Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti Mini PC With Intel Core Ultra 9 185H “Meteor Lake” CPU Review

Minisforum has been around since 2012 and has offered some innovative designs, mostly in the Mini PC segment. The company has a wide variety of options featuring Intel and AMD CPUs & the company recently introduced its new AtomMan range of high-end products which include some unique designs that stand out from the rest of the market.

The manufacturer recently introduced the AtomMan X7 Ti, a high-end Mini PC that comes packed with the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H CPU and other high-end specs such as 32 GB of DDR5 and 1 TB of SSD storage. The review unit we were sent has a retail price of $849.00 US. So let's start with the specs.

Minisforum has already launched several Intel Mini PCs in the past which we have tested such as their high-end NUCXI7 but today, we are testing their first generation Core Ultra Mini PC, the X7 Ti under the AtomMan series. It's a nice shift from the various AMD Mini PCs that we have tested in the past too but let's see what Minisforum has to offer when it comes to the Intel camp.

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H is the the fastest SKU that we have seen so far with 14+2 cores, 20+2 threads, 24 MB of L3 cache, and up to 5.1 GHz boost clocks. Talking about clocks for a second, Meteor Lake being the first iteration of the "Intel 4" process node is bound to have some frequency regression versus the much optimized "Intel 7" process node. But with that said, Intel's fastest 12th Gen Core i9-12900HK CPU also peaked out at 5.0 GHz when it launched while its successor boosted the clock speeds by an additional +400 MHz (Core i9-13900HK). So 5.1 GHz is a great start for "Intel 4" and we can only see things get better as the process technology & Intel's EUV implementation improves over time.

Another primary component of the Intel Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" CPUs is its graphics core. Unlike the older Xe-LP iGPU featured on past CPUs, starting with Alder Lake.  This chip will pack a total of 8 Xe-cores and 128 EUs within the GPU title which utilizes TSMC's 5nm process node. The iGPU can clock up to 2.35 GHz which is pretty much what Alchemist discrete parts can achieve with much higher TDPs.

Having the Alchemist architecture onboard the Meteor Lake CPUs also means that these will enable enhanced support for DirectX 12 Ultimate and XeSS amongst a range of features that have so far only been limited to Intel's discrete lineup of Arc chips.

Talking about the settings you can configure, the BIOS provides some room for user customization such as setting power limits, thermal limits, shared memory pool for iGPU, and even adjusting RAM speeds. We got our DIMMs to run at 5600 MT/s which is a pretty decent boost over the reference DDR5-4800 speeds. There are also three power profiles that you can select between which include:

Other specs for the Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti include 32 GB DDR5-5600 memory. 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 dual M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4.0 SSD slots and an SD expansion slot.

For I/O, you will be getting two USB 3.2 Gen2 ports, a single USB4 Type-C port, a 3.5mm combo jack, and a Clear CMOS button on the side while the back includes HDMI 2.1, DP 2.0, and a single USB 2.0 and USB 3.2 Type-A ports, dual 5GbE LAN ports, a single USB4 Type-C port and an OCulink port. The front includes a power button, an SD card reader, a large exhaust vent with exposed fins, and a slider that covers the camera.

Software-wise, the Mini PC will come loaded with Windows 11 which is configured on all pre-config units except the barebone version since it doesn't house any storage device.

The Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti comes in a large cardboard box package. It has a black color with purple colored triangles and a AtomMan logo in the top left corner.

The back of the package has the AtomMan label on the top left corner and contact information for after-service. The configuration is also mentioned at the back which you purchased along with a few features.

Lifting the top box cover, you are welcomed by the AtomMan X7 Ti itself which sits in a soft-styrofoam casing and is wrapped within a plastic foil to prevent dust from entering the top grills.

Before talking about the case itself, we have to mention the accessories that come with the X7 Ti. It comes with a Power Adapter that is DC 19V/6.32A compliant and rated at 120.08W, an HDMI cable, a mounting bracket, and a user manual.

The first thing you would notice when you unwrap the plastic from the X7 Ti is the LCD in the middle. The front has a premium glossy finish and there is a small circular cut-out for the front-facing camera.

The Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti features a metallic outer shell which has vents on the sides and at the bottom to dissipate hot air out of the chassis.

The bottom cover is plastic & can be removed by unscrewing four screws that aren't hidden beneath the footrests.

For I/O, you will be getting two USB 3.2 Gen2 ports, a single USB4 Type-C port, a 3.5mm combo jack, and a Clear CMOS button on the side. As mentioned above, the front has an SD card reader, a power button, and a camera privacy slider. This slider can be used to cover the camera for privacy needs.

The back of the AtomMan X7 Ti features HDMI 2.1, DP 2.0, a single USB 2.0 and USB 3.2 Type-A ports, dual 5GbE LAN ports, a single USB4 Type-C port, and an OCulink port.

Overall, the Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti Mini PC features a very nice design which is slightly bigger than the recent Mini PC options that we have tested, measuring 145x145x48.6mm.

The bottom cover is plastic & can be removed by unscrewing four screws that are hidden beneath the footrests.

Removing the bottom plate, you can access the dual M.2 SSD slots and the DDR5 SO-DIMMs which are fully upgradable. The SSDs have a dedicated aluminum heatsink which is great for top stability on storage devices.

Our test unit came with 32 GB of DDR5-5600 memory, 1 TB of SSD (pre-installed with Windows 11), and WIF. The single SATA 2.5" drive can be attached to the port on the opposite side of the SSD slot through a SATA III connector that's bundled within the accessories. Only a 2.5" drive is compatible given the small and limited size of the chassis.

The stand is a nice touch that comes bundled with the Mini PC. The stand can be used to mount the Mini PC in a tilted position which makes sense given that the fan dissipates heat from the sides and the bottom of the chassis. Plus, you can easily use the touch screen on the front this way and you will also be able to read the various stats in realtime.

Coming to the 4-inch LED display, well this is a fun aspect of the Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti. Once booted into Windows, the display will provide you with real-time metrics of the CPU, GPU, SSD, and fan speed. Furthermore, you can also change the power profile directly from this menu rather than entering the BIOS. The three options, Power Saving, Balanced, and Performance modes can be set by a single tap on the screen in the power menu.

For performance testing, we used the standard 60W power profile for the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS when testing the Geekom A8 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.

Following are the power and thermal numbers of the Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti using its 65W performance profile.

As for thermals, the AtomMan X7 Ti Mini PC peaked at around 68-70C with the 65W profile which is great. The fan was noticeable under full load such as multi-threaded and gaming tasks. In gaming, the CPU hardly peaked above 40-42W which is also very impressive for the Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" CPUs.

Minisforum's AtomMan series aims to set the standard of high-performance Mini PCs and with the X7 Ti, it looks like the company has achieved this goal. We saw some impressive performance with the test unit, both in CPU and GPU performance, and being a Core Ultra 9 185H variant means that you are getting the best possible "Core Ultra" experience out of the box.

The unit we got has a price of $849 US which is $180 US higher than the barebone costs. I'd say that is a pretty decent price considering if you were to buy the barebone kit and get the rest of the components yourself, you'd be paying around $200 US. We searched Newegg and found the cheapest 32 GB DDR5-5600 SO-DIMMs around $100 US and a decent Gen4 1 TB drive goes for around $100 US too.

As for the performance, this little beast did impress me with its top-notch performance and even better gaming performance. This is a perfect living room casual gaming box for those who're going to play retro games, emulators, or even some current-gen esports titles. AAA titles can be a bit more stressful for this machine but technologies such as XeSS help you push better graphics performance plus Intel has been doing a fine job in optimizing the iGPU experience with its latest Game-On drivers. The efficiency is also a plus with our unit hardly going above 40 Watts during gaming and even at the peak, it hardly went over 60W.

The BIOS on the AtomMan X7 Ti is also very nicely done with lots of tuning and configuration options plus the handy LED display gives access to the most essential features such as real-time performance monitoring and the option to switch the performance mode as you see fit. The added camera and lots of I/O options are great and if you are looking to take the graphics performance to the next level, you can always attach an eGPU using the dedicated OCulink port. Overall, the Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti is a very premium and high-performance Mini PC which is great for users who want to save space while retaining high-performance capabilities with some cool features.

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