The Minisforum MS-02 Workstation – FINALLY A MS-01 KILLER?
Note – Massive thanks to PCWatch for their coverage of the Japan IT Week 2025 Event. They made an excellent article on the Minisforum MS-02 HERE and was the source for today’s article. Check them out!
The Minisforum MS-02 Ultra is a compact 4.8-liter workstation revealed at Japan IT Week Autumn 2025, marking a major upgrade over the earlier MS-01 model. Built around Intel’s 24-core Core Ultra 9 285HX processor, it merges high-end mobile CPU performance with features traditionally reserved for full-size desktops. The system includes support for up to 256 GB of ECC DDR5 memory, four PCIe 4.0 NVMe slots, and three PCIe expansion slots, one of which supports PCIe 5.0 ×16. Network connectivity options extend up to dual 25 GbE SFP28 ports, alongside 10 GbE and 2.5 GbE (vPro) Ethernet. Designed to serve as a workstation or mini-server, the MS-02 Ultra incorporates an internal 350 W Flex PSU, a slide-out chassis for maintenance, and advanced front-to-rear cooling architecture.
| Category | Brief Specification |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX (24 cores 8P + 16E, 36 MB cache, up to 5.5 GHz) |
| Memory | 4 × DDR5 SO-DIMM slots (up to 256 GB 4800 MHz, ECC supported) |
| Storage | 4 × M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 ×4 slots (up to 16 TB total) |
| Expansion | 1 × PCIe 5.0 ×16, 1 × PCIe 4.0 ×16 (25 GbE NIC installed by default), 1 × PCIe 4.0 ×4 |
| Networking | 2 × 25 GbE SFP28, 1 × 10 GbE RJ-45 (Realtek RTL8127), 1 × 2.5 GbE (vPro Intel i226-LM) |
| USB Ports | 2 × USB4 v2 Type-C (80 Gbps), 1 × USB4 Type-C (40 Gbps), 3 × USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A (10 Gbps) |
| Display Output | 1 × HDMI 2.1 (up to 8K 60 Hz / 4K 120 Hz support) |
| Audio | 1 × 3.5 mm combo jack (TRRS) |
| Wireless | M.2 2230 E-Key slot (Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 support) |
| Power Supply | 350 W internal Flex PSU (100–240 V AC input) |
| Dimensions | 221.5 × 225 × 97 mm (≈ 4.8 liters) |
Minisforum MS-02 – Internal Hardware
The Minisforum MS-02 Ultra is built around Intel’s Arrow Lake-HX platform, with the Core Ultra 9 285HX serving as its central processor. This 24-core CPU combines eight performance cores and sixteen efficiency cores, reaching up to 5.5 GHz while maintaining a 140 W thermal design power. It incorporates an integrated Intel Arc GPU with four Xe cores and an NPU capable of up to 13 TOPS for AI acceleration. The CPU provides 24 PCIe lanes in total, which are distributed among the system’s multiple expansion and storage options.
Memory capacity is one of the most notable upgrades over its predecessor. The MS-02 Ultra offers four DDR5 SO-DIMM slots, supporting up to 256 GB of 4800 MHz memory, with full ECC functionality for stability in continuous workloads. Two modules are located on the CPU side of the board, and two on the reverse, optimizing thermal spacing and service access. This capacity places it closer to entry-level server configurations than typical mini PCs, reinforcing its suitability for virtualization or compute-heavy tasks.
Storage expansion is handled through four M.2 2280 NVMe slots, each supporting PCIe 4.0 ×4 bandwidth. Combined, these slots can accommodate up to 16 TB of SSD storage. The system’s slide-out chassis design allows quick installation or replacement of drives, simplifying maintenance. Minisforum has also introduced a small debug LED and clear CMOS button on the board, indicating that the model is targeted toward users familiar with system-level configuration and troubleshooting.
Expansion flexibility extends far beyond most small form factor workstations. The system includes three PCIe slots: one PCIe 5.0 ×16, one PCIe 4.0 ×16 (often occupied by a 25 GbE NIC in standard configurations), and one PCIe 4.0 ×4. The top slot can host dual-slot desktop graphics cards, drawing up to 140 W through an included 8-pin auxiliary connector. This allows for the addition of mid-range GPUs such as the NVIDIA RTX 4000 SFF Ada or workstation accelerators, while still retaining physical compactness.
Power delivery is managed through a built-in 350 W Flex PSU that eliminates the need for an external brick. This internal supply was a deliberate shift from the MS-01’s external adapter and helps sustain higher CPU and GPU draw without additional clutter. The unit supports 100–240 V AC input, giving it universal deployment flexibility for both workstation and light server scenarios.
