Our VerdictJust add a quality dual-slot GPU and you’ve a quirky but brilliant budget system which aces games at 1440p and ultra settings.
Our VerdictJust add a quality dual-slot GPU and you’ve a quirky but brilliant budget system which aces games at 1440p and ultra settings.
Our Verdict
Our Verdict
Just add a quality dual-slot GPU and you’ve a quirky but brilliant budget system which aces games at 1440p and ultra settings.
ForTremendous valueUnique design!Add a GPU and it rocksAgainstOlder CPUUnique design!Limited upgrade path
ForTremendous valueUnique design!Add a GPU and it rocks
AgainstOlder CPUUnique design!Limited upgrade path
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PC Gamer’s got your backOur experienced team dedicates many hours to every review, to really get to the heart of what matters most to you.Find out more about how we evaluate games and hardware.
Being something of a mini-PC connoisseur certainly has its moments, and Beelink’s GTi 12 mini-PC and EX Docking Station combo has served me up a corker. I mean look at it! Just who is this crazy, half-naked PC aimed at? I’m fairly certain I’ve arrived at the answer, but let’s have a poke around the thing before we go planting flags.
It comes with the Iris Xe iGPU (Eww, gross I know, but don’t worry you won’t be using it), 32 GB of 4800 MHz DDR5 (the 12900H’s RAM-speed ceiling), and a demonstrably swift 1 TB M.2 SSD.
GTi 12 specs(Image credit: Future)APU:Intel Core i9 12900HiGPU:Iris XeGraphics expansion:Full-length X8 PCIe 4.0Memory:32 GB DDR5-4800 SODIMMStorage:1 TB M.2 SSDWireless:WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3I/O:5x USB 3.2, 1x USBC, 1x Thunderbolt 4, 2x 2.5G LAN, 2x 3.5 mm audio jack, 1x SD Card slot, 1x DP 1.4, 1x HDMI 2.0Price:$738|£551
GTi 12 specs
(Image credit: Future)APU:Intel Core i9 12900HiGPU:Iris XeGraphics expansion:Full-length X8 PCIe 4.0Memory:32 GB DDR5-4800 SODIMMStorage:1 TB M.2 SSDWireless:WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3I/O:5x USB 3.2, 1x USBC, 1x Thunderbolt 4, 2x 2.5G LAN, 2x 3.5 mm audio jack, 1x SD Card slot, 1x DP 1.4, 1x HDMI 2.0Price:$738|£551
(Image credit: Future)
APU:Intel Core i9 12900HiGPU:Iris XeGraphics expansion:Full-length X8 PCIe 4.0Memory:32 GB DDR5-4800 SODIMMStorage:1 TB M.2 SSDWireless:WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3I/O:5x USB 3.2, 1x USBC, 1x Thunderbolt 4, 2x 2.5G LAN, 2x 3.5 mm audio jack, 1x SD Card slot, 1x DP 1.4, 1x HDMI 2.0Price:$738|£551
Its chassis is on the larger side as these things go, but the internal space has been utilised well, particularly in the cooling department. Pushing all cores to the max with Prime95 it remains whisper-quiet, quaffing a reasonable 65 W and sitting snug at 76 °C. Pop the lid and you’ll also find a pair of tiny speakers; hardly hi-fi, but they’re able and clear enough for system sounds, video calls, and the odd YouTube delidding tutorial. There’s also an internal PSU, which adds girth but negates the need for the usual external power-brick.
What really sets the GTi 12 apart from other mini-PCs is hidden beneath a little silicone flap on its underbelly: a full-length, eight-lane PCI Express 4.0 slot. Physically identical to the one you see in any desktop PC, but with eight PCIe lanes rather than 16.
Opening the dock reveals an M.2 SSD mount for storage expansion, which can be swapped out for the optional M.2 wireless-card mount in the kit’s accessories. The outer edge of the dock sports two screw-in WiFi antenna ports for better signal reception, so if you feel the GTi 12’s internal aerial isn’t cutting the mustard in your WiFi situation, you can remove its wireless card, stick it in the dock, and screw in a couple of antennae for a reception buff. These aren’t included but they’re two-a-penny online.
