Minisforum, known primarily for its mini-PC, compact desktop systems and dual monitorshas announced its first high-performance network attached storage, the N5 Pro. Usually, NAS systems don’t attract much attention unless they offer something truly unique, but this time we have just such a case.
The N5 Pro is equipped with AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 370 APU with 12 computing cores based on the Zen 5C architecture. For modern NAS, a high-performance processor is no longer a surprise, because they have long ceased to be just data storages and have become full-fledged servers. Such systems are capable of virtualization, running multiple services simultaneously, and processing complex tasks without the need for a separate PC.
Of particular note in this case is the fact that the HX 370 has integrated Radeon 890M graphics. APUs of the Strix Point line now are rarely found even in portable game consolesso in theory, this NAS can be used to play games with performance that’s better than most portables. The device even has an HDMI output, which effectively makes it a full-fledged PC with plenty of storage and advanced connectivity.
The built-in NPU (neural processing unit) allows the NAS to handle not only data storage, but also video processing and local AI tasks — such as running local AI models, image recognition, or automatic content sorting.
For those who don’t need an NPU, Minisforum offers an N5 version based on the previous generation Hawk Point APU with Radeon 780M graphics (also capable of light gaming).
The N5 Pro has a full-size PCIe 4.0 ×4 slot (physically ×16, but with 4 lines), which allows you to connect external graphics cards or other PCIe devices. Additionally, there is a rare OCuLink connector for NAS, which can be used to connect an external GPU or accelerators for AI, Docker containers, Proxmox-based virtualized environments, etc.
Prices of Minisforum N5/N5 Pro:
- N5 (R7 255 + 128 GB SSD) — $594
- N5 (R7 255 + 128 GB SSD + 16 GB DDR5) — $645
- N5 Pro (HX 370 + 128 GB SSD) — $1019
- N5 Pro (HX 370 + 128 GB SSD + 16 GB DDR5) — $1062
- N5 Pro (HX 370 + 128 GB SSD + 48 GB DDR5 ECC) — $1308
- N5 Pro (HX 370 + 128 GB SSD + 96 GB DDR5 ECC) — $1597
Source: videocardz
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