The All-New AR900i Has A FAST 24 Core CPU! Hands On Mini Gaming Build

In this video we put together an awesome Small Form factor mini ITX Gaming PC using the all new Minisforum AR900i i9 13900HX MotherBoard and a Low Profile RTX 4060 GPU! With 24 Cores and 32 Threads this mini Monster gaming PC can run all of your favorite AAA Games with ease!
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[@TheTastefulThickness]

Minisforum should just become an SI at this point and create some custom tiny cases and find a bulk deal on power supplies. They are 90% of the way there.

[@nismo2070]

Damn. That's a powerful little package. I absolutely love your reviews of these mini PC's!! Keep them coming!

[@MarcParisTV]

Thanks! I was waiting for this review for long!!

[@neilmosier5192]

Just wanted to say I love what you do on your channel. Started getting into these Mini PC/Linux builds and just falls in line with everything I'm loving about it all. Keep up the good work. Neil

[@kuyache2]

Your recent SFF pc's are FANTASTIC! Someday I want to build them... for now life and funds are so tight I can only watch your videos and dream...

[@alexandern3710]

It's kinda cool seeing seeing so-dimm modules being put in like that

[@StretchDattass]

i *REALLY* hope minisforum does what they did last gen with their B550 mini PC that had a socketable chipset. With the new Ryzen 7000 APUs coming out soon, id love to be able to slap 1 of those onto a tiny PC and be able to take reasonably powerful hardware on the go that i can upgrade for the next couple years. Give me a tiny PC i can socket Next Gens eventual Sarlak APU into and have roughly 3060 performance (according to leaked performance targets) in the palm of my hand.

[@greenprotag]

I was excited for this one. I am always a fan of dense builds. With a 3D printed drive cage and some fans, you could pack a bunch of 2.5" drives in here or maybe sneak in a micro ATX with a high speed network card OR even a capture card.

[@Dekerus]

Really neat video! 🙂

[@Neopulse00]

So glad you finally got your hands on it! I've been contemplating making a portable* editing build with this paired with the A580 + REbar in a small case.

[@Justin_Strack]

This looks nice. Man I want to buy this.

[@zkan87]

looks so good!

[@algatronalgirdas]

Thank you for this video. I ordered all parts like on your video. I went with 64gb ddr5 5600 and noctua 120mm 2000rpm fan, and I also will mount a small 80mm noctua fan on the side to pull out the hot air from case next to gpu. I went with silverstone 600w platinum psu. 2 m2 ssds one 1tb the other 2tb. Everything else is the same as on your video. Thank you for sharing and inspiring me to build this little pc

[@stephenarkless9444]

Tidy little build 👍🏻

[@davidnonya7359]

THAT PWER SUPPLY THOUGH! HAHAHAHA I NEVER SKIMP ON A PSU

[@benjamina6915]

Mine is quite relative 😄too large for me, I stick to something that's easily moved. Thanks for all the videos, it was really helpful for making a decision in which mini-pc to buy. I'm a creative and need a decent gfx card for my artwork, in the end is was down to the HX99G and the Intel nuc 12 enthusiast. The HX99G was hard to get where I live, the local sellers had the intel nuc 12 enthusiast barebone. Maxed it to 64GB ram and a 2TB SSD. After some initial issues with the KillerWifi drivers and latest bios upgrade, which seem to conflict, it's now running great. Love how fast it is, really helps me in my work. Makes a lot less noise than expected. The only thing which I don't like is that you can't use the Arc a770m through thunderbolt 4 directly, but only as a pass-through of the Intel Xe iGPU. That works fine for games, but for apps (and some games) it's defaulting to the Xe, even when Windows is told to use Arc only. If I want to use the dGPU instead of the iGPU, I seem to need to use HDMI. That's a shame, I rather use thunderbolt.

[@johnsonnguyen1374]

I really love that they are making Mobile CPU with a slot for a full GPU.

[@DevonYoung1]

You know, I'd like to see you build with a board like this but for an HTPC. I already know the results, but I'm just more so interested in seeing what you can put together for a video. Cheers!

