Miniature workstations with high-performance CPUs are pretty common these days. However, compact workstations with a discrete graphics processor that can drive modern games are, to put it mildly, hard to find. Nevertheless, Minisforum’s new HX90G packs an eight-core AMD Ryzen 9 processor and AMD’s discrete Radeon RX 6600M GPU into a chassis measuring just 20.5×20.3×6.93cm, which is comparable to a Mac Mini.
Minisforum’s Neptune Series HX90G is based on AMD’s Ryzen 5900HX processor (8C/16T, 20MB L2+L3 cache, 3.30 GHz – 4.60 GHz) as well as Radeon RX 6600M graphics processing unit (1792 stream processors, up to 7.80 FP32 TFLOPS) that are soldered down. The CPU and GPU are cooled down using two separate cooling systems equipped with their own fan to keep performance consistent. In addition, the machine can be fitted with up to 64GB of DDR4 memory using two SO-DIMM modules and has two M.2 slots with a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface (one supports SATA) for storage. See detailed specifications in the table below.
As for connectivity, the Minisforum HX90G has everything that one comes to expect from a compact PC these days: it has a 2.5Gb, four display outputs (two DisplayPort, two HDMI), one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C connector, four USB 3.2 Type-A connectors (three USB 3.2 Gen2, one Gen1), and audio jacks. As for Wi-Fi, it can be added using an M.2-2230 slot.
From a general-purpose performance point of view, Minisforum HX90G is a capable PC, as AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900HX with eight Zen 3 cores with simultaneous multithreading will provide enough oomph for almost any task that one comes to expect from a PC that is slightly larger than Apple’s Mac Mini. Meanwhile, with up to 64GB of memory and two M.2-2280 slots, one can get loads of storage space.
When it comes to gaming, not everything is that simple. AMD’s Radeon RX 6600M 8GB is based on the Navi 23 GPU with 1792 SPs and compute performance of up to 7.80 FP32 TFLOPS with proper cooling. This is comparable to the desktop Radeon RX 6600 (7.30 – 8.90 FP32 TFLOPS), which is probably enough for 1080p gaming (based on Tom’s Hardware benchmarks among the best graphics cards available today), albeit offering poor ray tracing performance. Unfortunately, the graphics processor is not user-replaceable in the Elitemini HX90G, so the owner will have to stick with the mediocre GPU and 1080p gaming for a few years.
Minisforum Elitemini HX90G will be available in mid-November starting at $799 (with a discount from the default price of $939) without shipping for a barebones version with AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900HX and Radeon RX 6600M, but without memory, storage, and Windows. When populated with 64GB of memory and a 512GB SSD, the machine will cost $1,079 (with a discount from a default price of $1,269) without shipping.
