Chatreey AMR5 and AM08 arrive as affordable mini-PCs with unusual physical performance dials

Chatreey has announced new mini-PCs based on the AMD Ryzen 5000 platform. While the company offers the pair as the AMR5 and AM08, little separates the pair other than an APU change. For example, Chatreey utilises the same case for both models, which features three USB ports on its front side and a top-mounted performance dial. According to the company, the latter allows either the AMR5 or AM08 to switch between 'silent', 'balanced' and 'game' modes. Chatreey has also included RGB lighting to denote which performance mode is active.

Presumably, these modes correspond to the performance modes that Microsoft bakes into Windows 11, although Chatreey does not confirm whether this is the case. Moreover, both models feature dual SO-DIMM slots for up to 64 GB of DDR4-3200 RAM and at least one M.2 2280 slot for PCIe SSDs. For reference, while the AMR5 has twin M.2 2230 slots, Chatreey equips the AM08 with M.2 2280 and 2.5-inch drive slots. Similarly, the AM08 utilises newer USB ports than the AMR5 (USB 3.2/USB 3.0) and twin HDMI ports rather than single DisplayPort and HDMI connections.

Furthermore, Chatreey equips the AMR5 with the Ryzen 5 5600U, compared to the Ryzen 9 5900HX in the AM08. According to our database, the latter is about 20% more powerful than the former, despite having higher CPU clock speeds, two additional CPU cores and a 20 W higher TDP. It is worth keeping in mind that both APUs rely on the older Radeon RX Vega graphics architecture, which AMD replaced with RDNA 2 for the Ryzen 6000. At the time of writing, the AMR5 starts at US$324.24 as a barebones unit. Alternatively, the AM08 is available for just under US$490. Chatreey offers pre-built machines too though, should you not wish to source RAM or storage yourself. Incidentally, we have recently reviewed the ARM5 under a different moniker, the Ace Magician AMR5. Please see our review for full thoughts on the mini-PC.

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