[@vinkerdoodles]

I've had this thing in a Fractal Terra w/4090FE, 64gb 5600, 2TBx2 NVME 4thgen & 1TBx2 NVME 3rdgen & a 1000w Asus Loki power supply and it is a FREAKING BEAST!!! Temps are in the 50's-60's running Starfield! After my BD770i build, & the temps settled in I figured I'd pull the trig on this combo and there wasn't even any break in period like the BD770i. It just works!

[@niknadeau2908]

Would you recommend this one or one of the BD series? I want to build one, not sure which. I will be using it for gaming and want to put it in a s400 case.

[@TheMeta516]

They just launched the bd790i with a 7945hx for a really amazing price right now. You should really give it a look

[@boonie3]

Have you ever had any issues with that brand of PSU? Been thinking of putting together a similar sized system but I don't know much about flex power supplies

[@mjl325is]

After announcing ryzen 8700g I think this would be awesome in a small form factor like this

[@capcomshero7646]

Great video as always. Question, with the 25mm fan what is the total height of the cooler ?

[@tiwopli]

I could well imagine that it would make sense to use such a system to run a powerful small game server at home, with minimal power consumption and minimal energy costs. 🤔

[@greendro6410]

This is nice 👌

[@DaveBenchmarks]

If you want to fill the case and provide better airflow to the 4060, there is a 3D Print bracket that allows the front to take two 80mm fans. Also I believe the name of the case is SKTC A10.

[@Neopulse00]

Interesting case although surprised seeing spaces for a 3-slot low profile GPU. I like it.

[@DaveBenchmarks]

@@Neopulse00 I believe the third slot is incase you want to add a X4 PCIe Card on very specific mATX motherboards that have it in that location.

[@pedgarage]

I don't know where you are located, but the problems with the shipping may be related to what it's happening in the middle east and in the Suez Canal, disrupting global shipping. Great build by the way

[@bustergundo516]

Nice.

[@mimo5383]

You could likely 3D print a flat pack style mini PC case to assemble for this build. I'd still buy a cheap case to gut its connectors for the printed one. Could become its own hobby niche as you could integrate RGB and print themed panels ie Marvel and Anime etc.

[@Tommy_The_Gun]

Cool motherboard that might be a game changer. Could, because I have heard that you can not connect front panel USB & Audio as motherboard does not have covectors for it. Also, despite having 3 audio jacks at the back you can not connect 5.1 speakers, as one port is for mike only. Is that true ?

[@alystair]

This is the first review of this mobo, was hoping to see what the UEFI looked like in terms of configurability

[@KevinPassino]

You could do something like this or their BD790i and even a 4080 in a Fractal Ridge or Terra and still have a pretty serious gaming machine. You'll leave some fps on the board at 1080p because it's apparently not quite as good as a full-on desktop CPU but if you play at 1440p or 4K the difference is pretty minimal from what I can tell.

[@MarcParisTV]

Please could you describe bios capabilities to drive fan? Do you know if fan control is working on this motherboard please?

[@dbjungle]

AMD and Intel's current gen mobile chips are insane. Not surprised we're seeing this kind of product now.

[@PC_GAMING_AND_EMULATION]

Would like to see a video of this system running some high-end emulation.

[@DarkBloodyFoxy]

I cannot find any information on PCIe configuration. This platform supports 16+4 PCIe lanes, 16 go to GPU and other 4 are probably dedicated to M.2 storage... but can you configure one SSD to run on 4 lanes or all SSDs get one lane each?

[@TheEmrickman]

Love these reviews as I’m looking at something like this. The video would be more valuable if you told us total cost and how the performance compares to your previous mini build or even minisforum models. Numbers in a vacuum don’t mean much. $$ matter too.

[@heirtothethrone000]

I watched a video of a guy using the A4000ada 20GB LP card and your Fire Strike and Time Spy averages were better but the ray tracing was about 300 lower. I love the 4xM.2 for sure and this might just be what I need for my small compact build. Now lets see what the BD790i has to offer.

[@Chejov1214]

hot this set up compares with a Minisforum pc box and an gpu ?

