GMK Unveils World's First Mini-PC with AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ 395 'Strix Halo' APU

GMK shows Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 powered EVO-X1 mini PC with AI Max+ future

Mini PC maker GMK has been showing off its new EVO-X1 mini PC. It looks like a great little device with one of the latest 'Strix Point' processors from AMD, and plenty of fast ports. However, it also hints that this machine is earmarked for a powerful Ryzen AI Max+ 395 'Strix Halo' processor upgrade in the not-too-distant future. GMK introduced the EVO-X1 last year -- a mini-PC equipped with a Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 chip and Radeon 890M integrated graphics. This is one of the most powerful chips in the current AMD Strix Point lineup, with the CPU boasting 12 cores and 24 threads and the integrated GPU having 16 compute units. The company also gave the EVO-X1 a standard 32GB of memory and a choice between 1TB or 2TB of storage. What also makes this small computer stand out from the crowd is that it's the first Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 mini-PC that has an OCuLink port, allowing it to attach to a suitable external GPU without crippling its bandwidth too much. GMK doesn't have an external GPU enclosure listed on its US website, though, so you'll have to purchase them separately from other manufacturers, like the Aoostar AG01 or the Minisforum MGA1. But whatever the case, this OCuLink port would allow you to pair the excellent performance of the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 with a more powerful GPU, up to an RTX 4090 (we wouldn't recommend that, though, as OCuLink could show an up to 23% drop in performance for high-end GPUs). Connecting with OCuLink should provide much better bandwidth than the Thunderbolt 3 or 4, or USB4 alternatives. Aside from the OCuLink port (which, unfortunately, isn't hot-swappable), the EVO-X1 also has two USB-A ports, a USB-C port, and a 3.5 mm combo jack up front, plus the power button right beside the jack. It's unclear what other USB ports are available at the back, but we also have one HDMI 2.1 and one DisplayPort 2.1 for connecting your display to the onboard graphics. All these features are available for $1,299 for the 1 TB version (although it's currently on sale at $919.99), while the 2 TB version is priced at $1,599 (with a sale price of $969.99). Although these specifications are already impressive, GMK is going even further, saying in a press release on Chinese social media site BiliBili (machine translated) that the company "took the lead in launching the Ryzen AI Max+ 395." Although details are scant at the moment, the company shared a Geekbench result for the Vulkan test, which showed the processor, presumably on an EVO-X1 mini-PC evaluation platform, achieving 67,004 points. This score beats the RTX 3050 and RX 5700 desktop graphics cards, showing how far integrated GPUs have come along and the potential of AMD's top-end Strix Halo chip for its mini-PC. Still, you should note that reviewers rarely use Geekbench 6 to measure GPU performance and that we should wait for independent reviews to see what this mini-PC could do. Whatever the case, we want to see how the EVO-X1 mini-PC with a Ryzen AI Max+ 395 would stack up as a gaming and productivity machine, and if its built-in GPU could really lead to the end of entry-level graphics cards.

GMK teases world's first Mini-PC with AMD's new Ryzen AI Max+ 395 'Strix Halo' beast APU

GMK has just teased the world's first Mini-PC based on AMD's new Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU will be released in the coming months, check it out: In a new report from IT Home, we're learning that GMK announced its new family of Mini-PC systems featuring AMD's beefy Strix Halo APUs, with up to the flagship Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor that features 16 cores and 32 threads of Zen 5 power, 40 CUs of RDNA 3.5 GPU, up to 50 TOPs of AI performance, and up to 256GB/sec memory bandwidth. We don't know any of the other specifications aside from the fact that GMK is using the new Strix Halo APUs inside of their new Mini-PCs, but we should get some bumps in RAM and SSD storage over the Strix Point APU-powered Mini-PC systems from the company. We should expect 32GB RAM and 1TB Gen4 SSD by default, with options for upgrades as the Strix Halo APU supports up to 128GB of RAM. The new Ryzen AI Max+ 395 features 16 cores and 32 threads at up to 5.1GHz boost, 80MB of cache, 50 TOPs of AI performance out of the XDNA 2 NPU, 40 Compute Units of RDNA 3.5 GPU performance (up from 16 CUs on Strix Point APUs, so over double the gaming performance) and between 45W and 120W TDP. The integrated RDNA 3.5-based Radeon 8060S is a gigantic upgrade over the 16 CUs of RDNA 3.5 GPU inside of Strix Point, over twice the GPU performance. We will have more information on GMK's new Strix Halo APU-powered Mini-PC in the weeks ahead, as it prepares for its release in the next few months (sometime in Q1 or Q2 2025).

GMK Announces World's First Mini-PC Based On AMD Ryzen AI 9 Max+ 395 Processor, Availability Will Be In H1 2025

GMK's upcoming Ryzen AI 9 Max+ 395-based mini-PC will be the world's first Strix Halo mini-PC, and it will hit the market in the first or second quarter. AMD's newly announced Ryzen AI Max series, aka Strix Halo series, is Zen 5's best offering in the mobile segment. The Ryzen AI Max processors are the first to deliver up to a 16-core/32-thread configuration on the mobile platform, along with powerful integrated graphics based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture. While Strix Point was already premium enough for most vendors to integrate into their high-performance systems, Strix Halo will take the performance to the next level. As reported by IT Home, the Chinese hardware manufacturer GMK has announced that it is producing a new lineup of mini-PCs featuring the Strix Halo CPUs. These will offer both Ryzen AI Max and Ryzen AI Max Pro series chips aimed at the premium client PC segment. The mini-PC will boast up to a Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor, featuring 16 cores and 32 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture. Not much has been shared regarding the other specifications of these PCs, but considering that their Strix Point-based mini-PCs, such as EVO-X1 Mini Host, feature up to 32 GB RAM and 1 TB storage, expect the following lineups to be at least equivalent. With Ryzen AI Max+ 395, AMD claims up to three times the computing performance of Intel Lunar Lake Core Ultra 9 288V. Since there are now double the core count and four times the threads, the 16-core/32-thread Strix Halo chip will definitely be significantly faster. Moreover, it will be significantly ahead of the Lunar Lake in AI performance and the graphics department due to drastically better-integrated graphics. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 will bring the Radeon 8060S iGPU, featuring 40 Compute Units. This is a massive jump over the Strix Point chips, which only feature up to 16 CUs on the Radeon 890M. Hence, the GMK Strix Halo mini-PCs won't just be superior in CPU-oriented workloads but will also be drastically better at GPU workloads, enabling users to work and play games with satisfactory performance. All of this while the TDP remains in the 45-120W range, which surely is higher than the previous lineups. However, considering how powerful the Strix Halo iGPUs are, one should expect higher power consumption. Coming to the pricing and availability, we only know that these GMK mini-PCs will be available in either Q1 or Q2 2025, and we have to wait for more announcements. We are yet to know whether any hardware manufacturer plans to equip the gaming handhelds with Strix Halo chips. It will be a bit difficult due to higher costs, but it could be possible since some vendors have already deployed premium Strix Point APUs in their newer handheld versions.