Minisforum EliteMini B550 Review: Compact Mini PC with an external graphics card
Minisforum is attracting increased attention, both in Germany and around the globe. Their portfolio already includes a wide range of Mini PCs for everyday office use. A compact gaming PC was previously available with the Minisforum EliteMini HX90. That model, however, didn't have a dedicated graphics processor.
Minisforum is pursuing a somewhat different path with the Minisforum EliteMini B550. First and foremost, this model is a very compact Mini PC built on an AM4 platform. This means that the barebone version can be ordered with either an AMD Ryzen 7 5700G or an AMD Ryzen 7 4700G. As part of the AMD Accelerated Processing Unit (APU), the Integrated Graphics Processing Unit (iGPU) provides limited graphics performance. To remedy this, a mounting kit can be ordered that provides the Mini PC with an interface to an external graphics card via a PCIe expansion bus. Of course, this means that you must have both the external graphics card and the power supply available. All other requisite cables are supplied.
In principle, this solution works well. At the same time it does have the air of an expedient stopgap measure to boost graphic performance.
As already mentioned, the MinisForum EliteMini B550 is available in a barebone version. You should expect to spend 310 Euro ($319) without the CPU, RAM or SSD. For a fully configured unit (Ryzen 7 5700G, 32GB RAM and 512GB SSD) you are looking at 749 Euro ($809). Our test configuration is currently available online for 669 Euro. That includes the Ryzen 7 5700G, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB M.2 SSD and room for three mass storage devices in total. The power supply is also included.
Minisforum EliteMini B550 in Detail
Case
From a purely visual perspective the Minisforum EliteMini B550 fits snuggly into the EliteMini PC family, albeit with a small divergence from the usual color scheme. The Minisforum EliteMini B550 is mostly grey and black; overall, we are impressed with the way it looks. A noticeable blue LED strip lights up at start-up emulating a power-on light. The cooling solution reminds one of other Mini PCs of the Minisforum stable. And why reinvent the wheel anyway. Air is drawn in through the top of the case and discharged through the side walls.
Plastics dominate the materials with a smidgeon of aluminum highlights. The look and feel of the unit is decidedly high quality. The GPU mounting brackets sport quality workmanship even if they also consist of plastic and aluminum. The external graphics card needs to be inserted vertically into its PCIe slot on the Minisforum EliteMini B550 and subsequently screwed into place. The assembly itself is very stable and the process is quickly completed. At just over a kilogram the Minisforum EliteMini B550 feels noticeably light and with its just 15.8cm by 16.6cm base it takes up very little desk space. The 120W power supply adds just another 600 grams to the scales.
Connectivity
The Minisforum EliteMini B550 provides a plethora of external connections. However, one thing that is quite noticeable is that all the important ports are located at the rear of the case. In total there are four USB 3.2 Type A and one Type C port. Monitors are connected to the Mini PC either through HDMI or DisplayPort. Up to three monitors can be simultaneously connected in total. One does, however, need to forego the convenience of possessing a built-in SD card reader.
Communication
A MediaTek RZ608 WLAN module is inside the EliteMini B550. Our test run was not overly convincing. The EliteMini ended up in bottom place when pitted against the competition. On a positive note, however, the unit delivered stable data transfer rates over the WLAN. Furthermore, our test unit also included an RJ45 interface that can deliver transfer rates of up to 2.5 Gbps.
Performance
Processor
The now familiar APU, the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G, unites eight Zen 3 cores and AMD's Radeon RX Vega 8 iGPU under a heat spreader. Let’s take a moment to focus on CPU performance of the Minisforum EliteMini B550; performance that can more than just keep pace with ‘large’ desktops. All in all, the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G’s performance is good, even if it doesn’t stack up quite as well in some categories as it did in our earlier CPU review of this particular processor. The APU lags behind the average 5700G in our database by about ten percent. Nonetheless, performance is comparable to that of an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X.
The AMD Ryzen 7 5700G measures up well across the board against performance levels of an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX. Zotac's Magnus EN173070C with its Intel Core i7-11800H, a mobile octa-core processor, is well and truly outperformed by the Minisforum.
Further processor benchmark data is available here.
