My dad wants a single board computer for his 3D printer.

[JZStudios]

I know nothing about them. His current PC running his shops CNC and a separate one running 3D printers are total garbage. He called me asking to find one, and I have no idea on any of them. He was talking about some SEEED ones, and I know of Intel's NUCs.

Link to the Seeed: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=seeed+odyssey&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

Link to NUC: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/compare-products.html/boards-kits?productIds=95078,126136

 

Which of these options is best/other recommendations? He doesn't need much storage, but he does need Win10 Pro, which I guess we could install.

He's looking for something cheap, i.e. ~$250-300 just to run a printer and G-code.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

Well a bloody Celeron processor isn't exactly going to be amazing either. How about something like a Dell Optiplex SFF or USFF? You can get some pretty good deals on the second hand market on those with Core processors which are only a few generations old.

 

Photo for reference only:

[NumLock21]

Best way is to look at the requirements for his CNC machine and 3D printer and go from there. You don't want randomly buy something and ends up not working together, that will be a lot worse than the garbage PC he already has.

 

 

[JZStudios]

Just now, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Well a bloody Celeron processor isn't exactly going to be amazing either. How about something like a Dell Optiplex SFF or USFF? You can get some pretty good deals on the second hand market on those with Core processors which are only a few generations old.

It will literally only ever run gcode, even the slicing/routing will be done on another computer. It just needs to run the machine. the current PCs I think were designed for XP running Win7. I have no idea how well these things will run.

 

Do you have a specific SFF? Seems like there's a few at a lot of price points.

[JZStudios]

Just now, NumLock21 said:

Best way is to look at the requirements for his CNC machine and 3D printer and go from there. You don't want randomly buy something and ends up not working together, that will be a lot worse than the garbage PC he already has.

 

 

Running G-code. That's it. I don't know what other requirements there would be.

[NumLock21]

Just now, JZStudios said:

Running G-code. That's it. I don't know what other requirements there would be.

I doubt your dad wants some DIY board where he needs to program and tinker in order to make his machines work. So just get him a better specs PC based on what he currently has.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Something like this?

https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-um300-mini-pc?variant=36835636576417

[JZStudios]

Just now, NumLock21 said:

I doubt your dad wants some DIY board where he needs to program and tinker in order to make his machines work. So just get him a better specs PC based on what he currently has.

Not likely. It's garbage, everything would need to be scrapped. He's just looking for something cheap ~$250 to run a printer.

[JZStudios]

1 minute ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Something like this?

https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-um300-mini-pc?variant=36835636576417

More high end and expensive than he needs. Maybe they have something cheaper though.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

4 minutes ago, JZStudios said:

More high end and expensive than he needs. Maybe they have something cheaper though.

Possibly something like this?:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-optiplex-9010-desktop-intel-core-i5-8gb-ram-500gb-hdd-windows-10-pro-sff-refurbished/6431176.p?skuId=6431176

 

Just throw in a SSD and reinstall Windows if you want and it'll be fine for the next maybe even 10 years. Might not be the best deal compared to that Ryzen Mini PC, but will get the job done. 

[JZStudios]

2 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Possibly something like this?:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-optiplex-9010-desktop-intel-core-i5-8gb-ram-500gb-hdd-windows-10-pro-sff-refurbished/6431176.p?skuId=6431176

 

Just throw in a SSD and reinstall Windows if you want and it'll be fine for the next maybe even 10 years. Might not be the best deal compared to that Ryzen Mini PC, but will get the job done. 

I can throw it his way. He might want something new.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

57 minutes ago, JZStudios said:

More high end and expensive than he needs. Maybe they have something cheaper though.

bout as low end as something gets. zen + r3 and 8gb or ram. you could get no storage no ram, then add yourself.

[JZStudios]

1 hour ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

bout as low end as something gets. zen + r3 and 8gb or ram. you could get no storage no ram, then add yourself.

The intel NUC is under 200. A zen 3 is overkill.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

10 minutes ago, JZStudios said:

The intel NUC is under 200. A zen 3 is overkill.

thats a zen+, 2 years old. And has a much better cpu then a (i think the celron that was being talked about abpve was) 2c/2t celeron.

[JZStudios]

3 hours ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

thats a zen+, 2 years old. And has a much better cpu then a (i think the celron that was being talked about abpve was) 2c/2t celeron.

*Ry(zen 3)

Don't need a super CPU, it just needs to run g-code.