The first review of a mini PC featuring AMD's new Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU has arrived about two months before the tiny desktop computer's scheduled launch. This is the Soyo S9 AI mini PC, one of several due to be released. YouTube creator ETA Prime got hold of a prototype of the computer and thoroughly tested its performance.
The Soyo S9 AI's Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 Strix Point CPU uses AMD's new Zen 5 architecture with a total of 12 cores: four of them are Zen 5 cores and eight are the slightly denser Zen 5c cores. Testing has confirmed that the new CPU has 16 compute units (up from 12), resulting in improved performance.
This Mini PC Equipped with the Most Powerful 890M iGPU Ryzen Ai 9 HX 370 First Look – Watch on YouTube
The Soyo S9 AI Mini PC has two USB-A ports and one USB-C port on the front; however, at the time of review, the front USB-C port was not functional. The back of the computer has two HDMI ports, an Ethernet port, two more USB-A ports, and a USB-C port. ETA Prime was unable to confirm whether the rear USB-C port supports the USB 4 standard, but was told that the front port should (if it becomes functional).
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Soyo S9 AI Mini PC front panel (Image courtesy of ETA Prime)Soyo S9 AI Mini PC rear panel (Image courtesy of ETA Prime)
Other perks of this upcoming mini PC, according to ETA Prime, are that the computer will come equipped with a total of three M.2 NVMe PCIe 4 SSD slots, one of which was non-functional in the review prototype, but this is surely an issue that will be resolved before production.
(Image courtesy of ETA Prime)
This computer uses LPDDR5X RAM and is available in 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB. The downside is that the RAM cannot be upgraded as the LPDDR5X is soldered onto the mainboard.
It's important to note that this mini PC doesn't come equipped with a discrete GPU, but that shouldn't make you discount its capabilities. The graphics have been upgraded from RDNA3 to RDNA 3.5, and the ETA Prime found it capable of playing several AAA games at 1080p resolution with impressive frame rates. Reviewers tested game titles such as Cyberpunk 2077, Ghost of Tsushima, and Horizon Forbidden West. In Prime's words, “The new Radeon 890M iGPU lets this mini PC run AAA games like a BOSS.”
Swipe to scroll horizontally. Gameplay Test Results on Soyo S9 AI Mini PC Prototype Game Settings Frame Rate (frames per second)Cyberpunk 20771080p, Low, FSR Balanced Average 74 FPSStarfield1080p, Low, Resolution Scaling 50%, Frame Gen Average 78 FPSHogwarts Legacy1080p, Low, FSR Balanced Average 72 FPSMortal Kombat 11080p, Medium, FSR Balanced Average 60 FPSHorizon Forbidden West1080p, Low, Frame Gen 60-70 FPSHost of Tsushima1080p, Medium, FSR 3.1 Balanced, Frame Gen 62-73 FPSRed Dead Redemption 21080p, Low, FSR Balanced Average 76 FPS
Sure, you couldn't hit those frame rates with the highest graphics settings, but you didn't have to strip everything down to the bare minimum either, with Prime pointing out that on the previous generation series you'd need to use a lower quality FSR profile or lower the resolution.
The exact release date and price of the Soyo S9 AI Mini PC have yet to be announced, but the computer is expected to be available by mid-October. Soyo seems undecided about the price yet, and asked Prime to poll its viewers to find out how much they would be willing to pay for such a PC.