Geekom A6 review – a premium mini PC for gaming that costs just $499

The final couple of years have proven that proudly owning a genuinely compact mini gaming PC is not only a pipe dream. The Geekom A6 is the proper instance, hiding an honest set of specs inside its tiny aluminum chassis, all for a surprisingly inexpensive value.

One of many areas I actually admire concerning the Geekom merchandise I’ve reviewed is the construct high quality, and regardless of the budget-level value, this Geekom A6 mini PC seems to be and appears like a premium product. The eight-core AMD Ryzen 7 6800H CPU and 32GB of DDR5 RAM supply loads of energy for day-to-day workplace work, leaving the built-in AMD Radeon 680M GPU prepared for 1080p gaming classes, not less than in most fashionable video games, even when it may possibly’t actually compete with the very best gaming PCs on the market.

It is essential to acknowledge what you are getting with a tool similar to this one. These are affordable laptop-grade specs in a mini PC that prices simply $499 – as my earlier Geekom AX8 Professional evaluation exhibits, a prime spec can price you a whole lot of {dollars} extra. Is that this mini PC actually able to dealing with the calls for of recent gaming? To seek out that out, I put the Geekom AX8 Professional to the take a look at over a number of days to see the way it carried out as a piece and gaming PC.

Specs

For $499, the Geekom A6 is a surprisingly succesful machine and, not like the AX8 Professional I reviewed, there’s only a single mannequin that can be purchased. It ships with an eight-core, 16-thread AMD Ryzen 7 6800H CPU, a Zen 3+ CPU that was first launched in 2022. It comes with a 3.2GHz clock velocity that may enhance as much as 4.7GHz, together with a 45W thermal design energy (TDP) ranking.

In the meantime, the built-in AMD Radeon 680M GPU makes use of the tried-and-tested AMD RDNA 2 structure. RDNA 2 GPUs can nonetheless be popularly present in current laptops and handhelds for 1080p gameplay, most noticeably the Steam Deck, with the just lately launched Legion Go S handheld utilizing the Z2 Go APU additionally outfitted with the identical built-in 680M GPU because the A6 right here.

A pleasant shock, particularly contemplating the worth, is that Geekom did not cheapen out on RAM or storage. The A6 comes with 32GB (2 x 16GB) of Essential DDR5 RAM operating at 5,600MT/s, with assist for upgrades as much as 64GB. There’s additionally a 1TB Kingston NVMe SSD, leaving a good quantity of storage in your video games and apps.

Nonetheless, upgrading your RAM or SSD additional might show to be extra awkward than anticipated for many, as I am going to clarify later.

Options

You are not in need of connections on this Geekom A6 mini PC. Just like the premium AX8 Professional, the A6 contains Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth assist, together with a 2.5G Ethernet port. That is greater than sufficient to deal with day-to-day calls for, whether or not it is working, streaming, or high-end gaming, so long as your house community can deal with it.

Extremely, the I/O on the again exhibits 4 separate ports for exterior shows. There are two HDMI 2.0 ports for normal monitor output, together with a Kind-C USB 4 gen 3 port and a USB 3.2 gen 2 port, each supporting DisplayPort over USB, with the USB 4 port supporting resolutions of as much as 8K at 30Hz and the USB 3.2 port supporting 4K at 60Hz. You will want to make use of a USB-C to DisplayPort adapter cable to hook them as much as your monitor until it straight helps USB-C, nevertheless.

The rear I/O panel additionally contains two extra Kind-A USB ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 and one other USB 2.0. There’s additionally the two.5G Ethernet port and the DC energy jack obtainable on the again, whereas on the facet, you will discover a built-in SD card reader.

Change to the entrance and you will additionally discover two extra USB Kind-A ports, each USB 3.2 gen 2, together with a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Geekom A6 additionally ships with a useful VESA mount for attaching the tiny PC to the again of your PC or monitor, hiding it out of the way in which utterly – a pleasant contact that we have seen Geekom supply with its extra premium mini PCs, too.

