The first mini PC with the Intel Core i9-13900H

I’ve beforehand reviewed the Geekom Mini IT11 and IT8 and have been bought on the concept of a mini-PC ever since. These are versatile computer systems splendid for work PCs, HTPCs, or a wide range of server functions equivalent to Dwelling Assistant or a Plex media server.

I don’t suppose I must promote the concept of a mini-PC, however they’ve plenty of interesting options, together with:

• Very low energy necessities and, due to this fact, working prices (as they use processors from the cell phase).
• Tiny measurement makes them discrete, with versatile methods to mount them.
• Quiet with low warmth output.
• Low price – thee IT13 stars at £499.

Geekom Mini IT13 vs IT12 vs IT11  Specification

DDR4 RAM

It’s price highlighting that this mini-PC makes use of Twin-channel DDR4-3200 SODIMM although it’s suitable with DDR5, which was additionally true for the IT12. The IT11 with i7-11390H solely helps DDR4.

That is possible a cost-cutting train. The mini-PC could be quicker with DDR5, however you need to weigh up the associated fee/profit and the utilization state of affairs of this mini-PC. There are solely marginal good points available with the present DDR5 on the market. An instance of worth variations is:

• Kingston FURY Influence 32 GB 3200MHz DDR4 CL20 – £65
• Kingston FURY Influence 32 GB 5600MT/S DDR5 CL40 – £106

That’s a little bit of an excessive instance, however the further price might be not definitely worth the restricted good points, no less than till the standard of DDR5 improves and the worth drops.

Energy Adaptor

Because the efficiency of the mini-PC improves between the IT11, IT12 and IT13, it’s unsurprising that the facility necessities improve.

• The Mini IT11 comes with a 19V/3.42A, 65W energy adaptor.
• The Mini IT12 comes with a 19V/4.7A, 90W energy adaptor.
• The Mini IT13 comes with a 19V/3.42A, 120W energy adaptor.

The TDP of the thirteenth and 12^th Gen is identical 45W, whereas the 11^th Gen CPU on the IT11 is 35W.

Each the i9-13900H and i7-12650H are rated to go as much as 115W.

Value

For the instance costs, I chosen the closest matching fashions out there, so i7 with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

Geekom has inconsistent pricing because it jumps up and down relying on gross sales and inventory. On the time of writing, the IT11 is identical worth because the IT12, making the IT11 a bit pointless. After I reviewed the IT11 again in July, the IT12 was £80, and even then, I assumed it was a greater purchase than the IT11 as a result of improved connectivity.

Geekom Mini IT13 Design / Ports / Inner Structure vs. Mini IT11

The Geekom Mini IT13 has nearly the identical dimensions because the IT12/IT11, however there may be an added 4mm in top.

The entrance panel has modified barely, there are two 10Gbps USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports on the entrance vs a 2Gbps USB4 and 10Gbps USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port on the Mini IT11.

The perimeters are primarily an identical, with a Kensington lock on one facet and an SD card reader on the opposite.

For the rear, Geekom has ditched the mini DP port for the IT13 and now makes use of 2 x HDMI 2.0 ports. HDMI 2.1a or DisplayPort 1.4a would have been preferable as this helps 4K larger than 60Hz. You might be unlikely to be doing a lot gaming on the PC, so it in all probability gained’t make that a lot distinction.

In the event you plan to make use of it as an HTPC, then the HDMI 2.0 port could also be a problem, as this doesn’t assist eARC for superior audio codecs. It’s attainable a USB4 hub or USB4 to HDMI 2.1 cable may overcome this subject, however that is hypothesis on my half.

Upgradeability

Opening up the Mini IT13, the inner format and upgradability is basically the identical as the 2 mini PCs I’ve reviewed beforehand.

The one exception is the extra M.2 2242 slot, which might be used for a SATA SSD. It retains the two.5-inch SATA slot, so you’ll be able to have three drives put in in whole.

Aside from that, you might have quick access to the primary NVMe drive and RAM. I didn’t dismantle the mini PC any additional to see if anything might be modified, such because the WiFi module.

BIOS

The BIOS settings are considerably restricted and makes use of a standard BIOS interface. You’ve gotten boot drive choices, after which you too can alter the fan mode with quiet, regular or efficiency choices.

