GMKTec Evo-X2 Mini PC Review

It wasn’t agelong agone that getting a mini PC meant trading show for size. Shrinking things down to a instrumentality that you could easy transportation successful a backpack oregon fell down your TV meant settling for sluggish oregon outdated processors, and gaming show that topped retired astatine emulating retro games – if you were lucky. There are inactive plentifulness of those PCs retired there, but arsenic Intel and AMD person released caller processors, the show imaginable of these tiny systems has near the solid ceiling successful shards.

The GMKtec EVO-X2 is precisely specified a system. Compact capable to clasp successful the thenar of your hand, this strategy packs earnestly almighty hardware, including the AMD Ryzen 9 AI Max+ 395 processor and 64GB to 128GB of memory. It was designed for AI, but with its integrated Radeon 8060S GPU, it’s besides a susceptible small mini gaming PC.

GMKTec EVO-X2 - Design and Features

Measuring successful astatine lone 7.6 x 7.3 x 3.03 inches (2.75L), the EVO-X2 is designed to vanish connected your desk. It tin descent down astir monitors or, arsenic I did, fell underneath a riser shelf. The tiny plan is portion and parcel of what the EVO-X2, and the bulk of shaper GMKtec’s merchandise line, is each about. It’s a PC for radical that don’t privation the footprint of a afloat operation oregon laptop, beryllium those the space-constrained radical looking for a media PC to tuck down their TV oregon projector screen, oregon those looking to easy transport their main strategy betwixt antithetic locations.

But the EVO-X2 breaks the mold successful a fewer antithetic ways. First off, you’ll find that it is ever truthful somewhat larger than galore different systems successful this category. But its other tallness allows for improved ventilation, which is decidedly indispensable considering its specs.

It’s inactive boxy, but GMKtec besides made bully usage of that added tallness with the much stylish plan of its case. Its apical fractional is smaller with 1 country removed to marque mode for a dedicated instrumentality mode button. The apical is besides removable to adhd an other full-size M.2 SSD if you request it.

Note that the portion I was sent for investigating came with a 1TB SSD and 64GB of memory. Any portion shipped to customers volition person a minimum of 2TB and 64GB but tin beryllium configured each the mode to 4TB and 128GB.

While astir mini PCs person little show processors lone suited for basal productivity tasks, the EVO-X2 is amended specced than galore pre-built laptops. It’s adjacent designed for casual retention upgrades, which isn’t ever imaginable with ultra-compact signifier factors. Due to the plan of the motherboard with its Ryzen 9 AI Max+ chipset, representation is non-upgradeable, truthful beryllium definite to deliberation into the aboriginal erstwhile considering however overmuch representation you’ll need.

The prima of the amusement is its Ryzen 9 processor. AMD’s Ryzen 9 AI Max 395+ is 1 the highest show AI mobile processors disposable to consumers today. It’s a 16-core, 32-thread multitasking beast capable to deed a apical velocity of 5.1 GHz – a cardinal origin successful however good it’s capable to tally games and applications. It has a dedicated neural processing portion (NPU) for accelerated AI tasks that’s capable to scope 50 TOPS of show connected its ain and brings the strategy to 126 TOPS overall.

More important for gaming is the integrated Radeon 8060S graphics that travel with the AI Max 395+. For integrated graphics, it’s connected the implicit cutting borderline of performance. Built connected the RDNA 3.5 architecture, it’s 1 of the archetypal integrated GPUs that’s really capable to vie with afloat gaming laptops with dedicated GPUs – albeit, conscionable not the latest.

It’s important to retrieve that this is still an integrated graphics chip. When I reviewed the Asus ROG Flow Z13, besides utilizing the aforesaid chip, it delivered in-game framework rates astir successful enactment with an Nvidia RTX 4050 to 4060. While that mightiness not look that awesome from a gaming laptop perspective, there is nary dedicated GPU in this system, the 1 processor is handling everything. That means little weight, little powerfulness draw, and that the EVO-X2 tin enactment arsenic a dedicated gaming PC if you’re consenting to play astatine 4060-level settings.

And since it’s besides built connected AMD’s latest graphics standards, it’s capable to instrumentality vantage of its latest show enhancers, similar FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) and framework generation. Together with the autochthonal show connected offer, determination is much gaming and graphic imaginable successful this strategy than we’ve ever tested successful a mini gaming PC. That’s exciting. And portion it’s not the lone strategy of its benignant to connection this spot now, it is inactive 1 of precise fewer that you could really usage arsenic a gaming PC.

Its larboard enactment is besides generous. On the front, you person 2 10 Gbps USB Type-A ports and a USB 4 Type-C for overmuch higher velocity transfers and transportation bandwidth (GMKTec doesn’t disclose whether it’s 20 Gbps oregon 40 Gbps). There’s besides a headphone jack, a full-size SD paper reader, a Performance Mode fastener that increases the disposable wattage to the CPU, and the powerfulness button. Just supra the powerfulness fastener is the aforementioned instrumentality mode power and a ample vent that besides shows the fan’s RGB.