[@Razumen]

I wish it could fit a full size GPU in it, then it would be perfect for my needs.

[@ciw8688]

Can i use a bigger card and install it with the fans blowing in the same direction as the cpu cooler?

[@Sam-ck8sc]

can you share the memory you are using? I brought 64G crucial DDR5 5600 from Amazon, but it can only run @ 4800

[@professorh8398]

Will an matx mobo and flex atx psu fit comfortably in here together?

[@qx1381]

This is actually an Matx case, a potential for future Sli or Xfire revival on mini gpu.

[@smurf6595]

In another vid could you please test with the 7800xt? i was thinking about buying this but not sure the performance difference between this and the AMD BD770i if you had used the same GPU (or a 4070)

[@saiforos7928]

Looking forward to ultra 155h mini pcs

[@squirrel6687]

Will it bifurcate 8x/8x? Experience, data or spec sheet, BIOS?

[@shadow19121]

I like it but i really need to see that bios

[@user-zf3vr6ll3l]

How do you install the 120mm CPU fan?

[@hubstrangers3450]

Thanks, could this be used as a workstation....

[@eskimolost2012]

was hoping the amd 7000 bd790i would have the 4xm.2 but can think 16tb would be enough for a good travel pc to play on some rainy days ^_^

[@Neopulse00]

The only beef I have that I'm pretty sure they lacked space, was to put a 7xxM GPU in it instead of that terrible 610M.

[@Ennoori]

@etaprime is there another 5mm clearence for using 30mm thick fan? 🙏🏾

[@nrobert576]

So the front panel io is there usb c and others usb?

[@JFlogerzi]

I want to see them do a Zen 5 Mobile 3D based part and I will jump to their built in boards with a CPU. Till then I will hang onto my B550 and 5600 combo

[@Wazguu]

someone can probably make a 3d printed case for this specific combo of mobo and gpu because theres a lot of extra space so probably can go a lot smaller

[@yanko694]

could you share links to items, gfx is not there...

[@skubeeraw]

Everything you listed on the description is all we need to put this together and play the same games at those speed?

[@shadow19121]

What’s the heatsink height with fan?

[@lanji6801]

Is 4060 Low profile fit in this case ?

[@MattiaZoratti]

Can you review the new Mele Quieter 4C with N100 cpu? :)

[@kotztotz3530]

If this combo offered normal DIMM slots, it would be a homerun. I feel like SODIMM is holding it back a little bit with memory speeds/latency.

[@jbucata]

I've been looking for a case very much like that for a long time. My only problem is this one is listed on Amazon with a height (oriented vertically) of 12.2" and the spot on my desk credenza to fit a PC case would only allow for 11.75" or so. JUST barely too tall/wide for me. I've just deployed a mini-ITX build in a much smaller case that fits easily, but with a picoPSU and an external power brick. I would much rather have had a system with PSU integrated like this if I could have pulled it off. (I don't even need the PCIe slots, particularly, but I need it to fit the available space.)

[@roythunderplump]

makerunit Little Boy SL printed case would be great for this setup. Wish someone could print and send you some of his cases for a collab.

[@TrusteftTech]

Don't get me wrong, 4NVME slots (required lanes when also using an dGPU?) are fine, but I don't see any SATA connectors.

[@tk72231968]

I would really like to pair this MB up to a GPU with just a bit more power....like the upcoming RTX4070ti Super. I think it could outperform my aging 10900k/3090 desktop.

[@randomweirdyoutubechannel8955]

I'd wait till 50 series atleast 10900k and 3090 still great now

[@trthib]

I thought I read somewhere you don't want less than 2Gb of RAM/thread then 64Gb minimum for this processor, and according to minisforum that's also the maximum supported on this motherboard...which is unfortunate because according to intel the processor can handle up to 192Gb (haven't seen that big So-Dimm yet but maybe they're comming) It would make a nice base for an editing station with 4 x m2

[@EcksGamer]

It's not bad but would of been better to show off the temps of the system if the case was to have in more fans and also for the GPU you could just undervolt it instead while overclocking to use about the same amount of watts without it getting hot as well.

