deal to replace my old Dell desktop.

[@registerednerd9270]

Any reason why you changed brands of butter?

[@Crustenscharbap]

9:20. Do I have to cap the framerate if I will use a Freesync monitor? It should be lagg free even at 51fps. Or does this PC not support Freesync?

[@h3xag0nal]

can you bump up switch games to 4k resolution on a machine like this? MK8 deluxe in particular. I'm not sure what 'docked mode' means in terms of resolution or if that can be increased 2x-4x?

[@dbzblitz88]

Not sure how relevant this is but how does this compare to the rog ally with the z1 extreme?

[@kerambeach]

Too expensive in my book....

[@ModestJoke]

These videos are great. Thank you so much!

[@Rosshobson]

I am mainly looking at a machine that can run Sega model 2/3 - Naomi 1/2. Game cube, ps2, Dreamcast, maybe ps3 (though I know emulators are perfect) . Wii, Saturn etc - I don’t want to be spending an absolute fortune on a mini pc. It’s basically all the late 90’s / early 2000’s arcade games I could never own. What mini pc can you recommend?

[@mauricehinton5889]

Does this system come preloaded with ROMs and Emulators?

[@ADesertVoice]

To be honest, at everything mini PC above $450, it really becomes hard to justify getting one of these unless you REALLY want the smaller form factor...as you'd get a much better deal with a full PC, especially if you want to game with it. Until these mini PCs have the ability to use FULL GPUs with its FULL bandwidth, I don't think any of these mini PCs above $450, makes any logical sense to get.

[@ebsanu]

I've got the Dell U3824DW which has a USB-C (90W) port. I want to use this to connect and power the SER7. I know the SER7 says it wants a 100W supply when running 54W TDP, but would the 90W be enough to power it? I don't plan on increasing the TDP to 65W ever.

[@TheAbandonedAccount7]

Looks amazing. I was considering a handheld but this is perfect for SUV/Road life. Same price as building something of this power yourself. Very small. Capable of emulating anything. Plays PC games, so I dont have to take up space with my ps4. Can run seemingly many AAA games in high settings 1080p at 30fps (which is all I need, dont care about 60)

[@jaesukimbo]

Wonder how the minisforum HX77G with the 7 series amd cpu and 6600M gpu compare on the list.

[@ultimategohan1551]

Exactly the same the same hx99g(with actually a tad less cpu performance) because the 7735hs or whatever is literally a 6800h

[@RetroGameCorps]

The HX77G is the next mini PC I will review :)

[@bakakafka4428]

But can it play Starfield? 😅 seriously though, just for reference it would be interesting to know how these APUs play modern games like Hogwarts, Cyberpunk and Starfield at 1080p lowest settings...

[@kidv2]

what do you guys use for retro gaming on the ser7? Batocera? Retroarch?

[@arnorobinwerkman]

i have seen a lot of negative reviews of Beelink, that the devices die after a few months to a year of use, but given that the store where i bought mine is giving 24 months of warranty, i decided to buy one anyway yesterday, i got the one with the intel cpu, and i like it so far, better than my old i5 4th gen heavy hp tower, that gives you back pain from just lifting it. i like my old tank full metal i5 hp machine, buts its too big and heavy, and i have been pleasantly surpriced by Beelink price/features ratio compared to the competitors from big names like hp and dell.

[@ignacekoostachin9418]

I've been going back and forth on purchasing this. Right now I'm holding back because of the Bluetooth issues I've read in Reddit. Have you had any issues with Bluetooth? I use a bluetooth mouse, keyboard and controller.

[@longvo196]

Prices have dropped . Just ordered a clone for 350 in temu

[@bluepawn]

I need a box like this one but for 4k TV and for triple A games what would be the solution?

[@Sr.D]

I would go for a mini itx build with the 5700g, all this mini pc are cool but I want access to the apu and make my own pc, this things are expensive for what they are and offer, i guess amd doesn't want to canibalize itself selling better Apus standalone

[@AndySomething]

I have thought about mini ITX, but ideally mini-pc because I just want to throw it under my TV for Batocera and emulation. Unless I can get a nice looking small mini ITX build. Guess I should go watch Optimum Tech's videos 😅

[@Sr.D]

@@AndySomething same here, but I wanna not just emulation, and something cheaper, I have managed to "build" mini itx pcs with rx6600 and something like a 5600 CPU, 16gb, 1tb m2 for about 500€, and a mini itx looks very console size for me

[@87crimson]

@@Sr.D Yeah, and TBH console size these days, other than the Series S, is not a hurdle PCs cannot clear. PS5 is as large as the 2001 Space Oddysey monolith.

