This i9-powered NUC is all about POWER | Geekom Mini IT13

Testing the i9-13900H-powered Geekom Mini IT 13 NUC-style PC in gaming, 3D rendering & video editing
Specs as provided:
Intel i9-13900H
Iris Xe 96EU integrated graphics
32GB DDR4-3200 (2x16GB)
2TB NVMe Gen 4 SSD
Thanks to Geekom for supplying the review unit, check out their 20th Anniversary sale at www.geekom.co.uk/geekoms-20th... (UK) or www.geekompc.com/geekom-20th-... (USA)
Direct links & coupon codes (non affiliate):
GEEKOM Mini IT13 USA Official: bit.ly/3qTXFgy US$40 off coupon code: IcebergG20TH
GEEKOM Mini IT13 USA Amazon: amzn.to/47ZI8N5 US$40 off coupon code: IcebergTech
GEEKOM Mini IT13 UK Official: bit.ly/44yt9Xd GB£40 off coupon code: IcebergIT13
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When talking about the Intel i9 CPU, the subject is always "power". Whether that’s power as in performance, power as in consumption, or - as in this case - power as in limits. Cramming an i9 into the NUC-sized Mini IT 13 is a bold move by Geekom that’s sure to grab the attention of tiny PC enthusiasts, but will it pay off for them?
Music by Backing Track backingtrack.gg/
Track names: “Future Tomorrow”, “Binary Sunrise”, “Midnight Racer” & “Starstream Returns”
00:00 Geekom Mini IT 13
00:41 About that i9…
01:50 Other specs
02:18 Price
02:47 The Outside
03:56 The Inside
04:29 The BIOS
04:49 Synthetic Benchmarks
05:47 Fan noise - idle & under load
07:41 Productivity Benchmarks: Davinci Resolve Studio
08:19 Productivity Benchmarks: Blender Classroom
08:38 Gaming Benchmarks
08:40 Benchmarks: Apex Legends
09:24 Benchmarks: Battlebit Remastered
09:44 Benchmarks: Counter Strike 2
10:09 Benchmarks: Fortnite
10:39 Benchmarks: Overwatch 2
10:56 Benchmarks: Forza Horizon 5
11:29 Benchmarks: Civilization VI
11:43 Power consumption
12:08 Tuning the CPU
14:54 Conclusion
A D S
The following links are affiliated. Everything costs the same to you, but I get a commission.
G E A R
Audio:
Behringer UM2 amzn.to/3aV17wq
Behringer XM8500 amzn.to/3nCt2WY
Generic microphone arm amzn.to/339yZRC
Video:
Fujifilm X-T3 amzn.to/3nGapRY
Camera & 18-55mm lens kit:
• Trading a PS4 for a PC | £150 Budget ...
Fujifilm 23mm f2 amzn.to/3udXvgn
FeiyuTech G6 Max Gimbal amzn.to/3nHndYs
Interfit LM8 Video LED amzn.to/2SkESJL
Neewer 120cm Softbox amzn.to/2RjlMDm
Raleno Rechargeable Bicolour Video LED Panel amzn.to/3f2l7hV
C O N T A C T
Twitter/Insta @IcebergTop10s
Email [e-mail]
#Intel #geekom #i9

[@IcebergTech]

Oops, I wrote “80EU” in the Afterburner overlay instead of “96”. My bad!

[@filipshinigami7263]

For fortnite, i remember my friend told me that long ago when he was playing CS his gpu didnt render Walls so he had free WALLHACK🤣🤣

[@thunderbolt_blitz]

and "DDR3" in the description, but Amazing video as always mate! Love watching these when they show up

[@OfficialKenTech]

​@@thunderbolt_blitzyeah its supposed to be DDR4 prob

[@iKatOverLord]

[@Yasai_1204]

7:13 the 3D Mark slide reads i9-13700H

[@lukas0999]

1:45 The protective film just doesn't want to come off 😂

[@matthewbcarter]

Here before companies stop sending Iceberg products for review because he's being too honest about them 😉 Keep up the great videos tho haha. We appreciate the honesty.

