GMKtec Gaming PC Mini AI Desktop Computer Intel Core Ultra 5 226V 16GB DDR5

The first time I came across one of these GMKtec mini PCs, I dismissed it. I figured it was just another tiny computer being pushed online with specs that probably looked better on paper than they performed in real life. Then GMKtec started showing up on literally every app I have on my phone. At some point I thought, okay, maybe this isn't just clever marketing. Maybe there really is something to these mini PCs, specifically the ones from GMKtec. So I bought one. The price was right, the hardware specifications were almost ridiculous for the money, and the price to performance ratio looked too good not to try. When it arrived, it instantly became the fastest computer we had in the shop. Now we have seven of them. That probably tells you most of what you need to know. These little things are seriously tiny. We mount ours directly to the back of standard VESA compatible monitors. We use Sceptre monitors in our shop, and once the GMKtec is mounted behind one, you basically can't even see the computer. It completely changes your idea of what a desktop computer needs to look like. Setup has been extremely easy. Everything you need is accessible, the ports are spaced well enough that you can actually use them without cables fighting each other, and even when the machine is mounted behind a monitor, everything remains practical to reach and connect. And the performance is where these little computers really surprise you. They will absolutely destroy whatever assumptions you once had about computer performance being related to physical size. For normal day to day work, these things fly. Noise levels are about what you would expect from something this small with active cooling, but most of the time they are surprisingly quiet. You can enable the higher performance modes when you need additional power, but obviously that comes with more fan noise. If you don't need something pulling around 45 watts for what you're doing, the lower power modes are perfectly capable for most everyday operations and are much more pleasant acoustically. But now that I've talked about the computers, I want to talk about something that might actually be more impressive: GMKtec's customer support. GMKtec is based in China. I'm in America. Normally, that combination makes me assume that if I ever need support, I'm going to be sending emails into the abyss and waiting forever for somebody to eventually respond. That has absolutely NOT been my experience with GMKtec. I don't know whether they have a really good support team, a really big support team, or both, but every time I've contacted them, I've received a response generally within about 24 to 72 hours. And I need to emphasize something here: I have NEVER consistently had that kind of experience with any other computer manufacturer or supplier. Not the big brands. Not the household names. Not the companies with enormous American support departments. With some major manufacturers, getting an actual problem resolved can turn into a week or two of emails, transfers, scripts, troubleshooting steps you've already completed, and trying to convince somebody that the problem actually exists. GMKtec has been different. I've had them take machines back. I've had them replace machines. I've had them replace individual parts. When something legitimately goes wrong and you didn't cause the problem, they actually try to help you fix it. That shouldn't feel unusual in the computer industry, but unfortunately, it does. I also want to be fair about the warranty side of this review. I haven't been sitting here with a calendar carefully measuring every warranty interaction against the exact warranty period because, frankly, that isn't how most of us use computers in the real world. What I can tell you is this: We've been using GMKtec computers for about a year now, and every legitimate issue I've brought to them has been resolved promptly and professionally. That matters to me far more than a warranty statement printed on a webpage. These machines are worth the money. You're getting an incredible amount of hardware packed into an unbelievably small enclosure, already assembled, configured, and ready to become an actual working computer. And depending on the GMKtec model you choose, if you pair one of these little machines with an external GPU, you can take the concept even further and build an incredibly compact, hidden HTPC or living room gaming setup without needing a giant traditional tower sitting next to your television. I started with one because I was curious. We now have seven because the first one proved itself. And these won't be the last ones I, or the company I've built, buys. We WILL get more. The performance is excellent. The size is almost comical. The price to performance ratio is fantastic. The machines are easy to deploy. And, perhaps most importantly, when something goes wrong, there are actual people on the other side willing to help. For an American customer buying computers from a company based in China, GMKtec has exceeded basically every expectation I had going into this. Thank you, GMKtec, for making your products available here in America. You've earned a lifelong customer. I love these little computers.