[@shroom2967]

I know this is an older video but saw this and decided to get this, with a $150 discount coupon it came to $600 sharp. Excited to get it here soon, definitely will put the TDP to 65w in the bios asap too.

[@Mustis91]

i'm sure this question was asked already somewhere but..how does this compare to the gtr7 ? Is the performance a lot better? I guess you can probably set the tdp a little higher which should give you more performance right? The thing is : the gtr7 is not available in my country (yet) so it would be a little more complicated. (and i already ordered the ser7 :D ) thx

[@arcaderacer586]

Hard to get excited about these at the high price points. These are mostly going to be fun lil gadgets and gizmos to goof around with so I think im gonna wait for the 5800u to hit about $149 and I will pick one up. It should happen as the faster models are releasing rapidly

[@adamaze2920]

got GTR7 from amazon yesterday with coupon.... cheaper than ser7

[@ryanbartlett672]

Your content continues to be absolute top-notch. You'd easily get a YES on my Top Pick! for KZbinrs :-) LOVE that spreadsheet. You saved me a ton of time, because I would have tried to create that based on KZbin and other research. Thanks again.

[@MrFrankieMatarrese]

Bought this for 560 on Amazon a month ago and it is an amazing machine capable of emulating almost everything at 1080p and pirating everything at 4k 😅

[@rleclaire87]

Would have liked to see the emulation and possibilities (say in terms of scaling and further quality improvements) for newer console emulation with the eGPU...

[@hikerclarence7092]

I'm kind of divorcing from windows and just moving to linux now. I like these little mini pcs and I'm glad there's so many because i can eventually buy a used one for less and slap zorin os on it

[@marcinmorun]

Can I adjust the power consumption in the bios?

[@Pocsima72]

Awsome video very informative, i want to know how de ser7 mini pc run with graphic software and 3d software, if you can create a video about that

[@stanguay169]

You can change VRAM from 4GB to 8 or 16, maybe it would help for better FPS??

[@karlgreene2177]

Where do you buy Nintendo games from to run on this PC?

[@StevieBGoode]

I love the spreadsheet at the end. Are mini PCs generally more expensive than desktops? I'd love to see the same kind of spreadsheet information for PC CPU/GPU combinations.

[@federicocatelli8785]

You pay for form factor

[@xxc0pE89xx]

A budget gaming laptop just seems like a better option all around. You should compare a gaming laptop around the same price.

[@hxmzebiri6481]

hello is it possible to run games like poe ? i used to have a r7 m370 HOW good is ser7 integrated graphic card compared to it ?

[@jd5787]

Hi! I have a beefy mininpac at home. What emulators are best please? Where to fund the roms? Thank you!

[@Akakakakak353]

What is the ser 7 's 780m igpu maximum TGP??

[@travislowrider6623]

Waiting for the day I find a 400$ish Ryzen unit with 680m or greater that doesn't have thermal issues

[@craigprocter1232]

why doesn't your google spreadsheet of mini PCs have any Intel n100 chipset mentions?

[@Anthony-ex6hq]

I’ve been looking at either this mini pc or the MinisForum UM790 pro. Would you pick one over the other?

[@augustofretes]

This is absurdly overpriced.

[@jonnywishbone1342]

Only if you are poor or too unmotivated to get a job....no one forces you to buy anything....move along...

[@augustofretes]

@@jonnywishbone1342 Products are not overpriced based on your personal income, they're overpriced relative to what's available on the market. This is just a bad product, there's never a reason to get it, you can always spend the same or less to get something better.

[@Bav1589]

I wonder if this would be powerful enough to stream. My mac mini has no issues although my mini pc struggles a bit.

[@WhatInTheActual]

The green looks different & MUCH better in person .. . Darker

[@wooordwooord4712]

He said “angry toddler” 😂. As a parent of a young child this spoke to me perfectly.