2022 Beelink GTR5 mini PC review: An Intel NUC with AMD Ryzen 9

In the early days of NUC-sized mini PCs, such products were typically seen as ultra low-power alternatives to the typical desktop or laptop. Nowadays, mini PCs have evolved to include gaming-level specifications and other powerful features. The Beelink GTR5 is the latest high-performance mini PC from the manufacturer equipped with an AMD Zen 3 Ryzen 9 5900HX processor that is typically reserved for powerful gaming laptops like the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE, Lenovo Legion 7 16, or the Gigabyte A7 X1. To see such an option for a 0.8 L form factor PC should automatically make the GTR5 one of the fastest in its category should everything run as advertised.
The GTR5 is currently on Indiegogo ranging from $620 USD for a barebones kit up to $950 if fully configured. All SKUs come with the same Ryzen 9 5900HX processor. The GTR5 should not be confused with the GTR7 which is actually an older Beelink model running on the much slower Ryzen 7 3750H.
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Potential Competitors in Comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Best Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
01/2022 | Beelink GTR5 R9 5900HX, Vega 8 | 686 g | 39 mm | x | |||
12/2021 | Beelink GTI 11 i5-1135G7, Iris Xe G7 80EUs | 638 g | 39 mm | x | |||
03/2021 | GMK NucBox 2 i5-8259U, Iris Plus Graphics 655 | 430 g | 50 mm | x | |||
04/2021 | Intel NUC11PHKi7C i7-1165G7, GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile | 1.4 kg | 42 mm | x | |||
02/2021 | Intel NUC11PAQi7 i7-1165G7, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 647 g | 56 mm | x | |||
05/2021 | Beelink GK Mini Celeron J4125, UHD Graphics 600 | 269 g | 43 mm | x |
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Case
Beelink has repurposed its Intel GTI11 chassis for the AMD GTR5 as the dimensions and overall build of the GTR5 are essentially identical to its Intel counterpart. The most notable change is to the top of the unit to better accommodate the more demanding H-series AMD processor. This surface is now perforated instead of smooth glossy plastic for better airflow.
Top 10 Laptops
Multimedia, Budget Multimedia, Gaming, Budget Gaming, Lightweight Gaming, Business, Budget Office, Workstation, Subnotebooks, Ultrabooks, Chromebooks
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Top 10 Smartphones
Smartphones, Phablets, ≤6-inch, Camera Smartphones
Connectivity
Port options are identical to the Beelink GTI 11 save for two important distinctions: our AMD-powered GTR5 is lacking Thunderbolt support and an extra USB-A port. We would have preferred more USB-C ports much like on the Intel Phantom Canyon NUC11PHKi7C or at least an integrated SD card reader.
Interestingly, the system can be powered by USB-C should you ever lose the proprietary 90 W AC adapter. We connected our Dell XPS 15 9575 130 W USB-C adapter to the GTR5 and it powered on without any problems. Nonetheless, we recommend using the proprietary 90 W AC adapter whenever possible since most third-party USB-C adapters have much lower power outputs.
Communication
The GTR5 is one of the first mini PCs to utilize the MediaTek RZ608 instead of the more typical Intel AX200 series or Qualcomm Atheros. The module is capable of Wi-Fi 6E speeds, but we're limited to our Wi-Fi 6 Netgear RAX200 for now. Transfer rates are reliable nonetheless.
Networking | |
iperf3 transmit AX12 | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Intel NUC11PAQi7 | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini | |
iperf3 receive AX12 | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
Intel NUC11PAQi7 | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini |
Maintenance
The bottom panel is secured by just four Philips screws for easy servicing. Unlike the thumb screws on an Intel NUC, however, the screws here are much smaller and will require a screwdriver to remove. Once inside, users will have direct access to 2x SODIMM, 3x storage bays, and then WLAN module. Additional disassembly is unfortunately required if you want to clean the dual fans that are on the other side of the motherboard.
Accessories and Warranty
The retail box includes the AC adapter, paperwork, an HDMI cable, and a VESA mounting bracket with screws. The standard one-year limited manufacturer warranty applies.
Performance
Testing Conditions
Processor
Raw multi-thread CPU performance is faster than on most gaming laptops running on 11th gen Core i7 CPUs while being comparable to those on 11th gen Core i9. When compared to other laptops with the same Ryzen 9 5900HX, however, our Beelink comes up short by about 5 percent. Performance is nonetheless very close to the Ryzen 9 5900X as found on the Eurocom Nightsky ARX15 even before any overclocking.
