- Ryzen 7 255 is a downclock, China-exclusive chip, without general 16 tops AI NPU
- Minisforum N5 96 GB DDR5 supports up to RAM but ECC lacks memory support
- N5 provides dual USB4 port and 10Gbe networking for versatile connectivity
Minisforum has now made the N5, a compact network-compatched storage (NAS) device available globally.
Continued with more powerful N5 Pro, this new model is powered by AMD Ryzen 7 255, a processor is so unclear that it does not even appear on the official website of AMD.
Instead, it is listed only on AMD’s Chinese site as Ryzen 7 h 255, a chip with eight Zen 4 core and a base clock of 3.8GHz, grows up to 4.9GHz.
Bottom chip with missing AI features
The processor has a 45W default TDP, falling under the Ryzen 200 and Hawk Point series, which is configured between 35W and 54W.
However, Ryzen 7 255 raises some questions about the position and performance.
Minisforum AI X1 also uses this processor, but it seems to be a ribed rhizhen 7 8745Hs, essentially a lower-watt-vat-splice variant of Ryzen 7 8745H, a chip was specially introduced in China.
It appears that Ryzen 7 255 16 TOPS recalls at NPU that most Ryzen 7 250 uses series chips, which means that chip is expected to lag behind in AI-focused functions.
The CPU and the GPU also decrease slightly, leading to a decrease in minor but noticeable performance.
Despite those caves, the Miniforum N5 offers an attractive array of features that may appeal to users in search of hybrids between NAS devices and a mini PC.
Like its pro variants, N5 supports DDR5 memory up to 96GB via dual SO-DIM Slot.
However, it does not offer ECC RAM support, which is a significant difference for those who prefer data integrity.
The device can run several operating systems, including Linux, Miniskloud OS and Windows 11 Pro.
For connectivity, it includes two USB4 ports, 5GBPS and 10GBPS Ethernet port, one Oculink Interface and PCIE 4.0 x4 speed PCIE X16 slot.
These features make it viable not only as NAS devices but also as a potential mini workstation, especially when the best for storage expansion is added with the best NAS drive.
Pricing starts at $ 553 for an base configuration that includes 64GB storage, but no RAM, although a version with 16GB RAM is available for additional $ 48.
