GMKtec EVO-X2 assessment: A mini PC that packs severe AI and gaming energy

Finest Costs Right this moment: GMKtec EVO-X2

GMKtec EVO-X2: The specs

• Processor: AMD Ryzen AI Max 395 (16 cores, 32 threads, as much as 5.1 GHz), 16 MB L2 cache, 64 MB L3, 120 watts TDP in steady operation, as much as 140 watts for a short while
• Graphics: Radeon 8060S (RDNA 3.5, 40 cores), most supported decision: 7,680 × 4,320 pixels @ 60Hz
• NPU: XDNA 2, 50 TOPS (as much as 126 TOPS in whole)
• Reminiscence: 128 GB LPDDR5X 8,000 MHz from Samsung, hard-soldered
• Inside storage: 2 TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, Essential P3 CT2000 PCIe M.2 2280 (second M.2 2280 slot, expandable to 2 x 8 TB)
• Entrance connections: 2 × USB-A 3.2 Gen2, 1 × USB Kind-C (USB 4.0), 1 × audio combo jack (3.5 mm jack), 1 × SD card reader (SD 4.0, helps SDXC)
• Rear connections: 1 × DisplayPort 1.4 HBR3, 1 × HDMI 2.1, 1 × USB-A 3.2 Gen2, 2 × USB-A 2.0, 1 × USB Kind-C (USB 4.0), 1 × audio (3.5mm CTIA), 1 × DC-in, 1 × RJ45 LAN
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7 (MT7925), LAN 2.5 Gbit/s (8125BG), Bluetooth 5.4
• Dimensions: 193 × 186 × 77 mm (W × D × H)
• Weight: 3.6lbs

With the EVO-X2, the Chinese language producer GMKtec is as soon as once more launching a mini PC that’s clearly positioned within the high-end phase and claims to push the boundaries of compact desktop techniques even additional. Whereas many mini PCs are primarily designed for area saving, power effectivity, or workplace duties, GMKtec takes a special strategy: most efficiency within the smallest of areas.

The EVO-X2 mustn’t solely grasp basic workloads with ease, but additionally deal with demanding AI processes, content material creation, and even gaming due to trendy Ryzen AI expertise.

GMKtec EVO-X2: Design

The truth that the GMKtec EVO-X2 will not be a typical mini PC is clear from the dimensions of its packaging, which is greater than twice the dimensions of ordinary mini PCs. And sure, at round 3.6lbs, the EVO-X2 is an actual brick, because the comparability with the Sapphire Edge AI 370, essentially the most compact mini within the take a look at thus far, reveals.

Christoph Hoffmann

With dimensions of seven.6 inches in width, 7.3 inches in depth, and a peak of three.03 inches, the EVO-X2 is a big, flat mini PC in a type of sandwich development. The dimensions and weight convey stability and worth—this alone makes the pc appear like a severe desktop alternative in miniature type.

Christoph Hoffmann

The metallic housing with CNC jet-oxidized floor has a black heart part and all-round air flow slots. The design permits the PC for use horizontally or vertically, though the association of the rubber toes and cooling openings are extra in favor of upright use. The screws for opening the housing are additionally situated underneath the glued rubber. This complicates upgrading a bit.

Christoph Hoffmann

The design supplies enough quantity for cooling the Ryzen AI Max 395, however the EVO-X2 can nonetheless be simply positioned on the desk or hidden underneath a monitor stand.

The EVO-X2 does with out apparent visible gimmicks equivalent to RGB LEDs, however nonetheless glows a refined blue from the air flow slots.

Along with the standard connections on the entrance and rear (see under), the “Fan Mode” button on the bevelled edge stands out. Behind it is a switchable fan management, which can be utilized to regulate the quantity and cooling efficiency to your individual necessities. With different mini PCs, the corresponding setting needs to be activated within the BIOS.

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Relying on the mode, the cooling system both works notably quietly for easy duties or considerably extra powerfully when most efficiency is required—for instance when gaming, rendering, or dealing with AI workloads. This enables the person to resolve for themselves whether or not the mini PC ought to run as quietly as doable or make the most of its cooling to the max to be able to preserve increased clock charges for longer.

The P-Mode (Efficiency Mode) can be accessible. A efficiency profile of the GMKtec EVO-X2 is activated on the contact of a button, which units the Mini-PC to most velocity in three levels.

When switching, small icons (inexperienced, orange, and purple) are displayed on the display. The system will increase its efficiency limits for the CPU, GPU, and NPU in order that increased clock charges may be maintained for longer. On the similar time, the cooling system works extra aggressively to reliably dissipate the extra waste warmth.

In apply, this implies noticeably extra energy for gaming, rendering, coding or AI calculations – however with barely increased noise ranges and power consumption. P-Mode is subsequently best if you wish to make the most of the total efficiency of the EVO-X2. Within the benchmarks (see under), we examined it in the usual settings and in efficiency mode.