Cinebench R15 Multi Loop
Cinebench R20: CPU (Multi Core) | CPU (Single Core)
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 5.4: Multi-Core | Single-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
Cinebench R20: CPU (Multi Core) | CPU (Single Core)
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 5.4: Multi-Core | Single-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
* ... 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 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini |
AIDA64 / FP32 Ray-Trace | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX (12470 - 16014, n=25) | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini |
AIDA64 / FPU Julia | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX (79554 - 101008, n=25) | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini |
AIDA64 / CPU SHA3 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX (2754 - 3444, n=25) | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini |
AIDA64 / CPU Queen | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX (87865 - 105123, n=25) | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini |
AIDA64 / FPU SinJulia | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX (10899 - 12806, n=25) | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini |
AIDA64 / FPU Mandel | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX (43685 - 55702, n=25) | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini |
AIDA64 / CPU AES | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX (109927 - 137901, n=25) | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini |
AIDA64 / CPU ZLib | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX (706 - 878, n=25) | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini |
AIDA64 / FP64 Ray-Trace | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX (6664 - 8644, n=25) | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini |
AIDA64 / CPU PhotoWorxx | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX (14344 - 25533, n=25) | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini |
System Performance
CrossMark: Overall | Productivity | Creativity | Responsiveness
PCMark 10 / Score | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000) (6290 - 6507, n=4) | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
Intel NUC11PAQi7 | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini |
PCMark 10 / Essentials | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000) (10087 - 10836, n=4) | |
Intel NUC11PAQi7 | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini |
PCMark 10 / Productivity | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000) (9852 - 10196, n=4) | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
Intel NUC11PAQi7 | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini |
PCMark 10 / Digital Content Creation | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000) (6709 - 7105, n=4) | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
Intel NUC11PAQi7 | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini |
CrossMark / Overall | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000) |
CrossMark / Productivity | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000) |
CrossMark / Creativity | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000) |
CrossMark / Responsiveness | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000) |
PCMark 10 Score | 6504 points | |
Help |
AIDA64 / Memory Copy | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX (36725 - 43318, n=25) | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
Beelink GK Mini |
AIDA64 / Memory Read | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX (41378 - 47593, n=25) | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini |
AIDA64 / Memory Write | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX (32536 - 46718, n=25) | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
Beelink GK Mini |
AIDA64 / Memory Latency | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX (73.5 - 97.1, n=25) | |
Beelink GK Mini | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
GMK NucBox 2 |
* ... smaller is better
DPC Latency
DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
Beelink GK Mini | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Intel NUC11PAQi7 | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
Beelink GTR5 |
* ... smaller is better
Storage Devices
Our test unit comes with a midrange 500 GB Kingston NV1 PCIe3 x4 SSD. PCIe4 speeds are not supported unlike on the latest Intel NUCs running on 11th gen Core CPUs. The Kingston drive otherwise shows no issues maintaining its maximum transfer rate of ~2300 MB/s for extended periods.
Drive Performance Rating - Percent | |
Intel NUC11PAQi7 | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
GMK NucBox 2 | |
Beelink GK Mini |
* ... smaller is better
Disk Throttling: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
GPU Performance
The integrated Radeon RX Vega 8 here is about 20 percent faster than the average laptop in our database equipped with the same integrated GPU. Intel's Iris Xe 96 EUs solution as found on most 11th gen Core i7 laptops still edges our AMD solution in most titles, but the delta between them is much narrower this time around. Most modern and demanding titles run reasonably well at 1080p low settings.
3DMark 11 Performance | 7425 points | |
3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 28723 points | |
3DMark Fire Strike Score | 4074 points | |
3DMark Time Spy Score | 1647 points | |
Help |
The Witcher 3 | |
1024x768 Low Graphics & Postprocessing | |
Intel NUC11PHKi7C | |
Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 15 NP950XDB-KC5US | |
Beelink GTR5 | |
Asus Vivobook 15 K513EQ | |
Beelink GTI 11 | |
Huawei MateBook 16 R7 5800H | |
Intel NUC11PAQi7 | |
Average AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000) (27.2 - 86.9, n=36) |