The Gmk Tech Nook Box 10: A Mini PC Review and Hands-On Experience

As I started testing the Gmk Tech Nook Box 10, I was excited to see how this compact mini PC would perform in various applications. The first thing that caught my attention was its size - it's tiny! Measuring only about 5.3 inches long, 3.1 inches wide, and 0.7 inches thick, the Nook Box 10 is designed to be portable and discreet.

One of the most interesting features of this mini PC is its power consumption. During idle time, I measured an average power draw of 9 Watts, which is impressive for a device that's capable of handling demanding tasks like gaming and video editing. However, when it comes to actual usage, the Nook Box 10 can pull up to 48 Watts, with a maximum power consumption of 63 Watts. This is not surprising, given its AMD Ryzen 5300U processor and Radeon Vega Graphics.

In terms of performance, I was pleasantly surprised by the Nook Box 10's capabilities. When running Doom Eternal at 1080p medium settings with Dynamic Resolution Scaling (DRS), I achieved an average frame rate of around 63 FPS, which is remarkably smooth for a device that's only 500 Watts of power consumption. Similarly, in The Witcher 3, I was able to achieve an average frame rate of 63 FPS at 720p low settings with FSR set to Performance.

Emulation is another area where the Nook Box 10 shines. I tested it using PS2 emulators and was pleased to see that I could play most games at 1080p without any issues, including Bayonetta 2 and Breath of the Wild. The Nook Box 10's Vulcan backend ensures that the graphics are smooth and stable, making for a great gaming experience.

Another notable feature is its ability to run PS3 games using the Simu emulator. I was impressed by how well it performed in Skate 3, achieving a steady 60 FPS without any significant drops or throttling. The Nook Box 10's power consumption during this test was around 10 Watts, which is still relatively low considering the processing demands of a PS3 game.

In terms of thermal performance, I monitored the CPU temperatures while testing and found that they remained stable throughout most tests, even when running demanding applications like Cinebench R23. The only instance where thermal throttling occurred was during the Cinebench test, which set the CPU temperature to 91 degrees Celsius. However, this is not uncommon for a device with a powerful processor.

The Nook Box 10's power supply is another interesting feature. When using Alt Mode, it can supply up to 65 Watts over USB Type-C, making it comparable to other mini PCs in its class. This feature is particularly useful for those who plan to use their mini PC in a variety of settings, from office work to gaming and video editing.

In terms of form factor, I was pleased with the Nook Box 10's design. The compact size makes it easy to carry around, and the included power supply and peripherals (such as the USB-C charging cable) are convenient to have on hand. However, one aspect that might be a concern for some users is the lack of expansion options - there are no SD card slots or USB ports on the exterior.

If you're in the market for a compact mini PC with impressive performance capabilities, the Gmk Tech Nook Box 10 is definitely worth considering. While it may not have all the bells and whistles of more powerful devices, its ability to handle demanding tasks at relatively low power consumption makes it an attractive option for everyday users who want a reliable desktop without breaking the bank.

Overall, I'm really happy with the Gmk Tech Nook Box 10's performance and design. It's clear that this device has been put together by someone who understands what gamers and enthusiasts need in a compact mini PC. With its impressive specs, low power consumption, and convenient Alt Mode feature, it's an excellent choice for anyone looking to upgrade their desktop experience without sacrificing too much in terms of size or performance.

I'd recommend checking out the Gmk Tech Nook Box 10 if you're interested in learning more about this compact mini PC. There are some links to resources and coupons floating around that I'll leave in the description below, so be sure to check those out. And if you have any questions or comments, feel free to let me know down below.

As a final note, while the Gmk Tech Nook Box 10 is not an AMD Ryzen 6000 device (which would have been nice!), its performance and features make it a great option for users who want a compact mini PC without breaking the bank. With the price of these devices expected to drop in the near future, I think it's definitely worth considering - especially if you're looking for a reliable desktop solution that won't eat up too much power or take up too much space.