GMKtec EVO-X2: Options

The EVO-X2 comes with a powerful {hardware} mixture that clearly exceeds what you’d anticipate from a traditional mini PC. At its coronary heart is the AMD Ryzen AI Max 395, which is already manufactured in 4 nm, has 16 cores and 32 threads and clocks at as much as 5.1 GHz.

The built-in Radeon 8060S is predicated on AMD’s RDNA 3.5 structure and has 40 compute models. Because of the effectivity and shader optimizations from AMD’s present cellular high-end GPUs, it delivers surprisingly excessive computing and rasterisation efficiency regardless of its compact thermal finances.

Along with the quick LPDDR5X reminiscence, the 8060S performs nicely above earlier built-in Radeon generations and achieves body charges in lots of trendy video games that had been beforehand reserved for devoted pocket book graphics playing cards such because the Nvidia RTX 4070.

Christoph Hoffmann

There may be additionally an NPU for AI masses with 50 TOPS in order that AMD’s XDNA-2 engine may be utilized to its full potential—whole efficiency of as much as 126 TOPS in accordance with the producer. The NPU processes fashions immediately on the machine and thus noticeably reduces the load on the CPU and GPU, which not solely brings effectivity features, but additionally allows secure efficiency throughout longer inference (AI coaching) periods.

Demanding AI workflows particularly, equivalent to picture and video evaluation, mannequin quantisation or native LLM utilization, profit significantly from this, because the NPU has been specifically optimized for these computationally intensive, extremely parallelizable duties.

The mannequin we examined has 128GB of Samsung LPDDR5X RAM with 8,000 MHz (K3KLALAOEM-MGCV). As well as, there’s a 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD (Essential P3 CT2000 PCIe M.2 2280). This mix turns the EVO-X2 right into a severe workstation base.

Christoph Hoffmann

The GMKtec EVO-X2 provides versatile connectivity that simply helps each trendy shows and quick peripherals. Through HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4, and USB4, picture alerts as much as 8K at 60 Hz may be output, which qualifies the mini PC for high-resolution multi-monitor set-ups.

Wi-Fi 7 with the RZ717 module and a 2.5 Gbit LAN port can be found for the community connection, supplemented by Bluetooth 5.4 for wi-fi equipment. The facility provide delivers 19.5 volts at 11.8 amps and is subsequently designed for top load peaks.

Christoph Hoffmann

On the entrance, there are two USB-A 3.2 Gen2 ports, a 3.5 mm audio socket, a USB-C port with USB4 for knowledge charges of as much as 40 Gbit/s, an SD card reader (SD4.0/SDXC), and buttons for energy, fan lighting, and energy mode switching.

On the rear, the EVO-X2 additionally provides DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.1, USB-A 3.2 Gen2 (10 Gbit/s), two USB-A 2.0 ports, one other USB-C port with USB4 functionality, a 3.5 mm audio connection, the DC energy enter, and the two.5 Gbit LAN port.

Christoph Hoffmann

Briefly, the gear and interfaces are on a par with desktop workstations—and in a housing that’s nonetheless compact and unobtrusive.

GMKtec EVO-X2: Working system

The EVO-X2 comes with Home windows 11 Professional, which is routinely activated on-line after the primary begin. The essential setup is accomplished in just some minutes; we then up to date the system from Home windows model 24H2 to 25H2.

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Essential observe: After the preliminary set up of Home windows 11, quite a few drivers are required, above all of the AMD drivers for the Radeon graphics card and the chipset.

This ensures that the Mini-PC runs underneath optimum circumstances and that every one elements can develop their full efficiency.

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Pre-installed underneath Home windows 11 is GMKtec’s personal software program in English. Quite a few AI fashions may be loaded through the built-in app retailer, and when testing the EVO-X2, it rapidly turns into clear what GMKtec means by the data on LLM assist: the mini PC is designed to run massive AI fashions immediately on the machine—with out the cloud.

When outfitted with 128GB of RAM, native LLMs with greater than 100 billion parameters may be loaded with relative ease. For on a regular basis use, which means extra advanced AI duties that will in any other case solely be doable on highly effective workstations can be utilized immediately on the EVO-X2. The {hardware} supplies the required reserves for this, and it’s exactly this that clearly units the mini PC aside from the entry-level or workplace phase.

GMKtec EVO-X2: Efficiency

The EVO-X2 excels notably the place intensive computing masses are required as our benchmark values clearly present. In PCMark 10, the system achieves a complete of 8,953 factors within the default setting, with 11,559 in “Necessities”, 10,853 in “Productiveness” and 15,527 in “Digital Content material Creation”.

The ends in efficiency mode: 9,078 factors general with 11,325, 11,153 and 16,074 within the sub-disciplines. This clearly locations the EVO-X2 within the higher phase of typical mini PCs—even the aggressive values of gadgets such because the Minisforum AI X1 Professional with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 are noticeably decrease at 7,400 factors (PCMark 10).

