Geekom AX8 Pro Review: an incredibly compact yet capable mini PC

Lengthy gone are the times when a excessive efficiency PC required an enormous beige case to sit down in your desk. This Geekom AX8 Professional reveals that the longer term is small, or on this case, tiny – this mini PC is among the smallest you should purchase proper now, sufficiently small to slot in your hand at simply 4.3-inches vast.

Whereas this top-end Geekom mini PC is small, it’s mighty in efficiency, with the AX8 Professional providing parts that make it an ideal possibility for day by day use. It’s an all AMD affair – the eight-core AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS that powers it’s formidable, and whereas the built-in AMD Radeon 780M GPU received’t be competing with the perfect gaming PCs on the market, it may well nonetheless deal with some trendy video games at 1080p, as lengthy you select them fastidiously.

The whole lot concerning the AX8 Professional feels excessive finish, from the field it shipped in to the all metallic chassis to the spectacular efficiency. I may genuinely see myself utilizing it on a day-to-day foundation as a full substitute for my desktop PC, nevertheless it’s essential to acknowledge its limitations: it is a day by day driver, all-use mini PC, and never one which’s constructed particularly for gaming.

With that in thoughts, I examined the Geekom AX8 Professional out for just a few days, seeing how nicely it carried out on the whole use as each a piece and gaming PC.

Specs

The Geekom AX8 Professional isn’t probably the most highly effective mini PC you should purchase, nevertheless it definitely sits on the high finish of the spectrum. We examined a mannequin with the eight-core, 16-thread AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS CPU, clocked at 4.0GHz with a lift clock velocity as much as 5.2GHz and a thermal design energy (TDP) ranking of 45W.

Geekom additionally provides a much less highly effective model of the AX8 Professional with a Ryzen 7 8845HS – the distinction between them is negligible, with a small discount in base and enhance clock speeds within the Ryzen 7 8845HS (3.8GHz and 5.1GHz respectively) in comparison with the Ryzen 9 8945HS.

Each variations ship with the built-in AMD Radeon 780M GPU, primarily based on the corporate’s RDNA 3 structure and housing 16 Compute Items. It handles normal 1080p gaming fairly nicely in most, however not all, trendy video games. The AX8 Professional additionally comes with 32GB (2 x 16GB) of Essential DDR5 RAM operating at 5600MT/s, though you may improve this to as much as 64GB in a future improve.

For storage, you may select between both a 1TB and 2TB NVMe SSD, relying on the mannequin you select. In our assessment mannequin, this was an Acer branded 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, providing loads of storage for a good variety of video games and apps.

Options

There’s a great deal of connections on provide on the Geekom AX8 Professional. There’s WiFi 6E and Bluetooth assist plus it features a 2.5G Ethernet port for wired connections, which is greater than loads for dealing with excessive finish gaming, so long as your community setup is nice sufficient.

There’s loads of exterior I/O on provide, too. On the again, the AX8 Professional has two HDMI 2.0 ports for a number of shows, together with a number of USB ports. One among these is a USB 4 gen 3 that gives a 3rd show output by way of DisplayPort over USB assist. It might deal with resolutions as much as 8K at 30Hz and may be related to the DisplayPort sockets of regular displays through the use of an adapter or join on to these shows that embody a USB-C enter. There’s additionally one other Sort-C USB 3.2 port, together with two Sort-As, one USB 3.2 gen 2 and one other USB 2.0. You’ll additionally discover the two.5G Ethernet port and DC energy jack on the again.

On the entrance, there are two extra USB Sort-A ports (2 x USB 3.2 gen 2) and a 3.5mm headphone port. Whereas it isn’t technically a part of the PC itself, the Geekom AX8 Professional additionally ships with one actually helpful accent: a helpful VESA mount which you can connect to it, permitting you to cover the PC fully by mounting it to your monitor or TV.

Geekom provides a 30-day returns interval and a three-year guarantee for all of its mini PCs, and the AX8 Professional isn’t any exception right here. Geekom doesn’t present a lot indication as to what’s lined and what isn’t, past a disclaimer over intentional misuse or “unauthorized” modifications.

