GMKtek Nucbox M5: Perfect Mid-tier Home Server in 2024?

Check out my video review of the GMKtec M5. It is a great little mini PC with highly compatible and efficient hardware. You can install VMware ESXi, Proxmox, XCP-ng, and other Linux hypervisors on top of the uniform Ryzen 7 5700U processor and Intel 2.5 GbE network adapters.

Introduction - 0:00
Specs of the GMKtec Nucbox M5 - 0:32
Comes with Windows 11 Pro - 1:22
Physical walkthrough of the M5 - 2:21
Showing how you can remove the top plate and inner plate - 2:45
Detailing the Ryzen 7 5700U processor in more detail - 3:38
Discussing uniform processors compared to hybrid "big little" processors - 4:48
Talking about the (2) Intel 2.5 GbE network adapters - 5:45
Lgged into the ESXi host client looking at hardware in VMware - 7:00
Talking about the power efficiency of the GMKtec M5 - 8:29
Talking about capturing some of the power consumption readings - 8:58
Final analysis - Pros and Cons - 10:00

Read the written review of the GMKtec Nucbox M5:

Read the review of the Minisforum MS-01:

Read the review of the Beelink SEi12:

[The_Waraba]

Please never stop mentioning and testing VMware on these nodes. Thank you for all you do!

[SaruwatariMasahiro]

The gmktec upgraded is missing EFI Files from the current bios and is incompatible with Linux installations as of now.

[JasonsLabVideos]

Nice video Brandon! One day ill pick up 4 units like this and make a little cluster..

[nadtz]

My dream, a 2 node 1u 'mini pc', if you wanted to get really fancy you could even potentially power it all off 1 PSU. Intel 2.5gb NICs, relatively low TDP with good cooling and potential for a bunch of storage. Well maybe 2U for the storage and make 2 versions of it.

Just to throw it in there Proxmox apparently works pretty well with Intel hybrid CPU's, one more thing to think about in terms of what hypervisor one might want to use in their home lab.

[EDGPC]

is this good for a pfsense router big home build?

[johnfirst]

im not really good with computer, is this enough for dedicated gaming server? im planning to use this for the game called Valheim as dedicated server for my friends.

[RS-sdcr]

My GMKtek M5 Plus with Ryzen 7 5825U run incredibly hot and the CPU fan is quite loud. Any ideas how to get it cooler? Should i check thermal paste? Or put a 120mm fan below and one above? :)

[g.s.]

very interesting just a couple of questions:
1) when you installed ESXi did you install it on a usb disk?
2) did you ever installed home assistant on esxi with Zigbee usb-stick as pass-through? did it work? was it stable.... can you make a video on it?
thx

[Twinsen]

Great video! I just picked up one of these for a great price on Aliexpress and Proxmox runs very well. I was thinking about a NAS with this but has been reading about all the negatives with a external USB HDD enclosure. What do you think? Maybe a good content for your next video.

[igorshubovych]

Do you know if I can put 64 (32x2) Gb of RAM there? CPU spec tells me I can.

[outtarice]

GMKtec M5 have been replaced by GMKtec M5 pro but still named GMKtec M5. They replaced the Intel 2.5 GbE NIC with Realtek NIC, however they added an extra nvme slot and a fan to cool them. The old GMKtec M5 with Intel 2.5 GbE NIC are discontinued.

[jasonjennings]

Well, I just got mine and now I have to return it. Even though the Amazon description said it was the M5 with 1 M.2 slot. I got the M5 pro with 2 M.2 slots and a realtek NIC card. What a poorly ran company. Spent over $400 and now I have to wait up to a month to get that money back. AND I have to spend about 1.5 hours driving through Dallas traffic to get it to the Whole Foods location where I have to drop it off...