Geekom A5 “AMD Ryzen 7 5800H” Mini PC Review: Budget Performance, Budget Price

We have tested several Mini PCs this year and almost the entirety have been based around AMD Ryzen CPUs which are the most popular choice amongst Mini PC manufacturers. The latest Ryzen 7000 and Ryzen 6000 APUs offer great performance in small designs however these chips are very limited in terms of supply which is making it hard for Mini PC manufacturers to offer products in a timely fashion.

To solve this issue, Mini PC manufacturers such as Geekom are now offering a new budget-tier Mini PC based on the AMD Ryzen 5000H CPUs which is designed to offer very capable performance at its price point. Today, we will be testing the Geekom A5 which is the latest in the company's Mini PC arsenal, and see if it's worth the price of $399.00 US.

Geekom's A5 Mini PC comes in the AMD Ryzen 5000 APU flavors which are based on the Cezanne family. There's also the "AS 5" variant though that model is slightly bigger and has the top Ryzen 9 5900HX chip but also costs $200 US more. For the review sample that we got was equipped with the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H. Our unit was configured with two DDR4-3200 32 GB (16 GB x2) SO-DIMM memory modules and a 512 GB PCIe Gen 3.0 x4 M.2 drive.

Coming to the specifications, the Geekom A5  Mini PC rocks the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H "Cezanne" APU which features 8 cores, 16 threads, 20 MB of cache (L3+L2 combined), and a boost clock of up to 4.4 GHz. The CPU has a TDP of 45W which can be configured up to 54W. The APU is based on the TSMC 7nm process node and the Zen 3 core architecture which is still considered to be great in terms of efficiency.

Another major component of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H APU featured on the Geekom A5 is its AMD Radeon Vega iGPU. This iGPU features 8 compute units or 512 cores that are clocked in at 2000 MHz while being based on the latest Vega graphics architecture. The APU supports both SmartShift MAX and SmartAccess Memory technologies and is also compatible with HDMI 2.0 while driving up to four displays and up to 8K 30Hz resolutions. The older Vega architecture is compatible with the AMD FSR technologies though the support is limited as FSR 3, AFMF, and Anti-Lag only work on the latest GPUs.

Other specs for the Geekom A5 Mini PC include 32 GB DDR4-(Dual-Channel) memory operating at 3200 MT/s. This isn't soldered and instead features a SO-DIMM design so users can completely upgrade it as they wish. Storage comes in the form of a single M.2 2280 SSD slot running at Gen 3.0 speeds. You will get a 512 GB Gen3 SSD within the package itself that can be upgraded to 2 GB.

I/O on the Geekom A5 Mini PC, includes four USB 3.2 Gen 2 (3 Type-A + 1 Type-C) ports, one USB 2.0 port, a 2.5 GbE LAN port, an SD card reader, a DC Jack, a power button, two HDMI 2.0b outputs and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The following are the main features of the Mini PC:

The Geekom A5 Mini PC comes in a black cardboard package which has a simplistic look. You can see a picture of the Mini PC along with the A5 and A-Series Mini PC logos.

The back of the box has some basic specifications which list the specific configuration for this model.

Within the box, you are first greeted with a nice "Thank You" card. Little things like these make for a fun unboxing experience.

Lifting the top box cover, you are welcomed by a soft foam internal in which the PC and its various accessories are kept safe and away from harm.

Before talking about the case itself, we have to mention the accessories that come with the A5 Mini PC. It comes with a Power Adapter, a mounting bracket with screws, and a manual. It has a power adapter that is rated to deliver up to 19V, 6.32A of current, or up to 120W of power to the system.

With the A5 Mini PC out of the package itself, you are met with another greeting on the plastic film around the PC.

So looking at the PC, you are met with a gorgeous and perfect square-shaped chassis that comes with a beautiful rose pink color scheme. The curved edges and the aluminum + shiny exterior has a very premium feel.

The top is fully enclosed while the sides of the chassis have vents to push hot air out of the unit that is dissipated by the cooling solution.

The front I/O on the Geekom A5 Mini PC comes with two USB 3.2 Type-A ports, a microphone jack, and a Power On/Off button.

The back I/O of the Geekom A5 Mini PC comes with a 2.5GbE Ethernet LAN port, two HDMI 2.0b outputs, one USB 2.0 port, and three USB 3.2 ports (2 Type-C + 1 Type-A). There's along the DC in power delivery port on the back.

The sides of the chassis come with an SD card reader which is quite an unusual place to have it but given the compact nature of this case, it looks like Geekom was only left with this place to place it.

This cooler on the Geekom A5 Mini PC is top mounted which means that most of the hot air is blown out from the top sides of the vent rather than the bottom side which is why the bottom is entirely closed.

Our test unit came with 32 GB of DDR4-3200 memory and 512 GB of SSD. This is the baseline and only configuration that Geekom has listed for the A5 Mini PC on their webpage.

The interiors of the Mini PC can be accessed by removing four screws at the bottom.

The Geekom A5 Mini PC measures 117x112x49mm (W/L/H) and weighs 0.65kg.  You also get a VESA bracket along with four screws to mount it behind a monitor with ease.

For performance testing, we used the standard 54W power profile for the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H APU when testing the Geekom A5 Mini PC.

For gaming, we tested a couple of the latest and most played esports titles along with a mix of AAA titles at 1080p resolution. The performance was measured between the AMD Radeon 780, Radeon 680M, AMD Vega 8, Vega 7, Vega 6, and Intel Iris Xe-LP integrated graphics.

Following are the power and thermal numbers of the Geekom A5 Mini PC using its standard 54W power profile.

As for thermals, the Geekom A5 Mini PC peaked at around 84C with the standard 54W profile. The fan was noticeable under full load but gaming and standard workloads didn't produce much noise.

The last Geekom Mini PC that we reviewed was their high-end AS6 design and now, we are looking at a more budget-friendly solution that comes with decent specifications. The A5 Mini PC has the looks of a premium product with its aluminum chassis and shiny exterior and the internals are very good with the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H still being a very capable chip that can handle any application with ease while the Vega iGPU, although older, still delivers decent performance and kudos to AMD for having FSR supported here as that gives the iGPU some breathing room. Although the SSD and memory are upgradable, just one M.2 slot is a bit lacking and I wish we would've seen a two M.2 slot design besides that, the thermal performance in such a cramped-up space is good & does the job well.

The Geekom A5 Mini PC surely is a great mainstream option for $399 US and if you're looking for something more higher-end, the Geekom also has you covered with Rembrandt and upcoming Phoenix options.

Grab the Geekom A5 Mini PC for $40 US Off Using the code "2I3SUTF6". (Offer available till 31st Oct) at Amazon.

You can also grab the Geekom A5 Mini PC for $40 US Off Using the code "wccftecha540" on the official webpage here.

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