Visually, the Geekom AX8 Pro is certainly an eye-catcher. Geekom draws on its own portfolio and installs an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS. The AMD SoC should bring a significant increase in performance in terms of 3D performance, as Geekom has not yet used Meteor Lake processors. In the top configuration, 32 GB DDR5 RAM and a 2 TB SSD are installed. We have already seen several times in the past that Geekom does not necessarily market inexpensive devices. This is also the case with the Geekom AX8 Pro, which costs 999 euros in the best configuration. This is already an offer, as the manufacturer's RRP is 1,099 euros - a proud price that Geekom is charging for this device. At 879 euros, the Geekom AX8 Pro with AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS, 32 GB RAM, and 1 TB SSD is slightly cheaper, but still no bargain.
Geekom itself is probably its biggest competitor, as there are often attractive offers among slightly older devices that are technically on par with the Geekom AX8 Pro. The Geekom AX8 Pro also has to prove itself against devices from other manufacturers in this review.
Possible competitors in comparison
Rating | Version | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
78.4 % | v8 | 08/2024 | Geekom AX8 Pro R9 8945H, Radeon 780M | 548 g | 37 mm | |
80.8 % | v8 | 06/2024 | Aoostar GEM12 R7 8845HS, Radeon 780M | 653 g | 60 mm | |
78 % | v8 | 07/2024 | Geekom AE7 R9 7940HS, Radeon 780M | 578 g | 49.2 mm | |
72.4 % | v8 | 08/2024 | Geekom XT13 Pro i9-13900H, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 555 g | 37 mm | |
87.5 % | v7 (old) | 05/2024 | Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti Ultra 9 185H, Arc 8-Core | 863 g | 48.6 mm | |
83.4 % | v7 (old) | 04/2024 | Acemagic F2A Ultra 7 155H, Arc 8-Core | 768 g | 57 mm |
Note: We have updated our rating system and the results of version 8 are not comparable with the results of version 7 available here.
Case - Sturdy chassis with new color top processing
The basis of the Geekom AX8 Pro is identical to the Geekom XT13 Pro which in turn shares the housing with the Geekom XT12 Pro. As an AMD counterpart, the Geekom AX8 Pro gets the chance to prove its performance with the same compact base. The devices only differ visually, as the housing of the Geekom AX8 Pro is painted blue. The silver and white components of the in-house counterparts are, as usual, of excellent quality and fit together perfectly. However, there are differences in color due to the different materials. The casing is predominantly made of metal, although the lid and underside are made of plastic. At just 548 grams, our test device is lightweight, and the Geekom is also very space-saving in terms of its footprint (11.7 x 11.2 centimeters). The Geekom AX8 Pro can be attached directly to a monitor using the VESA bracket supplied.
Equipment
When it comes to external interfaces, the Geekom AX8 Pro can't quite compete with its Intel counterpart aka Geekom XT13 Pro. At first glance, there are hardly any differences, but on closer inspection, it becomes apparent that the Geekom AX8 Pro only has a USB4 interface. This is not too bad, as the expansion options are still there. Thunderbolt functionality is also omitted. The Intel models (e.g. Intel NUC 13 Pro Desk Edition Kit), which was once launched as the NUC series and is now marketed by Asus, does however offer Thunderbolt support. The interface layout is identical, and the Geekom AX8 Pro also scores points in terms of numbers despite its compact design.
Communication
The Geekom AX8 Pro gets a familiar wireless module that we have already found in other Geekom mini PCs. The MediaTek Wi-Fi 6E MT7922 WLAN module can also handle the newer 6 GHz frequency range if the router offers this option. According to our test results, this is also recommended, as the transfer rates are noticeably better than with a connection in the 5 GHz frequency range. We used the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 router for the test. Alternatively, an RJ45 socket with 2.5 Gbit/s is also available to the user.
Accessories
The Geekom AX8 Pro comes with a 120-watt power supply unit and a VESA mount including mounting material. The manufacturer does not include any other accessories such as a keyboard or mouse.