Minisforum MS-02 – Ports and Connections
The Minisforum MS-02 Ultra includes a broad range of connectivity options intended to support both workstation and server workloads. Front access is optimized for frequent use, featuring two USB4 Version 2.0 Type-C ports offering 80 Gbps bandwidth each, a 10 Gbps USB Type-A port, a 3.5 mm audio combo jack, and the system power button. These front USB4 v2 ports also support DisplayPort Alternate Mode and Power Delivery up to 15 W per port, making them suitable for high-speed data transfer or direct monitor output without additional adapters.
The rear I/O layout is designed for permanent peripheral and network connections. It includes a third USB4 Type-C port rated at 40 Gbps, three USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports at 10 Gbps each, and a single HDMI 2.1 output supporting up to 8K at 60 Hz or 4K at 120 Hz. For network communication, the MS-02 Ultra integrates four ports in total: two 25 GbE SFP28, one 10 GbE RJ-45, and one 2.5 GbE RJ-45. The 2.5 GbE interface uses Intel’s i226-LM controller and supports vPro remote management for BIOS-level administration, which is beneficial for enterprise or headless operation.
Wireless connectivity is provided by an M.2 2230 E-Key slot supporting Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 modules, enabling flexible configuration for wireless networks or peripheral pairing. The combination of USB4 v2, multiple Ethernet options, and RDMA capability positions the MS-02 Ultra as a system ready for both high-performance workstation setups and compact server deployments. Its port layout, with both front and rear accessibility, ensures straightforward use in horizontal or vertical orientations.
Minisforum MS-02 – Cooling and Temperature Management
The cooling system of the Minisforum MS-02 Ultra is designed to manage sustained high thermal loads while maintaining compact dimensions. The chassis follows a front-intake and rear-exhaust airflow pattern, similar to rackmount servers. A six-heatpipe radiator combined with phase-change material (PCM) ensures efficient heat dissipation from both the CPU and expansion slots. This design enables the system to maintain stable operation at a 140 W CPU TDP, even when fully populated with PCIe cards and NVMe storage. Airflow direction also varies depending on the unit’s orientation, with side-mounted intakes feeding the expansion slots and rear vents handling exhaust when the unit is placed horizontally or vertically.
The internal layout is structured to prevent thermal overlap between major components. The CPU and memory modules are cooled through a direct-contact heat spreader, while GPU and add-in cards draw intake air from the left side and expel it from the right or top, depending on placement. The inclusion of an internal 350 W Flex PSU was balanced with this design, ensuring sufficient clearance and airflow. This approach allows the MS-02 Ultra to sustain continuous high-load performance without external cooling solutions or the noise levels typical of larger tower workstations.
Minisforum MS-02 Ultra Workstation – Worth waiting for?
The Minisforum MS-02 Ultra represents a substantial progression from the original MS-01 workstation, addressing nearly every limitation of its predecessor. The earlier model, released in 2023, gained attention for integrating desktop-class performance into a small form factor but was constrained by its single-slot PCIe design, limited memory capacity, and reliance on an external power brick. The MS-02 Ultra resolves these issues with four DDR5 SO-DIMM slots supporting up to 256 GB ECC memory, a dual-slot PCIe 5.0 ×16 slot for graphics or accelerator cards, and a fully internal 350 W Flex PSU. These refinements, along with the addition of 25 GbE networking and USB4 v2 connectivity, elevate the system into a new category that bridges high-end workstation and compact enterprise server design.
Performance and versatility are at the center of this system’s concept. The inclusion of a 24-core Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX CPU and up to four PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives positions it for continuous workloads such as virtualization, software development, or AI inference without the thermal or structural compromises typical of small PCs. Minisforum’s decision to adopt ECC memory and RDMA-capable networking also underlines a shift toward reliability and professional usage scenarios rather than enthusiast or gaming audiences.
In terms of market placement, pricing has yet to be confirmed, but early indications suggest the MS-02 Ultra will likely start around $1,500, with higher configurations approaching or exceeding $2,000 depending on memory, storage, and NIC options. This aligns it with compact workstations like the ASRock DeskMeet X600 and high-end mini servers from OEM integrators, though the Minisforum model’s density and component flexibility set it apart. Overall, the MS-02 Ultra shows how far the brand’s SFF engineering has advanced since the MS-01, turning a well-liked prototype concept into a fully realized professional-grade workstation built for sustained heavy use.
