5 mini gaming PCs that don’t compromise on performance

If desk space is an issue when considering a solid gaming setup, a mini gaming PC is no longer the performance compromise it once was. The days of high latencies and poor performance are over for playing a AAA game, thanks to manufacturers packing gaming laptop silicon into a small form factor that won’t swallow up your desktop. The cooling solutions in today’s gaming mini PCs are also efficient, with true fan-powered heat extraction supported by complex heatsinks and vapor chambers.

Of course, a mini gaming PC will never replace a full gaming PC, but it’s fantastic for high frame rate gaming in 1080p, as long as users follow some basic gaming PC beginner tips. Finding the right balance between size and speed is key, with the priority being staying cool under load. The picks below are the best gaming mini PCs right now in terms of performance. Looking at the specs and build layout, these models have the port selection and raw frame rate capacity to earn a spot on your gaming desk. There’s a mix of dedicated graphics processing unit options and integrated graphics choices, all designed to handle everything from competitive games to AAA blockbusters. These choices prove that gamers don’t need bulky GPUs or liquid cooling to experience the best of Steam.

The Minisforum Atomman G7 Pro is a great example of what a high-performance mini PC should be. Having used this exact model since its release, it has proven to be more than capable of handling Fortnite at well over 100 frames per second (FPS) on high settings, reaching over 200 FPS in both low and legacy performance modes. There’s also plenty of headroom on single-player gaming, thanks to the integrated Nvidia RTX 5070 laptop GPU, capable of supporting the latest generation of frames and DLSS developments. It has an Intel Core i9 14900HX processor, consisting of 24 cores and 32 threads, which is more than enough power for modern games. It’s also capable of handling Ray Tracing with DLSS 4.5 enabled, pushing rendering rates beyond 70 frames per second in games such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Oblivion Remastered.

Although some gamers will miss a DisplayPort, the connectivity is otherwise fantastic. It provides HDMI 2.1 FRL and USB 4 ports that both support 8K at 60 hertz refresh rate or 4K at 120 hertz, which is great news for high-end gaming monitor owners who want a responsive experience. It can also support up to 96GB of DDR5 RAM while featuring two M.2 slots, including one PCIe 5.0 for the fastest storage headroom on the market today. This $1,699 unit measures 398 millimeters x 260 millimeters x 80 millimeters when on its stand, which is a fraction of the footprint that any standard PC tower would cover.

The ASUS ROG NUC (2025) is the gaming mini-PC alternative to the ROG desktop range. It packs an AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D and Nvidia RTX 5070 mobile GPU into a tiny chassis 3 (2.22 inches by 7.39 inches x 11.11 inches), handling 1440p in standby. It can reach up to 73 frames per second in Cyberpunk 2077 at high settings with Ray Tracing Ultra, thanks to DLSS 4.5 and Frame Generation, which allows this mini gaming PC to go many more miles than running on its hardware alone.

The ROG NUC’s in-house engineering keeps this $2,899 unit quiet even during the most demanding gaming, thanks to its dual vapor chamber and extensive heat pipe cooling solution. This combination efficiently transfers heat from its core components and is further enhanced by its three cooling fans that draw air from each vent in the chassis. This setup allows the RTX 5070 chip to float at around 80 degrees Celsius, typically. The Armory Crate app, ASUS’ centralized power control app, helps with fan and cooling control, as well as adjusting power limits. This mini PC comes with 32GB of DDR5 6400 RAM, which can be expanded up to 96GB across the line, a fantastic bonus. It’s also capable of reaching Wi-Fi 7 speeds, providing some future-proofing.

For gamers looking for a complete AMD Ryzen and Radeon setup, the Minisforum AtomMan G7 PT is that sweet spot, offering a Ryzen 9 7945HX CPU and a Radeon RX 7600M XT discrete GPU. While it’s not as powerful as the last two gaming mini-PCs on this list, the processor still has 16 cores and can run games like Doom Eternal at over 150 frames per second using Ultra Nightmare settings at 1080p resolution. It can even reach 1440p by enabling FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) and frame generation.