I’ve examined the completely different fan mods and located little or no distinction between regular mode and efficiency, each when it comes to the sound profile and efficiency.

One characteristic that’s lacking that I’d have appreciated is Wake on LAN and/or the power as well up on schedule. These are issues I exploit fairly steadily, so my PC is booted up once I begin work within the morning. It is usually helpful in the event you plan to make use of this as a server for something.

Benchmarks / Efficiency

3DMark (Time Spy)

• Mini IT13: 1859 (1636 Graphics, 8238 CPU)
• Mini IT11: 1405 (1256 Graphics, 4312 CPU)
• Mini IT8: 731 (642 Graphics, 3480 CPU)

With these mini PCs utilizing built-in graphics, they’re clearly not designed for gaming. There’s a large uplift in efficiency going from the Mini IT8 I initially reviewed to the IT11 and IT13.

The efficiency distinction between the IT11 and IT13 is smaller however actually not insignificant. The IT13 scores 32% larger for the whole rating, 30% larger for graphics and an enormous 91% uplift in efficiency for the CPU.

After all, this overview pattern is the i9 mannequin, whereas my different critiques have been i7.

Utilizing the efficiency fan profile, the rating was negligibly nice, with 1868.

3DMark Storage

• Mini IT11: 3338
• Mini IT11: 2456
• Mini IT8: 2087

The 3Dmark storage benchmarks present a 35% enchancment in efficiency vs the IT11.

3DMark CPU Profile

• Mini IT13: 4451 / 3821 / 2033 / 2717 / 1810 / 1022
• Mini IT11:  3008 / 2997 / 3012 / 2469 / 1618 / 944
• Mini IT8: 1967 / 2247 / 2224 / 1682 / 1021 / 544

With the 3DMark CPU Profile, the i9-13900H reveals off its prowess with multi-core efficiency because of the 14-core 20-thread design. With this CPU, the cores are break up with 6 efficiency cores and eight effectivity cores, whereas the i7-11390H had 4-cores and 8-threads in a traditional configuration.

This enables the Mini IT13 to attain a rating that’s 48% larger when all of the threads are utilised. This then dips to a 27.5% uplift with 8 threads.

PCMark 10

I’ve included some further benchmarks which I didn’t run on the IT11/IT8, and I’ll use these for future critiques.

In PCMark 10 the IT13 achieved:

• Whole: 5927
  • Digital Content material Creation: 7792

Geekbench

For Geekbench 6, the IT13 achieved:

• Single-Core Rating: 2400
• Multi-Core Rating: 10345
• OpenCL GPU Benchmark: 14984

Cinebench

For Cinebench, the IT13 achieved:

• CPU Single Core: 1876
• CPU Multi Core: 9051

Crystal Disk

• Mini IT13: 4834MB/s Learn  –  4438MB/s Write
• Mini IT11: 3437 MB/s Learn  –  3178MB/s Write
• Mini IT8: 3454MB/s Learn – 2652MB/s write

Crystal Disk confirms the improved storage efficiency from the 3DMark Storage benchmark. There’s a 40% enchancment for each learn and write speeds. Nevertheless, this can be a middling efficiency for a  PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive, however I doubt you’ll ever see any real-world efficiency distinction.

USB4 Throughput with Orico Montage MTQ-40G 40Gbps SSD

With the Mini IT13 you get two full-fat USB4 with 40Gbps/s of bandwidth. The IT12 had a single 40Gbps USB4 port, whereas the IT11 used 20Gbps USB4, and the IT8 had   3 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports.

The Orico Montage MTQ-40G 40Gbps SSD is the one system I’ve that may come near testing the bandwidth of USB4.

After I reviewed it with the Acer 5 (SF514-56T) utilizing USB4/Thunderbolt 4 I achieved 3340/1944 MB/s learn/write.

With the Mini IT13, I achieved 3134/1807 MB/s learn/write speeds.

Ethernet Throughput

The improve to 2.5GbE is a vital characteristic for me. The info we switch each on a LAN and through the Web has grown exponentially. Many individuals file 4K video or take high-resolution photographs, and backups might be a number of gigabytes in measurement. Many NAS units and routers now have 2.5GbE or larger, and a few individuals are fortunate sufficient to have quicker than gigabit Web, my Virgin Gig1 connection is fractionally quicker than gig speeds.