[@gotelldonn]

Thank you for covering this board. If possible, could you show the BIOS, and also how it might work with Linux and even ProxMox. Thanks!

[@Sycaid]

Sadly he won't do that. He just showcases new mini-pc stuff, he doesn't get any deeper than that. You'll have to wait for someone else to do it.

[@gotelldonn]

Thanks for the reply. I agree, but it would be nice for someone with access to the board to cover uses otgher than gaming.

[@KevinPassino]

@@gotelldonnFrom reviews I've seen on the BD770i, Minisforum's BIOS is a very basic visual BIOS/UEFI. Not a ton of options, but functional and easy to use.

[@radeksparowski7174]

need that but with ryzen cpu and native support of 4 monitors and at least one usb4

[@atilla101uk]

Glaring omission of on boith this and the B770i being the internal usb C connector, otherwise both boards look great.

[@mensch4434]

got mine today but for some reason it doesnt boot sonetimes i have to remove power a few times and press reset buttons, what could that be?

[@user-hy4xz1qt9h]

Did you fix it?

[@classyorb]

Do you think the power supply is efficient at all? I’m looking at picking up the same one

[@kyles8524]

good question, its 80+ gold but only has 38 amps on its 12v rail and got a 3.3 out of 5 stars. FLEX isnt the brand name its just the type of power supply I would go with like a silverstone flex power supply, this is more of a cheaper one hes using

[@classyorb]

@@kyles8524 Thanks for responding. I did buy the Silverstone FX350-G 350W 80+ Gold the other day so I guess I'll stick with that.

[@1986Hikaru]

​@@classyorb silverstone, enhance, fsp or flexguru are good options.

[@TheVillainOfTheYear]

7980XE drew almost 300 watts for 18 cores with worse performance. It's not as small a number as some AMD chips, but this is crazy efficient for the horsepower it puts down.

[@diallit0]

You've tested both mobo from Minisforum (AR900i & BD770i) Which setup do you prefer?

[@heirtothethrone000]

I wanna see how the BD790I Ryzen 9 compares to the AR900I

[@KevinPassino]

@@heirtothethrone000Same here since the CPU performance favors the Ryzen by a small amount, though this one has double the m.2 slots. Tough call, but they both look amazing.

[@heirtothethrone000]

What Gen are all of the M.2 slots. Are they Gen 5 on the front and Gen 4 on the back?

[@KevinPassino]

Minisforum doesn't seem to say one way or the other, so I'm guessing they're all gen4 and the only gen5 PCI-E lanes are in the x16 slot.

[@heirtothethrone000]

They tell you on the Ryzen ones and both are Gen 5 M.2 and Gen 5 PCIE slot. I just didn't see anything on this Intel one.@@KevinPassino

[@christianponopp8756]

A better case in similar size would have been the silverstone SST-ML09b which has extra space for a slim dvd drive, 4x 2,5" HDD and it uses a sfx PSU.

[@atilla101uk]

Height measurement for the board with incuded 25mm fan would have been good here to.

[@DJIsher1]

62mm

[@johnballesta2544]

Can you show us the BIOS menus?

[@0xKruzr]

with 4 M.2 slot and a PCIe slot for advanced networking this is an ideal homelab board - also want to ask if you can take a look at the Proxmox use case

[@Dormat25]

Idle's at 42 watts on a "mobile CPU"!? What the hell? I wonder why?

[@Hospes08]

Man with that low power draw from the cpu and the extra space you could put in a hefty graphics card and still meet the 650w psu requirement. 4080 too ambitious?

[@ivankovachev8835]

All it ineeds is a ryzen 7600 non-X or 7700 non-X, or 7840HS, because that i9 is an oven. It'd reduce the price too.

[@somebodysomewhere652]

Can i use 4070 with this build ?

[@Saif0412]

How much is this system? Pretty sure it isn't cheap or a budget build in anyway. 🤔

[@neeleshupadhyay5811]

Add Ray tracing to every game

[@theevildice83]

120W on a mobile CPU is utterly disgusting, I get we don't really care as much here, but WTF are you doing Intel?