GMKTEC K9 Mini Computer BASIC SPECS: Intel Core Ultra 5 125H up to 4.5Ghz 14 Core 18 threads. Intel Arc Graphics Meteor Lake IGPU Enhanced Graphics 32GB of DDR 5 5600 Dual channel RAM configured in 2 x 16GB laptop sized modules. (Upgradeable to 96GB) M.2 Lexmar NVMe PCIe 4.0 1Tb SSD drive with heat sink. (Upgradeable to 4Tb in two NVMe slots.) 2 x 2.5 Gigabit LAN Ports One HDMI and one Display Port video out USB 3.2 10Mbs x 4 (2 in front-2 in back) USB 4.0 Type C My set up uses a 30 inch Samsung monitor, and an HP 25 inch monitor each 1920 x 1080 60hz. I use this for business, word processing, internet and audio processing of larger files, typically Wav files 90 to 180 minutes long.(600Mb to 1500Mb) as well as VST virtual instruments and music composition. INSTALLED APPS BY ME: 1) ATTO (Disk Benchmark Utility) 2) CrystalDiskInfo9_3_1 (Disk Benchmark Utility) 3) Office 2021 Pro Plus (Excel Word Power Point etc) 4) Firefox (Web Browser) 5) Nuance PaperPort Professional.14.5.15168.1450 (Scan and Document App) 6) Thunderbird (Email Client) 7) WinRAR 6.3 x64 (File Compression and Archiving) 8) Stardock Fences (Desktop Organizer) 9) VLC (Media Player & More) 10) Adobe Audition 3 (Audio Multitrack Recording) 11) Virtualbox 7.0.18 (I use a Virtual XP 32 Bit to run archaic 16 Bit Apps) 12) 7-Zip (File Compression and Archiving) 13) Shadow Protect 3.5.0.3570 (Archaic 20 year old backup software) 14) Team Viewer (Remote View Other Computers) 15) Auto Hotkey (Script writing tool to automate functions in Windows and in other programs) 16) jv16 Power Tools (A Suite of Admin Tools for Registry, Uninstalling, File management, Performance Monitoring, and much more) 17) Canon MG600 Printer-Scanner 18) Scan Utility From Microsoft 19) Speedtest (Utility to test internet bandwidth speed) 20) Adobe Acrobat Reader 21) Coretemp (CPU Temperature Monitor Utility) 22) Macromedia Fireworks MX 2004 (Old Graphics Program) 23) Macrium Reflect (Modern Current Backup Software) 24) Easeus Partition Manager Free Version 18.5.0 25) Cubase 5.1 (Older MIDI Music composition software) UNBOXING: 5in x 5in x 2in (approx.) 120W power supply. (A little bulky but still OK...like a typical laptop power supply) Power supply seems to have adequate head room to power all my peripherals (i.e. mouse / keyboard / External Drives etc.) HDMI cable and mounting bracket included. Upgrading is easy...The top cover pries off. Then 4 screws on each corner allows removal of the chassis fan. (Be careful to note the fan has a power cable that can be inadvertently yanked.) This exposes the NVME and RAM slots. SEE Photo #1 / Photo #2 / Photo #3 BOOT TIME AFTER ALL INSTALLS: Initially, boot time from pressing power button to fully loading all processes was 19 seconds. 14 sec to desktop fully revealed. This settled into a consistent 17 seconds and 12 seconds to fully revealed desktop. See Video #1 and Photo #4 / Photo #5 BIOS: An interesting BIOS feature that I could not figure out to configure was RAM disk. The high performance of this computer and the large amount and speed of RAM would make a RAM disk likely not worth the effort for most people. Researching RAM disk issues on line shows a significant number of computer enthusiasts with this sentiment. The