Mini PC for CNC control.

[Ollie78]

Budget (including currency): up to £450

Country: UK

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Running cnc machine (UCCNC) and Fusion 360 and Vectric software.

Other details 

Hi

 

My CNC machine has been flood damaged and I will be replacing it with another machine. So I need a control PC for it that is also capable of running Fusion 360 and Vcarve.

 

I am thinking of going minimal with a Nuc style machine (probably on the monitor arm) but I know Fusion particularly hates Intel integrated graphics so I am thinking a Ryzen APU mini PC is what I need.

 

I could go with a tiny case like the Asrock Jupiter A320 which can accept any 65w Ryzen apu like 3400g or go with one of the mini PCs with built in laptop processors like the Ryzen 4500u like the minisforum, Asus pn50 or similar.

 

I am confused a bit by the specifications here, I know the 7nm stuff is much more efficient and the 4000u series chips will probably provide enough cpu power but what about the graphics part. The 3400g has Vega 11 while the 4000 series has either vega 8 or 10. But are the vega 8 better than the old 11 because of the efficiency of 7nm. Cpu charts don`t show the graphics performance. 

 

Then there is the H series like 3550H ?

 

Should I stick with desktop processor at 65w or will the mobile chips be powerful enough? (don`t really care about efficiency so much the machine it runs is 3kw)

 

I don`t want to over spec it as it doesn`t need to be a gaming rig but also don`t want to under spec as it would be a waste of money.

 

Maybe an older 2500u mini pc be enough, I can find these for very cheap.? 

 

Any help appreciated, I am a bit confused.

 

Ollie

 

 

  

 

[jaslion]

So a asrock deskmini basically? It's the better version of the jupiter basically for normally cheaper. A ryzen 4300u is on the same architecture as a 3400g so on zen 2 so basically I'd just get a deskmini. Little taller but this results in much better cooling and easier maintenance compared to the laptop style layout of the ones you listed.

 

So yeah get a deskmini A300 or x300 it's a cheaper barebones and even with the cpu it's gonna be cheaper than the others whilst being better and the only real difference is that it's a bit wider (depending on how you put it but basically one measurement is larger :p) but less long.

[Ollie78]

Thanks jaslion. 

I have not been able to find the 3400g chip itself for very cheap anywhere which is partly why I was looking at the other options as they are readily available. The total cost of a deskmini with 3400g is looking more expensive. I get what you are saying about the cooling and maintanence though.

 

Ollie