Geekom x Tecno Megamini G1 Review (5.7L watercooled PC)

1. Introduction2. Test Setup3. Testing: CPU & System4. Game Benchmarks5. Thermals & Noise6. Closing Thoughts7. View All Pages

Geekom is not shy about making bold claims with the Megamini G1, heralding it as the ‘World's Smallest Liquid-Cooled Gaming Mini PC' – and while that may be true, the system itself doesn't live up to its ambitious billing.

Aesthetically, the Megamini G1 excels, with a metal chassis and vibrant RGB lighting, plus the visible cooling tubes look like something we have never seen before from a prebuilt gaming PC. Unfortunately, the phrase ‘form over function' applies to many areas of the G1, as it turns out the visible tubing is entirely decorative and purely for show – the actual watercooling is essentially just a bespoke AIO unit tucked away out of sight.

There's other niggles that frustrate, too. The built-in screen designed to show various system metrics like GPU usage, can't be manually configured and appears to be bugged, reporting 70GB of RAM when my sample has just 32GB. The BIOS also looks ancient and is devoid of any real settings, while the fan control software is mostly written in Chinese and is very janky to use. On top of that, the HDMI ports are limited to the 2.0 variety, rather than 2.1 – despite the GPU's support for the newer standard.

While general performance in the Normal power mode is fine if not spectacular, the Performance mode does run worryingly hot, with the CPU hitting 102C in Cyberpunk 2077. On top of that, it is seemingly unable to maintain a steady clock speed, with frequent drops to 2.5GHz observed. If you do get a G1, I strongly recommend sticking with the Normal power mode which does run the CPU a bit slower, but proved very stable in my testing and thermals are well within check.

As for gaming, we saw performance about what you'd expect considering the RTX 4060 GPU. It's not the fastest thing in the world, but it can play modern titles at 60fps, provided you are happy to dial down the in-game settings for more demanding titles like Black Myth: Wukong and Starfield.

The thing is, I just can't quite get over the price tag being charged for this level of performance. The i9 version of the Megamini G1 will retail for $1899 once the Kickstarter campaign ends, which is roughly £1450 at the time of writing. For the same money, I specced up a system with Ryzen 5 7600X and RTX 4070 Super which would be miles faster. Alternatively, a system with a similar spec to the G1 – with an i5-12400F and RTX 4060 – could be built for less than a grand.

Clearly, the Megamini G1 is being targeted at those who want a tiny PC with a strong novelty factor around the decorative waterloop and RGB lighting. It may look the part, but all things considered I have to say the beauty is only skin deep.

You can view the Geekom Megamini G1 Kickstarter campaign HERE. The i9 model is listed at $1799 early-bird discount, or $1899 MSRP.

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Pros

• Very compact.
• Looks great with the RGB lighting and decorative loop.
• Metal chassis.
• Plenty of ports and connectors.
• The Normal power mode runs cool.

Cons

• Very expensive considering the spec.
• The Performance power mode saw the CPU hit 102C.
• We saw near-constant CPU clock speed drops using the Performance power mode.
• The visible waterloop doesn't actually cool the system – it's only for show.
• Built-in screen isn't user-configurable and isn't accurate.
• CPU is already a last-gen part.
• BIOS looks about 20 years old.
• Fan control software is janky.
• HDMI ports are 2.0, not 2.1.
• Hard to disassemble with no real upgrade path, barring memory and SSD replacements.
• Not the quietest system going.

KitGuru says: It certainly looks the part, but on closer inspection the Megamini G1 leaves plenty to be desired. 

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