Note – Massive thanks to PCWatch for their coverage of the Japan IT Week 2025 Event. They made an excellent article on the Minisforum MS-02 HERE and was the source for today’s article. Check them out!
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The key question: how much ECC RAM can it pack into the four slots max?
RAM is the name of the game for local AI.
Together with an TB drive extension bay for like 8 HDD, and a PCIE-NVMe expansion card, it could become a serious storage server with hopefully ample CPU to run local LLMs
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Weren’t they supposed to release an mATX motherboard?
285HX with 4800MHz sodimms and a pcie slot with half the bandwidth doesn’t do it for me
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SFP28 is completely downwards compatible with SFP+, so you can use 10gbe simply.
Its amazing that they use an intel e810 card, since this one is very powerefficient and cool compared to what intel had earlier.
Otherwise, this minipc offers everything a heart could wish, but also at the same time in the Local AI hosting time, they should have been made a slot for a RTX6000 96gb Max-Q 🙂
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Just looking at the specs there make me happy I have 3x ms-01 running as a proxmox cluster instead.
The ms-02 has serious pcie lane problems. It only has 24 pcie lanes. When you use all 4 nvmes, that is already 16 lanes. That leaves only 8 for the 3 pcie slots, which means only primary at x8 or the 2 16x slots at x4 with the physical x4 disabled.
The 2x 25GBE is a pcie card taking lanes away from the few you got. Then there is the useless Intel core ultra CPU. I rather have my 12th gen CPU or even better a AMD one.
Then there is the size increase, I hope 2 of them fit next to each other in 2U rack space. The ms-01 is sadly slightly too large for 1U.
Also the estimated price is way way way too high. The ms-02 has less value to me then a ms-01 but will cost more.
A ms-01 with a AMD CPU and with ms-01 connectivity would be great. All product releases after the ms-01 have been not very interesting to me. I even use one of my ms-01 as a NAS with a external SAS HBA passed through to a TrueNAS VM, so the Minisforum NAS is also not interesting.
A way to split the iGPU to several vGPUs would be a nice feature but sadly no mention of that.
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Thank you for posting. I have been putting thought into installing single port 25GbE adapters in some key machines with a 25GbE switch. Mellanox has a single port 25GbE adapter that uses PCIe3.0x8 so it would work in many systems, even older ones. I am still trying to figure out the most affordable, quiet, low watt homelab switch setup but there are a few options.
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I’m using the MS-01 to provide some services for small businesses. This will definitely be added as an additional option when I look at a businesses needs.
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What the heck are people using such machines at home for? I’m curious. I used to write software for cloud infrastructure companies in Silicon Valley and none of my colleagues had such powerful machines at home. We just all had MacBook pros, including the folks on the azure software teams at Microsoft
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Hypervisor – can’t wait to grab one
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256gb memory that can be used with internal gpu? LLMs here we come! ????????. 25g networking? The heck cluster of these…..
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You’ll need an SFP+ adapter (in both ends) and the fiber cables that go with it. 2:15
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Hey Robby nice video thanks! – Feedback: Cant really say im yet invested, its interesting to hear that they have this, but the 25GbE needs to go for a gpu, which is kinda weird and also MF has a history of saying PCIe 4.0 x16 and then beeing x4 really, i will wait for reviews and facts. Ive had to much hopes and dreams for MF, i stopped doing that now. ????????????Also: If they can advertised 2 GPU slots they will, even if both of them are 1 slot, but nobody knows ????♂ – Have a good trip and please get us MANY FACTS ❤
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A shame that Minisforum is an absolute trash company.
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this would make a kick ass plex server i wish they made a smaller cpu version with like 245h or 265h version so it would be cheaper and fit still very nicely for a plex server
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The big appeal of the ms-01 was support for m.2 22110 drives. This appears to only support 2280 which reduces its value significantly. Not useful as a home server. Especially for the HA casss you mention.
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I like the idea of MotD, but I’m kinda over the SFF. There’s a great feature set here, but for a system like this, I’d rather have space to add a full size GPU. It feels like there’s a disconnect with the bleeding edge features and the space limitation of only being able to fit a low profile dual card slot inside.
Minisforum, are you listening? Make a version of this as an M-ATX motherboard, the case, and PSU are of marginal utility.
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And I only JUST finished setting up a MS-A2! But you know what, not really missing out too much as it should still handle everything I through at it with the 2000e ADA graphics card I added to it. Although those 25Gb ports look amazing and would have gone great with my new 25Gb switch… But until I get internet above 10Gbit, I guess I can wait to upgrade, again!
