Chinese PC maker MINISFORUM has cranked out a lot of compact computers powered by Intel or AMD chips in the past few years. But up until now one thing they’ve had in common is that they’ve all been powered by mobile processors designed for laptops and other compact systems.
The upcoming MINISFORUM MBG6 bucks that trend. It’s the company’s first small form-factor computer powered by a desktop-class AMD Ryzen 7 5700X processor.
That’s a 65-watt, 8-core, 16-thread chip launched in 2022 as part of AMD’s “Vermeer” line of processors. It has Zen 3 CPU cores with a base frequency of 3.4 GHz and support for speeds up to 4.6 GHz, 32MB of L3 cache and 4MB of L2.
One thing the chip doesn’t have is any integrated graphics. It’s designed for use with a discrete GPU, and it seems like MINISFORUM plans to pair the CPU with AMD Radeon RX 6600M graphics. While the system could be used as a general-purpose computer or compact workstation, it seems like MINISFORUM has gaming in mind, noting that with 36MB of total cache, the Ryzen 7 5700X processor “can provide more stable gaming performance.”
The computer also has a total of four fans inside a fairly compact body in order to keep the 65-watt processor cool.
It’s unclear whether there’s support for an external graphics card, as MINISFORUM hasn’t announced whether the MB6 has 40 Gbps USB4 port or any other options for connecting a graphics dock.
Other known features include support for DDR4-3200 dual-channel memory, a PCIe 3.0 slot for solid state storage, and room for two 2.5 inch SATA hard drives or SSDs.
“…a PCIe 3.0 slot for solid state storage…”
I hope that’s a typo or misinformation, because a Zen 3 based system with anything less than PCIe 4.0 doesn’t make sense.
There were some leaks last fall of MXM form factor RX6600M graphics. It looks like this shares the same chassis as the Intel NAD9 which has an empty MXM slot, so I’d suspect that this PC will come with an MXM card as well.