Thanks for joining me on this review and hands-on experience with the Gmk Tech Nook Box 10!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enforeign hey what's going on everybody it's ETA Prime back here again today we're going to be checking out the gmk tech Nook box 10. now this is actually an interesting little mini PC that supports alt mode it's also known as single cable operation mode at least by me and basically what we can do here is just connect this directly to a monitor that supports USB type-c video and and PD quick charging out and will only need one cable to get this thing up and running makes a really nice little home office PC you can actually Mount this to the back of a monitor that supports USB type-c and PD fast charging with this one inside of the Box we're going to get our mounting bracket and Hardware obviously we've also got the Nook box 10 mini PC and a 65 watt power supply kind of digging the color here it is a bit brighter in real life than it is on camera and you know it's not every day that you see these blue PCS but when it comes to IO up front here we've got a 3.5 millimeter audio jack USB type-c 3.1 Gen 2 and 2 full size USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports over here on the right hand side we've got a Micro SD card slot and a Kensington lock and moving around back this does support 2.5 gigabit ether at so we've got that Port two full-size HDMI ports both 4K 60 out two USB 2.0 ports and our power input but remember this can also be powered from that USB type-c port up front given that this PC is so small and thin I just wanted to take a look at the internals and they've actually did a pretty decent job with this heatsink full Copper with a blower style fan and once I got the board out and turned it over we do have dual Channel Ram now that was one thing I was worried about given the form factor of this thing but uh lo and behold we've got two slots here this has 16 gigabytes of ddr4 running at 3 200 megahertz and we got a single m.2 drive this will support pcie 3.0 speeds and when it comes to the specs for the CPU we've got that AMD ryzen 5800u the price on these 5800u models are coming down quite a bit now that we're getting some mini PCS with ryzen 6000 and to tell you the truth the way prices are right now if you're looking for an everyday Mini PC then getting a ryzen 5000 system might be the way to go right now 8 cores 16 threads we've got a boost clock up to 4.4 gigahertz Radeon Vega 8 Graphics up to 2000 megahertz this Mini PC will support up to 64 gigabytes of ddr4 at 3200 megahertz we've got that 512 gigabyte m.2 SSD it also has Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth 5.2 and we're running Windows 11. but by far my favorite part about this PC is that single cable operation mode known as alt mode this pixio monitor that I have here supports USB type-c video n and 65 watt out so we've got plenty of power for that 5800u so basically what we've got going on here is power out from the monitor over USB type c and video into the monitor from the Mini PC we've also got a data connection and a lot of these monitors do have extra USB ports on them like this one here so we could actually plug in our mouse and keyboard directly to the display and by the way it will support 4K 60 over USB type-c but this monitor here is a 1440p unit still looks amazing and I've got it scaled up a bit so we can see everything just a bit better overall very Snappy little system a lot of these mini PCS kind of limit that TDP really low to keep it nice and cool but this is actually at 35 Watts out of the box we've got a boost up to 42 constant 30 and we've got more than enough power for web browsing email checking 4K video playback but I will tell you once we start gaming on this we will get a little bit of fan noise I mean we're working with a very small form factor here so it does have to spin up a bit more to keep it cool but under everyday normal use it's pretty quiet if this was sitting on the back of the monitor I wouldn't hear it while I'm doing my everyday normal tasks web browsing really fast with that built-in Wi-Fi 6 but remember if you needed a little more out of it we've got 2.5 gigabit Ethernet loading up these pages is really nice let's head over to YouTube and check out some 4K video playback we're gonna go with uh 4K 60 here and I think we're going to have a great time with 4K video playback uh this 5800u running at 35 Watts will do it just fine we could actually do two streams 4K 60 if we wanted to and we've got actually three displays out obviously USB type c up front but we've also got those two HDMI ports around back 4K 60 initial load in had a few drop frames here we're at seven drop frames but uh it's nice and steady now so far using it as an everyday normal PC is working out really well uh it would replace a larger desktop if you just need it for your everyday use like web browsing email checking document editing you could definitely get some photo editing out of the way on this I wouldn't go crazy you know if you're a professional you obviously aren't going to choose something like this but touching up your own photos or even editing your 1080p Home Videos is totally possible with the 5800u in the nook box 10. next thing I wanted to take a look at were some