The guarantee is the usual Geekom affair, too, with a 30-day return interval and a three-year guarantee that covers each components and labor. There is not a lot data on what this would possibly (or won’t) cowl exterior of the same old, though the coverage does embody a disclaimer about “unauthorized” adjustments and intentional misuse.

Design

The steel casing on the Geekom A6 is the true star of the present, so far as its design goes. The silver aluminum design is nearly paying homage to an Apple Mac Mini, with rounded edges and mirrored inset Geekom branding on the highest. The chassis itself is ridiculously small, taking on simply 4.42 x 4.42 x 1.45 inches (11.24 x 11.24 x 3.7cm) of house, making it one of many smaller mini PCs on the market.

The silver aluminum is a basic look, so far as I am involved, and it seems to be and feels prime quality, rather more so than its price ticket would recommend. On the again, the aluminum is switched out for black plastic, with the I/O panel recessed neatly and, regardless of the swap to plastic, the ports really feel stable sufficient to make use of.

Not like the big, honeycomb-esque grill design on the AX8 Professional, the A6 retains its venting minimal, with smaller, rounded fan holes on both facet for air circulation. There’s additionally a bigger set of grills above the exterior I/O panel on the again.

One among my greatest gripes with the AX8 Professional was its jet-like fan noise beneath load, however I have been delighted to find that this drawback is not as severe on the Geekom A6. Sure, the followers are nonetheless noticeably loud in periods of heavy system pressure, particularly throughout gameplay, however the noise wasn’t almost as distracting on the A6 as I used to be fearing. The provided VESA mount could possibly be a very good workaround for the difficulty, too, hiding the rig behind a monitor to cut back among the quick noise affect.

As I discussed earlier, the Geekom A6 is upgradable, nevertheless it’s slightly extra concerned than you would possibly count on. Should you flip over the mini PC, you will see it’s essential to take away the sticky rubber toes protecting the screws on the underside. As soon as you have eliminated these screws and thoroughly taken off the backplate, taking care to not pull out the hooked up Wi-Fi antenna wire, you will see a steel panel protecting the SSD and RAM, which you will additionally have to take away.

That is the place the method begins to get extra concerned. I used to be capable of take away the panel, however, within the strategy of eradicating the backplate, I pulled out the antenna cable. The WiFi chip itself is hooked up beneath the SSD, so I needed to take away that, then take away a small plastic cowl conserving the 2 components separate, earlier than spending not less than 20 minutes reattaching the (very tiny, very awkward) cable connector to the Wi-Fi chip. Contemplating how easy and accessible the Geekom AX8 Professional proved to be, this can be a bit disappointing, nevertheless it’s not a serious situation.

That stated, there’s nonetheless loads of upgradable alternatives right here, so long as you care for that antenna wire. The 2 16GB Essential DDR5 RAM SODIMM modules may be swapped out for 2 32GB modules of the very best RAM at a later date, whereas the 1TB Kingston PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD could possibly be modified to the very best SSD that fits your wants as properly.

There’s additionally a second and unused M.2 2242 slot that, in line with Geekom, solely helps SATA III SSDs as much as 1TB, which means you’ll be able to’t use an NVMe SSD in these slots. Whereas there may be additionally a 16-pin FPC SATA port to attach a 2.5-inch SATA drive, utilizing a versatile flat cable much like what you would possibly discover in some laptops, there is no house within the chassis to assist putting in such a drive.

Benchmarks

Whereas the Geekom A6 reportedly helps a 4K (and even 8K!) decision, let’s hit the brakes on that, not less than so far as gaming is worried. This is not a 4K powerhouse, so do not count on to hit 4K and even 1440p throughout your favourite video games. It is a 1080p gaming rig, or extra comfortably a 720p one, however as our benchmark information exhibits, you will want to decide on your video games fastidiously if you wish to max out its potential.

Cyberpunk 2077, a sport that’s notoriously punishing on even the very best graphics playing cards, was nearly playable on the Geekom A6. Utilizing low graphics presets at 1080p, the sport was capable of common 32fps, though with 1% lows dipping all the way down to 24fps. This did enhance to 54fps with AMD FSR switched on, however FSR at 1080p is not an ideal possibility for avid gamers, as a result of blurrier graphics brought on by the upscaling.

