Minisforum seems to be close to releasing its AMD-based Mobile on Desktop (MoDT) motherboard, which features an AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX for $519. Not bad, read on:
Minisforum looks to be giving customers a choice between two different AMD Ryzen 7000 series mobile processors; the first is the Ryzen 7 7745X with 8 cores and 16 threads (model BD770i) or the Ryzen 9 7945HX with 16 cores and 32 threads of Zen 4 processing power (model BD790i)
We have an integrated RDNA 2-based GPU, which has just 2 Compute Units, so it's a super limited GPU setup that won't be for 4K 120Hz gaming.
Still, the AMD version here features a full-sized PCIe Gen5 x16 slot for any graphics card you want to throw into the system, as well as M.2 SSD storage that's Gen5-capable. Intel's mobile-focused MoDT motherboards don't feature Gen5 SSD support, so that's a win for the AMD-powered MoDT motherboard from Minisforum.
- Read more: AMD Mobile on Desktop Mini-ITX mobo: support Hawk Point APUs
- Read more: Mobile AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX outperforms Intel's flagship Core i9-13980HX CPU
The company has also used a fantastic cooling solution, with a bigger heatsink for the AMD Ryzen CPU, and a smaller one for the super-fast Gen5 SSD. Since this is a barebones system, you'll need to buy your own CPU fan, SSD, and SO-DIMM DDR5 memory. You can use the integrated GPU of course, but with a PCIe Gen5 x16 slot, you can use any graphics card you wanted on this bad boy.
Minisforum's new BD770i with the Ryzen 7 7745HX processor will cost $399, while the BD790i with the Ryzen 9 7945HX processor will cost $519.
ETA Prime recently tested the Ryzen 9 7945HX variant, with the peak power consumption on the CPU hitting 100W during multi-core benchmarks, with max boost CPU clocks of up to 4.75GHz. In Geekbench 6 runs, there's a single-core score of 2890 points, while multi-core runs hit 16584 points. That means the mobile Ryzen 9 7945HX processor is around 1.6% and 14% slower than the desktop Ryzen 9 7950X, respectively.
Minisforum points out that its new Mini-ITX motherboard is the first MoDT (Mobile on Desktop) board powered by built-in AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX processor with dual PCIe Gen5 M.2 slots. It features an "integrated advanced cooling system" that keeps the CPU and dual Gen5 SSDs at optimal performance temperatures.
It's made in the regular ITX form factor, featuring a bunch of connectivity that also keeps you up to date with ultra-fast external products like external SSDs and more.
Minisforum's new MoDT motherboards feature an enthusiast-grade 2.5GbE ethernet port, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A, 1 x HDMI port, 1 x DisplayPort, and 1 x USB-C port for displays... which support up to 8K 60Hz, too.