AMD's Gorgon Halo AI Workstations Hit Market With 192GB Memory at $6,399-$7,399

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AMD launches Gorgon Halo workstations through Minisforum and GMKtec, featuring the Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 495 processor with 192GB unified memory. The high-end AI mini-PC systems target professionals running large AI models locally, with pricing starting at $6,399 during promotional periods.

AMD Positions Gorgon Halo Against Nvidia's RTX Spark Launch

AMD has released performance benchmarks for its Gorgon Halo chips ahead of Nvidia's expected RTX Spark launch on Wednesday, October 7. The company compared its Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 495 against Intel's Core Ultra X9 388H using ComfyUI for generative AI testing

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. AMD's top-spec 192GB configuration showed performance advantages ranging from 1.1x to 32.2x over Intel's chip with 64GB memory, though the company acknowledged shipping "over half a million" agentic AI workloads systems to date

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First Gorgon Halo Workstations Enter Market at Premium Prices

Minisforum and GMKtec have launched the first commercially available Gorgon Halo workstation systems featuring AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 495 processor. GMKtec's Evo-X5 Pro retails at $6,799 for the 2TB model and $7,099 for the 4TB configuration, with super early bird pricing reducing costs by $425

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. Minisforum's MS-S1 MAX-P495 lists at $7,399 during its promotional period, down from a regular price of $9,249

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. These prices reflect the ongoing memory shortage affecting consumer electronics, with DDR5 costs skyrocketing and systems that cost $2,000-$3,000 a year ago now commanding significantly higher premiums

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Source: TechRadar

Source: TechRadar

192GB Unified Memory Enables Larger AI Models Locally

The defining feature of these Gorgon Halo workstation systems is their 192GB LPDDR5X-8533 unified memory capacity, surpassing the 128GB limit of both Nvidia's RTX Spark devices and AMD's previous Strix Halo chips

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. At 4-bit precision, this configuration supports models up to 345 billion parameters on Linux or 320 billion parameters on Windows, putting frontier models like DeepSeek V4 Flash (284 billion parameters) and GLM-5.3-Flash (320 billion parameters) within reach for local AI inference

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. The Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 495 achieved 20 tokens per second with GLM 5.3 Flash and up to 42 tokens per second with Qwen 3.8 Flash Next using dynamic 4-bit quantization

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Source: Tom's Hardware

Source: Tom's Hardware

Technical Specifications Target AI Professionals

The Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 495 combines 16 Zen 5 cores with 32 threads, running at a 3.1 GHz base clock and 5.2 GHz boost clock with 64MB L3 cache

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. The 192GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory operates on a 256-bit interface, delivering approximately 273 GB/s of bandwidth—about 6.5 percent faster than Strix Halo's 256 GB/s

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. Both the GMKtec and Minisforum systems allow up to 160GB of memory allocation to serve as VRAM for large AI models

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. The integrated Radeon 8065S graphics features 40 RDNA 3.5 Compute Units, while the NPU provides up to 55 TOPS for AI acceleration, contributing to a combined 131 TOPS of AI performance

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Memory Shortage Drives Premium Pricing Through 2028

The elevated pricing reflects broader industry constraints affecting AI hardware. Samsung warned earlier this year that memory supplies will likely remain constrained through 2028, impacting both AMD and Nvidia's high-memory systems

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. Nvidia's GB10-based AI workstations have similarly doubled in price over the past year, jumping from $3,000-$4,000 to $6,000-$8,000

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. The LPDDR5X shortage stems from AI boom demand, with each Nvidia NVL72 rack consuming between 36 and 54 TB of LPDDR5X for CPU memory alone

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. HP's ZBook Ultra G3a with similar 192GB configuration and 512GB SSD is calculated at $7,449, positioning it $50 above Minisforum's offering

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Expansion and Connectivity Features for Professional Use

Both high-end AI mini-PC systems include robust expansion options for demanding AI workloads. The GMKtec Evo-X5 Pro features three PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots supporting up to 24TB of fast storage, though only two slots run at x4 while the third operates at x1

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. Minisforum's MS-S1 MAX-P495 includes dual 10GbE networking, two 80Gbps USB4 Version 2.0 ports, two 40Gbps USB4 ports, and HDMI 2.1 FRL connectivity

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. The Minisforum system also features a full-length PCIe 4.0 x4 slot for expansion cards and supports RAID 0 or RAID 1 configurations

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. GMKtec's system operates at 54W in silent mode, 85W in balanced mode, and up to 120W sustained with 160W peak in performance mode, utilizing vapor chamber cooling with three fans

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Source: TechRadar

Source: TechRadar

Market Positioning for Specialized AI Workloads

These Gorgon Halo systems target AI professionals and privacy-conscious small businesses requiring local AI inference capabilities rather than typical desktop users

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. Minisforum is positioning the MS-S1 MAX-P495 for bulk purchases and clustered AI deployments, claiming two 192GB systems operating together can run Qwen3.5 397B at 16 tokens per second locally

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. The systems enable running large AI models with enhanced privacy and data security by keeping inference workloads on-premises. Watch for how token throughput performs at higher context lengths, as AMD's "up to" performance claims may decline significantly during extended use

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. Minisforum estimates shipments will begin around mid-October 2026, with promotional pricing available only during the unspecified preorder period

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