Power Mode parameter in BIOS on the Advanced tab has 3 settings: Quiet / Balance / Performance I chose performance. Other BIOS categories are shown in photos. See Photo #6 / Photo #7 CPU THERMAL: My CPU temperatures rarely got above 60C to 65C and on a very few occasions into the 70's. Typical idle temperatures are between 35C and 40C. Fan cooling seems to be dynamic so that fan speed ramp up as temperature rises. My chassis fan never ramped up enough for me to even hear it. I had to open the case to confirm it was spinning at a low RPM. See Photo #8 NVME DISK BENCHMARK Lexmark 1TB PCIe 4.0 : I did two benchmark tests with ATTO and CRYSTAL DISK utilities. ATTO scores were slightly lower overall but it is safe to say this drive reads at 4.8 - 5 GB/s and reads at 4.3 to 4.5 GB/sec. This is a reasonable exploit of PCIe 4.0 potential. See Photo #9 / Photo #10 PRACTICAL TESTS: To give you an idea of just how fast this computer can be: I have a 2TB NVMe drive in an enclosure as an external drive for computer backups. I use Macrium Reflect backup software. On the USB 4.0 Type C port, my Macrium Reflect backup of this computer took 1 minute and 3 sec to create a 53GB backup image. Keep in mind though that the data transfer here is from an NVMe drive to another NVMe drive on a USB 4 port. I also tried opening 15 Excel spreadsheets at once and they all loaded in less than 10 seconds. GRAPHICS: I do no gamimg so I cant say too much but the Display Port supports 4K @ 144Hz so some gaming is definitely possible. There are certainly sufficient computing resources here for gaming though. I streamed 1080p for long periods with absolutely no problems. CONCLUSION: When travelling (which I do frequently) I used to bring a copy of all desktop files with me on an external drive and then work from a laptop where I would migrate email and internet browser profiles to the laptop and then resync everything from laptop back to desktop when I got home but I can now just bring this computer with me and a small monitor. Furthermore, I used to have a desktop in my office and one in the bedroom. Now I just carry the K9 from room to room as needed since I have keyboards and monitors in both places. With the fast NVMe drive and the huge amount of fast RAM I can't find any downside to this machine. Its performance rivals any desktop that I've ever used and it's portability means that I can pack it up and bring it with me anywhere. There are enough USB Ports to cover peripherals like printers, portable optical drives, hard drive docks etc. It is a completely adequate full desktop replacement..... a mini power house. Whether it is audio or video editing, music composition and multitracking, VST instruments, a gazillion internet tabs opened at once, there are adequate resources to do anything I can think of. I can't think of a downside to this computer with regard to performance. You may need USB extenders to provide clearance when using many peripherals because it can get a little crowded with some ports configured close together but it isn't any worse than what you would find in a laptop. This machine shows an impressive performance for a computer of any size. I am very happy with it and do not regret this purchase.

