Beelink SER5 Mini PC, Ryzen 7, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD

The SER5 I bought was very easy to setup, and start using right away. I have had it for about a week, so this is not a long-term use review. It has a very small desk footprint, but it’s very fast. The difference is very noticeable from my old laptop.

The only negative is that it can be a bit loud when in use at times. Hopefully, in a few years, we can just use our phones to replace desktop computers and laptops.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who does not need a computer for serious gaming, etc.

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UPDATE ON WINDOWS 11 COMPATIBILITY:

I was running a System Update for Windows earlier this week and the updater told me that my system wasn’t compatible with Win11. Trigger brief moments of rage/panic/confusion. I reinstalled the new PC Health Tool that Microsoft is publishing to run a compatibility test. It came back as OK for the upgrade. Today, the Windows Update started pushing the update to Windows 11 (offered as an optional upgrade as I’m enrolled in the Windows Insider Program on the Early Access Channel). So if you get a Windows Update message indicating incompatibility, it’s probably inaccurate and you can relax. A screenshot of the results is attached to this review.

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ACTIVATING TPM2.0:

For those curious about BIOS changes to ensure compatibility, I did the following to turn on TPM. Before you go on tinkering with your system BIOS, remember you can mess things up. The machine does have a CLR CMOS button which should fix any obvious mistakes, but any issues you may cause are on you.

To start, I recommend a shutdown and power-on over a reboot/restart, but it should work either way. Start pressing or as soon as you power on, as the default delay is quite brief. On the main BIOS screen, use the arrow keys to navigate to the “Advanced” tab at the top, which should highlight in white. Highlight the top item, “Trusted Computing”. Press ENTER to proceed to the TPM20 screen. On the top line, “Security Device Support”, press ENTER and select the “Enable” option. Press F4 to save and exit, which will reboot the machine.

Again, press or as soon as it starts rebooting. This time, you want to go back to the “Advanced” tab and select the “AMD fTPM Configuration” just below the “Trusted Computing” one you just used. This gives you the option to select the TPM mode. The options here are “AMD CPU fTPM”, Disabled or Enabling the motherboard TPM module. I’m using the AMD module with no issues, but the motherboard (SPI) module should work as well. Once you’ve selected your TPM module, press F4 again to save and exit, and your machine should now reboot into Windows as normal. That’s it.

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ORIGINAL REVIEW

This is my first-impressions review, having received and set up my system yesterday. I will update it if I have any issues that contradict or reinforce my initial impressions. I paid for the device myself and received no compensation or incentives from the seller/manufacturer. This review reflects only my experience.

To start, this is meant to replace my primary laptop as my personal workstation at home. The laptop it replaces was purchased in 2013, and had similar specs in terms of processor, memory, and storage but would not be eligible for the Windows 11 upgrade. I made the change to add a bit more future-proofing and a moderate bump in performance.

About the Windows 11 concerns, according to the Microsoft-published upgrade tool, this system is eligible for the upgrade to Windows 11. However, by default, the TPM module is not activated (at least in my case). You’ll need to go into BIOS at boot and activate it. BIOS reports the module as TPM v3.36. After activation, the Windows tool (from Microsoft) reports the system as eligible for the upgrade. On with the review…

This was packaged nicely, with adequate protection, and included several accessories. These include the power brick with integrated cable, which is a bit short, but more than sufficient for my application. Also included were 2 HDMI cables, one 10-12 inches and the other about 24 inches in length. If mounting to the VESA mounts on your monitor, these should be sufficient. A small mounting plate (incl. screws) attaches to 2 of the 4 VESA mounting points on the monitor (not used by me). Also included were a couple of internal components, one a small ribbon cable marked “GTI-SATA” and a small circuit board with a SATA connector for a 2.5-in SATA SSD/HDD.