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Desktop to “MIni” PCs is the nowadays equivalent of horse drawn vacuum carts to a Dyson! The price still sucks though!
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My god, that timeline looks like a Morse code plea for help which you desperately need. An 11 minute video that could have easily been half that length. You babble and babble and babble so much. You try to cover everything and then give your opinion about everything and more. Worse yet you constantly repeat yourself in some way or another. Your channel would easily be three plus times the size by now if you would just learn how to present the most important facts and summarize the basics. It’s like you think your viewers will need training wheels for the rest of their F’n lives. They absolutely do not!
Youtubers should learn how to consolidate information and summarize. Stop wasting people’s time ffs.
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Soooo can I used this as a beefy NAS? Cuz I’m not hip at all to workstations
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I would love to see the scenario where this device would be used and 10Gbe is a bottleneck.
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My god, that timeline looks like a Morse code plea for help which you need. An 11 minute video that could have easily been less than half that length. You babble and babble and babble so much. You try to cover everything and then give your opinion about everything and more. Your channel would easily be three plus times the size by now if you would just learn how to present the most important facts and summarize the basics. It’s like you think your viewers will need training wheels for the rest of their F’n lives. They absolutely do not!
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It will be my next (fantasy) purchase.
I’ll use it with my (fantasy) petabyte SSD NAS and my (fantasy) 100″ OLED display. ????
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It’s the mobile variant Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX that has a TDP of “only” 55 Watts
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So the big gotcha I’m worried about is this Ultra 9 only supports 24 pcie lanes… and they’ve got 36 just in slots, 16 more in nvme, plus networking and usb4.whatever. So wtf is going on.
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I think you need to go and take a cold shower. Hope you enjoy China.
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It is nice as a compact system, but the MS-S1 (strix halo) offers another level – that fast 8000Mhz ram.
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you are showing 285K with 125w base tdp (Max 250W). The MS-02 has a 285HX with 55w base TDP (160W max).
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Awesome video man, can’t wait to see more ! Have fun traveling !
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Things are getting crazy now , just watch 4 x Minisforum MS-S1 MAX.s running a cluster running a 400 GB Deepseek 671 billion Q4 model .
The Minisforum MS-S1 MAX has a Pci-4×4 , which be nice for a fast network card ? , If I could afford a switch for it .
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Better than the ms-s1 in my opinion, here you can upgrade the memory not to mention the space for a two slot GPU with power connectors and with 4xM.2 SSD bays it can even play the role of a mini flash nas
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Not an interesting machine, its painfully cramped. I would have preferred a system with an external PSU and a dual slot capability for the GPU, while keeping other ports open.
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as i understand, the pcie 5×16 is full 16 lanes. because this is normally for the gpu and Intels cpu cant split these 16 lanes. so you can only connect 1 single device there. lets see what the price will be.
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just looked closely at the specs, and it seems that:
1. Dual 25GBE will be an optional card
2. This card will be PCIe 4 by X4, which means – full transmit/receive in 25GBE will probably choke your machine (most of the cards are PCie 4 by X8)
3. PCIe 5.0 X16 – slot, not electric, so it will probably be PCIe 5 by X4 (remember – you got only 24 lanes)
All in all, cute, but you can take current gen Minisforum with Ryzen or Intel (which have PCIe card support), and stick a dual 25GBE card if you want to, and you’ll save tons of money
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Only 24 lanes so it remains to be seen what the split will be, when they’re trying to feed 4x NVMe drives too.
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Can’t wait for the AMD version. MS-A2 Ultra let’s go!
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Ah just got my 10GbE switch. ????
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This time, can you throw in a travel vlog? ????
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Been running 25GbE for a couple of years now, using a UniFi Pro Aggregation switch and Mellanox ConnectX-4 cards in two Synology RackStations and two Dell PowerEdge servers. Every home lab needs 25GbE for storage of VMs. Not any more expensive than 10bE in many cases.
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I wonder if the likes of HP, Dell and Lenovo see this as being competition for their lower end server systems. Consider a deployment of a couple of these behind a switch something like the Mikrotik CRS510-8XS-2XQ-IN which offers 100Gb switching, and you’ll be hard pressed to find something similar on offer from the big players.
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Ehh, I just got three of the MS-A2 9955HX’s, Ill pass on these. Not a fan of the current Intel CPU’s right now with the hybrid cores still. I knew something was gonna be coming out soon as I got my MS-A2’s but man I wish they made an AMD version of this. They always make the good layouts with Intel first for some reason.
