Best Barebones Mini PC

In the past barebones PCs were nothing more than a small ATX or ITX case with an appropriate motherboard pairing to ensure that your parts would all fit without hassle. But, like tech tends to do, the introduction of mini PCs has turned that on its head with full-fledged x86 computers in form factors that make most mini-ITX builds look bulky. Intel made waves when introducing their NUC line of mini PCs, but AMD equivalents followed soon. While some of these mini PCs can fit discreet GPUs, many of them are intended to be used as-is after adding some memory and storage. Whichever you're after, there are many great options to choose from.

ASUS PN51

The PN51 from ASUS is outfitted with a Ryzen 5 5500U CPU, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, DisplayPort 1.4, and USB Type-C. It comes ready for you to add your own storage and RAM with support for 2.5" drives and M.2 PCIe. The Ryzen 5 5500U CPU features Vega 7 graphics, which will be able to run some esports and older titles fine but will struggle with anything very high-end.

That makes this a great build if you're mostly looking for a media center PC that might also occasionally pull double duty as a light gaming rig or Steam in-home streaming box. It's rated for up to 8K at 60Hz, but we'd recommend running this at 1440p or lower to maintain performance if you're planning to do any gaming at all on it. For those of you who just want to use it as an in-home game streaming box ASUS also offers a slightly more cost-effective Ryzen 3 variant.

Related: 2021’s 5 Best PC Cases for Gaming

AMD 4700S 8-Core Desktop Kit

This kit is slightly different from most other mini PC kits you'll see on the market. Provided is just the motherboard and CPU, so you'll be fitting it into your own mini-ITX case/enclosure after adding RAM, GPU, and storage. The 4700S is running an eight-core Zen 2 CPU that is suspiciously similar to the one in the PlayStation 5. Being mini-ITX means that you'll be able to add a discreet graphics card. This kit supports older PCIe 2.0 x4 cards, which makes it a great kit to pair with an older GPU you might already have from a previous upgrade. It's a curious kit from AMD due to the silicon and capabilities employed, but a no less powerful one that will deliver some great performance with the proper hardware.

Intel NUC 11 Extreme Kit

Intel's NUC category of mini computers has a lot of different variants, but the Extreme Kit is their absolute top of the line. It's running a Core i7-11700B CPU with a turbo frequency of 4.8GHz at a 65W TDP. It supports up to 64GB of memory, has dual Gen3 M.2 slots, dual Thunderbolt 4, and a full-fledged double-wide PCIe slot for discreet graphics. This means you can fit a full-sized GPU in the NUC 11 for some truly next-gen gaming performance. If you're after the most capable mini PC that money can buy, the NUC 11 Extreme will be right up your alley.

Related: Best Pre-Built Gaming PCs in 2021

Intel NUC 10 Performance Kit

This Frost Canyon NUC might be a generation old, but it's no less functional for some basic gaming, media center tasks, or game streaming. It launched in 2019 and featured an i7-10710U that turbo boosts up to 4.7GHz. It's a 14nm chip with a 25W TDP, so it should stay nice and cool despite what you're doing. After loading up some DDR4 RAM and an M.2 PCIe drive, you'll be set up for some casual gaming or game streaming in no time.

Mini PCs are a great option if you're just looking to use up some extra hardware you have from building or upgrading your most recent PC. They're a great fit for things like in-home streaming with Steam, playing older titles, or even using one of the many cloud gaming services.

For more hardware guides check out Best Wall Mounted PC Cases and How to Cool Down an Overheated PC on Pro Game Guides.

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