Upon opening the case, it is not immediately clear how the small circuit board would connect to the mainboard, but there is a metal plate to mount a drive, which I don’t plan to do (also another connected “GTI-SATA” is inside). Looking further inside, removing the mounting plate gives access to the M.2 slots and SO-DIMM slots. The M.2 slots are for (1) NVMe and (1) M.2 SATA. The NVMe slot is taken up by an NVMe SSD, which Windows shows as 512GB (I didn’t remove it to check brand or model yet). Memory is via 2 SO-DIMM slots (marked for DDR4 2400MHz modules). Mine has 2 Crucial modules, each of 8GB. I plan to add 1TB to the open M.2 SATA slot and replace the memory with (2) 16GB SO-DIMM modules.

Setup was no different from the typical Windows 10 setup from a recovery drive or the like. I did not have the “Finder’s International” screens that others have commented on, nor was there any bloatware to be found (other than the typical stuff Microsoft includes in retail images). I initially set up a local account and ran all of the Windows updates before loading up my primary user account. In adding all of my desired apps and some of my peripheral drivers, I have seen only a vanilla Windows build.

From a performance perspective, one of the key features I wanted was improved graphics support. I do some CAD design and 3D modeling for my hobby projects, which was causing headaches with the integrated graphics hardware on my laptop (Intel i7 integrated chipset). Having set up Fusion 360, the performance warnings are all gone, and navigating viewports is smother and stutter-free, without the freezing and lag I was experiencing before. I have yet to render a model yet, but I’ll do so this weekend and amend this section if the performance isn’t similarly improved.

One note on the memory, however, is that the AMD Radeon graphics system on this system reserves 2GB of system memory for its use, so the system will only have 14GB available to Windows out-of-the-box. This is one reason I plan to upgrade the memory. Also, the clock speed of the memory is somewhat less than would be available for discrete graphics solutions, but at this price-point and in this form factor, it’s an acceptable compromise. There may be ways to tweak these settings, but it’s not something I’ve delved into yet.

I haven’t tried any local gaming yet, mostly because I’ve been using Stadia (quite happily) for the past 9 months. While streaming games is less resource-intensive, it does have high networking demands, which this machine meets without issue. This is an area I’ll try to update if I have time, but with this chipset, gaming is hardly a priority or an area to expect great performance.

In all, I’m quite happy with the purchase, and I haven’t seen any of the initial issues that have led to complaints from others. As in all things, YMMV, but my experience has been a positive one.

I learned a lot about the Beelink SER 3 hands on and I am happy with the purchase. My use is for Web browsing, 4K video watching and all other kinds of general PC use. I wanted something small, efficient and unencumbered by security cam management and a PLEX server. I moved the Plex server to an HP 8300 i7 (Gen. 3) SFF chassis and the security camera monitoring, management and recording to a Ryzen 5 Lenovo laptop with one external HD for recording 24/7. These applications were all bandwidth killers for me on the original i5 laptop that served me for general computing, security and PLEX. I would have been fine with just doing that, but my i5 laptop was loaded up with 12 USB external drives as media storage. It died (burned up). I had it doing way too much. So now, with my main services back up on alternative devices, my desktop lacked a clean PC for just general PC tasks. The Beelink SER 3 replaced the i5 laptop that died and is running minus the bandwidth eating aforementioned services.

