30-second evaluate
Intel has been promising to launch some genuinely particular cell processors for some time, and given how poor among the Gen 10, 11, and 12 chips had been, it is about time, too.
Finally, the pure Core branding has exited stage left, and we’re now invited to gaze on the good-looking profile of the primary Core Ultra collection.
The F2A Mini PC by Acemagic is powered by the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H, a completely new design that sports activities fourteen cores break up now into P-Cores, E-Cores and new L-Cores (for Low-power Efficiency cores), and there are 4, 8 and a pair of of these sorts.
In addition to the brand new core structure, that is the primary chip we have seen with ARC graphics, changing Iris Xe because the built-in video of alternative.
Being the primary to convey a brand new product line to market may be fraught with points, however from our expertise, Acemagic delivered a secure and versatile resolution on the primary attempt.
However, getting the F2A to market might have left a number of objects on the event ground. Despite costing north of $1000, it comes with restricted USB ports, no Thunderbolt or USB 4.0 and with out the power to attach the 4 displays the ARC GPU can assist.
We additionally count on some steel within the case at this value, in addition to directions on find out how to get inside to carry out upgrades.
As spectacular as this machine was in benchmarking, we suspect that different mini PC designs based mostly on the identical chip know-how will transfer the bar increased on buyer expectations.
Acemagic F2A: Price and availability
- How a lot does it price? From $1100
- When is it out? Available quickly
- Where are you able to get it? Directly from Acemagic
Acemagic affords two SKUs of the F2A: the Ultra 5 125H mannequin reviewed right here and the Ultra 7 155H possibility. Both have 1TB of storage and 32GB of DDR5 reminiscence.
The Ultra 5 is $1099, and the Ultra 7 is $1199, making the shift to Ultra 7 one other $100.
From what we will uncover, these machines aren’t extensively accessible by means of on-line resellers at this level, however that may change sooner or later.
While each Asrock and MechRevo have introduced Mini PC designs utilizing the brand new Ultra collection processors, these merchandise will not be but accessible.
A value comparability is difficult as a result of the {hardware} within the F2A is exclusive to this product at the moment. But that can change, we predict.
However, Beelink lately launched its SER6 6900HX mannequin utilizing the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX processor (8 cores, 16 threads) and the AMD Radeon 680M. It prices $580 on Amazon.com, making it half the worth of the F2A for a similar quantity of RAM and storage.
Therefore, we might contest that the F2A is massively overpriced, with a extra life like value being round $700. Exactly how lengthy it takes for gravity to overhaul the asking value will rely upon different Mini PC makers and the way quickly they’ll get Ultra-powered merchandise to market.
Acemagic F2A: Specs
| Item | Spec |
|---|---|
| CPU: | Intel Core Ultra 5 125H (14 cores, 18 Threads) |
| GPU: | Intel Arc graphics (7 Xe-cores) |
| RAM: | 32GB DDR5-5600 (2800 MHz) (16GB x 2) expandable to 96GB) |
| Storage: | 1TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4 |
| Expansion: | 1x M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4 |
| Ports: | 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, 1x USB 2.2 Gen 1 Type-C, 2x HDMI 2.0b, 1x common audio jack |
| Networking: | 1x 2.5GbE LAN, WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.5 |
| OS: | Windows 11 Pro (pre-installed) |
| Base Power: | 65W |
| PSU: | 19V 6.3A 119.7W |
| Dimensions: | 148 x 120 x 38.35 (mm) |
Acemagic F2A: Design
- All plastic
- Awkward inner entry
- Lacks USB 4.0 or Thunderbolt
Considering the price of this merchandise, the standard of building leaves just a little to be desired. We’ve seen some elegant steel enclosures for NUC-sized computer systems, however the F2A is fully plastic. It’s not that the system seems to be unhealthy, however plastic is not massively sturdy, and the way lengthy it should keep enticing is up for debate.
Also lower than supreme is that the documentation makes no reference to getting inside, and apart from a small cut-out within the underside on the again, there aren’t any clues supplied by Acemagic about find out how to obtain this.
