GEEKOM A5 mini-PC Review: Affordable Cezanne Zen 3 at 35W
by Ganesh T S on December 8, 2023 9:15 AM ESTSetup Notes and Platform Analysis
Our review sample of the GEEKOM A5 came with all necessary components pre-installed - including the OS. Prior to setting up the OS on first boot, we took some time to look into the BIOS interface. Unlike the GUI-based UEFI interface offered by tier-one vendors, the BIOS here is a vanilla one with keyboard-only navigation. There are plenty of configurable options, and the video below presents an overview of the features.
The GEEKOM A5 is one of the first UCFF systems to expose overclocking features in the BIOS, albeit behind a bunch of warning screens. The thermal solution is limited by the form-factor. This makes the BIOS feature more of a novelty rather than something really useful. A lot of the other options seem to be OEM control knobs that have been inadvertently left enabled in the shipping BIOS.
One of the drawbacks of using a 2021 processor is the absence of support for the latest high-speed I/Os such as USB4. However, that has not prevented GEEKOM from packing the A5 with relatively high-end connectivity features for a sub-$400 system. The PCIe lane allocations from the Cezanne SoC are detailed below.
- PCIe 3.0 x1 port #2: In Use @ x1 (O2Micro Integrated MMC/SD Controller)
- PCIe 3.0 x1 port #4: In Use @ x1 (Realtek RTL8125 Gaming 2.5GbE Family Ethernet Controller)
- PCIe 3.0 x1 port #5: In Use @ x1 (Realtek RTL8852BE Wireless LAN WiFi 6 PCIe Network Adapter)
- PCIe 3.0 x4 port #1: In Use @ x4 (Maxio MAP1202 NVMe SSD Controller)
The set of USB ports and internal SATA ports are all direct from the Cezanne SoC.
In today's review, we compare the GEEKOM A5 and a host of other systems based on processors with TDPs ranging from 28W to 65W. The systems do not target the same market segments, but a few key aspects lie in common, making the comparisons relevant.
| Comparative PC Configurations | ||
| Aspect | GEEKOM A5 | |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 5800H Zen 3 (Cezanne) 8C/16T, 3.2 - 4.4 GHz TSMC 7nm, 16MB L3, 45W Max / Target TDP : 45W / 35W |
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H Zen 3 (Cezanne) 8C/16T, 3.2 - 4.4 GHz TSMC 7nm, 16MB L3, 45W Max / Target TDP : 45W / 35W |
| GPU | AMD Radeon Graphics (Renoir) - Integrated (RX Vega 8) (8 CUs @ 2.4 GHz) |
AMD Radeon Graphics (Renoir) - Integrated (RX Vega 8) (8 CUs @ 2.4 GHz) |
| RAM | Shenzhen Wodposit Tech. WPBH32D408SWM-16G DDR4-3200 SODIMM 22-22-22-52 @ 3200 MHz 2x16 GB |
Shenzhen Wodposit Tech. WPBH32D408SWM-16G DDR4-3200 SODIMM 22-22-22-52 @ 3200 MHz 2x16 GB |
| Storage | Lexar NM620 (512 GB; M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe;) (SK hynix 176L 3D TLC; Maxio MAP1202A-F1C Controller) |
Lexar NM620 (512 GB; M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe;) (SK hynix 176L 3D TLC; Maxio MAP1202A-F1C Controller) |
| Wi-Fi | 1x 2.5 GbE RJ-45 (Realtek RTL8125) Realtek 8852BE Wi-Fi 6 (2x2 802.11ax - 1.8 Gbps) / Bluetooth 5.2 |
1x 2.5 GbE RJ-45 (Realtek RTL8125) Realtek 8852BE Wi-Fi 6 (2x2 802.11ax - 1.8 Gbps) / Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Price (in USD, when built) | (Street Pricing on Dec 7th, 2023) US $399 (as configured, with OS) |
(Street Pricing on Dec 7th, 2023) US $399 (as configured, with OS) |
The next few sections will deal with comparative benchmarks for the above systems.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
35 Comments
View All Comments
Reflex - Monday, December 11, 2023 - link
This is just a bizarre comment. These systems have a near top end CPU from the previous generation and can have up to 64GB of RAM. The vast majority of PC's sold are around 16GB of RAM and nobody complains about that (and this mini PC has twice that). Yes, web browsers can eat up a lot of memory, but regardless regular people and even many power users who aren't gamers are well served by these.As much as I love my overbuilt ITX system the fact is that I could get by on one of these things fine for everything but gaming, and I usually have 3 browsers open with dozens of tabs in each (guess what? Browsers hibernate tabs not in use), I do photo editing via Capture One and run a ton of messaging apps, some work applications and a desktop AI solution and my Ryzen 5700G handles it without breaking a sweat. I have 64GB of memory, which these mini PC's can handle as well, and my memory usage is rarely more than 35-50%.
I don't know what you believe a regular user does that requires so much more than what they offer but you may need a reality check.
ballsystemlord - Tuesday, December 12, 2023 - link
As I said to another reply, I mistakenly thought the mini-PC was equipped with 16GB of RAM.t.s - Friday, December 15, 2023 - link
still, 16GB of RAM is enough for running 20 tabs or more. Well, except, like they said, you watch dual 8k vr. BTW, I'm now with 32 firefox tab, 11GB RAM usage.StevoLincolnite - Wednesday, December 13, 2023 - link
Depends on the browser and what is going on.Some browsers are known to aggressively cache data into RAM.
However 8GB of Ram+Windows+Firefox I can happily run a dozen or more tabs with a decent SSD with music streaming in the background.
garblah - Friday, December 8, 2023 - link
No AV1 decoding in hardware. Small chance it could be an issue in a few of years, though the rise of AV1 to prominence has been slow.Not sure this configuration could brute force 4K AV1 playback without dropping frames. At any rate, I don't think the highest quality streaming content will be found as AV1 for another 4 years at minimum.
garblah - Friday, December 8, 2023 - link
*I see 8K 60p AV1 was tested for CPU usage. Why 8K 60p only... hmm.Samus - Saturday, December 9, 2023 - link
Is this OS license actually legit?meacupla - Sunday, December 10, 2023 - link
Win11 pro keys cost $36 for the end user. They probably cost like $10 for geekom, who get volume discountsSamus - Wednesday, December 13, 2023 - link
Sure, except this is equipped with Windows Enterprise...that's normally reserved for corporate and site-licensing, not end-user\resale applications.Very strange.
gz-0 - Saturday, December 9, 2023 - link
The comparison with different setups shows this to be the best for value. I was surprised that Intel setups seemed so inferior to the AMD setups.Looked closely at the lower cost, lower performances of the other AMD units. This seems to be the best. My previous experiences were with a Celeron 8GB memory unit. The lack of hardware ports was treated with external plugin ports.