benchmarks and first on the list we've got geekbench 5. single core 1473 multi 6744 now this really isn't bad given that we're at that 30 35 watt TDP here on a 5000 series Apu 6000 will match a much better single and multi and with this chip at about 45 Watts I'd actually seen it hit over 15 on single and close to 8 000 on Multi there is a little more that can be pushed out of this but we're at that stock TDP checking out some GPU benchmarks with 3dmark from the bottom upwards we've got Knight raid 16 306 fire strike 3928 and time spy at 15.26. definitely on par with the other Vega 8 chips that we've tested but obviously it doesn't have anything on new ryzen 6000 with our DNA too but you can definitely pick these up for much cheaper right now so far with these synthetics it's not looking bad given that we're working with ryzen 5000 with Vega Graphics but uh let's get into some real world gaming and emulation to see what this thing can do okay so first up we've got Marvel versus Capcom 1080p medium settings love testing out these fighting games on these ryzen Apu so a lot of this stuff does work out really well afterburner is up in the top left hand corner and as you can see our GPU clocks are at 2000 megahertz and the CPU is only pulling right under eight watts and not even eight Watts with this game at 1080p medium settings Doom Eternal we're at 900p and I do have that Dynamic resolution going that's really the way to go on these apus low settings and we can run over 60 FPS with it we can actually lock this at 60 if we want to but I usually set the dynamic resolutions Target fps to around 63 so we don't drop under it here's the Witcher 3 and I thought by now we'd get much better performance out of this game on these apus due to driver updates and game optimizations but that's really not the case we can get an average of 63 FPS at 720p low here's cyberpunk 2077 720p low with FSR set to Performance we can get over 60 with it now we're not at medium settings like the steam decks preset we've got Vega Graphics here so we really can't do those mediums but at low this is very playable now it's time to check out some emulation and I've always had really good luck with these 5000 series apus even the lower end ones like the 5300u we've got PS2 here using pcsx2 upscaled to 1080p DirectX 11 backend and we're getting a super steady 60 out of it this will play most PS2 games at 1080p some you might need to drop down to 720 and some you can even go up to 4K with it depending on the game moving up a bit to Wii U using the simu emulator Vulcan back in Bayonetta 2 didn't drop under 60 like this and if you take a look at afterburner we're still pulling under eight Watts with this here I also tested breath of the wild and that one is good for 1080p at 30 FPS or 720 at 60. and the final one we have here is PS3 and going into this I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to run this game at full speed this is one of those that loves those extra cores and threads and especially higher clocks but we're getting a steady 60 with Skate 3 here pulling close to 10 watts from that APU aside from form factor power consumption can also be a big concern for some people so always like to test it out on these minis it's plugged into a kilowatt meter while I'm doing my testing at idle we're at 9 Watts average gaming jumps up to 48 watts and the maximum was 63 and this was actually not tested using alt mode this was tested with the included 65 watt power supply but if you are using this overall mode and you can supply up to 65 Watts over USB type c they're going to be right on par with each other I also like to monitor CPU temps while I'm doing my testing and at idle we're around 41 degrees Celsius and it's really quiet while we're web browsing even 4K video playback jumps up to around 55 doing 4K hardly hear the unit but when we get into gaming it does spin up it's got that blower style fan and not a lot of room to move that air around so it does need to kind of get on up there to get the heat out but average gaming we're around 84 degrees Celsius and while running cinebench R23 we did hit 91 which is thermal throttle so set from the BIOS so in the end really loving the form factor here kind of like this color scheme given that we've got a blue Mini PC alt mode is definitely a plus if you're going to use it this way and I'd say mounting this to the back of your monitor with that single cable operation mode is definitely the way to go you can just have it set up so all you need to do is plug the monitor in itself I know it's not ryzen 6000 with our DNA too I mean that would have been really nice but we're going to start to see a lot of these ryzen 5000 series mini PCS come down in price and you know if you're looking for something just as an everyday desktop then this could definitely get you by you don't need to Fork out 800 for ryzen 6000 right now but in the end it's always up to you now that's going to wrap it up for this video really appreciate you watching if you're interested in learning more about the gmk tech Nook box 10 I'll leave some links in the description and I think there are some coupon codes floating around if I can find them I'll throw them down there also if you've got any questions let us know down below like always thanks for watching\n"