Minisforum adds a new model to its AtomMan range, the G7 Ti, a mini gaming PC with an ultra-powerful configuration, a real dedicated graphics card, and a slender case that looks like a PlayStation 5.
The mini PC market has been remarkably dynamic for several years, with manufacturers constantly expanding their catalogs and offering ever more powerful machines. Among them, the manufacturer Minisforum is particularly active and bold, with an offering that is not only well-stocked but also very diversified, ranging from small configurations dedicated to office automation and multimedia, to mini PCs ready for video games and digital creation. And it is on this last segment that the manufacturer has just announced the upcoming arrival of a new reference in its catalog, the AtomMan G7 Ti, a mini PC that is not so mini in fact and equipped with a hardware configuration that is quite unusual for this type of product.
Minisforum AtomMan G7 Ti: a very muscular configuration in an original format
After the very recent G7 PT (see our article), the G7 Ti is the second product to join the new Minisforum range, called AtomMan and dedicated to high-end machines intended for the most demanding uses. The mini PCs of the AtomMan family have the particularity of embedding a dedicated graphics card, where machines of this type usually make do with a graphics circuit integrated into the processor (iGPU). After a G7 PT model which embedded an AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX processor and a Radeon RX 7600M XT graphics card, Minisforum unveils a new model which this time relies on an Intel CPU and a latest generation Nvidia GPU.
In the guts of the G7 Ti, we find an Intel Core i7 14650HX or i9 14900HX processor, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card with 8 GB of VRAM (empty memory). A particularly muscular CPU-GPU pair, which is found more in laptops gaming high-end than in mini PCs. And that’s not all, because according to the information provided by the manufacturer, the RTX 4070 chip would not be restricted in terms of electrical power and would benefit from an envelope of 140 W, the maximum level that this graphics circuit can support.
This already very solid central processor-graphics processor duo will also be accompanied by DDR5-5600 RAM expandable up to 96 GB, and two slots for M.2 2280 SSDs with PCIe 4.0 standard. A very powerful configuration therefore, designed for both intensive workloads such as video editing, 3D modeling or physical simulation, as well as for demanding video games. And this orientation gaming is also perfectly assumed even in the design of the G7 Ti, which adopts a vertical and tapered format, a bit like a PlayStation 5.
Looking at these images, we immediately see that the G7 Ti is no longer quite a “mini PC” strictly speaking, but rather a compact gaming PC compared to other machines usually featuring this type of configuration. Minisforum therefore seems to want to offer here a device halfway between the imposing tower of a PC gaming and the small case of a mini office PC, trying to keep the best of both worlds: a computer powerful enough to tackle any task efficiently and compact enough to be placed on the desk, or even carried around on occasion.
Minisforum AtomMan G7 Ti: questions about heating and scalability
While the proposition is very attractive on paper, it will nevertheless come up against certain technical constraints, notably heat management and configuration scalability. The manufacturer has chosen to cram very powerful components into a small volume without limiting their overall thermal envelope, as is the case in gaming laptops. It will therefore be necessary to evacuate all the heat released by the CPU and GPU, in order to prevent the G7 Ti from turning into a radiator and preventing it from becoming a deafening blower at the same time.
To achieve this, Minisforum has equipped its device with an impressive cooling system on paper, including five copper heat pipes, two fans and four hot air evacuation channels, but the only way to really evaluate the efficiency and noise of this heat dissipation system will obviously be to judge on the spot. The other aspect of the G7 Ti that raises questions is its ability to be hardware updated. One of the major interests of classic desktop PCs in tower format is to be able to upgrade them over time, by regularly replacing their components with more recent ones, without having to change the entire machine.
In the case of the G7 Ti, while the storage and RAM seem to be expandable, it is unfortunately to be feared that the CPU and GPU will be integrated into the motherboard in a way that makes them impossible to replace. The configuration of this mini PC will therefore certainly be fixed for its most important components, which will surely make it not very scalable. As for whether this technical limitation will be compensated for by the compact format of the G7 Ti, it is a trade-off that each user will have to make according to their needs and budget.
On the price side, and according to the documents transmitted by Minisforum, the G7 Ti would be displayed in a price range going from 1200 euros to 1500 euros, depending on the configuration chosen in terms of processor, RAM and basic storage. A relatively high cost for a mini PC therefore, but in line with a PC classic gamer equipped with a relatively equivalent hardware configuration. The G7 Ti from Minisforum will therefore position itself as an alternative to classic desktop computers, which for their part offer better scalability over time as well as heat evacuation facilitated by the volume, but at the cost of a much greater bulk and weight.
While waiting to judge the performance and real interest of the supercharged “mini PC”, this announcement is in any case very interesting. It confirms the craze seen in recent years for these ultra-compact desktop computers, and the desire of manufacturers of this type of machine to diversify their offer, in order to meet the expectations of more demanding users. And it’s rather a good thing because, let’s be honest, there is an immense gain in comfort in ridding your office of its noisy and bulky PC tower, without giving up editing videos, making music or playing games.