Due to this fact, for anybody with demanding necessities, I feel 2.5GbE is necessary.

Some primary testing confirms that I’m able to obtain a throughput of 2535 Mbps utilizing LibreSpeed domestically hosted on my Unraid server, and I’ll sometimes see round 240MB/s file switch speeds for big recordsdata.

WiFi Throughput

The IT11 had WiFi 6, whereas the IT8 had WiFi 5. The IT12 and IT13 each use the newest WiFi 6E customary (quickly to be outdated by WiFi 7). The WiFi module just isn’t upgradable.

Testing the WiFi with the Acer Predator Join W6 Wi-Fi 6E Router, I used to be capable of obtain 1332 Mbps, which is a bit lower than what I obtain with my regular desktop (1500 Mbps).

Utilization – Changing my desktop work PC

Ever since reviewing the Mini IT8, I’ve been bought on the concept of a mini PC to interchange my desktop for day-to-day work. With the price of residing uncontrolled and rising electrical energy prices over the previous few years, my desktop PC appears extreme for somebody who spends all day writing in MS Phrase and utilizing Chrome.

The Mini IT8 is completely acceptable for many workplace work, nevertheless it simply wasn’t fairly appropriate for me. I’ve three 4K screens, I’ll usually have 20+ Chrome tabs open, Outlook is all the time working, Spotify is all the time streaming, plus many different apps. I may even often use Lightroom and a few extra intensive apps.

The Mini IT11 was nearly excellent, however the extra I used it, the extra I seen the occasional efficiency dip. I feel the primary subject for me was that the i7-11390H is a 4-core CPU with 8 threads, and it struggled to deal with the variety of apps and Chrome tabs I’d have working.

As I spend 8+ hours a day at my desk, I ended up switching again to my desktop PC, I solely did this as I used to be nonetheless on an inexpensive electrical energy tariff, and I deliberate to change again to the  IT11 when my fastened charge ended and electrical energy worth jumped by 50%.

With the Mini IT13, I feel I’ve lastly obtained my dream mini-PC (aside from the fan noise, which I’ll cowl subsequent). The i9-13900H CPU and 32GB RAM can deal with all of the work I do with ease and with no dips in efficiency.

For some context, the 4-core i7-11390H scores 10380 in PassMark, whereas the i9-13900H achieves nearly 3 times the rating with 30011.

Fan noise vs. desktop & Mini IT11

The primary destructive I’ve with the Geekom Mini IT13 is the fan noise. It’s actually not unhealthy, and the Mini IT11 additionally had fan noise. Nevertheless, I discovered that the IT13 has the followers spun up nearly constantly below mild load.

The mini-PC is situated on my workplace desk about arm’s size away, and the fan noise is audible, with no different noise within the workplace. It does spin up and down, with the decrease fan speeds solely being barely audible, however more often than not, it is rather audible.

It’s actually not loud, however resulting from it being a mini PC, the fan measurement is tiny, and the RPM is excessive. So, it has that high-pitched hum much like most laptops, which is much less nice than the low-end hum of an honest 120mm/140mm PC fan.

I all the time play music, and this simply drowns out the fan noise. If I have been utilizing this for an HTPC, any content material you play must also drown out the noise.

Compared to my desktop PC, it’s, in fact, a lot quieter, however I do discover the sound profile of my desktop extra nice.

Energy Utilization & Operating Prices vs. Desktop

For energy monitoring, I used a TP-Hyperlink Kasa KP115 good plug with vitality monitoring.

Throughout my typical utilization, I energy draw sometimes jumped round between 35W and 50W. This was with Phrase, Chrome, Outlook and Spotify working.

Operating benchmarks, I noticed a peak energy draw of 110W.

As compared, my desktop PC attracts round 150W below mild load.

I sometimes have my PC on for 12 to 14 hours a day.

My plug confirmed that it was 1.8kWh to 2kWh per day for my PC, and the Mini IT11 is round 400Wh giving. So, say it saves me roughly 1.5kWh per day.