After flirting with destroying the case, I ultimately decided by watching a video by the wonderful Carey Holzman that the rubber ft unscrewed. These launch the underside of the case and permit entry to a recess the place the reminiscence and storage are situated.
In our evaluate machine, two Kingston DDR5 16GB reminiscence modules stuffed the reminiscence SODIMM slots and a single Kingston NVMe drive in one of many two M.2 slots.
According to Intel, this technique can tackle 96GB of reminiscence, presumably utilizing two 48GB modules, if you happen to can afford ones that dimension.
The M.2 slots are each PCIe 4.0 spec, one thing that different structure Mini PCs would wrestle to supply. The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H has 28 PCIe lanes, offering sufficient bandwidth for these slots and all of the exterior ports.
The entrance aspect has a 3.5mm audio jack and three USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, with considered one of them being USB-C. The rear has two extra USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, twin HDMI and a single 2.5GbE LAN port.
The first apparent query is why Acemagic put the Gen 2 ports on the rear and never the entrance. And equally, why does this machine not have USB 4.0 or Thunderbolt?
The remainder of this technique is spectacular, however the supplied ports are genuinely disappointing.
One of the plus factors of the brand new ARC GPU is that it could drive 4 displays, however the F2A does not have the ports to make use of this function in the way in which that was supposed.
Overall, it is easy to conclude that to beat different manufacturers to get this {hardware} on the shelf, Acemagic reduce a number of corners, like Thunderbolt/USB 4.0. But when different designs can be found, they are going to change into promoting factors over the F2A, sadly.
Acemagic F2A: Features
- Intel Core Ultra 5 125H
- 28 PCIe Lanes
- ARC GPU
This PC comes with an Intel Core Ultra 5 125H or Core Ultra 7 155H, the most recent cell chips from that secure. It’s tempting to name them Gen 14 and even Gen 15, however these Meteor Lake chips are literally from the primary era of the Core Ultra collection.
As talked about, the Core Ultra 5 125H has fourteen cores with 4 efficiency, eight effectivity and two Low-power Efficiency cores.
If you spend the additional $100, the Ultra 7 155H has an extra two efficiency cores, bringing the full variety of threads to 22. The Ultra 7 has an ARC GPU with eight Xe cores, yet another than the seven that the Ultra 5 125H.
These chips genuinely shine within the PCIe subsystems, which have 28 PCIe lanes divided into 1x (x8) Gen5 + 3x (x4) Gen4 + 8x (x1,x2,x4) Gen4. That’s greater than most desktop methods get, and this chip was designed for laptops and mini methods.
This can be the primary outing for ARC GPU know-how in an built-in type, first showing as discrete video playing cards. While the ARC GPU hasn’t nervous Nvidia or AMD, that Intel did not faceplant with its first discrete GPU design shocked many. Here, it supplies a much-needed enhance to the graphics efficiency that Intel Iris Xe beforehand supplied.
Interestingly, Xe know-how has not disappeared fully; the ARC built-in resolution makes use of a number of Xe cores to ship extra processing energy and compute efficiency.
The last thrilling half concerning the silicon within the F2A is that it contains Intel AI Boost, with software program assist for OpenVINO, WindowsML, DirectML and ONNX RT.
Many pc makers have jumped on the AI bandwagon previously yr, principally with out understanding what it was. However, with Intel baking it into their processors and supporting chip know-how, it should doubtless change into one thing that AI customers will discover.
