Beelink EQ13 vs Beelink SER5
Beelink SER5 is the more capable pick; Beelink EQ13 is the cheaper one - which wins comes down to the job below.
The verdict
- CPU
- Beelink SER5 has 2.5x the CPU throughput (13,500 vs 5,333 PassMark).
- Plex
- Beelink EQ13 transcodes more 4K HDR streams (~5 vs ~3).
- Idle power
- Beelink SER5 idles lower (7W vs 11W) - cheaper to run 24/7.
- Networking
- Beelink EQ13 has more NICs (2 vs 1) - better for a firewall or VLAN trunk.
- RAM ceiling
- Beelink SER5 takes more RAM (64GB vs 16GB).
Which wins for each job
| Job | Beelink EQ13 | Beelink SER5 |
|---|---|---|
| Plex / Jellyfin | ~5 streams win | ~3 streams |
| Frigate NVR | ~4 cameras win | add a detector |
| Proxmox / VMs | 5,333 PassMark | 13,500 PassMark win |
| Firewall / router | 2 NICs win | 1 NICs |
| Local AI / LLM | no slot | no slot |
Approximate - capacity estimates from curated specs, the same logic as the recommender. Verify against your exact setup. Prices move; check the retailer.
Full specs
| Spec | Beelink EQ13 | Beelink SER5 |
|---|---|---|
| Price (list) | $229 | $259 |
| CPU | Intel Processor N100 | AMD Ryzen 5 5560U |
| Cores / threads | 4 | 6 |
| PassMark | 5,333 | 13,500 |
| iGPU | Intel UHD | Vega 7 |
| NICs | 2 | 1 |
| NIC model | Realtek RTL8111 | Realtek RTL8125 |
| RAM max (GB) | 16 | 64 |
| M.2 free | 1 | 1 |
| PCIe slot | none | none |
| Idle (W) | 11 | 7 |
| TDP (W) | 6 | 25 |