Design

The design of the Geekom AX8 Professional isn’t going to shock you – it’s small and it’s a sq.. The form is the least attention-grabbing half about this construct, as a result of held inside its boxy chassis is a really cleverly-designed mini PC. The case is 4.6 x 4.37 x 1.51-inches in measurement, which is arguably one of many smallest mini PCs you should purchase proper now.

The complete metallic casing appears to be like and feels premium to the contact, with a glowing silver impact that manages to raise it above only a metallic field. On the edges, an aesthetically pleasing honeycomb design permits air to vent by means of, although this design isn’t echoed within the rear vents, which is a little bit of a disgrace.

Whereas the grills look nice for probably the most half, although, they’re additionally liable for my greatest gripe with the Geekom AX8 Professional. It is a small PC, and the followers do an ideal job of maintaining the system cool, however the system is designed in such a manner that the sound of the air compelled out by means of the vents on the again is like that of a jet engine, if the system is working onerous. It’s a commerce off you’ll have to just accept, nevertheless, given the extremely small measurement of this mini PC. Plus, below basic, lighter utilization, I couldn’t hear it a lot in any respect, nevertheless it was a distinct story whereas I used to be gaming.

Returning to the case itself, the great factor concerning the I/O on each the entrance and the again is that the ports themselves are very cleanly recessed again contained in the metallic. It makes the ports really feel as stable because the case, with out stopping you from utilizing them. Flip the case over and the honeycomb vents proceed, overlaying your entire backside of the system, apart from the 2 lengthy rubber ft for the case to sit down on.

One factor to notice concerning the AX8 Professional is that, regardless of the small measurement, it truly feels fairly heavy, although it’s only one.21lbs. Which may not sound like a lot, however the compact nature of the AX8 Professional makes it a noticeable weight in your bag if you happen to’re planning on transporting it anyplace. The metallic casing makes it very sturdy, although, so it’ll stand as much as a good quantity of in-bag jostling.

Ought to it is advisable open up the AX8 Professional for an improve or some tinkering, simply 4 screws maintain the underside in place – the highest then pulls straight off. Beneath, you’ll see the equipped RAM and SSD, which in our check mannequin consists of 32GB (2 x 16GB) of Essential DDR5 RAM in SODIMM format and an Acer N7000 NVMe M.2 SSD. Whereas there aren’t any spare growth slots so as to add extra reminiscence or storage, Geekom has made upgrading simple sufficient, due to the very accessible positioning of the modules themselves.

If you wish to use the equipped VESA mount, you’ll have to screw two mounting screws to the again of the AX8 Professional, which permit it to securely slot into the mount when it’s hooked up to a monitor or TV.

Benchmarks

The Geekom AX8 Professional may assist a 4K decision, however with a Radeon 780M, enjoying video games at 4K and even 1440p isn’t on the playing cards. In case you shift right down to 1080p, nevertheless, then gaming will get much more real looking, though you’ll want to select your video games fastidiously, as a result of as our benchmarks present, your mileage actually will fluctuate.

As an example, Cyberpunk 2077 may be punishing even with the perfect graphics playing cards, however particularly with a laptop-grade GPU just like the Radeon 780M. Even with low preset settings, the AX8 Professional solely managed 43fps on common. That did improve to nearer to the magic 60fps mark with AMD FSR switched on, however enabling FSR at 1080p comes with its personal drawbacks, because the low decision place to begin for the upscaling ends in a lot blurrier graphics.

Issues had been significantly better in F1 2024, nevertheless. Once more, utilizing low presets, the AX8 Professional managed to hit 73fps on common, with lows of solely 70fps. In comparison with Cyberpunk 2077, F1 2024 is a a lot much less graphically demanding sport, making it a neater journey for the AMD Radeon 780M to deal with.

Lastly, Whole Battle: Warhammer 3 scored 52fps on common, additionally utilizing a low graphics preset. That will surely be playable for probably the most half, nevertheless it once more demonstrates the constraints of the GPU’s energy, and also you’ll have to anticipate the odd stutter during times of excessive demand mid-game.