[@damasterpiece08]

they still send Gamers Nexus products and Steve is the best at knocking them down a peg :))

[@eccodreams]

Iceberg Tech is levelling up! This is super awesome to see, congrats!

[@user-ys3id6to5b]

Mini-Pcs always fascinate me especially when it comes to their form factor and how they stand against desktops.

[@TheGrizz485]

Can't get enough of this reviewer! After giving the mini pc a hilarious scolding, he cheekily offers us a coupon to buy this loud thermal throttling paperweight.

[@NatInTheHat49]

Time to get a m.2 igpu dock and see what this does with a similar gpu you have on hand

[@flamingscar5263]

I noticed the usb C ports on the back were labeled as 40 gigabit as well, if they support PCIe tunneling you do also have the option of a thunderbolt dock, unfortunately Geekoms site just has them labeled as "USB 4" which says nothing about how capable the port really is since USB 4 at its worse can be basically just USB 3 and maybe even worse, this bein all thanks to the USB Implementers Forum (the group in charge of making the USB standard) a company can label a port as "USB 4" while supporting only a fraction of the things USB 4 supports

[@GooseLover.]

I wanna see a gpu nuc one day

[@maybelive765]

It exists. Intel skull canyon

[@teaspoon966]

the ports blooper/joke killed me. well done.

[@IcebergTech]

Aw thanks. If I can make one person laugh- other than myself- then it’s all worth it

[@chennemeyer]

Much more honest and in-depth review than others on this mini, thank you

[@thomaswest2583]

I remember joking about I9s saying they were on the Oven Lake architecture lol. Those were the good old days before all the gpu shortages bullshit.

[@jamieknight326]

Your production values are brilliant. This video is great :)

[@aejigamez200]

I would love to see a review on the i9 7980XE ngl. That chip was the dream when i built my first custom PC in 2018

[@NotPhly]

Amazing as always, amd straight to the point. Def one of the best tech channels on the site, up there with LTT and J2C.

[@Srrylov3]

Need more subs inane production quality as usual

[@yourboyjosiahgaming2910]

Yay another iceberg tech video

[@AmbiguityCaptive]

Thanks for Intel ETU info. Didn't know about it (previously used Renoir Mobile Tuning on Ryzen). Will try it on my 12700H

[@amadii8768]

this will essentially become useful with 14th gen intel (superior gpus with arc technology, lower lithography and in tandem power and heat) also nice video :)

[@acwbit2368]

You can always use the ryzen 7000hs series with a rx780m

[@AlfaPro1337]

Lithography tech has lost its meaning. The gate length isn't 3nm or 7nm or 5nm.

[@GewelReal]

you mean 15th gen?

[@artc1688]

Stay tuned for the NEW ASUS NUC mini-PC (coming soon)... it out performs it by ALOT!!

[@JamesSmith-sw3nk]

Good video. This will be very cool to own 5yrs from now when it's hopefully $200 used.

[@tobiasreaper6986]

@3:28 LOL, and the USB A hole :)

[@milescarter7803]

NUC is (and always has been) held back by unevenly matched CPU and GPU power. One reason the SteamDeck is such a great value (more efficient at 15w than ROG Ally or Win Max 2, Win 4). This wouldn't be so bad if they exposed a standard edge connector, even a x4, or a spare M.2 with occulink access so you could add GPU. But they need to head back to the drawing board and get a decent 4 P core or 6 E core (one or the other, not both), and double down on some ARC cores, like A580 class. Keep it simple. But no, they sell it on bullet points: "cores", ghz etc. SteamDeck let the performance do the talking. All that said I just got a NUC Iris motherboard with the 8th gen CPU for a steal ($45), and I'm going to try to make a modded NUCDeck with off brand Switch Joycons for controls and a 1024x600 or 800x480 screen, should be plenty of oomph.