Minisforum built this mini gaming PC with its Cold Wave cooling technology, which uses liquid metal to manage temperatures. It features a turbo button on the front panel to increase the Thermal Design Power (TDP), a measure of heat generation limits, to 85 watts to really get the most out of high-end gaming sessions. It supports Wi-Fi 7 and offers three display output options with HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 2.0, and USB-C. Users can also opt for the barebones kit that does not include an operating system, such as Windows 11, making it a build project that allows them to source their own DDR5-5200 memory and M.2 storage. Just be warned, RAM and storage prices continue to climb, thanks to those pesky AI data centers gathering memory chips.

The Beelink SER9 raises the bar for what can be done with integrated graphics processing. It houses the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and the AMD Radeon 890M iGPU, which offers a 25% performance increase over its last generation. Gamers can expect improved frames per second at average settings of 1080p when enabling FSR and frame generation, reaching our threshold of 60 FPS for certain titles. It’s a great choice for gamers who want a small, quiet chassis (5.31 inches by 5.31 inches by 1.76 inches) that doesn’t require a bulky external power supply or noisy cooling system.

Even under load, the Beelink SER9 Pro is almost silent, making it a great gaming case for a family media center, for example. It packs a generous 32GB of LPDDR5X-7500 RAM and has two M.2 PCIe 4.0 slots that can support up to 8 terabytes of storage. There’s no reason why anyone can’t keep their Steam library locally instead of downloading games every time they want to play something new. Its $929 price tag makes the Beelink SER9 Pro a competitive alternative when it comes to discrete GPU systems, and let’s not forget the sleek all-aluminum chassis design. There are also two USB 4 ports, which allow users to connect an external GPU down the line to take this mini gaming PC even further.

The Geekom IT13 Max AI is a powerhouse designed for professional AI workloads and strong gaming performance. It runs a 16-core Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor with a thermal design power (TDP) of 45 watts, which can reach speeds of up to 5.1 gigahertz. It also features dedicated AI acceleration and Intel Arc graphics, which is impressive considering its small footprint (5.35 inches by 5.2 inches by 1.97 inches). It features a seamless architecture, allowing users to easily upgrade its 16GB of DDR5 RAM and 1 terabyte Gen4 NVMe SSD up to 96GB of DDR5 RAM and 6TB of M.2 storage, respectively.

This PC also supports up to four 4K monitors or 8K visuals via two USB4 ports, which is a rarity for mini PCs around its $1,299 retail price. Other features include Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and two 2.5G Ethernet ports for ultra-low latency LAN and fast internet speeds. Its thermal system keeps the Core Ultra 9 cool, with the IT13 Max AI remaining quiet even under heavy use around the clock. Its dedicated Arc iGPU Intel Core Ultra 9 185H can run most modern games at medium settings, such as Baldur’s Gate III, at around 50 FPS. Lower your shadow settings or add a little frame generation, and you’ll be well over 60 FPS. This also means that it would also make a great emulation setup if you want to run retro games or run other platforms locally.

For a mini gaming PC to be eligible for this article, it must meet certain performance and physical criteria. Every PC should be able to run modern titles at a minimum of 60 frames per second at 1080p resolution, using either a discrete mobile GPU or a high-end integrated solution like the Radeon 890M. We ignored desktop units that rely on underpowered processors because they can’t handle the thermal or computing load of modern games, hampering performance. This also means that we won’t consider any gaming mini PCs with a CPU consisting of fewer than eight cores or an architecture older than Intel 12th Gen or AMD Zen 3.

Every mini gaming PC on this list should be smaller than a standard Mini ITX desktop version. We prioritized gaming mini PCs with advanced cooling solutions using cutting-edge techniques and materials such as vapor chambers and liquid metal to prevent thermal throttling. Such technology is already used in some recent smartphones. A good modern gaming PC requires modern inputs and outputs, so we set a minimum standard of at least one high-speed video output option, such as HDMI 2.1 or DisplayPort 1.4/2.0, as well as at least one high-speed data port such as USB4 or Thunderbolt 4. Port availability is also a key factor for expansion potential, including upgrading RAM and M.2 storage.