Mini PCs have come a long way over the years. Once a category largely relegated to low-power tasks, mini-computers have evolved to suit almost any type of user, whether for content creation or gaming.
Performance enthusiasts are exactly who the Chinese company Beelink is chasing with the GTR5. First, it includes an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, a processor typically reserved for large, powerful gaming laptops. It comes with extensive storage expansion options, RAM that can be configured up to 64 GB and a selection of ports that include 2.5 GbE dual LAN.
In addition, Beelink has managed to fit all this performance into a smaller chassis that costs much less than a comparable Intel NUC. The question is whether the performance fits the promise set out in the paper?
Design
With only 16.5 x 12 x 3.9 cm in size and only 678 g in weight, the GTR5 is extremely portable and can be easily thrown into a bag or mounted behind a monitor using the included stand.
While it won’t win any design awards, the GTR5 is one of the best mini computers available with a sleek black chassis made from a durable magnesium aluminum alloy. Most of the top and side of the unit are lined with perforated plastic for better airflow.
The bottom plate of the GTR5 is also made of metal and has useful printed text. This includes how to enter the BIOS and select from different performance modes (more on that later).
The sides have “GR9” printed in a confusing way, which seems like a printing error since this unit is part of the GTR model line. Aside from the AMD brand and the bright red Beelink badge, the GTR5 has a fairly moderate aesthetic and should fit comfortably on a desk or entertainment unit.
The GTR5 offers a lot of power for a computer that can fit in the palm of your hand
Price and configuration
The Beelink GTR5 starts at $ 779 ($ 1150) offering you a 500GB NVMe SSD and 32GB of dual-channel DDR4 RAM at 3200MHz. The 64GB model, which also includes 1TB of storage, costs $ 999 ($ 1450).
Regardless of the configuration, you get the same 8-core / 16-wire Ryzen 9 5900HX mobile processor with a 4.6GHz boost clock and Radeon Vega 8 integrated graphics with a 2.1GHz timing. The physical design of the GTR5, including port selection, also remains the same.
It is worth noting that, unlike other mini PCs, Beelink equips quality components from recognizable brands. For example, RAM is Crucial and the NVMe SSD is supplied by Kingston.
Beelink includes a box holder to mount the GTR5 mini PC behind a monitor or TV
Ports and connectivity
The GTR5 is stacked with an amazing number of ports given its small size. On the front, you’ll find the power button, clear CMOS button, a USB 3.0 port, a USB-C port (with support for screen output), and a 3.5-inch headphone / microphone jack mm. On the back, the GTR5 has two more USB 3.0, two USB 2.0, an HDMI, a DisplayPort and two 2.5 Gb Ethernet. There is also the barrel socket for the 90 W power supply.
It is rare for a mini PC to have a 2.5 GbE LAN port, let alone two of them. This means you can use one to transfer large files to and from a NAS at ridiculously fast speeds (as long as the NAS also has a 2.5 GbE connection or faster), while reserving the other LAN port for to a wired internet connection.
Another feature you wouldn’t normally find on a mini PC is a fingerprint reader, which makes logging into Windows very easy. There are also dual microphones built into the unit, and while it won’t replace the need for a proper headset, it’s useful enough for the weird Zoom call.
A notable omission is the lack of Thunderbolt 3 or USB 4 ports. Thunderbolt is no longer exclusive to Intel chips, so we’ve started to see how the port appears on some AMD motherboards in the desktop market, so it’s a pity not to see him here.
The GTR6 is well-equipped in terms of wireless connectivity, with support for the latest WiFi 6E standard and Bluetooth 5.2.
In terms of storage expansion, the M.2 NVMe internal slot can hold up to a 2 TB stick. There is also a slot for another M.2 drive and space for a 2.5-inch SSD / HDD.
GTR5 offers a good selection of ports that include two 2.5 GbE LAN ports and multiple screen output ports to connect up to three screens.
Software
Most mini computers and laptops run the home edition of the Windows operating system, but the Beelink GTR5 comes with Windows 11 Pro. Home users won’t see any difference, but for advanced users, Windows 11 offers some additional features like the remote desktop and the Hyper-V client for virtualization. Another nice touch is that Beelink has included a completely clean version of Windows 11 Pro, which means no pre-installed third-party apps or bloatware.