* ... smaller is better
AIDA64: FP32 Ray-Trace | FPU Julia | CPU SHA3 | CPU Queen | FPU SinJulia | FPU Mandel | CPU AES | CPU ZLib | FP64 Ray-Trace | CPU PhotoWorxx
Performance Rating | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Average of class Desktop | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Intel Core i5-12600K | |
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X |
AIDA64 / FP32 Ray-Trace | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | |
Average of class Desktop (490 - 62786, n=25, last 2 years) | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 5700G (13631 - 15260, n=2) | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X | |
Intel Core i5-12600K |
AIDA64 / FPU Julia | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 5700G (86825 - 101689, n=2) | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
Morefine S500+ | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | |
Average of class Desktop (2932 - 264044, n=25, last 2 years) | |
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Intel Core i5-12600K |
AIDA64 / CPU SHA3 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Average of class Desktop (202 - 10362, n=25, last 2 years) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 5700G (2953 - 3605, n=2) | |
Intel Core i5-12600K | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
Morefine S500+ | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | |
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X |
AIDA64 / CPU Queen | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 5700G (97720 - 106467, n=2) | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Average of class Desktop (8820 - 205588, n=25, last 2 years) | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Intel Core i5-12600K | |
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X |
AIDA64 / FPU SinJulia | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 5700G (12202 - 13297, n=2) | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Average of class Desktop (396 - 32855, n=25, last 2 years) | |
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X | |
Intel Core i5-12600K | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C |
AIDA64 / FPU Mandel | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 5700G (47597 - 57827, n=2) | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
Morefine S500+ | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | |
Average of class Desktop (1558 - 138291, n=25, last 2 years) | |
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Intel Core i5-12600K |
AIDA64 / CPU AES | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 5700G (119844 - 141615, n=2) | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Average of class Desktop (3778 - 379659, n=25, last 2 years) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | |
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X | |
Intel Core i5-12600K |
AIDA64 / CPU ZLib | |
Intel Core i5-12600K | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | |
Average of class Desktop (75.2 - 2441, n=25, last 2 years) | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 5700G (774 - 869, n=2) | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X |
AIDA64 / FP64 Ray-Trace | |
Average of class Desktop (273 - 33821, n=25, last 2 years) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 5700G (7184 - 8093, n=2) | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X | |
Intel Core i5-12600K |
AIDA64 / CPU PhotoWorxx | |
Intel Core i5-12600K | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Average of class Desktop (5125 - 54037, n=25, last 2 years) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | |
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 5700G (14810 - 28231, n=2) | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 - Cinebench R15 multi core benchmark
We have already ascertained that Minisforum’s construction technique delivers an effective solution for cooling components in other test devices. The Minisforum EliteMini B550 delivers true-to-form stable performance under continuous load. Using our Cinebench R15 multicore benchmark there is no noticeable performance degradation, even after multiple iterations.
System Performance & Storage
The basic configuration of the Minisforum EliteMini B550 without an external graphics card manages to outperform both the EliteMini TH50 and the EliteMini HM90. But once we compare it with the Minisforum EliteMini HX things become a little more challenging. With just a few percentage points separating the two, the difference is not really noticeable. However, once a dedicated graphics card is in play, that is no longer the case. Our choice of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 is representative of a card at the upper end of mid-range products of this kind. As such, it provides the Minisforum EliteMini B550 with some serious legs when it comes to graphics performance. The performance improvement of a dedicated graphics card over the iGPU is simply enormous. In spite of this, this pairing still lines up behind the Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C performance-wise.
The mass storage unit installed in our test unit is of the Kingston lineage and provides solid performance. A total of three mass storage units can be installed inside the case. To this end there are two M.2 interfaces as well as a slot for a 2.5-inch storage device.
