Key Takeaways
1. Powerful mini PCs for AI training, like the AMD Strix Halo and Nvidia DGX Spark, are expensive, often exceeding $2,000.
2. The Wee Beastie mini PC offers a budget-friendly alternative, starting at $699, with an Intel processor and Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU.
3. Wee Beastie features a compact design with superior cooling and significant gaming performance due to its 12 GB VRAM and AI processing speed of 466 TOPS.
4. Despite its advantages, the Wee Beastie has limitations, such as its larger size and lower VRAM compared to the AMD Strix Halo for large model training.
5. The Kickstarter campaign for Wee Beastie has been successful, leading to the introduction of two models, with production expected to start in December and shipping in March.
This year has seen the rise of powerful mini PCs tailored for AI model training. Noteworthy among them are the AMD Strix Halo platform featuring the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU and the Nvidia DGX Spark platform equipped with the N1 processor, which merges ARM cores with an RTX 5000 GPU. However, these mini PCs are not widely available yet, mainly because their production costs are high, leading to prices that go over $2,000. To provide a more budget-friendly and simpler option for AI training, a group of engineers from China has launched a Kickstarter campaign for a compact 4.75-liter PC named Wee Beastie. This device combines the capabilities of an Intel processor with a desktop-grade Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU in an MXM form-factor, starting at a mere $699.
Key Advantages of Wee Beastie
Aside from the lower price tag, the Wee Beastie offers significant benefits compared to the Strix Halo mini PCs. Its MXM RTX 4070 card comes with 12 GB of VRAM, making it particularly advantageous in gaming situations, boasting an AI processing speed of 466 TOPS. Moreover, the 4.75-liter case is designed for superior cooling, featuring three intake fans positioned in the lower section, six exhaust fans at the top, along with a shroud that has three fans situated above both the GPU and CPU.
Disadvantages to Consider
However, there are some drawbacks to note. The Wee Beastie’s case is somewhat larger, measuring 217 mm in height, 200 mm in width, and 110 mm in depth, with a weight of 3.8 kg. While the RTX 4070 GPU may deliver faster performance in gaming, its VRAM is capped at 12 GB. In contrast, the AMD Strix Halo iGPU can utilize up to 96 GB of the total 128 GB system RAM. As a result, training large LLM models on the Wee Beastie is not feasible, despite its support for up to 128 GB DDR5-5600 RAM.
The Kickstarter campaign has successfully achieved its funding goals, leading the Chinese team to introduce two models due to the stretch goals being met. The Wee Beastie Core, priced at $699, features an RTX 4070 MXM GPU paired with the older Intel Core i7-13700H processor. On the other hand, the Wee Beastie PRO comes with a more advanced Intel Core Ultra 7 255H processor. Both variants include a 400 W power supply, RGB lighting on the fans, 32 GB of RAM, and a 1 TB SSD as standard. They also support storage expansion up to 16 TB and RAM upgrades to 128 GB. Currently, the team is gauging demand, as the Core models are limited to 200 units, and the PRO models to 300.
Solid Port Selection
In terms of connectivity, the port options are impressive for a mini PC of this size. The left side is outfitted with four USB-A 10 Gbps ports, three HDMI 2.0, and three DP 1.4a video outputs, along with a 5 GbE Ethernet port. On the right side, there’s a USB4 connector, an audio jack, and a TF + microSD card reader. For wireless capabilities, the device is fitted with an Intel BE200 card offering Wi-Fi 7 and BT 5.4 speeds.
According to the timeline shared on the Kickstarter page, the Chinese team is planning to kick off production this December, with a testing and quality assurance phase slated for January, followed by another production round in February. The first units are expected to start shipping in March of the following year.
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