[@droptoasterintub297]

It's more so the fact that Intel's CPUs are just vastly less efficient than AMD's. Despite Golden Cove having more execution bandwidth, it draws MUCH more power than AMD's Zen 4. Intel needs a node shrink badly for future Cove cores to become viable in mobile. The fact that a 7940HS is beating the 13900H in multithreading with a lower power limit is NOT good.

[@bulletpunch9317]

Which video shows ally being less efficient at 15w? The phawx shows the opposite.

[@MarcosCodas]

Holy throttling, batman

[@skorpysk]

get a M.2 to PCI-E cable and shove a EGPU to it, i reckon that'd be fun :)

[@deadpain2483]

this generate more heat than my i3 6100u that i'm using for 4 years now and didn't replace the thermal paste yet

[@denvera1g1]

On the subject of BIOS, i have found many of these being very limited as of late, it used to be these lesser known companies would give you great control over the hardware, and only larger OEMs like Dell, Lenovo, HP etc would lock down the BIOS But i recently tried to use some 6400 RAM in my Minisforum UM790, and it would not let you change it to anything other than JEDEC 4800, which really holds back those 12 RDNA3 compute units, guess i'll have to wait for this to come to AM5 before i can get a competent micro PC without a GPU When it comes to the GPU i have a beelink with 6800HS/7735HS that is faster because at least it would load the XMP profile for 5600, if not the rated 6400.

[@stewpidadventures6025]

Nice video, would be nice to compare it to a mini pc that had a ryzen9 7000series or whatever it's called i haven't been following ryzen that.much

[@Hardware1906]

at this form factor, Ryzen APU does better job than Intel should test Miniforum AMD version

[@facelessvaper]

"type-A hole" I might steal that one👌

[@IcebergTech]

I stole it from TechDweeb tbf

[@markpoint1351]

i wonder if turning of the E cores would help performance for gaming???

[@MoultrieGeek]

Awesome video on a confusing product. What is the point of an i9 that can't stretch its legs because of thermal limits? I'm struggling to find a use case or market niche for a obviously compromised product other than bragging rights and marketing.

[@ShockingPikachu]

Can tell you weren't paid for this review because my gosh you didnt hold back! I love when reviewers are actually honest

[@HomerDXing]

Considerations Before Purchasing This Computer: Firstly, the cooling system is a notable concern, as the fan is not sufficiently effective in dissipating heat. This limitation results in the CPU being thermally throttled to approximately 35 watts, leading to reduced processing speeds. Additionally, despite the CPU's compatibility with DDR5 memory, this computer is equipped with DDR4 RAM. This is a significant factor as DDR4 is 50% slower than DDR5, potentially impacting overall performance.

[@CryptoJordanVR]

I ran into a similar situation like this with my laptop where my i5 8300h was both thermal throttling and power throttling. I tried countless ideas to fix it! The solution I finally came up with was to simply lower the max boost clock speed with ThrottleStop. Now it does neither. You might think this is counterproductive. However, the problem I most massively faced when it throttled was with the cache speed. Before when it thermal or power throttled the CPUs clock speed was anywhere from 3.4 to 3.7 GHz. Normally it's supposed to turbo to 4 ghz. However, the cache speed would throttle to to around 3 GHz! I found that the best option was to set a maximum boost clock of 3.5. This keeps it from throttling so now both the CPU and cache speeds are 3.5 always and it keeps it under 90° C on all core load.

[@appsaucetech]

That cpu should not run at 90C. Try cleaning out the cooling and putting on new thermal paste. I have a 3050ti 5600u pc that runs cooler than that under full load and its cooler sucks.

[@CryptoJordanVR]

@@appsaucetech Don't you think I tried that? I've even tried repasting the cpu and gpu multiple times to no difference.