I bought the GMKtec K10 per a friend's recommendation. The first one I received was did not work. I sent it back to Amazon. I then ordered a new one since Amazon's policy is to have the manufacturer decide to reimburse me or not. GMKtec reimbursed me. The new one worked great for about 6 months. Then the computer would Freeze up randomly. I was trying to see if it was a windows problem or a hardware problem. Then it would freeze before windows would load. That told me it was a hardware problem and the processor was stopping. After emailing back and forth with GMK's tech support. I asked for a manager. I was then put in contact with Julian. Julian was great. After explaining the problem, Julian asked me to remove the SSD and the RAM PCBs (sticks) and return the unit to their facility in New Jersey. Julian had arraigned to have a new bare bones K10 sent to me. It arrived in the scheduled time stated. I installed my SSD and the RAM. The unit came up perfectly. Easy peasy. I love this little computer. It works great and is fast just as expected. I was concerned at first about the tech support. But they were great. So polite and accommodating. Julian was wonderful. I have been working with computers for many years and understand that High-performance computers can be finicky sometimes. It is great to have a good support team behind the product. And a company that stands behind their products. It's refreshing in today's world. I would buy this computer again for sure. And I would like to say to Julian, thank you for you spot on support. GMPtec has a super employee.

My wife’s laptop is old and SLOW. I decided to buy a better unit, not bigger, to handle some additional tasks and “gift” my other unit to her. The older unit is a GMKtec also and is still working well and still does all the basic things and is 10 times faster than her laptop which is all she needs. I am moving to do some video editing and picture manipulation and some CAD drawing, so I wanted something with a little more “kick”. This unit seemed to fit the bill and the price was reasonable considering the extra speed, storage and expansion capabilities, and after putting it through its paces – it fits better than expected! As always, my goal is to try everything I can as quickly as I can to try to see if I can find any issues that would cause me to return it or to have to contact the manufacturer. The harder I tried the more I liked the unit, I tried things like playing 4K Video (need to get more of that). 3D modeling and rotating the objects, standard CAD drawings, picture editing and storage, all without any issue and I noticed a distinct increase in the speed from my other units. This will be the third GMKtec unit I have purchased. Because of that I can heartily recommend their products and service. I had one issue with my first unit, and they took care of it quickly and answered all my questions. The unit came nicely packaged in a clean box. Everything came out easily and I have a picture of all of the components attached to this review. I followed the startup instructions and plugged everything in and turned it on, went through the startup process with windows and was on my way. One thing to consider with a minicomputer is that it doesn’t come with peripherals, specifically a monitor and keyboard and mouse. I already have a minicomputer, so I already have these. When my wife moves to the older box we will need to get replacements for her. I will buy a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to minimize USB port use. This unit comes with 32 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD, and the unit is expandible to 4 TB. On my other units I quickly upgraded the RAM and Storage to what this one comes with so at this time I don’t see the need to add more which is a savings in time and money. I am now a fan of disconnected peripherals, keyboard, mouse, screen, portable drives, etc. it gives me the flexibility to disconnect and move them as I see fit or carry them with me while I travel. After I got the unit up and running, I started loading software and setting it up the way I like. There were no difficulties and it seemed to load and execute the installations faster than I am used to. I did do some speed tests and I know the modem has a lot to do with speed, but I was getting 96 mbps upload and download connected to the LAN with a cable and 94 mbps upload and download using the Wi-Fi connection. Plenty fast for my needs. I hooked up a pair of older speakers that use usb power and the earphone jack and they worked fine. Shows that it is downward compatible with older equipment. I left the computer on overnight to ensure there were no problems. It went to sleep and woke up without any issues. Earlier models had an issue with this, and I wanted to make sure it wasn’t there. I played avatar on the computer monitor and it worked great no lag no hesitations beautiful color. I figured 4K would test its graphics capability and my living room TV is 4K compatible. I hooked it up to the TV using the HDMI and found some 4K sample videos to play. They worked without a hitch, no hesitation, no buffering, and beautiful color, quite stunning I should add. I might start looking for more 4K stuff to play on the TV. I Downloaded Freecad which is a 3D modeling software, again flawless. I was able to reorient the 3D picture as fast as I could, and it looked like a movie. Along those lines I used a CAD drawing program also with no issues. Decided to do some graphic manipulation for a sales project I’m working on and edited pictures and moved them around again. It worked beautifully. Lastly as a graphics / speed trial I downloaded the starcraft game and played for a while. No issues. Other software I downloaded and used: Quicken, iTunes, Sonos (we have a system in the house), DropBox, Microsoft 365, Pumble So, this computer will take me to the next level I am looking for with speed, processing power, graphics and more. I had no trouble setting it up, using it and there were no manufacturing defects or problems. Since I have 3 GMKtec units now I can wholeheartedly recommend their products, and based on the interactions I have had they stand behind their products and provide support as needed to help. They are based out of China, so email has been my communication tool of choice even though there is a delay due to the time difference, but they have been very quick and responsive to my questions as their literature says “no question to big or small”

First, I am NOT a tech person, so keep that in mind while reading this. Shipping- Box was within a box and all arrived safe and sound and undamaged. Directions- A bit sketchy, as English was the second set of instructions. All in book about 6" x 6" so not easy for old eyes. Set Up- Easy set up, the first few updates took 5-6 hours and that is on 1gb Fiber Internet. My USB dongle mouse is jumpy, but my wired gaming mouse works GREAT. So maybe my normal mouse is a bit dated, beats me. Tons of USD 2 and 3, biggest negatives to me is there is only one Type C port and that is on the front and the 3.5 plug for speakers is on the front as well. My computers at work are that way, but I have never had a personal computer with that configuration. You do not hear the fan, I have been in here for over 90 minutes installing programs and such and zero noise. The bottom panel is a little warm, less than that of a power pack for a lap top. Seems very fast with basic things like Office programs, reading external drives and youtube. Have not transferred large files yet, but I do not anticipate problems. At a little over 500, would I buy it again...yes. I may buy one for my parents to replace their old computer. So far (A little less than a week) no complaints. It goes much faster than my Lenovo 17" laptop that is only a year or so old.