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Да как-же так
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cannot wait to get my hands on this beast
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“No One is going to buy this for Plex” – Umm Jellyfin as a Media Box + Retroarch is exactly what I was looking at this for lol
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There’s gotta be some fan controls in the BIOS where you can increase the idle speed.
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Is this any good for 6K video editing? large files with no delay?
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Why are you making soooo much drama pretending that you dont know who this is for?…..are you high?….its for pretty much anyone. If you want to do a video that has computers that you dont know who they are for then I would suggest looking at laptops. Ive been an IT tech for 30 yrs and I cant tell you how many home users that I have seen that buy laptops that hardly ever leave their house.
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The irresponsible rebel in me wants one
..but at this price point I can’t rationalise it.
The future of mini pcs looks bright.
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Quite a bit cheaper than a 128GB Mac Studio. My biggest peeve is lost performance due to insufficient cooling, I’m glad they did this right.
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what about fusion 360 etc? overkill or not enough
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When you pulled up with the Batman crocs… you just made yourself the peak NAS channel in all of YouTube
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The Radeon 8060S on the Beelink GTR9 Pro 395 sounds insane — AMD says it’s close to an RTX 4070 laptop GPU. If that’s true, this might be the strongest mini PC GPU setup yet.
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Still runs windows
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There is absolutely demand.
Test AI please!
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Bought one. Can’t wait for it to arrive.
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I have the GMKtec version, it’s pretty impressive and I only paid £1700 for it after taxes. But the Minisforum one does look much nicer.
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That PC is so beautifull
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Yoyu said 80GBs USB, are you combining the 2 x 4.0 ports cause the info you show at about 1″46 shows 40GB/s x 2
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We all know who this is for ???? … madlads!! Nice crocs
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This would have been in strong consideration if I didn’t already build a 9950x system with nearly the same specifications. 128GB, 2x10GbE, 2TB Gen5 NVME SSD. Happened that the only SFP+ transceivers that worked in the Intel NIC I got were copper sadly. This would have been a nicer form factor for me and I like having the integrated power supply.
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Wonder what network capabilities USB4-2 has? Could you run bandwith limited 100G in some way now or with future HW, or like 3x 25G?
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the MS S1 is for HP Z2 Mini G1a customers who dislike mini displayport.
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The company needs this but we’ll never have it. We will keep on waiting 5-10 seconds for the video editing software to start playing after we hit the space bar.
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30 min video with nothing but cursory information. Amazing.
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I’m lost between this and zflow13, i want it for workstation but i want semi portability & i don’t want a laptop for sure. if i got with ms-s1 then id get a portable screen with it (espresso display 15).
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Who is this is for? Me!!!
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Looking for AI only
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10G copper is fine if it’s a more standard chipset. AQC is not so friendly with some of the other systems out there that might like this sort of horsepower for some and it isn’t so native in the Windows department either. Minisforum has been cheaping out on the networking of late, which is a bit of a let down.
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I have to say the cooling system, the internal heat and the noise factor are scaring me from buying. I would use the PCIe to install another 4x NVMEs – but I don’t like my data fried. Maybe we can get more info about the fan configuration options? Also I wonder if that space is enough to print a custom shroud and install some Noctuas?
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Yes, please on another in-depth video on AI.
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I see this kind of stuff as a cool “look what we can do” type project. But when you get down to it, for that money you can build a much better desktop. A chip like this in my mind only makes sense for a laptop.
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RealShit ethernet controllers, or intel?
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Sadly they didn’t include Thunderbolt ports.
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I think it’s bizarre that it has an embedded microphone in it…
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This was done very well.
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I don’t see a link in the description to the glkvm?
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Low power consumption in Idle ? The framework has 7W this has 16W…
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Bosgame is same specs, 1k EUR cheaper. I don’t get the pricing on these
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This is because they can… a clone of the hp z2? Mini g1a
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Thanks for starting with the price.
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Just heard about your channel on the LTT WAN show, and then happened to stumble upon an older video where you discussed the state of HexOS… Just clicked this newer video to compare and I have to say, well done on improving the sound quality! The older video I had trouble following because it sounded so muddy (and for me, especially on a subject I’m not that familiar with, it made it very hard to stay focussed on it as my brain just wants to go do something else). This video and the previous one (that I clicked just to see if it sounded the same) are much clearer 🙂
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surely you can plug a 10GB into a 2.5GB switch and run it at 2.5GB? So the 2.5GB ports on all these boxes are a complete waste of space. 2 x 10GBE is a great option.
