Can the system be powered via one of the USB4 ports? I didn't see that noted but would much prefer that option. Particularly with the size of the power brick.
I'm kind of curious to know why they include a 120W power adapter when it only consumes 74W at full load. Do the 5x USB ports support 10W output each or something?
In this case 120W as a worst-case scenario with a bit of wiggle room seems reasonable especially when compared to nerds that routinely vastly overestimate their power supply needs and stuff a irrationally overspec PSU into the dinosaur-obsolete desktop form factor gaming/streaming/"esports" case.
USB 3 supports .9 amp per port, so 2.7 total, plus 1 for the 2 on the back. 3.7x5 is 18.5. 92.5 overall.
Most off the shelf supplies are either 90, 120, or 135. So a 120 it is then. This also gives you headroom for capacitor aging and heat related power draw.
I don't see how they can pitch it as an industrial PC without ECC support (which I assume it lacks, since it wasn't mentioned).
As a generic mini-PC, it does look like a good option, both in terms of multithreaded performance and efficiency. Too bad they didn't manage to close the gap with Intel's Raptor Lake-P NUCs, on idle power.
They're probably just using that in marketing materials so that retail/home buyers feel like they're getting something more reliable because its supposedly designed for industry usage. It's similar to how companies proclaim something is "off-road" to sell something to someone that might drive through their neighbor's yard or hit a curb at the grocery store. Also, if everyone does it, you can't be the vendor left out or people will ask, "Why does such-and-such not have a Sport Utility Vehicle Super Sport model? The word sport should be in the name or its not as good!"
Get an Intel Meteor Lake based system instead as that at least has the iGPU compute support ducks in order for Linux via Intel's OneAPI/Associated iGPU Compute API support. On Linux AMD's ROCm/HIP is not supported on AMD's current iGPUs and really that's going to limit any Ryzen APU based systems to Blender Cycles CPU only rendering whereas Intel's Meteor Lake will be able to utilize the iGPU for Blender 3D's GPU accelerated rendering. And even iGPUs have a bit more FP resources than CPUs and Intel's ARC Graphics tile has Ray Tracing units as well with a higher level of hardware feature support than AMD's RDNA3 Ray Tracing IP.
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13 Comments
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ingwe - Thursday, December 28, 2023 - link
Can the system be powered via one of the USB4 ports? I didn't see that noted but would much prefer that option. Particularly with the size of the power brick.meacupla - Thursday, December 28, 2023 - link
I doubt it. They have "USB/DP" labelled, but the lack of "/PD" is a sign that it most likely does not.TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, January 2, 2024 - link
No, its wired to use the power brick for power input.kenyee - Thursday, December 28, 2023 - link
They should have made both Ethernet ports 2.5GB.Nice design otherwise....
meacupla - Thursday, December 28, 2023 - link
I'm kind of curious to know why they include a 120W power adapter when it only consumes 74W at full load.Do the 5x USB ports support 10W output each or something?
PeachNCream - Friday, December 29, 2023 - link
In this case 120W as a worst-case scenario with a bit of wiggle room seems reasonable especially when compared to nerds that routinely vastly overestimate their power supply needs and stuff a irrationally overspec PSU into the dinosaur-obsolete desktop form factor gaming/streaming/"esports" case.TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, January 2, 2024 - link
USB 3 supports .9 amp per port, so 2.7 total, plus 1 for the 2 on the back. 3.7x5 is 18.5. 92.5 overall.Most off the shelf supplies are either 90, 120, or 135. So a 120 it is then. This also gives you headroom for capacitor aging and heat related power draw.
mode_13h - Thursday, December 28, 2023 - link
I don't see how they can pitch it as an industrial PC without ECC support (which I assume it lacks, since it wasn't mentioned).As a generic mini-PC, it does look like a good option, both in terms of multithreaded performance and efficiency. Too bad they didn't manage to close the gap with Intel's Raptor Lake-P NUCs, on idle power.
PeachNCream - Friday, December 29, 2023 - link
They're probably just using that in marketing materials so that retail/home buyers feel like they're getting something more reliable because its supposedly designed for industry usage. It's similar to how companies proclaim something is "off-road" to sell something to someone that might drive through their neighbor's yard or hit a curb at the grocery store. Also, if everyone does it, you can't be the vendor left out or people will ask, "Why does such-and-such not have a Sport Utility Vehicle Super Sport model? The word sport should be in the name or its not as good!"charlesg - Friday, December 29, 2023 - link
I agree with Peaches.It's basically marketing, which is mostly, um, using appealing terms, true or not.
FWhitTrampoline - Sunday, December 31, 2023 - link
Get an Intel Meteor Lake based system instead as that at least has the iGPU compute support ducks in order for Linux via Intel's OneAPI/Associated iGPU Compute API support. On Linux AMD's ROCm/HIP is not supported on AMD's current iGPUs and really that's going to limit any Ryzen APU based systems to Blender Cycles CPU only rendering whereas Intel's Meteor Lake will be able to utilize the iGPU for Blender 3D's GPU accelerated rendering. And even iGPUs have a bit more FP resources than CPUs and Intel's ARC Graphics tile has Ray Tracing units as well with a higher level of hardware feature support than AMD's RDNA3 Ray Tracing IP.haplo602 - Sunday, December 31, 2023 - link
so what is the advantage over a beelink/minisforum/morefine ? except the higher price ?TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, January 2, 2024 - link
Better support and a website that works? Minisforum's site is held together with duct tape.