I've been incredibly impressed with this mini PC. The setup was quick, and from the moment I turned it on, everything felt fast and responsive. Internet speeds are excellent, and programs open almost instantly with no noticeable lag. What surprised me most is how well it handles gaming. I tested several games and it ran them much better than I expected for such a compact machine. Frame rates were smooth, graphics looked great, and the system stayed stable even during longer gaming sessions. I will include the games I test at the bottom of this post. The storage is outstanding as well. It comes in at 1TB (for this model) and load times were instant! I hardly ever had to wait for any games or programs to load. The internet speeds for wifi are blazing fast too! I have pretty fast internet at my home... but other mini PC's that I have ran, never came anywhere close to these speeds. The best part is the size. It takes up almost no desk space, runs quietly, and is easy to tuck away behind a monitor or in a small workspace. It's amazing how much performance is packed into such a small footprint. I also loaded local AI models into this PC as well (odysseus ai) and it ran it with no issues at all. I am currently using this PC as my AI hub for everything in my home. Below are some photos of the tests I ran, as well as internet speeds, and WEI score for the pc in general. I also ran the newest version of "Furmark" for testing purposes, and it performed quite well. The games I ran were all on 1080p for testing purposes, with XESS balanced when applicable, but I DID increase to 4k on some of them, just to see how it operated. Spiderman: 65 FPS average Cyberpunk: 60 FPS average Forza 5: 89 FPS average Ratchet and Clank: 96 FPS average Street Fighter: 61 FPS average Black myth Wukong: 81 FPS average.

Overall, I'm pleased with this GMKtec M3 Pro mini PC. It appears to be well-built, runs quietly, and has performed well so far. I'm using it as a dedicated Linux server for Frigate, and so far its performance has been satisfactory. However, I was disappointed to discover something about the advertised graphics capabilities. One of the specific reasons I purchased this computer was because it was advertised as having Intel Iris Xe Graphics. After receiving the computer and examining its hardware configuration, I discovered that it shipped with only one 16 GB DDR4-3200 memory module installed, leaving the second memory slot empty. According to Intel, dual-channel memory is required for the Iris Xe graphics designation. With only one memory module installed, the computer operates in single-channel mode, and the integrated graphics are identified as Intel UHD Graphics rather than Iris Xe. Although the processor supports Iris Xe graphics, the computer was not shipped with the memory configuration necessary to provide that capability as advertised. Adding a compatible second memory module should enable dual-channel operation, but that requires an additional purchase and expense that I had not anticipated. To be clear, I'm not saying this is a bad computer. Quite the opposite. So far, it has performed well, and I'm satisfied with its operation. My disappointment is that Iris Xe graphics was an important factor in my purchasing decision, yet the computer was not configured to deliver that advertised feature out of the box. I believe GMKtec should either ship these computers with dual-channel memory installed or clearly disclose this limitation in the product description. I'm sharing this experience so prospective buyers are aware of the distinction before purchasing. Hopefully, the manufacturer will also take this feedback into consideration.