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The fan noise at both low and high weren’t bad at all.
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Absolutely love your videos .There is nobody at your professional level doing videos .Lots of amateurs but nobody at your level.Kudos for doing the state of the art ,maybe not for everybody today ,but in one or two years thus will be the main stream so it’s nice to see the future without even being able to touch it .Once USB 4-2 will come into the game I am sure you will see many Chinese vendors with many products .Right now I am getting into a sweat just trying to find USB 4-1 on any reasonably priced laptop. I actually prefer the ports on the back as it’s easier for cable management .As for using USB 4-1 to RJ-45 I use this hack regularly as I find it reliable and affordable .RJ-45 motherboard driver updates are not always available on minipc’s out of China while the USB 4-1 adapters I find have very good updates .Thanks again for your frequent and very professional videos . you certainly have my avid attention Cheers
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Still no Batman cars video though… ????
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I have one of these earmarked for 2027/28 when the price has dropped and when reliability has been proven.
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Is it somehow possible to put an HBA or SATA card into the PCIe port and pull it out through the chassis with a riser without detroying the chassis? If not that port makes no real sense. Bifurcation on the PCIe port?
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9:05 Why does everything have to to be copper 10g on newer devices? Just give me SFP+, which anyone can turn into an RJ45 if they want. I can’t turn that RJ45 back into an SFP+ and save that considerable amount of power. Also I now have to deal with comparatively sensitive Cat6a+ instead of trouble free fiber or DAC. I get it, they seem familiar, but that really isn’t a valid argument in tech.
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Hey Robby, nice video – Feedback: I agree its missing AI, here some pointers, the CPU is called AI Max 395+ ????, the marketing material on the EU page lists 47 times AI, so i want some LLM workloads reviewed, thats a lot of people buying this primarly in my mind – Also slight correction at 1:42 its 8000 MT (Megatransfer) it would be 4000MHz accordingly, because of DDR (Double Data Rate) memory.
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AI devices need AI testing to see if they deserve the AI in the name of them.
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My question beside the fact that this is a 395, why is the igpu Only the 860 ? And not a 890 ? ???? I personly think the pricetag is not off the chart for 2x 10gb net and all the usb 4 ports. I would have like the biggest igpu, and maybe a version for those that prefere sfp ports or at least with the larger size a case that would support a full size real x16 gpu unless they want people to use this with an external gpu
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That looks like a great local AI machine, for self hosting. like, seriously considering grabbing that.
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For pricing, it could have been worth mentioning that it’s roughly in the same ballpark as other AMD 395+ 128GB systems (Framework-Desktop, GMK, HP, Leno, Beelink etc) For all around the £2000 GBP / $2000 USD
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17:40 at full load, fan high, it doesn’t seem so bad? What am I missing? I read another review which gave the impression the device was loud.
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Sorry buddy; 4 x usb4 and 2 x 10Gbe is NOT a game PC – more of a creator/workstation build ????????
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Idea for “AI” testing in a setting up where the dual ethernet port make sense : Run Home Assistant on Docker or Promox and run Home Assistant Voice on Full local processing mode. And look to similar tools to basically run LLM for voice assistants/smart speaker on full local.
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I wish the GMKtec EVO-X2 had 10Gbit ethernet…
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Arghh! I was just resigning myself to stretching the budget to one of these when I spotted the compromise, which would be acceptable in a package at half the price, but if I spend this much I want perfection! Two M.2 slots, tick! But wait – one of them is only Gen4x1! The house of cards comes crashing down! Yes, I guess I could get an adapter and repurpose that x16, but really only x4, PCIe slot as another Gen4x4, but at this price I should at least be able to reassign PCIe lanes in the BIOS, if not on the fly. I’m looking to build a Proxmox home server that is both a really high performance NAS and runs all my always-on servers and security. I do not need such high-end processing power, but I do want an uncompromised data path that leverages the full performance of at least two NVME SSDs.
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I wanted this for a Plex lol
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Wish older models would drop in price….
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@nascompares — LTT WAN Show mentioned you.
… about the Synology video transcoding fix.
ffw to 2;08;45
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im curious if this would be good as a golf sim pc, feels like maybe this model might too much or just right but minisforum is good to check out
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@NASCompares, can you do a comparison of the FrameWork Desktop and other Mini PCs on on the perspective of a homelabber.. Which of these can automatically boot on LAN?
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Good video, but please sell a few of those to fix your teeth. That is really really disturbing.