F1 2024 ran a lot better, nevertheless. Working the sport with low graphics presets, the Geekom A6 was capable of handle 70fps on common, with 1% lows of 65fps. F1 2024 is a far much less graphically demanding sport than Cyberpunk, making it a better trip for the Radeon 680M GPU.

Lastly, Whole Warfare: Warhammer 3 scored 50fps on common utilizing the low graphics preset, with 1% lows of 46fps. With barely extra to render than F1 2024, this Whole Warfare sport would definitely be playable, however you would possibly see the odd stutter in periods of heavy exercise.

Throughout an artificial benchmark take a look at of the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H CPU utilizing Cinebench R24, the Geekom A6 scored 701 within the multi-threaded take a look at, and 87 within the single core take a look at, scores which is about proper for a mid-tier CPU of its era. You will get quicker efficiency from virtually any of the newest CPUs with greater than six cores, from each Intel and AMD, however this CPU nonetheless covers the fundamentals.

Value

Because of that $499 MSRP, you are getting an actual cut price with the Geekom A6. That value buys you a tiny PC that may function each a succesful workplace machine PC and an informal gaming rig, able to the identical gaming efficiency at 1080p as you would possibly discover in a similarly-priced funds handheld.

It additionally manages to beat most of the finest funds gaming PCs on the market, avoiding the same old compromises similar to having simply 8GB RAM or 512GB storage, or an inexpensive plastic chassis. You would definitely pay extra for efficiency if it had specs rivaling the very best gaming laptops, too, and you will wrestle to discover a sub-$500 laptop computer that gives 1080p gaming efficiency on fairly the identical degree because the A6.

Proper now, Geekom is providing readers an additional 5% off this mini PC with a reduction code, which you should utilize on Amazon or through Geekom’s personal retailer on prime of any current sale value, till June 30. That implies that, proper now, you’ll be able to rating the Geekom A6 for simply $427, excluding delivery prices.

To make the most of this deal, be sure you use code PCGNGKA6 in the course of the checkout course of between now and June 30. You possibly can seize the Geekom A6 from the Geekom website utilizing this hyperlink right here. Should you’re based mostly within the UK, the Geekom A6 is out there straight from the Geekom UK web site utilizing this hyperlink as a substitute.

Amazon clients may seize the Geekom A6 through the use of this hyperlink for US clients or through the use of this hyperlink for Amazon UK.

Verdict

For under $499, and proper now priced at a reduced $449 on each Geekom’s web site and Amazon, the Geekom A6 is a surprisingly inexpensive mini PC with a number of RAM and storage to spare. It is a more-than-capable machine in your day-to-day work, with sufficient energy to fairly deal with 1080p gaming in 2025, so long as you modify your expectations.

There are not any RAM or storage compromises right here, and the construct high quality is often glorious. It is cool, and given the scale, quieter than I anticipated as properly. Briefly, the Geekom A6 is precisely what I might need from a mini PC at this value level.

Is it honest to name it a mini gaming PC, nevertheless? Arguably, sure. It is not the very best or strongest, however the built-in AMD Radeon 680M continues to supply sufficient efficiency energy to hit above or at 30fps at 1080p in demanding fashionable video games, and it’ll deal with much less demanding video games as properly.

You get what you pay for, however you are getting rather a lot for $499 (or $449). Sure, there are higher PCs and laptops on the market, however should you aren’t desirous about proudly owning a handheld, then the Geekom A6 is without doubt one of the finest methods to play PC video games at this low value level with out resorting to a console, and it takes up hardly any room both. It is a respectable selection for informal avid gamers, with specs that keep away from the uncomfortable compromises that funds rigs generally drive upon us. Nonetheless, should you’re in search of severe gaming energy, otherwise you’re apprehensive about this machine’s gaming longevity, you are going to need to look elsewhere.

Ensure to take a look at our greatest mini gaming PC information subsequent, the place you’ll be able to evaluation a few of our favourite small kind issue PCs that you may purchase proper now throughout a spread of various costs.

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