The artificial benchmark assessments had been a bit of extra attention-grabbing, nevertheless. The CPU scored 953 factors in Cinebench R24, throughout a multi-threaded check, and 108 factors within the single-threaded check, exhibiting constant efficiency all through.

Efficiency throughout 3DMark’s Time Spy assessments, nevertheless, starkly highlights the 2 sides to this mini PC. Specifically, the massive hole between the Time Spy CPU and GPU scores, scoring 11,433 for the CPU and a pair of,986 for the GPU, reveals simply how huge the gulf in efficiency is when the AX8 Professional is performing CPU-heavy and GPU-heavy duties.

Worth

A top quality construct and highly effective parts come at a premium, and sadly, the Geekom AX8 Professional isn’t hitting our greatest price range gaming PC shortlist any time quickly. This Geekom PC is firmly within the top-end of the mini PC market, irrespective of which possibility you select, with MSRPs starting from $749 to $899, relying on the specs.

In distinction, loads of mini PCs on the decrease finish of the market can be found within the $300-400 vary, however crucially these aren’t 1080p gaming-capable. Whilst you may spend lots much less on a mini PC just like the Blackview MP200, it’s not going to be getting you cheap 1080p gaming just like the AX8 Professional.

In the meantime, bigger gaming PCs provide significantly extra energy for a similar value, with simpler improve choices too. Nonetheless, even $899 remains to be fairly a good price range for a full-size gaming PC, so we’re not speaking a few monstrous machine capable of sport at 4K.

As for different moveable gaming comparisons, trendy gaming handhelds just like the Steam Deck or Asus ROG Ally, provide higher gaming efficiency and even higher portability, however are far much less suited to extra basic PC utilization than the AX8 Professional.

In case you’re involved in choosing up a Geekom AX8 Professional, you may reap the benefits of Geekom’s Black Friday deal. Proper now, the 1TB model of the AX8 Professional has a 16% low cost, bringing the worth down to only $599, whereas the 2TB model has an even bigger 20% saving, costing simply $759.

You may seize both mannequin from the Geekom web site utilizing this hyperlink right here. In case you’re primarily based within the UK, you should utilize this hyperlink to buy the AX8 Professional instantly from the Geekom UK web site as an alternative.

Amazon clients also can seize the identical reductions for every AX8 Professional mannequin within the US. You may seize the 1TB model through the use of this hyperlink or the 2TB model utilizing this hyperlink as an alternative. Be fast, although, because the provide ends on December 2, 2024.

Verdict

The fantastic thing about the Geekom AX8 Professional is in its design. With out query, Geekom has actually triumphed right here in condensing a very highly effective all-rounder PC right into a case that’s simply inches vast. Whereas the loud cooling followers below heavy masses is a commerce off, it’s a good one, because the AX8 Professional is a high-performance, high-grade mini PC that’s moveable sufficient to take anyplace you go. It feels sturdy, surviving a number of journeys in my backpack with out a single scratch.

The AX8 Professional isn’t essentially a high finish gaming PC, however our benchmarks present it may well nearly maintain its personal, so long as you’re completely happy sticking with 1080p at low settings with the odd body fee drop. Finally, it is a jack-of-all-trades mini PC first and a gaming machine second, aimed extra on the informal gamer.

Nonetheless, it’s essential to say the worth. With an MSRP of between $749 and $899, relying on the storage and CPU choices you select, the Geekom AX8 Professional doesn’t provide the perfect cost-to-performance ratio for gaming that you could find. It’s neither as highly effective as a full-size gaming PC of the identical value nor as moveable and handy as a gaming handheld that’s cheaper.

All in all, although, the Geekom AX8 Professional is a good alternative if you happen to’re an informal gamer searching for a mini PC that may do all of it. It received’t attraction if you happen to’re on a price range, however if you happen to can afford it, the AX8 Professional gives you loads of energy for nearly something you wish to do, all in a PC which you can slot in your pocket.

Take a look at our greatest mini gaming PC information subsequent, the place you may assessment our collection of among the finest pre-built small kind issue PCs which you can at the moment purchase.