Our VerdictThe AX8 Pro is a triumph of miniaturisation matched with solid mini-PC performance, but the price tag is punishing.
Our VerdictThe AX8 Pro is a triumph of miniaturisation matched with solid mini-PC performance, but the price tag is punishing.
Our Verdict
Our Verdict
The AX8 Pro is a triumph of miniaturisation matched with solid mini-PC performance, but the price tag is punishing.
ForUnbelievably compactPunchy performanceExcellent APUAgainstVery pricey……but not notably faster than its peers
ForUnbelievably compactPunchy performanceExcellent APU
AgainstVery pricey……but not notably faster than its peers
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As I hefted the AX8 Pro from its packaging, my first impression was of a pleasing weight and density. My second was: “HolyCRAPthis thing is small!”
Featuring eight cores and sixteen threads, the Ryzen 9 8945HS is a great little chip. In stress-testing, we saw it draw a peak of 65 W, boosting from its base clock speed of 4 GHz to a healthy 5.2 GHz, with a peak operating temperature of 92 °C under sustained loads. That might feel a bit on the balmy side, but it’s still eight degrees short of the CPU’s 100 °C TJMax rating, the point at which throttling kicks in.
AX8 Pro specs(Image credit: Future)APU:AMD Ryzen 9 8945HSiGPU:Radeon 780MMemory:32GB DDR5 5600Mhz SODIMMStorage:2TB M.2 PCIe Gen4Wireless:WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3I/O: front:2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 3.5mm Headset jackI/O rear:2x HDMI 2.0, 1x USB4 Type-C, 1USB 3.2 Type-C, 1x 2.5G LAN, 1x USB 3.2 Type-A, 1x USB 2.0 Type-APrice:$899|£949
AX8 Pro specs
(Image credit: Future)APU:AMD Ryzen 9 8945HSiGPU:Radeon 780MMemory:32GB DDR5 5600Mhz SODIMMStorage:2TB M.2 PCIe Gen4Wireless:WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3I/O: front:2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 3.5mm Headset jackI/O rear:2x HDMI 2.0, 1x USB4 Type-C, 1USB 3.2 Type-C, 1x 2.5G LAN, 1x USB 3.2 Type-A, 1x USB 2.0 Type-APrice:$899|£949
(Image credit: Future)
APU:AMD Ryzen 9 8945HSiGPU:Radeon 780MMemory:32GB DDR5 5600Mhz SODIMMStorage:2TB M.2 PCIe Gen4Wireless:WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3I/O: front:2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 3.5mm Headset jackI/O rear:2x HDMI 2.0, 1x USB4 Type-C, 1USB 3.2 Type-C, 1x 2.5G LAN, 1x USB 3.2 Type-A, 1x USB 2.0 Type-APrice:$899|£949
What this all adds up to is a powerful, do-it-all mini-PC, a machine you can use equally for work and pleasure, with desktop-chasing productivity chops and muscle enough to run most games well at 1080p. A lot of its gaming performance hinges on that Radeon 780M, so it’s no surprise to find it trades blows with previous-gen APUs equipped with the same iGPU, such as the Ryzen 7 7840HS and Ryzen 9 7940HS, and on the Intel side, the Arc-wielding Core 9 Ultra 185H.
Indie and older games are where the 780M shines and there’s oodles of fun to be had at 1080p with medium graphics settings. In our testing we found Subnautica running nice and smooth at 55-75 fps, Stray at a similarly svelte 52-75 fps, Soulstone Survivors between 80 and 120 fps, and Doom Eternal at a gore-slick 70-80 fps.
There are quieter mini PCs out there, but this thing is so compact, I’m genuinely staggered that it doesn’t sound like a Lilliputian Airbus.
There are quieter mini PCs out there, but this thing is so compact, I’m genuinely staggered that it doesn’t sound like a Lilliputian Airbus.
Some furtive noodling around the BIOS reveals three fan modes which you can switch between to alter the cooling and sound profiles. Shifting between Quiet, Normal, and Performance modes does indeed alter the max fan speed and associated volume, but in testing we discovered that it also alters the TDP, with the fan curve shifting to match lesser or greater wattage limits and their adjuvant heat generation, so the label ‘fan mode' doesn’t quite paint the full picture.
Running Prime95 to stress the chip and using HWInfo64 to measure the changes, Silent mode saw the CPU draw 51 W to hit a max turbo speed of 5.1 GHz and a max temp of 83 Celsius. Normal mode draws 59 W, which gets you 5.1 GHz at 89 °C, and Performance mode pulls 65 W to hit the CPU’s max clock speed of 5.2 GHz and pushes the temperature to 92 °C. Our shrink-wrapped AX8 Pro retail sample was set to Performance out of the box, so all the benchmarks above were conducted in this mode.
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(Image credit: Future)
TDP changes can affect performance of course, so our final test was to rerun Cyberpunk’s benchmark in all three modes and note the performance changes between the different wattages. In Quiet mode (51 W), the game saw an average of 48 fps, and the fan remained very quiet. In Normal mode (59 W), the game achieved 51 fps, and the raised fan speed was more audible, but level and ignorable. In Performance mode (65 W), it performed no better than Normal, achieving the same 51 fps in Cyberpunk but noticeably hiking the fan-noise to a prominent level. Other games may or may benefit more from the jump up to 65 W, but if so, it’s hard to imagine a significant level of uptick. Our recommendation would be to drop the fan mode to Normal and leave it there.
Image1of3(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)
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Buy if…✅ You demand the dinkiest:It’s tiny. You could literally slip this thing in the back pocket of your jeans.✅You want great performance at 1080p:An excellent all-rounder with power enough for gaming at 1920x1080
Buy if…
✅ You demand the dinkiest:It’s tiny. You could literally slip this thing in the back pocket of your jeans.✅You want great performance at 1080p:An excellent all-rounder with power enough for gaming at 1920x1080
✅ You demand the dinkiest:It’s tiny. You could literally slip this thing in the back pocket of your jeans.✅You want great performance at 1080p:An excellent all-rounder with power enough for gaming at 1920x1080
Don’t buy if…❌ You’re on a budget:The price tag is just shy of a grand, and there’s no barebones option.❌You want a silent performer:With a powerful APU in a tiny case, the fan needs to hustle
Don’t buy if…
❌ You’re on a budget:The price tag is just shy of a grand, and there’s no barebones option.❌You want a silent performer:With a powerful APU in a tiny case, the fan needs to hustle
❌ You’re on a budget:The price tag is just shy of a grand, and there’s no barebones option.❌You want a silent performer:With a powerful APU in a tiny case, the fan needs to hustle
If you want the smallest PC on the planet with a highly performant APU, the Geekom AX8 Pro is just that. But be aware that you can spend considerably less and achieve near-identical results.
The Verdict78Read our review policyGeekom AX8 ProThe AX8 Pro is a triumph of miniaturisation matched with solid mini-PC performance, but the price tag is punishing.
The Verdict
The Verdict
78Read our review policyGeekom AX8 ProThe AX8 Pro is a triumph of miniaturisation matched with solid mini-PC performance, but the price tag is punishing.
78Read our review policy
78
Geekom AX8 ProThe AX8 Pro is a triumph of miniaturisation matched with solid mini-PC performance, but the price tag is punishing.
Geekom AX8 Pro
The AX8 Pro is a triumph of miniaturisation matched with solid mini-PC performance, but the price tag is punishing.
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