[@szaman4180]

It consumes the same amount of power as the gpu in cyberpunk damn

[@yeahmanitsmurph]

Fairly low for something that has 24 cores and clocks at over 5Ghz

[@Bilal.Hussain.Shaikh]

I don't think Intel starting to don't care about power efficiency anymore

[@Nipfx]

​@Bilal.Hussain.Shaikh intels new chips are lower power

[@FlyByWire1]

Most mobile CPUs have TDPs that are configurable. So minus forum configured it to go up that high. They could’ve limited it to 60W or any wattage if they wanted to.

[@user-zk6vs4pr6z]

Can you add the total cost for these builds?

[@Neopulse00]

Do the math yourself it's easy. $38 the case, $64 the PSU, $559 for the AR900i, $97 the Crucial RAM, $x for 120x25 fan and the 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD you decide to use.

[@Fennek_Kaipii]

Love how the desribtion is a copy&paste of the previous AMD AM5 build, only switched up to a 1700 board (obviously not working out)...

[@50H3i1]

SODIMM ram is really outdated. Best one available is 5600 CL40 or 4800 CL34

[@yeahmanitsmurph]

Any homelab folks watching this, the 16x slot hasn’t worked with any 4x PCIE cards that I’ve tested. However, you can get an M.2 to Oculink/Oculink to PCIE or even just an M.2 to PCIE to add in a NIC or HBA card. The right slot on the back actually lines up perfectly using the options mentioned.

[@TerranigmaQuintet]

Recently read that those adapters all still have major issues with them that will eventually lead to problems, so may want to hold off on those.

[@yeahmanitsmurph]

@@TerranigmaQuintet Might depend on where they are sourced and if they have the proper circuit, but they’ve been widely used in Crypto farms for years now. At least with this board/my use case it’s fairly low budget, so I’m willing to be a test dummy for it.

[@benalvis6722]

Ms-01 with a2000 please 🥺

[@sleeze415]

What keyboard is that!!!

[@leonardowolff8444]

I think is the Minisforum MKB i83

[@jasonmeister6988]

Im interested in that cool keyboard, anyone knows it?

[@leonardowolff8444]

I think is the Minisforum MKB i83

[@albertwesker4266]

I wonder how this cpu could handle 4070 super at 1440p

[@cw1217]

Price?

[@davefroman4700]

Not sure how I feel about the whole issue of boards with CPU's permanently mounted that can be turned into E-waste the minute Mr Gates decides he is not going to support it anymore. Over the next year I am piecing together an ITX build for the wife in the Thermaltake Tower 100 case in the green color. Should be sweet. And it will take a full sized gpu.

[@trthib]

That's actually a great opportunity to install a better OS without all the bloatware linux or at least tiny 10/11

[@abritabroadinthephilippines]

I don't suppose you know of a Mini PC that has AV1 ? That will just be used to capture gameplay from a USB capture card and then stream it via OBS. That's all it will be doing m8.

[@tibelchior]

42w for idle... Wow I'll keep my 13th gen Intel Nuc with 6w idle

[@KevinPassino]

42W with a GPU. Without, it's probably much closer to your NUC though not quite as good since it's an HX model. But 10W without the GPU sounds about right, honestly.

[@benjiro8793]

@@KevinPassino I ran the 770i with a dGPU (video out on iGPU), the idle was 22W. Around 16W for the board and 6W for the dGPU in "no-video mode". Putting the video out on the GPU, this increased to almost 30W. Technically, there was a 12W difference between my old 13600K + MATX + dGPU (same) on the iGPU video out test. Not that impressive to be honest. So your saving about 12W vs a normal desktop build. A main issue is how poor the bios is and you can not activate anything beyond a few basic options. So forget about power tuning, memory tuning, etc... Its a lenovo style bios, aka bare to the bone minus a few enabled options extra.

[@mr.krakoski1947]

you should put a more powerful gpu to see if it will bottleneck one

[@kyles8524]

lol this is like twice as powerful then the series x but probably costs 3x as much