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I think minisforum has done stupendous engineering on this box. Yes, there are some design decisions I would have made other choices over, but as a mini-workstation this kicks. Is it $1,000 better than some rivals – I guess that depends on your use-case. For “AI” this isn’t it, unless you classify “AI” very narrowly. And face it, any expansion you do via those slutty ports is going to be hanging off it like… well, fill in your own analogy. What would be cool? Expansion chassis! Designed to fit directly under this, run some short cabling to some backbone/hub boards, and fill it up neatly with whatever your drinking that week. SAS? Sure! 24 bays! Discreet GPU? Yup, USB4v2 to PCIE should be a thing. They should go all Framework on that idea.
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its not even an argument, sfp+ all day. 10g copper is stupid
if i need copper i buy a transceiver for 30 bucks done
if i need fiber on a copper port im ducked
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Thats for me.
Great for running teams (well ya know lol) . Considering this vs Beelink GTR9 pro. I built a mini-itx system about 3 years ago…. but smaller, more compact is better.
This looks like better cooling and has USB4
They don’t ship with AU plug though. Hmmm, more to think about.
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side note: Robbie, I have no idea how you keep managing to outdo yourself with the quality of your videos, but you nonetheless pull it off ????
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$2,299.00 rig still no ECC memory lmao
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on paper, this thing is the best Strix Halo box we’ve seen yet. but they literally *cannot* support the amount of I/O they claim to *unless* they have gotten some kind of custom build from AMD, because there simply aren’t enough PCIe lanes coming off the back of a Strix Halo system to provide connectivity to all of it.
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The S1 Max is ALMOST perfect, but I’d rather have no PCI slot and all those PCI lanes going to 4x internal PCIe4x4 m.2 cards. Then the dimensions could be 44mm x 232mm, ie; just under exactly half a 1ru device so it would fit perfectly in those new 10″ racks.
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What controller chip are they using for the USB4 v2 controller? As far as I can tell this is the first AMD system with these ports
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Came for the Minisforum, stayed for the comedy! ????
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I think the main use case for this box right now (other than people who have money to spare) is AI (machine learning). Things like gaming don’t benefit much from a 128 GiB unified RAM configuration, and that’s all Minisforum offers this in so far.
But I don’t personally care that you didn’t benchmark machine learning. I watched this video hoping for as deep a dive as possible on the internal construction, cooling and how it differs from the other Strix Halo options.
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When is the crocs review?
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Well done for calling out the misleading marketing
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Please test it with 8TB NVMEs and see if it can go above what Minisforum states.
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hrm.. build a small office cluster with 3 or 4 of these and run some vms …
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need AI test and comparison with fullsized PC
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The 10gbps port makes this a better choice over the framework
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What is the noise level app you are using on the phone?
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Minisforum doing the lord work insane unit good engineering on their team ❤
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Comet Pro! Nice!
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Who is it for? The clue is in the crocs! De-ne-ne-ne-ne-nuh, de-ne-ne-ne-ne-ne-nuh, Prox-mox! (Bif! Bam! Pow!)
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What about PCI-E x16? Yes, we have one this time. Wait a minute it’s only x4, not even x8 – that’s even worse!
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I don’t believe this is mountable in a 2U rack as advertised: It seems to pull the air from the top.
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2:17 Them Crocs rock ????
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I can’t wait to hear some performance info about ollama under Fedora Linux! 🙂
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I was laughing so hard when you put your feet up with those Crocs on???? Thank you for that. This pc seems pretty future proof but concerned about nvme location and how hot it sits at idle and the amount of noise it puts out. I’ve never heard of usb42. Why no occulink? Pcie what graphics will fit looks so small in that area. And lastly the price are they including tarrifs in price?
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after one of these, between this and HP version, I know HP will have better support but this has more features
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And then you saw the price! Oh, wait! They sent it for free! And we all get you’re only pushing those crocs ‘cos you want to get the Spidy ones on a freebie! ???? ????
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NASCompares: Who is this for??
Me: Anyone who can afford the damn thing…
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There is a lot of mini PCs on that platform, Minisforum even a bit late to this party. And they all cost ~2k+
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Thanks for the detailed video. This device would be perfect for my living room because the design would fit in perfectly and it looks stylish and compact. I actually want a small, compact computer just for gaming. What else interests me is rack mounting?
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Only a single 4×4 M.2 ????Do I really have to use up that PCIe slot to get a 2nd 4×4 M.2 in the system? If that isn’t disappointing I don’t know what is.
