MINISFORUM MS-A2 (Ryzen 9 9955HX 96GB + 2TB) vs MINISFORUM MS-S1 Max (64GB + 2TB)

The only audio input on the specification sheet is the 3.5mm combo jack.

The official front panel lists two digital microphones (DMIC).

One 2.5GbE RJ45 port uses a Realtek RTL8125 and the other an Intel I226-V; the two 10G SFP+ cages are driven by an Intel X710 and support link aggregation.

The official rear-panel diagram lists two 10GbE RJ45 ports on Realtek RTL8127 controllers.

MINISFORUM claims the turbine fans and their aerodynamic vortex grooves raise system airflow by 30%. The Amazon listing describes the same cooler as four heat pipes; the manufacturer's own page says three.

The official page describes a copper base, six heat pipes, phase-change cooling and dual fans, with a 160W peak and 130W sustained.

Zen 5, 16 cores and 32 threads, 64MB of L3 cache and a max boost clock of up to 5.4 GHz. MINISFORUM quotes a 100W turbo TDP in this chassis.

16 cores and 32 threads, max turbo 5.1 GHz. MINISFORUM lists Performance mode at 130W, Balanced at 95W and Quiet at 60W.

Integrated graphics running at a 2200 MHz graphics frequency.

MINISFORUM lists 40 GPU cores at up to 2900 MHz. Amazon's table names Radeon 8060S graphics at 2900 MHz.

Two SO-DIMM slots. MINISFORUM quotes 89.6GB/s of bandwidth for the DDR5-5600 pair.

The official specification lists LPDDR5x on a 256-bit bus, shared by the CPU, GPU and NPU.

Two DDR5 SO-DIMM slots, so the memory is replaceable rather than soldered.

Amazon's product table for this configuration lists 64GB of LPDDR5 at 8000 MHz, and the official sheet describes onboard unified memory rather than SODIMM slots.

This configuration already ships the maximum the platform takes: MINISFORUM specifies up to 96GB of DDR5 across the two SO-DIMM slots.

The platform's official sheet allows up to 128GB, but this configuration is soldered at 64GB, so the capacity shipped is the capacity kept.

MINISFORUM specifies DDR5-5600 for the Ryzen 9000 series trims and DDR5-5200 for the Ryzen 7000 ones.

The MS-A2 specification table lists no NPU, and the Ryzen 9 9955HX is a Fire Range part with no Ryzen AI engine, which is why AMD does not sell it under the Ryzen AI name.

MINISFORUM states up to 50 TOPS from the NPU and up to 126 TOPS across the whole processor.

The Button/Hole section of the specification names only a power button and a reset hole.

The official rear panel diagram lists an anti-theft lock hole.

MINISFORUM's specification table states 19V/12.63A for the bundled adapter.

Power comes from an external brick, not an internal supply.

MINISFORUM lists a built-in 320W supply with CCC, FCC, UL, CE and UKCA certification, and an AC input on the rear panel.

The OS MINISFORUM lists for the MS-A2. The barebone SKUs ship without memory, storage or an OS licence.

B&H, Micro Center and the Japanese distributor all list Windows 11 Pro on the MS-S1 Max.

The first slot takes a U.2 enterprise drive of up to 15TB; the other two take up to 4TB each and default to PCIe 3.0 x4, switchable to PCIe 4.0 x4 in the BIOS. RAID 0 and RAID 1 are supported.

The official specification lists one M.2 2280 slot at PCIe 4.0 x4 and a second at PCIe 4.0 x1, each up to 8TB.

On the front panel.

The two Type-C ports are on the rear and carry DisplayPort 2.0 Alt Mode. Of the Type-A ports, two Gen 1 sit on the front and one Gen 1 plus one Gen 2 on the rear.

The official port diagram shows USB 3.2 Gen 2 at 10Gbps on the front and the rear.

MINISFORUM lists the two Type-C ports as USB 3.2 Gen 2 at 10Gbps, not USB4.

The official diagram puts two USB4 ports at 40Gbps with DisplayPort 2.0 Alt Mode and 15W output on the front, and two USB4 V2 ports at 80Gbps with the same Alt Mode and power on the rear.

Up to 8K at 60Hz. With the two USB-C outputs it drives three independent displays.

The official rear panel lists one HDMI 2.1 FRL output, up to 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 120Hz.