600 watts of dedicated GPU power then. That’s ample juice for a fatty boombatty, though the dock physically limits you to a two-slot card. Obviously I felt compelled to tinker, and Beelink’s website plainly states that a 4090 is compatible, so I unbolted the three-slot backplate from our Founder’s Edition RTX 4090 and plugged it in. NVIDIA urges customers to use a three-into-one 12vHPWR converter for this GPU, but with only two PCIe power-sockets available from the PSU, I tried a two-into-one 12vHPWR converter. Alas, no dice: it wouldn’t power the on, though I understand others have had better luck using OEM RTX 4090s in the EX dock. It’s all academic anyhow; with no backplate to secure the GPU to the dock’s vertical standoff, the only thing holding FIVE FRICKING KILOGRAMS of RTX 4090 in place is the PCB of its PCIe interface. Cue clenching panic and hasty removal.
Whether the EX Dock’s x8 slot has enough bandwidth to allow, say, a dual-slotRTX 4080 Superto work to its full potential cannot be confirmed without testing—I didn’t have one on hand—but I suspect it’d be fine. I’ve seen a 4090 benchmarked in a PCIe 3.0 x16 slot—the same overall bandwidth as a PCIe 4.0 X8 slot—and the drop in performance versus an x16 PCIe 4.0 slot was only around 3%. So I suspect a 4080 would thrive over eight PCIe 4.0 lanes. What I can state with assurance is that the 4070 Ti transforms the humble GTi 12 into a 1440p gaming powerhouse.
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For this price, you’d be very hard-pressed to find an off-the-peg machine with anything better than a middling Core i5 and anRTX 4060 Ti, and certainly nothing this compact and quiet. As for where it sits in the mini-PC performance pantheon, arming the GTi 12 with a 4070 Ti delivers massively better 1440p gaming performance than theAsus ROG NUC—one of the most expensive and performant mini-PCs we’ve tested—for a significantly smaller tax on your personal treasury.
And suddenly, the answer to my original question—who is this hardware package really aimed at?—becomes crystal clear: anyone who wants a fast 1440p gaming PC on a budget. It’s really that simple. We can talk about the portability of mini-PCs for work or study purposes, but that seems like a slim use-case to me when laptops offer way more convenience. It’s an option certainly, but really this thing excels at being a gaming desktop.
Buy if…✅You want great 1440p performance:Pair this setup’s Core i9 with a quality GPU and watch it fly.✅You love a bargain:Surprisingly cheap for the performance on offer.
Buy if…
✅You want great 1440p performance:Pair this setup’s Core i9 with a quality GPU and watch it fly.✅You love a bargain:Surprisingly cheap for the performance on offer.
✅You want great 1440p performance:Pair this setup’s Core i9 with a quality GPU and watch it fly.✅You love a bargain:Surprisingly cheap for the performance on offer.
Don’t buy if…❌ You’re a future-proofer:The only route to a new CPU and RAM is to replace the mini-PC element.❌ You demand a cutting-edge CPU:The i9-12900H won’t deliver like a high-end 2024 chip.
Don’t buy if…
❌ You’re a future-proofer:The only route to a new CPU and RAM is to replace the mini-PC element.❌ You demand a cutting-edge CPU:The i9-12900H won’t deliver like a high-end 2024 chip.
❌ You’re a future-proofer:The only route to a new CPU and RAM is to replace the mini-PC element.❌ You demand a cutting-edge CPU:The i9-12900H won’t deliver like a high-end 2024 chip.
Will Beelink continue to launch PCIe slot-bearing GTi units, enabling you to replace the GTi 12 with something significantly more powerful in the future? Who can say. Not I, certainly. But what I can say, for the here and now, is that £551/$738 is awesome value for the basis of a great 1440p games machine. And that makes the GTi 12 and EX Dock bundle incredibly easy to recommend.
The Verdict87Read our review policyBeelink GTi 12Just add a quality dual-slot GPU and you’ve a quirky but brilliant budget system which aces games at 1440p and ultra settings.
The Verdict
The Verdict
87Read our review policyBeelink GTi 12Just add a quality dual-slot GPU and you’ve a quirky but brilliant budget system which aces games at 1440p and ultra settings.
87Read our review policy
87
Beelink GTi 12Just add a quality dual-slot GPU and you’ve a quirky but brilliant budget system which aces games at 1440p and ultra settings.
Beelink GTi 12
Just add a quality dual-slot GPU and you’ve a quirky but brilliant budget system which aces games at 1440p and ultra settings.
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