An affordable NUC with AMD Ryzen 7 5800H

I’ve been a mini PC convert since reviewing the Geekom Mini IT8 a yr in the past.

With my most up-to-date overview of the Mini IT13, I lastly made the dedication to change to a mini PC full-time for all my work.

The principle promoting level for me has been the lowered energy utilization. For the previous week, my PC has been on 14.5 hours per day with a every day common electrical energy consumption of 0.49kWh. My desktop used to make use of round 1.25kWh. Based mostly on the present electrical energy worth cap of 27.35p per kWh, that’s 13.4 pence to run the Mini 13 vs 34.2p. Saving £0.21 per day could seem insignificant, however I’d say my PC is in use that a lot, a minimal of 300 days per yr, saving me £63 per yr.

My newest overview is for the Geekom A5 Mini PC, which is my first mini-PC overview that makes use of an AMD CPU as an alternative of Intel. It’s priced attractively at simply £379, and I’ve come away fairly stunned at how good the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor is in comparison with the costlier Intel counterparts.

Geekom Mini PC A5 Specification

Geekom Mini PC A5 Design / Ports / Inner Format

The general design is just like all the opposite Geekom mini PCs.

On the rear of the Geekom A5 Mini PC, you’ve gotten 2 x 10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 Kind-C,  1 x USB 2.0 Kind-A and 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Kind-A. Then 2 x HDMI 2.0b ports, the two.5GbE port and the DC energy.

On the entrance, you’ve gotten the remaining two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Kind-A ports and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Then, on the aspect, you’ve gotten an SD card reader.

The chassis is a metallic body, and there’s a VESA mount included to mount it on the again of a monitor.

Energy Adaptor / TDP

This comes with a 120W,19V/6.32A, which is similar because the Mini IT13. Nonetheless, the TDP is definitely decrease than the IT13 at 35W vs 45W.

Upgradeability

The interior design of the Geekom A5 is mainly the identical as different Geekom mini PCs I’ve reviewed.

You possibly can simply take away the bottom plate, and this exposes the RAM and NVMe drive. There’s a second M2 slot which might settle for M.2 SSDs.

You even have a tray for a 2.5” 7mm SATA HDD/SDD.

BIOS

Geekom has a really restricted BIOS. It gained’t have a lot impact on most individuals, nevertheless it does restrict among the performance individuals need. There is no such thing as a overclocking/underclocking or altering the RAM profiles. For me, the primary factor lacking is now WOL choices or scheduled energy on.

Benchmarks / Efficiency

I haven’t paid a lot consideration to the efficiency of cellular chipsets and the way properly AMD does vs Intel. Due to this fact, the under benchmarks had been fairly stunning to me. The AMD Ryzen 7 5800H doesn’t simply compete with the costlier Intel Core i9-13900H, nevertheless it outperforms it in lots of benchmarks.

3DMark Time Spy

• Geekom A5: 1604 (1409 Graphics, 7548 CPU)
• Mini IT13: 1859 (1636 Graphics, 8238 CPU)
• Mini IT11: 1405 (1256 Graphics, 4312 CPU)
• Mini IT8: 731 (642 Graphics, 3480 CPU)

These mini-PCs are usually not designed for gaming within the slightest. They will play video games, and you will get some good video games to run OK with the settings dialled in.

Within the case of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H, it does an admirable job, sitting in between the Mini IT13 and Mini IT11, each of which value greater than this.

3DMark Storage

• Geekom A5: 1958
• Mini IT13: 3338
• Mini IT11: 2456
• Mini IT8: 2087

The 3DMark Storage benchmarks are fairly disappointing. The NVMe drive does run slower than the one within the Mini IT13, however I can’t make certain why it will rating decrease than the IT11 or IT8.

Additionally, I ran this benchmark a number of instances simply to ensure the rating was not misguided.