Acemagic F2A: Performance
| Mini PC | Header Cell – Column 1 | Acemagic F2A | Minisforum NBP7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Row 0 – Cell 1 | Intel Core Ultra 5 125H | Core i7-13700H |
| RAM | Row 1 – Cell 1 | 32GB DDR5 (2x16GB) | 16GB DDR5 (2x8GB) |
| Storage | Row 2 – Cell 1 | 1TB NVMe | 512GB SSD |
| Graphics | Row 3 – Cell 1 | Intel Arc Graphics | Iris Xe Graphics (EU96) |
| 3DMark | WildLife | 18072 | 15791 |
| Row 5 – Cell 0 | FireStrike | 6856 | 5806 |
| Row 6 – Cell 0 | TimeSpy | 3424 | 2096 |
| CineBench23 | Single | 1651 | 1726 |
| Row 8 – Cell 0 | Multi | 14474 | 13195 |
| Row 9 – Cell 0 | Ratio | 8.77 | 7.64 |
| GeekBench | Single | 1655 | 1705 |
| Row 11 – Cell 0 | Multi | 10442 | 13204 |
| Row 12 – Cell 0 | OpenCL | 27553 | 20910 |
| Row 13 – Cell 0 | Vulkan | 23474 | 18198 |
| CrystalDisk | Read MB/s | 3792 | 4799 |
| Row 15 – Cell 0 | Write MB/s | 1627 | 3533 |
| PCMark 10 | Office | 6771 | 5660 |
| WEI | Row 17 – Cell 1 | 8.1 | 8.5 |
Rather than evaluating this machine to an AMD one, evaluating it to one of many higher Intel machines from the earlier era makes extra sense.
The Core i7-13700H is a twenty-thread monster, however in these benchmarks, it will get firmly put instead by the Core Ultra 5 125H in most bench checks.
The single-core processing is barely much less, however that is as a result of the Ultra is restricted to 4.5GHz turbo enhance, whereas the Core i7 is unleashed as much as 5GHz.
But, the Ultra is best at multithreaded duties even when it has fewer threads, 20 vs 18, and fewer L3 cache.
What the Ultra has in its nook is a extra power-efficient design fabricated at 7nm, not 10nm, permitting it to get 10C hotter with out throttling. This structure permits for a wider TDP energy vary, with this machine utilizing as much as 65W for the processor.
A Core 5 that beats a Core 7 is at all times good, however the different essential change is the introduction of the ARC GPU, which is round 20% to 40% sooner, relying on the graphics take a look at. The WildLife rating, specifically, is the most important we have seen for an built-in GPU, even beating an AMD Ryzen 9 6900H and its Radeon 680M IGU.
While this does not make Core Ultra 5 machines gaming platforms, it represents a major step up from the Iris Xe and leaves the previous Intel Graphics UHD within the mud (the place it belongs).
While the 155H is undoubtedly much more spectacular, the 125H is a formidable processor and graphics mixture, and we’re prone to see it in lots of small methods within the coming months.
The solely negatives seen listed below are that Acemagic used a Kingston NVMe drive that does not correctly exploit a PCIe 4.0 M.2 slot. And, when it is working onerous, a small fan on the underside fires with an annoying excessive pitch and quantity.
Acemagic F2A: Verdict
What the F2A does properly is reveal the potential of the Ultra collection silicon for Mini PC use. The consequence can be more and more highly effective methods that might make standard desktop options out of date.
However, in getting this {hardware} to market so early, Acemagic did not make it the most effective system, averted Thunderbolt and gave it a disappointing port choice total.
Those points, when mixed with the comparatively excessive value, would possibly recommend that some endurance is required. Other manufacturers can be bringing these processors to their ranges, they usually would possibly make a extra feature-rich design or a less expensive possibility.
We additionally should not low cost AMD because it has new silicon able to deploy that may additional transfer the efficiency goalposts.
For a short time, the F2A is among the most potent Mini PCs round, however how lengthy it retains that crown is perhaps a disturbingly brief time-frame.
Should I purchase a Acemagic F2A?
| Value | Expensive as a result of Acemagic determined it was. | 2/5 |
| Design | Layout is unexciting, and the machine is generally plastic | 3/5 |
| Features | Dual M.2 slots, however no Thunderbolt, and solely two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. | 3/5 |
| Performance | A quick and highly effective platform. | 4.5/5 |
| Overalls | It’s costly and lacks Thunderbolt, however it reveals promise. | 4/5 |