Christoph Hoffmann

In comparison with present desktop PCs, the EVO-X2 comes surprisingly near full-fledged mid-range workstations: Many techniques with Ryzen 7 or Core i7 desktop processors solely obtain comparable general scores in PCMark. The excessive rating within the “Digital Content material Creation” space particularly reaches a stage that’s in any other case often reserved for PCs with a devoted GPU or a considerably bigger efficiency finances.

For a mini PC, the EVO-X2’s proximity to the basic desktop efficiency class is exceptional and reveals how effectively AMD’s present APU structure works together with quick RAM and optimized energy administration.

The 3DMark profile exams additionally present robust CPU efficiency throughout all thread units: 9,875 factors at most thread utilization or 9,719 (16 threads) and eight,348 (8 threads) are notably hanging. These values are nicely above what typical laptop computer APUs obtain and place the EVO-X2 within the efficiency class of contemporary mid- to upper-range desktop processors.

Christoph Hoffmann

In direct comparability, the multi-thread efficiency is extra consistent with CPUs equivalent to a Ryzen 7 7700 or an Intel Core i7 of the thirteenth/14th era, whereas the effectivity stays noticeably increased. That is exceptional for a mini PC—it’s nicely exterior the standard cellular limits and truly comes near the throughput efficiency of full desktop techniques in lots of eventualities. As compared: The Minisforum AI X1 Professional achieves 8,292 factors whereas the Sapphire Edge AI 370 reaches 8,808 factors.

Christoph Hoffmann

In Time Spy, the EVO-X2 achieves 10,697 factors (graphics 10,779, CPU 10,256), with an estimated 105 FPS in gaming mode—a transparent indication of significant gaming and 3D efficiency. The Sapphire Edge AI 370 achieves slightly below a 3rd of the values (3,764 factors), whereas the Geekom IT15 with an Intel Core Extremely 9 285H achieves 4,244 factors.

Within the sport Tomb Raider – Definitive Version, the EVO-X2 achieved an impressively clean efficiency for a mini PC with 10,767 rendered frames and a mean of 69 FPS, with hardly any drops even in action-packed scenes.

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The Crystal DiskMark values of over 7,000 MB/s (learn) and over 6,200 MB/s (write) additionally emphasize the velocity of the built-in SSD—best for giant recordsdata, initiatives, and quick loading instances.

Christoph Hoffmann

Nonetheless, the AI efficiency is especially exceptional: in Geekbench AI Professional, the system delivers 6,393 factors in Single Precision, 2,399 in Half Precision and an impressive 11,315 factors in Quantised Rating. In efficiency mode, the values enhance solely barely to six,436, 2,401 and 11,337. These benchmarks point out that the EVO-X2 will not be solely excellently suited to basic desktop workloads, but additionally for contemporary machine studying and AI duties and thus outperforms the category of many conventional mini PCs.

Christoph Hoffmann

The facility of the EVO-X2 is clearly noticeable in on a regular basis gaming and content material creation: video enhancing, picture processing and 3D rendering run easily and rapidly. Even demanding video games on excessive settings aren’t any downside – the built-in GPU delivers efficiency at laptop computer graphics card stage (akin to cellular high-end playing cards), so that you don’t essentially want an exterior GPU in case you’re not aiming for optimum element ranges.

Is the GMKtec EVO-X2 value it?

Total, the EVO-X2 delivers a mixture of CPU, GPU, and AI efficiency that’s presently among the best within the mini PC class. In its compact format, it strikes a steadiness between mini PC and compact desktop workstation—and delivers what many different mini PCs provide solely inadequately or by no means.

In comparison with different present mini PCs with AI or performance-focussed processors, the EVO-X2 stands out with its well-balanced options. Mini-PCs with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 such because the Minisforum AI X1 Professional and Sapphire Edge AI 370 fall noticeably in need of the highest efficiency of the EVO-X2, regardless of the Ryzen AI 9 being a strong processor.

By way of AI and gaming efficiency, the EVO-X2 is subsequently extra comparable with compact workstation PCs than with typical mini PCs. Solely full-fledged desktop PCs with devoted GPUs and extra highly effective, usually extra power-hungry processors can outperform it in high-end workloads. However for a mini PC, the Ryzen AI Max 395 is a powerful step ahead—a future-orientated alternative that meets or exceeds the present necessities in lots of respects.

In on a regular basis use, the EVO-X2 masters multitasking, parallel workflows, AI inference, and graphically demanding processes with ease. For customers who need to run video enhancing, 3D modelling, AI initiatives, or just video games at a excessive stage, the EVO-X2 is presently one of the crucial thrilling choices within the mini format. Nonetheless, it comes at a excessive value—our take a look at machine prices round $2,100 full value.