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I used some Beelink Mini PCs for that. I found these on Amazon, pretty good compromise quality/price.
Fan noise audible if it's permanently loaded up but that's like many of the knockoff NUC or litre PCs.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IjCpi4_z_WfO0G53E_mW...
Personally I purchased a beelink ser7:
- AMD Ryzen™ 7 7840HS
- Radeon780M (RDNA 3)
- 32Gb ram
All for about 700 IIRC
e.g. https://www.servethehome.com/lenovo-thinkcentre-m920x-tiny-r...
Some models can be powered over USB-C, allowing them to run off compact GaN chargers, monitors, etc.
https://www.amazon.com/MINISFORUM-7940HS-Radeon-USB3-2-PCIe4...
If you're willing to go slightly larger, Mini-ITX PCs are still quite small, but have the benefit of all desktop-class hardware and easier upgrades. There are too many options here to make a specific recommedation, but if you search for Mini ITX on /r/battlestations, you can find some inspiration.
The minisforum UM790 Pro is something I've looked at too. https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-um790-pro It can handle many games at good settings already. It also has USB 4.0 which will allow you to connect it to an eGPU for higher end gaming. EDIT: Today, I'm running a Lenovo P14s AMD Gen 4 which is slightly slower. For the price, the performance has been amazing.
Been my daily driver desktop since 2021.
I play Victoria 3, Cities Skylines, Valheim. And develop on it. Both Windows programs and also Linux stuff SSH-ed into my beefier dev servers.
I've also done some light video recording and editing.
I've run out of disk space now so I think I'll grab an external drive. But I'd buy one of these again.
[0] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B093BBLB4K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...
I bought an Intel NUC for my Windows work. I don't play games on it though. They have a bunch of variants. https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?d=intel+nuc
They both contain the AMD Z1 Extreme SOC, which not only has 8 cores but contains a pretty good iGPU (780M is comparable to Nvidia's 1050Ti in benchmarks). Added bonus is that it contains a battery and display, so very portable and fairly good gaming machines.
Maybe get an external HDD adapter for when you need to access old files.
Steam Deck as a left of field option with the best supported gaming outside windows and very competent linux machine when docked (might want an alternative OS such as Bazzite[0]). Fan noise audible if it's permanently loaded up but that's like many of the knockoff NUC or litre PCs. 0: https://github.com/ublue-os/bazzite/
[edit] the fans are also pretty loud if it’s actually doing anything. Not an issue with headphones, might be otherwise.
I bought an Intel NUC for my Windows work. I don't play games on it though. They have a bunch of variants. https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?d=intel+nuc
Absolutely KILLER machine for the size and price. The next generation gaming NUCs were so, so much bigger. I can't stand them.
Highly recommend the NUC line overall!