Through its Arc A730M GPUs, Intel seems to be able to carve out a place for itself in these very fashionable tiny PC cases.
For its return to the graphics card market, we weren’t necessarily expecting Intel in the small machines from the Minisforum company, but come to think of it, this is far from absurd.
Intel Core i7 and Arc A730M
For a lot of gamers, Intel’s return to the world of dedicated GPUs was to be the occasion for a “truel” (three-player duel). To be completely honest, the thing is still under construction (truel, construction site, all that…) and the first GPUs of the Arc range are confined to the mid-range.
© Minisforum
Whether it’s the Arc A750 or the Arc A770, however, they don’t have to be ashamed of the comparison with the AMD and NVIDIA models because of a very aggressive price placement. Minisforum has understood this well, even if – compactness requires – it prefers to turn to the Arc A730M, a mobile solution that is more compact, less expensive and less heat-intensive.
Called HN2573, the latest mini-PC from the firm is a pad whose exact measurements are not known. However, it remains very compact – the photos leave no room for doubt – and seems similar to the NAD9: it could then measure 20.8 x 18 x 6.7 centimeters.
© Minisforum
Two SODIMM slots, single M.2
Inside the “box”, Minisforum had a heavy hand with, first and foremost, an Alder Lake generation Intel Core i7-12650H processor. It has 10 cores/16 threads and can reach 4.7 GHz in boost.
More interestingly, it is associated with a dedicated Intel Arc A730M GPU which integrates 24 Xe-Cores. The interface bus is 192-bit and a maximum of 6 GB of VRAM can be defined. Depending on the configuration chosen, the HN2673 can go from 16 to 64 GB of DDR4 memory through the two SODIMM slots provided. Alas, only one M.2 port is included and, oddly, Minisforum does not offer any version with a 2 TB SSD.
While the GPU is rated for a TGP of 95 Watts, Minisforum emphasizes the quality of the air circulation in its machine. On the technical sheet, 34 dB are mentioned for noise pollution linked to the presence of four fans. Intended to be placed on the desk, the HN2673 will have to confirm this apparent discretion.
Minisforum has already opened pre-orders for its machine offered at a price of 649 dollars for a machine fully configured with 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. At 709 dollars, we have 32 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD while for 799 dollars, the RAM increases to 64 GB.
Source : Videocardz
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