The GTR5 also supports several Linux flavors, including Ubuntu and Manjaro. I tried installing my favorite Linux distribution – the Batocera focused on retro games – and it worked fine.
Reference points
I’ve been using the GTR5 as a desktop replacement for over a month now and the GTR5 has kept me really not sweating. My daily workflow consists mainly of running multiple browser windows with more than 20 tabs open and like Slack and Spotify in the background, as well as a light editing of photos in Adobe Photoshop.
I also tested the performance while having the GTR5 connected to three external monitors simultaneously using the GTR5’s DisplayPort, HDMI and USB-C connections. With the resolution and refresh rate set to 4K at 60 Hz, I didn’t notice any drop in performance when I connected to all three screens. The best part is that the fans stayed very quiet during the day to day productivity.
Similarly, high-speed 4K and 8K bit video was played smoothly, which was a great result considering that several video formats do not yet support hardware decoding on AMD CPUs.
Before subjecting the GTR5 to more demanding testing, I switched the GTR5 to performance mode, which you can do with a couple of taps in the BIOS. This increases the maximum power of the 5900HX CPU from 35W to 45W, giving the chip a little more performance space.
For comparison, I have my Intel NUC11 Pro, which at $ 1200 retails for about the same price as the GTR5. Note that the NUC11 Pro comes out of the box, so you will need to supply your own SSD and RAM.
Turning to benchmarks, the GTR5 topped the multi-core performance charts, scoring 12,380 on Cinebench’s R23 test. To put it in context, Apple’s M1 Mac Mini stood at 7759 and Intel’s NUC11 Pro reached 6798, making the GTR5 60 percent faster in multi-core performance. Meanwhile, the performance of a single core reached figures similar to that of the competition.
Similarly, in GeekBench 5, the GTR5 topped the multi-core performance charts with a score of 8,279, but the performance gap was narrowed with the M1 Mac Mini reaching 7434 and the Intel NUC11 Pro which offered 5874. This gives the Beelink a multi-core performance 11 percent faster than the Mac M1. Mini-core performance and 40 percent faster than the Intel NUC11 Pro.
The GTR5 offers impressive performance for money
Game performance
Turning to the games, I was curious to see the performance of the GTR5. This keeps in mind that it has decent built-in graphics compatible with a rugged CPU, which should help increase frame rates at lower resolutions.
The first was Forza Horizon 5 and I was able to get a smooth 1080p at 60 fps (frames per second) with a mix of medium to low graphics settings. Alternatively, I was able to increase all graphics settings and limit the frame rate to 30 fps, and the GTR5 didn’t falter.
GTA V is an older title but still incredibly popular thanks to its endless support for modifications released by the community and online multiplayer. I was able to run the game in 1080p at about 60fps almost constant with all the graphics settings high.
With Mortal Kombat 11, I was able to get to 60 fps with an average graphics setup, but I had to lower the resolution to 900p to get there.
More demanding titles like Halo Infinite, God of War, Control, and Doom Eternal struggled to achieve 30fps at 1080p even with the lowest graphics setup, forcing me to lower the resolution to 720p for smoother performance.
With less demanding titles like League of Legends, I was able to reach 4K at 60 fps with the highest graphics setup.
It’s worth noting that fans can get quite loud when running the GTR5 at full tilt, with a noise level comparable to a full-size gaming laptop. Temperatures reached a maximum of 85 degrees and there were no signs of thermal acceleration.
In short, while the graphics performance won’t magically surpass a system with a discreet graphics card, the GTR5 offers respectable gaming performance when it comes to mini computers.
I hope to see what Beelink can achieve in this small form factor with AMD’s 6000 series of processors, which include significantly more powerful RDNA2 integrated graphics.
The GadgetGuy dam
If there was ever a product that exemplifies how far mini computers have come, it’s the Beelink GTR5. Of course, Intel has been crafting its own version of the mini PC for years with the NUC line, but it is often priced higher and requires the user to get their own RAM and storage.
My main problem with the GTR5 is the lack of a Thunderbolt port, which rules out the possibility of upgrading the graphics performance of the machine with an external graphics card (GPU).
The GTR5 offers better performance than a comparable Intel NUC and at a much lower price, making it a viable workstation replacement or for anyone looking for a small but powerful computer that can be easily installed in the…