I decided to write a review that is helpful to new purchasers. My first recommendation is to the tinkerers like me. If you purchase this, run it as configured! It comes very tuned for snappy general computing. Mine came with Windows 11 already installed. I share a wired USB keyboard, wireless USB mouse, laser printer and scanner on a two way USB switch with the Beelink SER 3 and the HP 8300 SFF i7. Both devices connect via HDMI and miniDP to a Samsung 4K UHD 40″ TV. I had problems connecting the Beelink to the Samsung at 4K 60Hz. The problem was my HDMI cable(s). With one cable I was able to achieve 4K 30Hz but the Beelink supports 4K at 60Hz and I wasn’t satisfied with 30Hz. The solution was the purchase of a new HDMI cable. I knew onboard Radeon Vega graphics were cable finicky. The HDMI cables that came with Beelink SER were not long enough to meet my needs so they remain untried at 4K 60Hz. I purchased a new 6.6′ 8K HDMI 2.1 certified at 48Gbps. This cable worked at 4K 60Hz but produced the occasional blank/black screen (handshakes/re-syncs). This problem was solved by moving the cable away from the numerous power sources it crossed for my external hard drives and the TV’s power circuitry inside the TV. Now I’m at 4K 60Hz with no issues. Cables aren’t always well shielded and up to claimed specifications. There are also a lot of fakes even on trusted online retailers.

It was obvious that with a TDP of 25 watts, I wasn’t getting the most out of the Ryzen 7 3750H which is rated to 35 watts. So, I made that change in the BIOS, rebooted and ran a temperature monitor and Geekbench 5. Under load I reached a max temperature of 203 degrees Fahrenheit and the fan, while not constant, really whined at times to lower the CPU temperature. At 35 watts there was actually lower performance on Geekbench 5 than at 25 watts under load due to CPU throttling. The Beelink SER3 cooling solution is designed to run well and relatively quiet at 25 watts*. I wouldn’t feel safe gaming on it at 35 watts for long and I believe that doing so would shorten its productive life significantly. It would require a bigger cooling solution and a larger case to support 35 watts under CPU load to maintain a long life.

I ordered the 16GB DDR4 configuration. At 25 TDP I tried overclocking my memory. After getting a question answered on DDR4 configuration, I learned that if ordered it that I would receive it in dual channel mode (2 8GB sticks), but GPU-Z said I was in single channel mode! Dual channel memory is the easiest way to gain performance. 60 bucks later I am in dual channel at 32GB. Obviously, my answered question was wrong about the DDR4 configuration. I took a simple approach to overclocking the memory in the BIOS by just adjusting the memory speed. With just about everything set to Auto, I thought my chances were good so I figured if I hit a ceiling that it wouldn’t boot and I would have to clear CMOS to get back to the original settings. I was wrong! Both sticks were rated at 3200Mhz (dual channel) and the default setting in the BIOS was 1200Mhz (single channel). I tried 1333 Mhz and 1600Mhz x2 settings for dual channel. Both seemed successful as Windows 11 opened on each reboot. CPU-Z reflected the changes made in the BIOS. However, performance actually declined in Geekbench 5! So, I’m going to have to try some Ryzen overclocking tools and for now, I’m still at the 1200Mhz x2 BIOS setting (2400Mhz, dual). The Geekbench 5 results image posted here shows the best Geekbench 5 score I received while tinkering in the BIOS with the TDP set at 25 watts and 32GB 2400Mhz dual channel memory in Windows 11 high performance mode. Basically, these are the default settings only with an additional stick of DRAM for dual channel speed added.

In conclusion, the best improvements you can make initially to the Beelink SER 3 are to insure you have 2 sticks of matched DDR4 for dual channel mode and add a SSD Drive inside the case while you have it opened. I wasn’t able to rely on the seller to find out the shipping configuration of the DDR4. I received a single 16GB stick instead of the promised configuration of 2 8GB sticks. It is easy to access memory by removing the 4 bottom screws. There may be future BIOS updates that allow for more incremental control and tuning. Doing this, and making sure Windows 10/11 is set to high performance mode and sleep mode is off, is about all that I would recommend for best performance at this time.

*At 25 watts TDP, expect your Ryzen 7 3750H cores to run between 2.3Ghz and 3.4Ghz. It won’t make it to 4Ghz at default BIOS settings. These Beelink SER 3 product listings on Amazon should reflect reality and not the CPUs capable performance that they aren’t supporting in the settings of their delivered product. Basically, you are agreeing to void your warranty in changing some of the BIOS settings.

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