This machine came in great packaging and was super easy to open and setup. The plugs and everything were quite easy to get and use. the cords were long enough, I would have liked to have about 2 more feet of power cord but that is just my preference, as always cords are either too long or to short or won't work if they are the right length, LOL. The startup was easy and pretty self-explanatory. The using of your Microsoft login that you might already have on other machines makes it nice. I have it configured with 3 monitors so had to use the only usb-c plug available. I ended up having to buy a usb-c 3.o hub to allow a couple of external hard drives to hook up (and that comes with a hard drive read write speed penalty, but it all has worked out well). The one thing I do have to say about these small units is usb ports are scarce and like I said 1 only thunderbolt 4/usb-c port. But the port issue isn't hard to resolve with proper equipment selection and all the hubs that are out there. The graphics are pretty good It has worked on several different monitor configurations, but it is surprising how well it does this as 2 of my smaller screens are touch screens and 1 is just a standard large display. The onboard sound works well and easy to configure but is limited as many this computer this size do. It is a combined microphone, sound port so you might need a splitter. It works well with just a set normal desktop speakers. The computer has plenty of power and super fast it is noticeably faster from my intel I5-12450H and my Rayden7 7735HS. All have the same ram size of 32 gig. And ram speeds are right about 1 speed difference. The hard drive is name brand and works well. read write speeds were consistent and pretty identical. I do have some externals that i move around that all were well managed and did well. The WI-fi and ethernet work very well and maintain speed easily. The wifi 6 works well with the St*rlink router too. I was surprised at the range it has on. The best is how quiet this one is it is so much quieter then my 12450H. You can play with the fan speed in the BIOS but was un-necessary. The BIOS was easy to manage and came out pretty well setup. I did not have to go into bios to get the 3 monitors to play well with each other either. Some of these little boxes you have to go in and adjust to get the cpu speed at full settings but this nididn't. The GPU works great especially with the intel arc software, which has a great system monitor built into it by the way. Now to the only serious caveat I have but it isn't GMK's fault in any way is the AI chip. I was hoping to see it do some work but at the current time unless you want to build some specialty software don't expect the system monitor to graph more than a flat line. Right now benchmarks is the only was to ascertain the AI. Now that Micros*ft has released fully integrated CO-Pilot in a couple of their machines I believe they will allow it to be turned on as this Intel AI is supposed to meet the requirements. I hope that to be true as copilot in online only is slower then i would like to see but i believe if it goes offline with the built in AI we will see it be much better performing. All in all, this is a great Machine with great features and even might be a little feature proof. Great performance, great components, nice and quiet, full of some great features and a dang good value. Only bad is lack of usb-c ports and usb ports in general, but common in machine's of this configuration, I still would like to see at least 1 more usb-c not with video out but data out and in would be great for external storage and such. I took some pics of it beside the 12450H and it is just slightly larger but with 2 fans i would expect that actually. There are some pics of the different screens showing what it shows on install and such. It was a pretty quick initial startup

منذ الشراء حتى هذه اللحظة كل شيء يعمل بكفاءة وأداء عالي اكثر من ما توقعت، استخدامي للكومبيوتر في الأعمال اليومية والمكتبية بالإضافة الى القليل من برامج التصميم، الأداء كان وما زال اكثر من ما توقعت قبل الشراء، أداءه اكبر من حجمه الصغير ويمكن تثبيته بشكل مخفي، أنا قمت بتثبيته تحت سطح الطاولة، انصح به و ربما قريباً أقوم بشراء جهاز آخر،

I'm 68 years old and I set it up myself no problem with no tech help. Very easy to install data from my old pc. Small size but WOW its fast. So far so good, no need for a dinosaur on my tiny desk. I'm extremely satisfied with my purchase. I would highly recommend this unit to everyone looking for a mini PC. THANKS GMKtec.

It is very good and fully satisfied. Many thanks to Amazon in general and to the main manufacturer GMTec in particular and great thanks to Ms Lara for her prompt response and detailed feedback back on the product specifications

I was a little sceptical about this...although it was recommended by an IPTV blogger who uses it for his videos...I figured that was robust enough for an old guy who just surfs the web and does emails. What a fantastic deal!! I rave about it to anyone who comes into our place. It's tiny, but has great specs...ours has an i5 and 16gb of RAM and a 512 SSD. Plenty for my needs. Win11Pro. It works just as well as any HP or Dell we have or have had. And at a fraction of the size or PRICE. I looked at Dell, and anything they had like this was 2x and more $$. Seems very well built; enough ports for any everyday use. Would definitely buy again. EDIT Yikes! I just looked up the current listing. The price has more than doubled since the first of the year!

Nice mini pc, small size , light weight, greate features, lot of inputs slots and more space to upgrade. Seller was so professional to deal with, supportive and so helpful. Thanks for the good mini pc 👍👍