M7 Main Specifications
– Memory – 16 Gb DDR4 3200MT/s + 512Gb SSD NvMe;
– Processor – AMD 7430U, 4nm, 6 cores + 12 threads, 2.3GHz(base), 4.6GHz(turbo);
– Video processor – Vega 7;
– WiFi6 – dual-band, 2.4 GHz/5 GHz;
– Bluetooth – 5.2;
– Interfaces – 3.5 mm, HDMI, DP, RJ-45 Ethernet, 2x USB 2.0, 2x USB 3.0, USB-C;
– Case dimensions – 116×107×36 mm;
M7 Content & Accessories
The Mini-PC comes inside a black box made of very thick cardboard, where it looking not like a budget, but a premium device.
Package contents:
– Mini-PC
– power adapter
– HDMI cable
– VESA
–Mounting plate
– Manual
–Warranty
The power adapter is in white color, a plug 5525, outputs 19V/3.5A.
The Mini-PC this time is made in a metal case with a polished surface that pleasantly cools the hand.
The device weighs about is about 400g.
At the top, with can see the brand logo and decorative lines are painted with paint.
At the bottom, there are four rubber feet and two threads oriented for installation on a VESA mount behind the monitors.
On the front side, you can see a 2xUSB-A port and an on/off button for the device.
On the back side, there is a round 19V DC power connector, a LAN port, two HDMI, 2xUSB-A 3.0 ports and USB-C with the ability to output graphics to external monitors in 4K@30. Hot air exhausted by the cooler comes out of the ventilation at the top.
Fresh air is taken in on the remaining sides through oblique ventilation.
Screenshots
The access, as always, is via the DEL key.
Inclusion, information
System Information
Available SSD
memory Available 425GB out of 476GB
Info about the display
The image from the computer will be displayed on an external monitor 24" 1920x1080 with a frequency of 144Hz
Screenshots from the Task
Manager Summary:
AMD Ryzen 7430U, 6 Cores + 12 Threads
SSD Unnamed NvMe 512GB
RAM 16Gb DDR4 3200MT/s SO-DIMM
Realtek Network Card RTL8852BE
Integrated Graphics
About Drivers
In terms of reinstalling drivers on Windows, the build turned out to be the easiest in terms of getting rid of the routine search for drivers on PCI-E and the like. After installing Windows, it was necessary to search separately for the driver only for the network card.
AIDA64 Summary
CPU-Z Information
GPU-Z Information
Testing
Video playback 8K@30 / 4K@60 / 2K@60 / 1080@60
With streaming video in 8K, the processor cannot cope, slows down.
Everything up to and including 4K @ 30 reproduces perfectly.
iPerf3 LAN Port Test (1Gbps) and WiFi (100Mbps Bandwidth)
Cache and DDR4 Memory
WinRAR Test
Performance Test
CrystalDiskRetro
Performance Test
Passmark CPU Benchmark
Synthetic Benchmark
AIDA64 Benchmark
Synthetic Benchmark
7-ZIP
Synthetic Benchmark
Working with Video in Adobe Premiere 2024
For processing, I take a 3-minute video in 4K@50 resolution (AVC, 2.3GB), then added a tex layer and sent the project to render. Processing takes approximately 11 minutes, which is a couple of minutes faster than it was on the Intel N150.
CPU, tests, throttling and temperatures
The brain of the device is the energy-efficient Ryzen processor, which came out in early 2023, 7nm process technology, base TDP 15W. Base frequency 2.3GHz, and turbo frequency 4.3GHz. L3 cache size is 16 MB. Vega 7 (300 MHz / 1800 MHz) is built in to the processor, in terms of performance it is either slightly weaker or the same as Vega 8, because the frequency is lower, but there are more computing processors.
Multi-threaded test in Cinebench R23.
At the start of the test, all CPU cores go up to 3GHz (25W TDP). Already during the test, the frequencies are stabilized at 2.3GHz (15W TDP). The maximum heating of the hot core reached 87 ° C. It must be said that the cooling fan is noticeably quieter than in previous mini PCs.
Single-threaded R23 test.
In everyday usage scenarios, the heating reaches about 65°C at the CPU.
Thermogram of Computer Heating
Since the computer case is entirely metal, it, together with the fan, plays the role of a heatsink that dissipates heat. The pictures were taken during a stress test. In the place of blowing warm air, the heating is maximum.
Dismantling
To access the internals, simply remove the bottom four screws and remove the cover. To remove the motherboard, you will also have to unscrew four metal racks. After removing the cover, you can immediately see that another free slot for an NvMe SSD short format drive + a free slot for installing additional RAM is available. Only one memory stick is installed in the stock here. RAM and SSD from Faspeed. Under the SSD drive, in its PCI-E slot, there is a RTL8852BE network card. The CPU cooling system is single-cooler, the fan works quietly.
Results
The mini PC is well-balanced for everyday use cases, whether it's watching videos, word processing, graphics, or even editing FHD videos. The Vega 7 built-in is not powerful enough to pull all the games, but you can comfortably play the classics at your leisure. In terms of overheating, the situation is better than it was with mini PCs with a more powerful "stone", the processor does not throttle, temperatures do not rise to 90°C. On the positive side, I note the metal case, a scythe for the MacMini, I welcome it. But such solutions have a disadvantage, of course: metal cases have weak penetration, WiFi and plastic inserts do not always help, if only you turn the case with the right side.
Everything else in general is also implemented adequately and well:
- a rich set of ports (4x USB-A + USB-C with support for graphics output)
- you can display the picture simultaneously on three monitors 4K@60 + 4K@60 + 4K@30
- you can expand the RAM to 64GB and work in dual channel
- you can add another SSD M2 drive
- the WiFi module is not soldered, as in cheap boxes, but replaceable.