Maintenance
The Geekom AX8 Pro can be opened from the underside without any major obstacles: Only four small screws need to be loosened. The base plate also serves as a passive cooling element for the SSD. The RAM and mass storage can be replaced if necessary. However, the Geekom AX8 Pro no longer offers any upgrade options. If you want to clean the CPU fan, you have to remove the board and cooling unit. With a little dexterity, however, this is not a problem.
Sustainability
The Geekom AX8 Pro is a very compact mini PC. Nevertheless, the manufacturer packs the device with manageable accessories in a comparatively large box. The dimensions are very similar to the packaging of the Geekom XT13 Pro. The Geekom XT12 Pro, on the other hand, was delivered in much smaller packaging. The approach taken by Geekom with our test model is not in line with sensible sustainability in terms of the space required for shipping. The device itself is predominantly made of metal and plastic. However, we do not know whether the manufacturer uses specially recycled materials for its production. Geekom receives praise for the 36-month warranty period.
Performance - Plenty of power thanks to AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS
The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS is a high-end processor and offers more than enough power for most applications. If you only have rudimentary office tasks to complete, you can also opt for a less powerful device. Alternatively, the Geekom AX8 Pro can also be equipped with the slightly weaker AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS is also available. Both SoCs are native 8-cores and offer 16 logical computing units. When it comes to RAM, 32 GB DDR5 RAM is always a good choice, although at least 1 TB is installed for mass storage.
Test conditions
We use the "Balanced" energy profile for all performance tests with the Geekom AX8 Pro. There were only deviations from this in the power consumption and noise measurements according to our Test criteria. In accordance with the manufacturer's specifications, Geekom allows the SoC to operate at the lowest power consumption. In figures, this means a power limit of 45 watts under continuous load, although up to 60 watts are allowed for short periods. The BIOS itself is very simple and allows practically no changes. Changes to the power limits of the SoC and the allocation of RAM for the iGPU are not possible. Only the fan presets can be changed. Performance mode
is activated here by default.
Processor
The Geekom AX8 Pro is equipped with a AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS, which is also found in the Geekom A8. In a direct duel, however, the AX8 Pro has to admit defeat to the A8. However, with a performance difference of only two percentage points in the performance rating, we can state that both devices offer almost identical performance. In the individual tests, the Geekom AX8 Pro cannot always prevail against its competitors. The Meteor Lake-powered devices in particular (Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti and Acemagic F2A) can clearly set themselves apart in the multi-core tests due to the higher number of physical cores. In terms of single-core performance, however, the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS is on par with an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H.
For further comparisons and benchmarks, please refer to our CPU comparison table.
Performance Rating - Percent | |
Geekom A8 | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom XT13 Pro |
Cinebench R10 | |
Rendering Single CPUs 64Bit | |
Geekom A8 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Rendering Multiple CPUs 64Bit | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom A8 | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Geekom XT13 Pro |
Blender - v2.79 BMW27 CPU | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Geekom A8 | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti |
WinRAR - Result | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Geekom A8 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom XT13 Pro |
Geekbench 4.4 | |
64 Bit Single-Core Score | |
Geekom A8 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Acemagic F2A | |
64 Bit Multi-Core Score | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Geekom A8 | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom XT13 Pro |
3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance Physics | |
Geekom A8 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom XT13 Pro |
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2 - 4k Preset | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Geekom A8 | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom XT13 Pro |
R Benchmark 2.5 - Overall mean | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom A8 | |
Geekom AE7 |
LibreOffice - 20 Documents To PDF | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Geekom A8 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Acemagic F2A |
WebXPRT 3 - Overall | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Geekom A8 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti |
Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Geekom A8 |
3DMark | |
1920x1080 Fire Strike Physics | |
Geekom A8 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
2560x1440 Time Spy CPU | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Geekom A8 | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom XT13 Pro |
Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 1M - 1M | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Geekom A8 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti |
Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 2M - 2M | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Geekom A8 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti |
Super Pi Mod 1.5 XS 32M - 32M | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Geekom A8 | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti |
Affinity Photo 2 - Combined (Multi CPU) | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom A8 | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Geekom XT13 Pro |
* ... 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 | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Average of class Mini PC |
AIDA64 / FP32 Ray-Trace | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Average of class Mini PC (561 - 51004, n=120, last 2 years) |
AIDA64 / FPU Julia | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Average of class Mini PC (3604 - 214250, n=120, last 2 years) |
AIDA64 / CPU SHA3 | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Average of class Mini PC (225 - 9399, n=120, last 2 years) |
AIDA64 / CPU Queen | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Average of class Mini PC (8172 - 184747, n=120, last 2 years) |
AIDA64 / FPU SinJulia | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Average of class Mini PC (408 - 29064, n=120, last 2 years) |
AIDA64 / FPU Mandel | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Average of class Mini PC (1958 - 113499, n=120, last 2 years) | |
Geekom XT13 Pro |
AIDA64 / CPU AES | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Average of class Mini PC (3691 - 325960, n=120, last 2 years) |
AIDA64 / CPU ZLib | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Average of class Mini PC (74.8 - 2039, n=120, last 2 years) |
AIDA64 / FP64 Ray-Trace | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Average of class Mini PC (308 - 26952, n=120, last 2 years) |
AIDA64 / CPU PhotoWorxx | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Average of class Mini PC (4408 - 50500, n=120, last 2 years) |
Cinebench R15 Multi loop
The Cinebench R15 endurance loop is an extreme scenario and stresses the processor with recurring endurance tests to determine how well the cooling system works. Geekom itself specifies a TDP of 45 watts. This can only be achieved at the beginning and drops from the second run onwards. The continuous load reduces the performance of the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS is reduced even further. Compared to the competitors, the final result is very sobering.
System performance
The system performance of the Geekom AX8 Pro is excellent and is slightly better than that of the comparison devices. However, no device makes a significant mistake. Even the Geekom XT13 Pro which brings up the rear in the comparison, also delivered adequate performance in everyday use in our test.
AIDA64 / Memory Copy | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom XT13 Pro |
AIDA64 / Memory Read | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom XT13 Pro |
AIDA64 / Memory Write | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom XT13 Pro |
AIDA64 / Memory Latency | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom XT13 Pro |
* ... smaller is better
UL Procyon AI Inference for Windows | |
Overall Score Integer NPU | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Overall Score Integer GPU | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Aoostar GEM12 | |
Geekom AX8 Pro |
DPC latencies
The Geekom AX8 Pro is not convincing in terms of latency. We document similarly high values to the Geekom XT13 Pro. Even simply surfing the Internet results in high DPC values. The playback of the 4K test video and the short stress test have no negative influence on the DPC values. The utilization of the iGPU is noticeably high at over 60 percent during video playback. The iGPU of the Geekom A7 was only utilized to 30 percent in the same test. A similar result to the Geekom AX8 Pro was already delivered by the Geekom A8, which we also tested in the configuration with the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS.
DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
Acemagic F2A | |
Geekom AE7 | |
Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti | |
Geekom AX8 Pro | |
Geekom XT13 Pro | |
Aoostar GEM12 |
* ... smaller is better
Mass storage
The Geekom AX8 Pro gets an SSD with 2 TB of storage space in the top configuration. More precisely, Geekom has installed an Acer N7000 here. Physically, the mass storage is optimally connected, resulting in high transfer rates in the test. Nevertheless, the SSD in the Geekom AX8 Pro cannot deliver the performance that we achieved with the Geekom XT13 Pro. There is no noticeable difference in performance during normal use. The stress test shows excellent performance. With one small exception, we documented a stable read performance. The passive cooling unit is sufficient to dissipate the heat quickly enough. Only one mass storage device can be installed in the Geekom AX8 Pro. This distinguishes our test sample from the Intel-based Geekom XT13 Pro, which can be equipped with a total of two mass storage devices.
For further comparisons and benchmarks, please take a look at our Comparison table.