LuxMark v2.0 64Bit | |
Sala GPUs-only | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C, Intel Core i7-11800H | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060, AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50, Intel Core i5-11320H | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G, AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+, AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550, AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum HM90, AMD Ryzen 9 4900H | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90, AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX | |
Room GPUs-only | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C, Intel Core i7-11800H | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060, AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G, AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50, Intel Core i5-11320H | |
Morefine S500+, AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX | |
Minisforum HM90, AMD Ryzen 9 4900H | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90, AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550, AMD Ryzen 7 5700G |
DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060, AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550, AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+, AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C, Intel Core i7-11800H | |
Minisforum HM90, AMD Ryzen 9 4900H | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90, AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G, AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50, Intel Core i5-11320H |
CrossMark | |
Responsiveness | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C, Intel Core i7-11800H | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060, AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550, AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50, Intel Core i5-11320H | |
Creativity | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C, Intel Core i7-11800H | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060, AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550, AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50, Intel Core i5-11320H | |
Productivity | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C, Intel Core i7-11800H | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060, AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550, AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50, Intel Core i5-11320H | |
Overall | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C, Intel Core i7-11800H | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060, AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550, AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50, Intel Core i5-11320H |
* ... smaller is better
Graphics & Gaming Performance
The graphics performance of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G with its AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 is just marginally viable for gaming. As evidenced by Dota 2 Reborn, it’s just older titles that are playable without constraint. It’s not until we introduce the dedicated Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 that this compact number cruncher morphs into the true colors of a Mini PC for serious gaming. In this configuration there is sufficient grunt to ensure unimpeded gaming at 1080p. Depending on the game, higher resolutions are also possible. And that’s when it makes sense to have a quick look at our GPU comparison charts.
Performance of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 in conjunction with the Miniforum EliteMini B550 is at about the same level as one of our test systems built on an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X. Differences due to any limitations of the graphics card are barely noticeable at higher resolution levels. The higher IPC of the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X versus the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G is only apparent at lower resolution levels. We tested the same graphics card in an eGPU case connected via Thunderbolt and found that performance was 25 percent higher than on a Minsiforum EliteMini TH50.
Important Information:
Using the GPU dock on a Minisforum EliteMini B550 requires a separate power supply that delivers power to both the EliteMini B550 as well as the GPU. The included power supply may then no longer be used. A product warning to this effect is displayed on the product.
Performance Rating - Percent | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G -2! | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 |
Borderlands 3 | |
1280x720 Very Low Overall Quality (DX11) | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
1920x1080 Badass Overall Quality (DX11) | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 |
Metro Exodus | |
1280x720 Low Quality AF:4x | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
1920x1080 Ultra Quality AF:16x | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 |