3DMark CPU Profile

• Geekom A5: 5116 / 5084 / 4539 / 2852 / 1627 / 876

• Mini IT13: 4451 / 3821 / 2033 / 2717 / 1810 / 1022
• Mini IT11:  3008 / 2997 / 3012 / 2469 / 1618 / 944
• Mini IT8: 1967 / 2247 / 2224 / 1682 / 1021 / 544

The 3DMark CPU profile outcomes had been a shock, with A5 dominating a lot of the scores till it hit the two and 1 thread end result. The only-thread end result being decrease than the Mini IT11 is one thing price contemplating in case you are looking to buy a mini-PC. I’d nonetheless favour the A5 over the IT11, although.

PCMark 10

• Geekom A5
  • Digital Content material Creation: 6404
• Mini IT13
  • Digital Content material Creation: 7792

The PCMark 10 was one other shock. It virtually matches the IT13 however with considerably completely different outcomes for productiveness and content material creation.

Geekbench

• Single-Core Rating: 1976
• Multi-Core Rating: 9132
• OpenCL GPU Benchmark: 17264
• Mini IT13

• Single-Core Rating: 2400
• Multi-Core Rating: 10345
• OpenCL GPU Benchmark: 14984

For Geekbench 6, the A5 fell behind the IT13 by fairly a bit on the single-core end result however caught up on the multi-core, which displays the outcomes we noticed with the 3DMark CPU Profile. Nonetheless, it scored a formidable OpenCL GPU benchmark end result that’s 15% greater than the IT13.

Cinebench R23

Following the pattern, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H has excellent multi-core efficiency that may beat the costlier Intel processor however falls brief on the single-core end result. There’s a 31% benefit within the single-core for the Intel Core i9-13900H however a 35% benefit with the multi-core rating for the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H.

Crystal Disk

• Geekom A5: 3425MB/s Learn – 3097MB/s Write
• Mini IT13: 4834MB/s Learn  –  4438MB/s Write
• Mini IT11: 3437 MB/s Learn  –  3178MB/s Write
• Mini IT8: 3454MB/s Learn – 2652MB/s write

The NVMe disk speeds are a bit disappointing, however I doubt this might make a big distinction with real-world efficiency.

Ethernet & WiFi Throughput

As my residence community is now 2.5GbE, I used to be somewhat dissatisfied that the Mini IT11 was restricted to gigabit Ethernet. I used to be then stunned that the reasonably priced Geekom A5 had 2.5GbE.

CityFibre is rolling out 2.5Gbps FTTP Web, so the transfer to multi-gig Ethernet is turning into more and more essential.

I can affirm that the Ethernet throughput between the A5 and my TerraMaster NAS operating Unraid hits 2535 Mbps utilizing LibreSpeed and over 240MB/s for big file transfers.

That is restricted to WiFI 6 somewhat than 6E, which the IT13 has. There is no such thing as a simple method to improve the WiFI module both. The WiFi throughput is first rate, although, with it reaching 898Mbps.

In Use

Day-to-day workplace work

I briefly switched from the Mini IT13 to the A5 and labored on it for every week. I haven’t used it as a lot because the Mini IT13, so it’s doable I could have missed a number of efficiency blips that include extended use.

I don’t run something too intensive, however I run a number of packages at one and lots of Chrome tabs. Usually, I’ve Outlook, Chrome, Spotify, Reolink Consumer (for CCTV), Phrase, and messaging apps. I may also intermittently use Adobe Acrobat and Lightroom.

From my few days of utilizing this mini PC, it carried out properly and appeared to do higher than the IT11, which I discovered would grow to be a bit laggy after some time. I can’t say I observed a big distinction in everyday efficiency between the A5 and the Mini IT13 I’ve been utilizing the previous month.

Plex Server

Utilizing these mini PCs as a house server is a well-liked possibility. They’ve heaps of processing energy and low energy utilization. One draw back of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H is that AMD doesn’t deal with {hardware} transcoding, in addition to Intel Fast Sync.

With Plex Server, you additionally want to make use of an Intel CPU operating Linux if you would like HDR to SDR tone mapping.

The Geekom A5 scores 4260 in PassMark with a 21035 CPU mark. In line with the Plex pointers, this may nonetheless have the ability to do a single transcode of a 4K HDR (50Mbps, 10-bit HEVC) file being transcoded to 10Mbps 1080p,

This PC can fortunately play 4K films instantly with none subject, and it will make a very good HTPC.

