When I am looking to upgrade my Lab these are what I am looking at.
To help fund the projects I work on, the links are Amazon Affiliate links. This will let amazon know I sent you, and give me a small kickback if you buy that product. None of these are sponsorship, they do not get to see what I am saying about the products before I post online. Theses are products that I use and recommend!
$200 Range
- Models: ZimaBoard 216/432/832
- CPU: Intel Celeron N3350 Dual Core 1.1-2.4GHz (216 Model), or Intel Celeron N3450 Quad Core * 1.1-2.2GHz (432 & 832 Model)
- RAM: 2G/4G/8G LPDDR4
- Onboard Storage: 16GB/32GB eMMC
- HDD/SSD: 2x SATA 6.0 Gb/s Ports
- LAN: 2x GbE LAN Ports
$400 Range
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800H (3.2GHz~4.4GHz,8-Core/16-Threads, L2 /4MB L3 /16MB)
- Graphics/GPU: AMD Radeon Graphics 8core 2000 MHz GPU
- RAM: 16GB SO-DIMM DDR4
- Storage: 500GB M.2 NVMe SSD
- Cost: $335 (With Prime in the US)
- Youtube: Beelink SER5 Pro 5800H: Affordable 8-core 45W MiniPC
I upgraded my box with the following.
- I bought 2 sticks of Corsair Vengeance Performance SODIMM Memory 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 3200MHz $62 Per Unit
- I Added a Western Digital 1TB WD Blue SN570 NVMe $45
- I bought Western Digital 250GB WD Blue SA510 SSD $34 I removed the SSD from the case then wrapped it
- Kapton Tape A.k.a. Hight Temperature Resistant tape $12
Here is my Beelink SER5 Pro upgrade video
My Total cost was $550 from using older gear and buying new gear to put into this machine. I needed 2 drives for Openshift SNO install.
$600 Range
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS (3.2~4.75GHz,8-Core/16-Threads, L2 /4MB L3 /16MB)
- Graphics/GPU: AMD Radeon™ 680M 12core 2200 MHz
- RAM: 32GB SO-DIMM DDR5
- Storage: 500GB M.2 NVMe SSD
- Cost: $650
- Youtube: Level1Tech-Beelink SER6 Review
2023 Cheap VM Build - Ryzen7 5th Gen My Custom Build
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700G - (8-Core/16-Threads) 3.8 GHz Socket AM4
- Mobo: MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard
- Graphics/GPU: AMD Radeon Graphics
- RAM: Mushkin Silverline 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3200 CL22 Memory
- Storage: 1 TB Western Digital Black SN850X M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME
- Case: Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case
- Power Supply: EVGA 700 BR 700 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
- Cost: $650 (At At Time Of Writting 2023-03-29)
$1000+
2023 VM Build - Ryzen 9 5th Gen
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X (12-Core/24-Threads) 3.7 GHz Socket AM4
- CPU Fan: Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler
- Mobo: MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard
- Graphics/GPU: GeForce RTX 3060 12GB
- Case: Fractal Design Torrent Compact RGB ATX Mid Tower Case
- RAM: 128GB DDR4 - Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 CL16
- Storage: 1 TB Western Digital Black SN850X M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME
- Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 750 GT 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
- Cost: $1630.52 (At At Time Of Writting 2023-03-29)