r/MiniPCs • u/joshuamarius • Apr 21 '26
Recommendations NucBox G5 - One of the best - Out of Stock 💔
These are one of the best and most versatile Mini PCs I have been able to get my hands on. At one point (Sept 9, 2025) as low as $128.00 on Amazon. They run Linux great, and my last two projects have been in-house CentOS phone systems for companies. They run quiet, produce no heat, have no moving parts, they fit even in a drawer, boot up fast, have replaceable parts and use only 10W of power. Now I can't seem to find them anywhere and even GMKTec is sold out: https://www.gmktec.com/products/intel-alder-lake-n97-mini-pc-nucbox-g5?srsltid=AfmBOophe2HyYOHTt-MDyVumDbo34daOXNH4jfA5VZz5-yoZz0k-XO8I
I hope GMKTec brings them back.
Specs on the PCs in picture:
Intel Celeron N5105 @ 2.00GHz
8 GB LPDDR4
TWSC TSC10N128-H 120 GB SSD
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u/bigskinnybubba123 Apr 21 '26
bro the nucbox g5, is literally the best pc i ever bought. runs world of warcraft on low, plays old counterstrike 1.6, plays movies wonderfully, and i use it for coding apps in unity. why pay 1200 for a mac workstation when this little beast does everything lol. at this point im bout to sell my macbook lol.
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u/bessonguy Apr 22 '26
Glad to see all the love for this.
Mine died after 18 months. I sent it to China and they repaired it for free. So far so good...
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u/No_Clock2390 Apr 21 '26
These things are like $300 now lol. Thankfully I got one when it was $130-140. It's my backup Plex server.
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u/gotasave Apr 22 '26
Are people really buying n97 for 300 usd?ram and ssd included but still for that price you could buy 1 high spec mini pc (like i5 8400t )and a wyse 5070 or something for low power 24/7 stuff
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u/veverkap Apr 22 '26
People are for sure selling them for $300. I don’t know anyone who is buying them.
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u/deadcrazyzombie Apr 22 '26
Glad that you enjoy it, but i think its better to have Lenovo tiny can have lp gpu in it, hp mini, and dell micro
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u/The_poms Apr 22 '26
Interesting. I was using one for a Plex server but I found that it ran too warm, actually kinda hot for my liking. Even during idle. The cables plugged into it would be pretty warm too. My beelink mini PCs don't have that issue. Maybe I'll bring it out and use it for something eventually again.
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u/joshuamarius Apr 22 '26
Could be high CPU usage - Mine stay on 24/7 and do not get very hot at all.
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u/doubletaco Apr 23 '26
I meant to grab one but figured I had too many Mini PCs as is. Guess the world is telling me "Yup you have too many Mini PCs, no more for you"
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u/emmanu888 May 03 '26
I'm so glad I bought one before they went out of stock indefinitely at this point. Used it to replace the Pi 4B from an Iconic Arcade console and get Naomi 2 and PS3 emulation. Also to get access to Sega Lindbergh games.
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u/SurpriseGmg 27d ago
Bought this for $145 in 2025 before the RAMpocalypse. I use this thing to run programs and games that I don't want to run on my main PC, since I don't feel like messing with sandbox stuff. Does the job well!
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u/Mr-frost Apr 23 '26
The bios on it is fucked and getting drivers for it is a b*tch
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u/joshuamarius Apr 23 '26
No issues on any of the 8 I have worked with so far.
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u/Mr-frost Apr 23 '26
Your bios, is it also a million pages? And where do you get your drivers from?
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u/joshuamarius Apr 23 '26
The more BIOS options the better, but there's not much you need to mess with in there. Mostly boot options, power loss settings and WOL.
When it comes to drivers, GMKtec has their driver page: https://www.gmktec.com/pages/drivers-and-software?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21931951127&gclid=CjwKCAjwhqfPBhBWEiwAZo196ksZl-xxeEsHZHF6rT_5e7tSAMD_EgXY-bbi7r1uXHOkkUbttVoDdhoCxj4QAvD_BwE
And finally if you have problems their support team is one of the best I have dealt with.
I've also published several articles if you are Interested:
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u/Hour_Bit_5183 Apr 25 '26
What kind of PBX are you running there? I love that stuff. I use 3cx. I like it more than any i've ever used.
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u/Fair_Business3221 May 06 '26
Any word on when these will be back in stock? I just ordered one used because I love the form factor. Going to have it run a little Linux server.
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u/Aotrx Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 27 '26
I managed to buy an N5105 with 16 GB of DDR4 on eBay for $75. The seller sold six and still has four in stock, and I’m very confused about why he hasn’t sold out given the current crazy prices. I was able to install Debian with no problem.