MINISFORUM MS-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

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.

I am a Mac person through and through but have a few workloads that don’t work well in Parallels, so I started looking for a minimalistic approach that didn’t require me to buy an expensive laptop or bulky desktop. I found great articles about the Minisforum MS-01 and was impressed with its upgradable design, size, and performance characteristics. I bought the largest model and got a 4Tb NMVe SSD and a Yeston RTX 3050 low-profile GPU as upgrades.The PC was super easy to set up. I first cloned the 1Tb SSD to the 4Tb SSD and installed it without any problem by removing just 3 screws. The video card was even easier to install as it required a single screw to be removed. I connected the PC to my 10Gbps network using an SFP+ fiber adapter and was off to the races. The boot time was super fast and after a few obligatory Windows installation steps, I was up and running, connected to the internet, and had a great 4K image. I was glad to see it came with a Windows 11 Pro license and absolutely zero apps; just the necessary drivers.The forums mentioned that upgrading the BIOS was important and that was easy too, although that entire process was much better explained on the forums than in the Minisforum documentation. It took just 5 minutes in the end and allowed me to see a lot of interesting features in the BIOS as well.Now that I’ve run the system for a week, I’m so impressed. It’s unbelievable how powerful this minuscule PC is and how easy it was to expand. It’s not as quiet as my Mac Studio Pro, but it’s totally fine from a noise perspective.I highly recommend the Minisforum MS-01.

Order arrived quickly. Concerned to see the box was obviously dropped. The cardboard shipping box was in perfect condition, indicating that shipping was not where the product box was damaged. Upon removing the outer plastic and opening the outer package box, the inner corner matched the outer package damage. This area of the package is where the power supply is located. There does not appear to be damage to the power supply. The computer itself is in packing foam, under the cardboard and has no apparent damage.I am concerned that a drop of this magnitude may have shocked the inner components of the computer. I have not yet powered on the device, as I need to install the NVMe and Memory.