MINISFORUMMS-A1 Mini Workstation Mini Barebone Pc, DDR5/4xM.2 NVMe SSD, Dual 2.5G RJ45 Mini PC,HDMI/DP/Type-C,4xUSB Ports,Supports AMD AM5 CPU,WiFi 6E&BT5.2 Mini Computer(NO CPU/NO RAM/NO SSD/NO OS)

rare setup. very attractive.Pros:* cpu socket* removeable wifi/bluetooth chip* runs old win10 and many *nix os* amazing connectivity port options* bios reset button is hidden for basic security* bios battery wires have a connector to disconnect current to hard reset bios* extreme mobility* barebones option* priceCons:* bios lacks maturity* bios lacks features* bios will not properly reboot after conflicting option changes, meaning you need to take the front flash cover off to access the bios reset button* bios battery appears to be hard to replace as it has some plastic shrink wrap around it. wires might be soldered. idk.* minisforum website drivers appear to only work for win11. there are win10 amd drivers for cpu igpu that work on old win10* heat sink sucks. 9600x idles around 78 celsius with indium foil, even at 30 watt limited ppd, 7950x3D idles around 90 celsius with a low quality thermal pad from amazon. i aim to customize mine for the new ice giant 360 cooler coming june 2025. however, amd software reports the gpu side of the 9600x to idle at 58 celsius. i ran furmark 2 and Prime95 stress tests for 20 minutes each. igpu max temp 78-80 celcius, cpu max temp 91-92 avg 90 celsius. i think since the igpu reads lower temps on the same die as cpu heat sensor that cpu temp might be a core temp. however amd did say the 9950x3D would have a revised layout so some heat generating parts wont overheat the chip by placing them closest to the surface of the chip... so who knows this heat issue could partly be the combined fault of amd, the bios, and the cooler. custom solution required or dont buy.* many linux distros dont have compatible firmware for network card or graphics, etc. some do though. including older versions of distros oddly.* as ive read online updating the bios is a chore and not for averagw users who have never touched a command lineoverall, for what it is, i highly value this unique product. it is for niche users, but i own 2.. one from amazon and one ordered from minisforum website.5 Stars given, but i would deduct 1 for bios and drivers, especially linux drivers and old win10 driver availability. the heat issue deserves 1 star deduction but since i will customize i will allow a pass.

Works great. I added RAM and an M.2 with no issues. Easy to take apart and reassemble. BIOS picked up the items right away. I also added a 10GB RJ-45 card with no issues. I am using this as a ProxMox server and it handles 12 VMs with no issues.. Overkill, but it can do anything now, 10GB SFP+, 10GB RJ45, and 2.5GB RJ45 connections. M.2 is fast and plenty of memory. It's quiet and the HDMI adapter and usb ports work great with my KVM switch. A great small PC box for anything you need

I originally tried to buy 3 via their official store, but they seemed unwilling or unable to ship after WEEKS (and then also unable/unwilling to cancel until I threatened a chargeback). This sales/support experience will be important later. So I ended up get 3 from Amazon (with next-day delivery!) for the same price as direct from their store.These little systems are real powerhouses. I have all three (i5 barebones) setup as a Proxmox cluster with Ceph (using 64GB of RAM, 2x 8TB NVME drives for Ceph storage, and a smaller SSD for the OS), and making real good use out of the dual 10Gb SFP+ ports. These have been GREAT... except when one of them failed a month later (while I was on a 2-week vacation). Now, this wasn't an issue (everything that was running on them came up on the other two in the cluster). And when I said "dead", I mean no lights, nothing. And replacing the power brick did not resolve the issue, so it was something with the power components on the board itself.Given my experience with their sales support, I bought a 4th (on Amazon) before attempting RMA of the broken unit. But it turns out, other than them trying to tell me to use a pin to press the non-existent reset button, their post-sales return/RMA process wasn't too bad, though I did have to pay for the return shipping (~$16). But they were quick to agree to replace it, and gave me a shipping address to send it to, and the replacement was shipped out the day after it was received.I've ended up using the 4th now for a desktop (replacing my 12-year-old desktop), with 10Gb fiber connection back to the rack for access to the Ceph storage pool.So so far, 1/4 died after 1 month of use, but their RMA support is pretty good, even if their site sales support was VERY poor.In all, I'm pretty happy with these for my homelab. They only take about 55W each and are more than sufficient for their workloads. And they're quiet. All around really good systems, and the option for an i9 (which supports up to 96GB of RAM) is available for those needing more power. And all for a really good price (really, the 2x8TB SSDs were the most expensive part of the project).So in general, I can definitely recommend these, especially if buying on Amazon (or at least not the OEM's official site)... especially if you need (or can use) 10GbE networking.

On paper this mini desktop seems to check all the boxes for a perfect lab/firewall machine 2.5G lan, 10GB SFP ports, that’s where it ends. I’ve now tried two replacements of these desktops and both failed to power on after a while and no this isn’t bad memory or bad nvme storage. This is a known issue the desktop sufferers from. If you do a search, you will find others experiencing the same issue it seems to be an issue with the motherboard draining the CMOS battery. Once that happens it will no longer power up. Some others have replaced the battery only for it to fail again. I’ve even seen when I set the time in the BIOS and restart and re-enter the BIOS the time is wrong and behind a few hours, this happens even after being on the most recent BIOS.Minisfourm customer service is also terrible others have complained on their discord channel about waiting months for warranty replacement claim and made some people pay for warranty support. I tried reaching out to them and no response after three weeks. I would stay pass on this desktop and look for another brand entirely.

GREAT, super fast, im using 8700g and 32gb ram, i think is ths best for this model, you can play light games a very good fps