[@milescarter7803]

Those single rank memory sticks make my head hurt. Performance memory is Dual rank. (I have verified that low latency 2400 DDR4 dual rank beats single rank 3200mhz in CPU testing). The reason is simple, dual ranks can be accessed at different times, so dual channel, dual rank is 4.banks of memory. If you are on an IGPU you need all the help you can get. Probably be a good idea to have even 2x4 or 2x8gb dual rank on hand for testing iGPU systems. Same with the "gen4" NVMe, I'd rather have a gen3 with DRAM than a budget gen4, but 🤷‍♂️ To be clear, budget components are fine, if you got them cheaply. But I am sure the markup puts them at the same cost to you as buying decent components. If you can't buy the system without, you can at least use them for refurbishing an old laptop, or HTPC or something. But putting an i7 and then hamstringing it with cheap components is silly. Might as well have an i5 at that point and have it be (closer to) reasonably priced and more balanced.

[@cainankitts7216]

liquid metal time!

[@denikec]

nice

[@toma01001]

Im a big fan of Gamers Nexus' Prebuilt PC content, so ive seen how limited / bad cooling can make an i9 into an i7. Unfortunate, but very expected. I wouldn't be shocked if the i7 version preforms about the same. Anyone remember the i9 MacBook Pro's? Similar story.

[@candidosilva7755]

Its a toaster can you put liquid metal in there to see if helps.?

[@sL1NK]

Intel's marketing in a nutshell: "up to"

[@Neil-Aspinall]

Recently received, the fan is loud and won't turn off????

[@DavidLacombe86]

Will this run cap cut for video editing in 1080P and 4k? I really want to pick one of these up if it will do video editing since it is silent and I'm always hearing my pc in the background for voiceovers

[@IcebergTech]

I haven't used Capcut in a very long time so I don't recall if it uses Quick Sync or not. If it does, you'll have a great time with 1080P. 4K might benefit from proxies, which - again, I can't remember if Capcut actually supports them?

[@socialhostage8534]

Thanks for showing the video editing/export performance! Ryzen 7000 will beat intel even though the codec support of intel. I'm gonna get the Ryzen 7000, they are also way cheaper! The Beelink Ser6 can be found for 200 cheaper and will out perform the i9!

[@darkorn9980]

Can you tune that little monster and add a propper heatsink to it instead of solid panel? I'd like to see the difference

[@HappyTribble]

Agreed, and for the price that is being asked of it, the RAM and SSD are sub-par as well. I think a lot of performance is being left on the table and some proper tuning and better thermal paste/fan, might bring the performance more in line with what is expected., but as it stands it's a poor value.

[@jamieimbusch]

Stick a proper fan in there. Should help 😆

[@Ricelord4]

It's too bad that it doesn't have Thunderbolt. That would have been interesting to test with an eGPU.

[@Matt-oq4jq]

don't know why they'd use a 13900H when a 13900T would be infinitely more useful in this form factor. guess they get a better deal on mobile silicon???

[@gureguru4694]

so whats the point of this thing? all that CPU power for?

[@pavelstoikov3780]

i9 on this smallbox someone smoke to much weed on friday 👀👀

[@frankwong9486]

More accurate: Is it all about the power limit

[@ClayWheeler]

Huh, that's weird. I think Intel ended and discontinued NUC series

[@GLDragon93]

CS2 results are quite disappointing, it's about the same performance a xeon e3 1230v2 (i7 3770) and a gtx 750ti, probably a bit lower while the power consumption would be around the same at max (40-50w on the xeon e3 and 60w on the 750ti). I think the i7 variant would perform better. I remember those chinese small pc from Aliexpresshaving the same issues, with the i9 9980h slowly cooking themselves to death, while the i7 weren't thermal throttling and performed better.

[@DatSun.]

thats not csgo

[@appsaucetech]

FYI: the description says ddr3 instead of ddr4

[@IcebergTech]

Thanks

[@manaphylv100]

Putting an i5-13600(T) into an ASRock Desk Mini B660 will be cheaper and give you better CPU performance, since it won't be crippled by thermal throttling. You won't be gaming on it without an external GPU anyway (then just build an ITX system instead), so the IGP performance is largely irrelevant.

