Review: AceMagician AMR5 Mini Gaming PC punches above its weight - Technobubble Gaming
Do good things truly come in small packages? That’s certainly what AceMagican would like you to think when it comes to its AMR5 Mini Gaming PC.
At just under 6 inches tall and less than 2-½ inches thick — 15 centimeters and 5 centimeters for you folks on the metric system — the AMR5 is a veritable pint-sized wonder compared to traditional desktops.
Don’t let its small size fool you, though.
The AMR5 is surprisingly capable for a mini PC thanks to a processor that packs some nice punch. In fact, if it weren’t for its more limited graphical chops, its performance could rival a full-fledged desktop PC.
It’s part of the never-ending compromise over cost and performance anytime you craft a PC. Now let’s take a look at what you exactly get with the AceMagician AMR5 Mini Gaming PC.
AceMagician AMR5 Mini Gaming PC: Design and hardware
The AceMagician AMR5 Mini Gaming PC comes in a small black box that’s nicely packaged.
Inside, you will find the AMR5 mini PC, an HDMI cable and a power brick and plug.
The AMR5 mini PC itself weighs about 1.5 pounds, so it’s pretty light. It almost looks like a plug-in external hard drive.
The AMR5 design has an almost retro quality to it — almost like a PlayStation 2 made love to a video camcorder from the 1990s. I also applaud the decision to go with matte plastic and a brushed metal feel for the outer case because it makes the AMR5 mini PC more resistant to dust and fingerprints.
By the way, the AceMagician AMR5 Mini Gaming PC comes with Windows 11 Pro.
Here is a rundown of the available ports and connection slots for the AMR5 mini PC:
- USB 3.0 (Type A): 4 ports with 5Gbps speed.
- USB C: 1 port with 10Gbps+ speed and also doubles as a display port supporting 4K, 60 hertz/60 frames per second.
- Dedicated display port: 1 port that supports 4K/60Hz.
- HDMI 2.0: 1 port.
- Gigabit Ethernet: 1 port at 1Gbps speed.
- 3.5mm slot: 1 port for Audio In and Audio Out.
- DC Power: 1 port for power adapter.
It would have been nice to get faster USB 3.1 ports but having four Type A slots is good, nevertheless. You can also connect multiple monitors if you’d like.
Another plus is the ease of opening up the device in case you want to upgrade its components like storage or RAM. It’s definitely good for folks who like to tinker.
The AMR5 mini PC also comes with a dial built around the power button to quickly adjust performance. You have three options: Silent, Performance and Auto, depending on your needs. You may want to switch to Silent when browsing online or doing light work or viewing movies, for example. You can then crank it up to Performance when doing more tasks or playing a video game.
Naturally, you can’t have a gaming PC without LED lighting. This can be a plus or minus depending on whether you like or hate LED lights. I happen to fall in the former camp because I do like my bling.
AceMagician AMR5 Mini Gaming PC: How does it perform?
The AceMagician AMR5 Mini Gaming PC comes with your pick of two different processors.
There’s the Ryzen 5 5600U model, which starts at $499.99, though I’ve also seen it go on sale for $399.99 at the official AceMagician online site and $449 at Amazon. There is also a version that comes with the beefier Ryzen 7 5800U processor for folks who want more cores and threads.
For this review, I tested the Ryzen 5 model.
With six cores and 12 threads, the Ryzen 5 5600U stacks up quite nicely against other mini PCs. It’s a very capable mid-range processor.
It also comes with 16GB of RAM, which is a lot for typical computing tasks. It certainly has more than enough power to work as a daily driver for the office or school.
Where it does fall a bit short is in GPU-intensive activities.
The integrated Radeon graphics are competent but not exactly a powerhouse for, say, hardcore gaming. Yes, the branding says it’s a mini “gaming” PC and the AMR5 does perform well compared to many mini PCs. Ultimately, though, this is still a mini PC with integrated as opposed to dedicated graphics.
It will handle any mobile games via an emulator such as Bluestacks with no issues. It can even natively play games such as Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak very well on medium settings at 1080p resolution. Try bumping performance beyond that, however, and, just like Houston during the Apollo 13 mission, you’re going to have a problem — with your frame rates. You will also have to go down to even lower settings for more demanding games such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Battlefield 2042. Otherwise, FSR is your friend.
Then again, you don’t buy a $400-$500 mini PC like the AMR5 for hardcore gaming. You get it to have a compact PC with a small footprint that does a good job with normal computing tasks as well as some video streaming and light — or, technically, medium — gaming on the side.
Final thoughts on the AceMagician AMR5 Mini Gaming PC
The AceMagician AMR5 Mini Gaming PC is a surprisingly capable mini PC with great bang for the buck.
The Ryzen 5 processor performs very well and can handle an assortment of computing tasks. It also comes with a bunch of ports for connecting various peripherals.
The Radeon graphics could admittedly be better, especially for users who want to game at higher quality settings. For a mini PC at its price point, however, the AMR5 punches above its weight.
Check it out if you’re looking for a small, portable PC that’s easy to move around the house or take with you on the road and works well as a laptop alternative.
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