As you may already be aware, I have a penchant for all things cute in the hardware sphere—and that means mini PCs absolutely command my attention. All that power in such a small footprint? Delightful! But even more head turning is Framework's latest entrant into the space.
The Framework Desktop has got it all: an appealingly itty bitty form factor, a convenient carry handle, and a surprising amount of technical oomph hiding away in that tiny chassis. That said, I'm not here to recommend this as a purely gaming-focussed machine. As Dave explains in his Framework Desktop review, this pint-sized powerhouse is actually better suited as a workstation geared towards local AI processing—and that's why I've just crowned it the best AI mini PC.
Dave really put the Framework through its paces, letting Alibaba's ginormous 235B parameter AI model hog almost all of the diminutive desktop's 128 GB of LPDDR5x-8000 RAM. But even with only 4 GB of RAM to spare, Dave reports this desktop barely breaks a sweat and continues to run smoothly.
But while the Framework Desktop is a supremely powerful compute device, its gaming performance is comparatively lacking. Despite costing over $2,000 and being pitched as "a DIY gaming rig without the pain," games are simply not the headline act here.
Don't misunderstand, the integrated graphics of the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip are still pretty snazzy…so long as you're not after anything much more powerful than Nvidia's RTX 4060 GPU. Unless you're head over heels for the form factor and money is simply no object, it's difficult to justify picking this up primarily for use as a gaming rig at that price.
Then there's Framework's whole modular approach, which simply feels much less of a unique selling point for a desktop—especially when you learn that both the AMD Ryzen AI chip and the RAM are soldered in place. While most are unlikely to outgrow 128 GBs of RAM in a hurry, I personally always appreciate at least having the option to upgrade and repair my own kit.
So, the Framework Desktop doesn't offer anything outstanding as a gaming rig—but seeing it sink its teeth into OpenAI's open-weight reasoning models is a thing to behold. Such a computational party trick demands an all-new category in our best mini PC guide, and that's what makes it the best AI mini PC.
The quick list
1. Best overall:
Minisforum AtomMan G7 PT
2. Best budget:
Minisforum Venus UM790 Pro
3. Best pure gaming:
Asus ROG NUC 970
4. Best compact:
Geekom AX8 Pro
5. Best looking:
Ayaneo Retro Mini AM02
6. Best iGPU for gaming:
Beelink SER9
7. Best for AI:
Framework Desktop
The best mini PCs
The best overall
This is PC Gamer, so the best mini PC needs to be able to do that—and thanks to the discrete RX 7600M XT the AtomMan G7 PT is absolutely capable of delivering. Its eight-core, 16-thread Zen 4 chip is equally capable of any productivity goodness, too.
The best budget
Pick the barebones unit, source your own RAM and storage, and you'll have a cheap, powerful mini PC for both gaming and any kind of other PC work you might care to throw its way. It may be small, but it's got great potential and some genuinely impressive cooling at its heart, too.
The best for pure gaming
If you're after a mini PC with the best gaming performance, this is absolutely the one to covet. But you'll need to be prepared to part with a significant amount of cash to be able to call this sleek little gaming beast your own.
The best compact
It's actually pretty stunning how much performance you can pull from a PC so damned small. The Geekom AX8 Pro is incredibly dinky, yet that AMD processor at its heart still delivers some excellent iGPU-based gaming performance without sounding like a jet turbine.
The best-looking
With its NES-aping design, the Retro Mini AM02 is absolutely the cutest mini PC around. But that beauty is not just skin-deep, because inside lurks the excellent AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS APU, and a level of performance customisation that few other machines are able to offer.
The best iGPU for gaming in a mini PC
It might be small, but inside this all-aluminium machine is the most powerful iGPU we've tested to date, the Radeon 890M. Not only that, but this little machine runs surprisingly quiet and looks great no matter where you put it. It's an impressive performer, but you'll have to pay for the privilege.
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The best AI mini PC
What the Framework Desktop lacks in gaming performance, it more than makes up for with its local AI processing power. Boasting 128 GB of LPDDR5x-8000 RAM, it's a miniature beast.
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