Far Cry New Dawn | |
1280x720 Low Preset | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
1920x1080 Ultra Preset | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 |
Far Cry 5 | |
1280x720 Low Preset AA:T | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
1920x1080 Ultra Preset AA:T | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 |
X-Plane 11.11 | |
1280x720 low (fps_test=1) | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
1920x1080 high (fps_test=3) | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 |
Final Fantasy XV Benchmark | |
1280x720 Lite Quality | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
1920x1080 High Quality | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 |
Dota 2 Reborn | |
1280x720 min (0/3) fastest | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
1920x1080 ultra (3/3) best looking | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 |
3DMark | |
Fire Strike Extreme Graphics | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
1920x1080 Fire Strike Graphics | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
2560x1440 Time Spy Graphics | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 |
3DMark 11 | |
1280x720 Performance GPU | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
1280x720 Performance | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 |
GTA V | |
1024x768 Lowest Settings possible | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
1920x1080 Highest Settings possible AA:4xMSAA + FX AF:16x | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 |
The Witcher 3 | |
1024x768 Low Graphics & Postprocessing | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
1920x1080 High Graphics & Postprocessing (Nvidia HairWorks Off) | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 |
F1 2020 | |
1280x720 Ultra Low Preset | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
1920x1080 High Preset AA:T AF:16x | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 |
F1 2021 | |
1280x720 Ultra Low Preset | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
1920x1080 High Preset AA:T AF:16x | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Inno3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + RTX 3060 | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 (RTX 3060 via TB) | |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G | |
Morefine S500+ | |
Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + iGPU
low | med. | high | ultra | |
GTA V (2015) | 113.4 | 98.1 | 26.5 | 11.2 |
The Witcher 3 (2015) | 69 | 40.8 | 19.3 | 13.8 |
Dota 2 Reborn (2015) | 124.2 | 94.2 | 51.7 | 48.4 |
Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016) | 59.2 | 39.6 | 21.4 | 16.9 |
Final Fantasy XV Benchmark (2018) | 37 | 18.6 | 13 | |
X-Plane 11.11 (2018) | 53.9 | 41.6 | 37 | |
Far Cry 5 (2018) | 44 | 22 | 20 | 19 |
Strange Brigade (2018) | 80.7 | 31.4 | 26.7 | 22.8 |
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018) | 54.1 | 20.1 | 18.7 | 16.2 |
Far Cry New Dawn (2019) | 42 | 20 | 19 | 18 |
Metro Exodus (2019) | 39.3 | 14.6 | 11.2 | 9.91 |
Borderlands 3 (2019) | 61 | 23.4 | 14.8 | 11.7 |
F1 2020 (2020) | 89.9 | 41.1 | 31.7 | 23.2 |
F1 2021 (2021) | 91.1 | 40.3 | 30.3 | 21.4 |
Far Cry 6 (2021) | 41.2 | 18.3 | 15.3 | |
Forza Horizon 5 (2021) | 70 | 29 | 25 |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 + Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060
low | med. | high | ultra | QHD | 4K | |
GTA V (2015) | 175.6 | 170.2 | 155.2 | 90.3 | 77.5 | 82 |
The Witcher 3 (2015) | 323 | 260 | 164.4 | 82.1 | 62.1 | |
Dota 2 Reborn (2015) | 143.4 | 126.6 | 122.3 | 114.2 | 109.3 | |
Final Fantasy XV Benchmark (2018) | 162 | 114.1 | 84.7 | 63.6 | 37 | |
X-Plane 11.11 (2018) | 108.5 | 96 | 79.6 | 68.2 | ||
Far Cry 5 (2018) | 134 | 117 | 113 | 108 | 87 | 47 |
Strange Brigade (2018) | 422 | 226 | 180.1 | 154.2 | 113.7 | 67.1 |
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018) | 140.3 | 123.9 | 121.4 | 114.4 | 81 | 43 |
Far Cry New Dawn (2019) | 113 | 101 | 97 | 86 | 79 | 48 |
Metro Exodus (2019) | 165.8 | 104.4 | 79.9 | 62.5 | 50.1 | 31.7 |
Borderlands 3 (2019) | 125.6 | 110.6 | 91.7 | 75.2 | 54 | 29.5 |
F1 2020 (2020) | 271 | 227 | 197.9 | 137.6 | 104.8 | 60 |
F1 2021 (2021) | 293 | 248 | 207 | 105.9 | 78.8 | 44.4 |
Far Cry 6 (2021) | 110.7 | 100.8 | 91.6 | 85 | 65.9 | 37.9 |
Forza Horizon 5 (2021) | 170 | 122 | 110 | 67 | 57 | 41 |
Emissions
System Noise
Anyone buying the Minisforum EliteMini B550 as a small office PC or as a gaming device can rest assured that noise levels are not an issue. The cooling system is excellent and works well even under heavy loads. A quiet humming of no more than 37 dBA is merely audible. But because it’s low frequency humming, it isn’t much of a worry. Once the external graphics card and the power supply were installed on the test system, virtually no noise emanated from these two components on the Mini PC. Other components were markedly louder. Because these two components were optional add-ons, we have not included noise volume measurements for these in our testing.