Kodi / Plex Shopper & Plex Server / Transcoding

Lots of people use PassMark as a tough information for Plex transcoding, however this ignores GPU {hardware} acceleration. Nevertheless, it provides us an honest thought of CPU efficiency distinction:

• Intel Core i9-13900H
  • Common CPU Mark – 29945
  • Single Thread Score – 3918
• Intel Core i7-11390H
  • Common CPU Mark – 10392
  • Single Thread Score – 2953
• Intel Core i5-8279U
  • Common CPU Mark – 7697
  • Single Thread Score – 2352

Based mostly on the official Plex pointers, this could deal with 4K HDR (50Mbps, 10-bit HEVC) being transcoded to 10Mbps 1080p.

This may even have the ability to do {hardware} transcoding because of Intel Fast Sync which might deal with a number of transcodes at one time.

Value and Different Choices

The Geekom Mini IT13 is offered in numerous configurations.

The beneath costs are correct as of 1^st October 2023. There’ll possible be some low cost codes out there, which I’ll replace as quickly as attainable.

• i9-13900H 32GB RAM+2TB SSD
  • US: $899.00 RRP – Discounted to $789.00
  • UK: £969 RRP – Discounted to £699
• i7-13700H 32GB RAM+1TB SSD
  • US: $799.00 RRP – Discounted to $689.00
  • UK: £869 RRP – Discounted to £599
• i5-13500H 16GB RAM+ 512GB SSD
  • US: $599.00 RRP – Discounted to $499.00
  • UK: £769 RRP – Discounted to £499

Geekom claims to be the primary to introduce an i9-13900H mini PC, and that is undoubtedly probably the greatest mini PCs in the marketplace. Nevertheless, different corporations have been fast to introduce their very own competing merchandise:

The SimplyNUC Onyx has a number of fashions and the choice to configure the spec.

The Intel Core i9-13900H has a base worth of $999, however this makes use of DDR5. In the event you configure it with 2TB PCIe 4 storage and 32GB RAM, the worth shall be $1379. They may even cost an extra $145 for Home windows 11 Dwelling.

Minisforum has introduced the MS-01 Mini Workstation, which isn’t fairly the identical type issue. It’s a massive laptop and helps as much as three M.2 SSDs, and has spectacular connectivity with twin 10G Ethernet ports, twin 2.5G Ethernet ports, and two 20G Thunderbolt Ethernet ports. Value and availability haven’t been revealed, however I’d anticipate it to be considerably costlier than the Geekom Mini IT13.

On Amazon, there may be the Tuofudun Mini PC with the i9-13900H 32GB and 1TB PCIe4.0 SSD, which is listed at £718, however the Tuofudun market retailer has solely 2 critiques on the time of writing.

There may be additionally a KingnovyPC Mini PC, which seems to be the identical PC because the Tuofudun. It has no worth or availability but. It is usually listed on Aliexpress, and if you choose the identical config because the Geekom Mini IT13, it really works out as £724.80.

Total

I really like the Geekom Mini IT8 and IT11 I’ve reviewed beforehand, so it’s no shock that I really like the Mini IT13.

I used it as my fundamental PC full-time for 2 weeks and haven’t skilled any noticeable efficiency dips. It fingers two 4K and one 5120 x 1440 QHD screens with ease in addition to the handfuls of functions I’ve working on the identical time (Chrome, Phrase, Outlook, Spotify, Reolink, Telegram and so forth). Connectivity is great with quick WiFi 6E and a couple of.5GbE then two 40Gbps USB4 ports.

The one minor niggle I’ve is the elevated fan noise in comparison with the earlier two critiques. It additionally makes use of a bit extra energy than the IT8 and IT11, however nonetheless significantly lower than my desktop PC.

I stated it with the IT11, however I imply it this time, I’ll lastly be committing to utilizing a mini PC full-time for all my work and basic PC utilization.

I feel the extra reasonably priced fashions are nonetheless appropriate for most individuals, however anybody with extra demanding necessities will admire the added processing energy this has.

On the time of writing, the Geekom Mini IT13 is the one mini PC available for purchase with the i9-13900H and it’s cheaper than competing choices which might be resulting from launch.