Around the back, determination are 3 much USB Type-A ports (two USB 2.0 astatine 5 Gbps and the 3rd USB 3.2 Gen2 10 Gbps), a 2nd USB4, a 2nd 3.5mm audio jack, and a 2.5G gigabit ethernet port. Video connectivity is besides located connected the backmost sheet with full-size ports for HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4, and the USB 4 larboard tin besides enactment video input. The system’s powerfulness ceramic besides connects backmost here.

The EVO-X2 comes acceptable to usage retired of the box. There’s a afloat Windows 11 installation activated for usage and a deficiency of bloatware. It’s astir a wholly banal Windows instal but for GMKTec’s AI suite which provides nonstop entree to respective downloadable LLMs (large connection models) and AI tools. You don’t request to usage this, however, and strategy TDP is controlled with the Performance Mode button, the Windows Power presets, and immoderate options you configure yourself done the BIOS oregon supporting software.

Performance

The EVO-X2 is the astir powerful, high-performance mini-PC I’ve personally tested and, by virtuousness of determination not being galore that diagnostic the aforesaid spot and GMKtec’s unsocial improvements, it’s 1 of the champion disposable today. I utilized it for some enactment and gaming, swapping retired my employer-provided laptop and my accustomed gaming laptop (until the merchandise of Battlefield 6, anyway).

When it comes to productivity, the EVO-X2 is overkill. The hardware acold exceeds astir PCs designed for enactment and determination isn’t overmuch it can’t do. Its monolithic representation capableness and accelerated processor marque everything from the Microsoft Office suite to moving Chrome with a fewer twelve tabs unfastened and the Microsoft Office suite wholly reasonable.

Blending unneurotic my time occupation with writing, I often find myself needing to make abbreviated photograph and video projects utilizing tools similar Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro, arsenic good arsenic online tools similar Photoshop’s online version, Photopea, and Canva. Like galore enactment provided PCs, the systems provided to maine conscionable can’t grip each of these tasks. While downloading connected that strategy is retired of the question anyway, adjacent moving the web mentation of Photoshop drags the strategy to a crawl. Multitasking is retired of the question.

With the EVO-X2, I was capable to render a 1440p video successful the inheritance portion moving connected a agelong Google Doc, bouncing to a multi-tab Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, and hardly noticed much than the instrumentality ramping up. While it tin get noisy, it's inactive quieter than your mean gaming laptop susceptible of akin performance.

When it comes to gaming, the EVO-X2 is simply a mini-PC powerhouse. Performance inactive approximates an RTX 4060 laptop GPU and, portion adjacent to the Asus ROG Flow Z13 I reviewed with the aforesaid processor, did negociate to agelong its legs a spot more.

In the illustration above, you tin spot that adjacent with everything moving astatine max settings, each of the games tested were playable astatine 1080p. While I wouldn’t counsel dropping the solution beneath 1080p connected thing but a tiny portable show with this system, you could easy dial backmost immoderate settings to propulsion each crippled successful this line-up to adjacent oregon supra 60 FPS.

Because the strategy is utilizing AMD’s latest graphics technologies, you’ll besides beryllium capable to usage framework procreation to adjacent the spread further. Developers person to enactment this, but an expanding fig of games do. Between balancing frame-gen and adjusting settings, I was capable to support games similar Borderlands 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 moving smoothly supra 60 FPS astatine precocious settings and looking great. Just beryllium alert that enabling framework procreation connected games wherever you’re not already getting astir 40 fps tin pb to problems.

That doesn’t mean the strategy volition tally everything and, no, it decidedly isn’t going to vie with overmuch higher than an RTX 4060. Battlefield 6, for example, conscionable wouldn’t tally good without dropping everything to its lowest settings. This is inactive an integrated graphics chip, adjacent if an impressively susceptible one.

The strategy is ostensibly designed for AI usage and moving section models, which isn’t thing I mostly do. That said, a mates of my favourite AI dictation applications, SuperWhisper and SpeechPulse, connection enactment for section models, truthful I took each for a spin. The situation present is that it obfuscates what the LLM is really doing and immoderate existent metrics connected its processing velocity down each program’s UI. But, the processing clip and reliability were some fantabulous with section models, truthful it intelligibly didn’t conflict with GPT 4.1 portion I besides researched and worked successful the background.

Christopher Coke has been a regular contributor to IGN since 2019 and has been covering games and exertion since 2013. He has covered tech ranging from gaming controllers to graphics cards, gaming chairs and gaming monitors, headphones, IEMs, and much for sites specified arsenic MMORPG.com, Tom’s Hardware, Popular Science, USA Today’s Reviewed, and Popular Mechanics. Find Chris connected Twitter @gamebynight.