Noise Level
Idle |
| 30.5 / 30.5 / 30.5 dB(A) |
Load |
| 31.2 / 35.1 dB(A) |
| ||
30 dB silent 40 dB(A) audible 50 dB(A) loud |
||
min: , med: , max: Earthworks M23R, Arta (15 cm distance) environment noise: 30.2 dB(A) |
Minisforum EliteMini B550 Vega 8, R7 5700G, Kingston OM8PDP3512B-AI1 | Minisforum EliteMini HX90 Vega 8, R9 5900HX, Kingston OM8PCP3512F-AB | Minisforum EliteMini TH50 Iris Xe G7 96EUs, i5-11320H, Kingston OM8PDP3512B-AI1 | Morefine S500+ Vega 8, R9 5900HX, ADATA XPG Gammix S11L 1024GB | Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H, Transcend M.2 SSD 2200S TS512GMTE220S | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Noise | -0% | -7% | -9% | -15% | |
off / environment * | 30.2 | 30.8 -2% | 30.2 -0% | 30.1 -0% | 30.7 -2% |
Idle Minimum * | 30.5 | 30.8 -1% | 32.7 -7% | ||
Idle Average * | 30.5 | 31.6 -4% | 32.1 -5% | 33.15 -9% | 32.8 -8% |
Idle Maximum * | 30.5 | 32.9 -8% | 32.8 -8% | ||
Load Average * | 31.2 | 33.9 -9% | 41.7 -34% | ||
Load Maximum * | 35.1 | 33.4 5% | 41.4 -18% | 41.63 -19% | 45.4 -29% |
* ... smaller is better
Temperatures
We use Prime95 and FurMark for stress testing and the Miniforum EliteMini B550 is stretched to its limits by these. Our measurements are solely confined to the compact PC without a dedicated graphics card. The AMD Ryzen 7 5700G runs at a stable 4.1 GHz under load. The temperature measurements are no cause for concern. At just over 80°C the APU performs well below its limit while the iGPU registers even cooler temperatures at 68°C. We had previously already ascertained that continuous load had little impact on performance when we recorded measurements from the Cinebench R15 multicore benchmark. It doesn’t therefore come as a surprise that a subsequently conducted 3DMark benchmark showed no worse results than from a cold start.
Power Consumption
Power consumption of the Minisforum EliteMini B550 when idling is between just 8.9 and 11.8 watts. The EliteMini B550 thus reveals itself as a highly energy efficient, compact office assistant. Large desktop systems routinely draw more energy. Under load, power consumption peaks at 102 watts, something that the 120-watt power supply manages with ease. That also leaves a small reserve for additional storage devices.
Off / Standby | 0.2 / 0.4 Watt |
Idle | 8.9 / 9.6 / 11.8 Watt |
Load |
98.9 / 101.8 Watt |
Power Consumption With External Monitor
Pros
Cons
Verdict - A fast Mini PC with a Superpower
Minisforum has embarked on a novel approach with its EliteMini B550. If what you are looking for is a compact Mini PC, this unit is a safe bet. Its use of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G delivers a solid performance in everyday use. The 8 cores provide a reliable multi core performance, even under load. The Minisforum EliteMini B550 doesn’t, however, morph into a gaming PC until it is fitted out with a dedicated GPU. The great advantage of the GPU dock is that it provides the user with a free hand on the selection of a graphics card. Other compact Mini PCs, for example the ZBOX Magnus EN173070C, offer just the option, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile. However, you would need to like the way the system bolts together, as its rather unconventional design has very much of a ‘work-in-progress’ feeling about it. The requisite separate power supply sits on the table alongside this unusual edifice.
Overall, the Minisforum EliteMini B550 is a great choice if you are short on space and would like to keep your upgrade options for graphics performance open. The barebone without components will set you back 309 Euro ($319). With the CPU, RAM and SSD as reviewed here, you are looking at 669 Euro ($699). If we then add the GPU and the requisite power supply, we quickly and easily surpass the thousand Euro price level. When we compare our review configuration with the ZBOX Magnus EN173070C that carries a 1,650 Euro ($1,800) price tag, we are in fact saving a lot of cash here. It should not be hard to swallow any minor disadvantage regarding graphics performance. Both products will perform equally well when gaming at 1080p or 1440p.
The Minisforum EliteMini B550 is a sleek and highly compact number cruncher. If you choose to populate the GPU dock, you can turn this small PC into a very fast gaming machine that’s capable of holding its own against large desktop PCs.
The Minisforum EliteMini B550 does well with noise levels. There’s certainly not much to criticize here. It’s patently obvious that a compact PC such as this one isn’t going to run silently. Nevertheless, Minisforum somehow manages to cool this socketed AMD Ryzen 7 5700G effectively and with little noise. If you are considering alternatives, and have the Dragon Canyon NUC in mind, it’s a desirable alternative with a barebone configuration that will also house an external GPU. However, noise levels under load are distinctly louder and if you are noise sensitive, you’d be better off sticking with the Minisforum EliteMini B550.
Price and Availability
The Minisforum EliteMini B550 is currently available from Minisforum directly. The Barebone price is currently 309 Euro. Our test equipment that included a Ryzen 7 5700G, 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD is priced at 669 Euro. The top-of-the range configuration with 32GB of RAM is priced at 749 Euro.