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This machine is super cheap compared to its competitors, the target market is AI, your missing the point
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AI homelab budgets are wild vs normal people’s spend… there are folks running 10 to 20K worth of GPUs on r/localllm
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What they have made is a Dell Optiplex
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The price seems reasonable compared to a home-brew Ryzen 12C 24T PC I built 5 years ago.
My PC has more ports (no 10 Gbe), is quieter and runs cooler . . . a Minisforum . . . cold . . . product would be good.
Many cores allow a PC to multi-tasks with ease. Would I buy one if it was cooler and quieter? Yes
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This product is for me. I am deciding between this and a Mac for AI processing large language models that can’t fit on my 4090 host. Work recently provided me a Mac book with 48 gb of unified memory for small scale stuff.
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4x usb4, with two of those doing twice the speed? Very nice indeed. And I do prefer SFP+ for backbone and NAS, but PC I prefer with rj45 ????
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MS A2 was good enough, this max version takes it up to ridiculously amazing
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Huh !
What ??
Sorry, I couldn’t pay attention, that Casio is just too shiny. It keeps touching my soul.
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Is it for me? Probably not.
Do I want it? ABSOLUTELY!!!
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after the price, I don’t even need to watch it anymore, it does not matter what it does. Can build a 9800X3D with a GPU for that and spank this
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Crocs made popular by the movie Idiocracy… ????
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It’s for me!
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My biggets takeaway from this video is not the hardware or the crocs but knowing where this is filmed having spent plenty of time there growing up. Next time I am that way I will randomly wave at the window!
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… price … lollllllllllllllllll
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where are all the pcie lanes gone? the big pcie 16x is a 4x only and only one m.2 is 4x, the other is shittified to 1x only, went all that throughput for usb4 and network card?
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Mini PCs are mostly a niche hobby for dabblers. I can build something that runs circles around this maxed out. The heat issues are still a huge issue.
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Dude, that intro 😀 masterclass
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I am considering which of my kids to sell to afford this.
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I prefer manufacturers use open ended PCIe slots, so if it’s a 4x slot ship with a 4x PCIe slot but make it open-ended with x16 clearance so if you want to put in a 16x slot card you can but you will know exactly what to expect from it which is x4 speeds for whatever the maximum supported speed the slot and card can negotiate. Then it doesn’t matter what the marketing materials say because it’s obvious from the slot size the most you can expect (the the marketing materials/BIOS can clarify what PCIe versions are supported/in use.)
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For me the elephant in the room is if it’s USD $300 better than the Beelink and Gmktech options.
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Brilliantly informative and entertaining as always. All you need now is the seagull-shaped NAS signal ???????? ????
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Yes! I just bought this specifically for ai with the “unified” memory and being able to load larger models. I plan to dedicate this machine to that running Linux just for the memory flexibility.
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Not for anyone. Prices are ridiculously high. They left their core value which supposed to be under $1000 with extremely good product. But nowadays, they’re trying hard to go for higher price, which means they will lose potential customers.
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I thought my A2 was overkill…
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I was watching for the segment where you ran gpt-oss-120b. I feel like thats a good AI test because it needs lots of VRAM which this system should be able to handle. Then run the smaller 20B just to show it compared to a gaming card sized model. Those two tests would be quick and easy for you to run. Being able to run larger models locally is the one of the few reasons to buy a system like this. Install LLM Studio, click to download them both, run a couple standard prompts, and just report the tokens per second.
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75% of the PC market will look like this in 7 years.
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It’s for creators with limited space. We rack these small machines and add EGPUs. When there are T5 EGPUs we will get them
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And look, they managed to put in an internal power supply 🙂
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for AI geeks too poor for M4 Max Mac Studio (which is way faster) or too poor for proper nVidia setup (which is way way way faster)
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2:20 solid purchase sir. *Opens Amazon.. new search… Batman cro….
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Thought this was supposed to have ecc with rackmount wtf
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Definitely needs the AI testing — this chip with 128GB was made for it. Good review regardless but hope to see a follow up review!
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When you reached i was expecting the crocs, how many feet storage bays they have?
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2:15 That Crocs reveal was glorious ????????
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Gosh, every single time one of the Minisfourms show up I wish I could buy it more and more, they seem like such a blast to mess with but that price ????
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On their announcement stream yesterday, they said that is even TB5. They use a TB5 chip, but dont have certification for it.
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2:14 this is chef’s kiss
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I’m just waiting for the MS-A2 to come down in price or on sale. I’ve got the nvme drives and memory for the build. Thanks for the info and I’d love it if I had the funds…
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Disappointed with the lack of AI testing, but I understand and agree with your reasons.
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