[@LF5xu]

7:13 I see something wrong here. i9-13700H

[@NoMastersNoMistress]

This is fantastic. It's just a shame that it's more expensive and not as expandable as some of the Ryzen 9's against which it competes. Otherwise it would be a de facto CrApple M2 curb stomper. F*ck CrApple.

[@jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj3490]

Put a egpu in it

[@BonusCrook]

I hope everyone by now has figured out that mini PCs are a not so useful gimmick and to just get a laptop or gaming laptop if you need portability.

[@akin242002]

The Intel 13th gen i9 H series CPU is too powerful for a mini-PC, especially one with DDR4 RAM. The 13th gen i7 H series performs better due to moderately less extreme push, so less throttling.

[@happybuggy1582]

Mac mini is the only way

[@DiggetyDank]

USB 3.2 gen 2 type a-holes.....

[@bhok5228]

Cooling solution is not up the task

[@Carstuff111]

I am VERY picky about cooling of my electronics, and even as an HTPC I would demand better cooling for something like that. It is nifty having PCs this small, however, I will ALWAYS be a function-over-form type of person. That is why I refuse to buy an Apple product, most of their stuff has been form-over-function as of the last several years, and most of these mini PCs are the same thing. Better off with a (hopefully) cooler running i5 in this thing and upgrading it with your own SSDs and maybe RAM. If I am going to have a machine for at home use, I will stick to a full-size, easily upgraded desktop PC. These mini PCs are almost more useless than consoles, often just because of cooling issues. This thing has no upgrade path beyond storage, it uses too much power to be useful as a storage hub, its too limited to be an HTPC in the sense it can't really game unless you play a lot of old titles and retro games... But as an HTPC it would need to run things at 4k in my house hold and.... No, I think I will stick to my AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and RTX 2080 Super I got this year to replace my Ryzen 5 1600X and GTX 1070. If someone wants a small PC, there are better options than this. This is a beautiful machine though, and I give them credit for their packaging but the cooling should have been first priority even at their 80 watt TDP limit.

[@hammerth1421]

Poor i9 is suffocating on its own heat in that thing :(

[@fv101]

PUT A GPU IN THIS

[@Leo-hf9wo]

True imagine a mobile 3060 or 4060 in that

[@ishiddddd4783]

bruh, the 13900H is a power limited 13600 lol

[@SpostK]

Hehe

[@LosFicosMusic]

I don’t Trust it.. overheating complaints I read…

[@fv101]

get a 2060 nuc

[@IcebergTech]

If someone wants to send me one, I won’t say no…

[@fv101]

@@IcebergTechits arriving in a week 💀, but for real actually try one

[@wawaweewa9159]

Cringetel

[@ZERARCHIVE2023]

not worth it, Ryzen is better. End of story

[@johnnybauer8552]

Did not Intel introduce the I 9 processed several years ago?

[@Wooksley]

Intel suck in power and thermal constrained scenarios compared to AMD. Their ancient 10nm node processor probably doesn’t help…

[@GewelReal]

terrible

[@FlopFan69]

It’s Say-tah, not sar-tah

[@jameshare1848]

The presenter is British and therefore pronounces words in English.

[@FlopFan69]

Nobody actually says GPU-zed, it’s zee, anything zed just sounds wrong. Stop with the unnecessary britishisms

[@WyattOShea]

Imagine not being able to understand that other regions of the world exist and pronounce things differently.

[@FlopFan69]

@@WyattOShea that’s not what it is, he’s just trolling, like his PAL jokes, if it’s in the name of something, it’s pronounced Zee, because it’s usually there to sound cool, and zed just doesn’t.

[@WyattOShea]

We say zed here too lol. @@FlopFan69

[@AliceC993]

As an American I'm going to use "zed" wherever possible simply to spite you.

[@WyattOShea]

lmao@@AliceC993