Fan noise vs. desktop & Mini IT13

My major subject with these mini PCs which have extra processing energy is that they require extra cooling, which suggests the followers spin up simpler, and the small type issue makes the fan noise profile fairly high-pitched.

That is true for each the Geekom A5 and Mini IT13. The fan noise for each PCs is quieter than my desktop, and my desktop had a constant fan and pump noise, whereas these mini PCs do go all the way down to an inaudible degree at idle.

For each the Geekom A5 and Mini IT13, the followers spin up very simply, so with mild utilization, I can at all times hear them. Music drowns out most of it, however it’s nonetheless fairly audible.

I can’t say for sure which PC is worse for fan noise. I’d in all probability say the Mini IT13, not less than in the course of the 3Dmark stress take a look at, appeared noticeably quieter than Mini IT13

Energy Utilization & Operating Prices vs. Mini IT13 & Desktop

The Geekom A5 has an idle energy utilization of round 15W, and regular utilization sits at round 25W-40W.

Operating the 3Dmark Wildlife Excessive Stress Take a look at, the facility did briefly peak at 70W however would usually sit at 50W.

Wanting on the stats from my power monitoring good plug, the A5 has been utilizing round 0.4kWh per day (14.5h) vs 0.49kWh. So about 18% much less electrical energy. Contemplating the low operating prices of all these mini PCs, I’m not too involved about that.

Value and Different Choices

The Geekom A5 Mini PC has an RRP of £529 however is constantly discounted to £379, and it comes with 32GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

The A5 can be accessible on Amazon, on the time of writing, on Amazon UK it’s £450 with a £70 low cost and on Amazon US it’s $450 with a $50 low cost.

The closest worth various is the Geekom Mini IT11 with an i7-11390H, 16GB RAM, and 512GB storage, which is offered for £399.

Or, the Geekom Mini IT12 with i5-12450H, 16GB RAM, 512GB storage is £60 extra at £439.

Taking a look at competing manufacturers, you will get an analogous spec from a number of different manufacturers:

1. Beelink SER5 Max is offered with the identical spec, priced at £409 on the time of writing. It is usually available from Amazon.
2. Minisforum Mini PC UM560 is a barebone mannequin, so that you’d want so as to add RAM and storage and Home windows. It’s priced at £236, and you probably have a Home windows licence, it will work out fairly a bit cheaper, however it’s a little bit of a faff putting in the {hardware} and Home windows.
3. The CHUWI RzBox Mini PC has the identical processor however lacks 2.5GbE and solely has 16GB of RAM. That is listed at £400 however with £100 off on the time of writing.

Total

I’ve cherished all of the Geekom mini-PCs, and I’ve been utilizing the Mini IT13 full-time for over a month now

I wasn’t anticipating an ideal deal from the Geekom Mini PC A5, I haven’t paid a lot consideration to AMD vs Intel in terms of cellular CPUs, so I simply assumed it will be a very good mini PC at a lovely worth level.

I ended up coming away stunned at how good this mini-PC is. From a price-performance perspective, it’s in all probability among the best choices Geekom has. It comfortably outperforms the Mini IT11 I beforehand reviewed in most benchmarks whereas being cheaper. It even holds its personal in opposition to the rather more costly Mini IT13 in a number of benchmarks.

In fact, Intel has some benefits. Intel Fast Sync makes a giant distinction for sure eventualities. The Mini IT13 additionally has a lot quicker storage, quicker WiFi 6E, and considerably higher USB port choice.

That being mentioned, the A5 nonetheless has two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Kind-C ports, and it may possibly assist as much as 4 4K shows @60Hz, so I doubt it will likely be an enormous drawback.

The one minor gripes I’ve with the Geekom Mini PC A5 is that I really feel like 512GB storage is a bit meagre for many eventualities these days.

Total, I feel the Geekom Mini PC A5 is one other excellent mini PC. I’m not going to be ditching my Mini IT13, but when I had been shopping for a mini PC and wished to be cautious with my price range, I feel the A5 is the choice I’d go for (although I’d in all probability find yourself spending good cash upgrading to quicker and bigger storage).

Final replace on 2023-11-01 / Affiliate hyperlinks / Pictures from Amazon Product Promoting API