Minisforum MS-S1 MAX Mini AI Workstation is ready to be launched. It is powered by the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU. This chip is so powerful that it can compete with the Apple M4 Max. It gives you similar or even better performance, so just imagine how great the performance you are going to get is.
In this era of AI, if you need a new and powerful AI-integrated chip, then you will hardly find any better chip than AMD’s Ryzen AI Max + 395 APU. This APU is so good that every OEM mini PC manufacturer is using it, like AOKZOE’s new mini gaming PC and the Bosgame M5 AI Mini Desktop PC.
In AMD Ryzen AI Max + 395, you get Radeon RX 8060S IGPU, which is very powerful, but in this Minisforum MS-S1 MAX AI Workstation, you get a full-size PCIe x 16 expansion slot, which makes it different from other mini AI workstations.
Let’s see how the Minisforum MS-S1 MAX AI Mini PC is going to be.
Table of Contents
Image: Minisforum (AI Translated)
Design:
If we talk about the design, then you are going to get this Minisforum MS-S1 MAX AI mini workstation with a simple but premium metal build; you get many more vents from the side and front, and for cooling, it has a cooling system with 6 heat pipes with dual fans. For maintenance, you get an easy tool-free slide-out design. Next you get the logo of MINISFORUM.
The special thing is that you get a built-in 320W high-efficiency power supply, and you get a full-size PCIe x 16 expansion slot due to which you will be able to install a dedicated GPU in it, but it has to be seen how much TDP the GPU installed in it will be able to handle because Ryzen AI Max + 395 consumes 45W to 120W, and the rest of the components consume 40W, i.e., 160W. That means you have 160W of power left; maybe you will be able to run an RTX 5060 in it.
Image Source: Minisforum
CPU:
Talking about the CPU, the Minisforum MS-S1 MAX AI Workstation comes with the powerful AMD Ryzen AI Max + 395 processor, which is a chip based on the Zen 5 architecture that offers 16 cores and 32 threads. The base clock speed of this chip is 3.0 GHz, and the max turbo boost clock is 5.1 GHz, in which you get 64 MB of level 3 cache memory. In terms of power consumption, the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 consumes around 45w to 120w. This APU is an all-rounder chip, especially because this AMD Strix Halo Chip is a better choice for high-end laptops. You get better performance than Apple’s latest M4 Max.
GPU:
The unique aspect about AMD Ryzen AI Max + 395 is that you are provided with the strong Radeon RX 8060S IGPU in it, which provides nearly as much performance as Nvidia RTX 4070. This Strix Halo Graphics has an RDNA 3.5 base in which you receive 40 compute units and 2560 shading units, and the graphics frequency of this Radeon 8060S is 2900 MHz, which is strong. This integrated iGPU consumes up to 55W of power at maximum; hence, this chip consumes around 45W to 120W in total. Due to the iGPU, you will be reliant on shared memory, but which memory will be shared with the iGPU is model-dependent, such as in all the mini PCs released with AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395, where you have three options of memory: 64GB, 96GB, and the humongous 128GB. But this shared integrated 8060S graphics (32 GB VRAM) provides aggressive computing and silky smooth visuals without a dedicated GPU.
Also, you are able to play some of the games with this IGPU in 4K resolutions & smooth 1080p. AAA Title Gaming: In addition to streaming, the M5 is designed for AI workloads, multitasking, and contemporary productivity—making it the perfect solution for creatives, developers, and professionals.
Memory:
If we discuss RAM, then in the Minisforum MS-S1 MAX AI Workstation, you have AMD Ryzen AI Max + 395 APU. In all the mini PCs that were launched with this chip, you can see three options of memory: 64 GB, 96 GB, and 128 GB of huge Onboard 8 Channel LPDDR5X lightning-fast RAM, because of which you can also see two options of memory in the Minisforum MS-S1 MAX AI Workstation. This LPDDR5X memory runs at 8000 MHz, which is crazy. Normal LPDDR5 RAM achieves a speed of up to 5500 Mbps, while in LPDDR5X, you see an ultra-fast speed of up to 8000 Mbps. If we consider storage, you can have a PCIe Gen 4.0 1 TB / 2 TB SSD and two M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4.0 expansion slots. Such storage capacity is ideal for resource-demanding tasks such as 3D rendering and data management.
Connectivity:
For wireless connectivity, the Minisforum MS-S1 MAX AI Workstation comes with high-speed seventh-generation WiFi 7 that offers up to 30 Gbps wireless speed, whereas WiFi 6 offers only 9.6 Gbps speed, and the latest Bluetooth 5.2 that offers extended range with the fastest speed.
Image Source: Minisforum
IO-Ports:
If we look at the ports, then the Minisforum MS-S1 MAX Mini AI Workstation has a power button, a dedicated performance button, 2 x USB Gen 4.0 Type-C ports (80 Gbps), 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 port, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack on the front, and on the back side there is 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 port, 2 x USB 2.0 ports, and a dual 10G LAN port. For display, you get one 2.1 HDMI and one 2.1 DisplayPort.
You will be able to connect a total of four displays in this mini workstation, because you get two USB 4.0 V2 Type-C ports with 80 Gbps, which transmit video signals with almost the same speed as Thunderbolt 5.
Price:
In this Minisforum MS-S1 MAX Mini AI Workstation, you can see a total of two variants: one 64 GB + 1 TB and the other 128 GB + 2 TB. But this is not confirmed yet, so the starting price of this Mini AI Workstation can be around 1999 USD*.
Who should buy the Minisforum MS-S1 MAX AI Mini Workstation:
The Minisforum MS-S1 MAX Mini AI Workstation is a powerful AI workstation that can fulfill all your needs, as it comes equipped with the powerful Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU, which is based on the efficient Zen 5 architecture, offering 16 cores and 32 threads. That, too, with the integrated Radeon RX 8060S iGPU, gives you performance as good as the Nvidia RTX 4070, which allows you to easily play games on it. It offers better cooling. The special thing is that it comes with a full-size PCIe x 16 expansion slot, which allows you to install a dedicated GPU in this machine, and this machine, especially as an AI workstation, can be a better option for you.
