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Merciless Apple M1 Mac mini takes AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX Mini PC to pieces in benchmark obstacle course

The Apple M1 SoC managed to beat the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX in the majority of the benchmarks. (Image source: Apple/AMD/Max Tech - edited)
The Apple M1 SoC managed to beat the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX in the majority of the benchmarks. (Image source: Apple/AMD/Max Tech - edited)
The M1 Mac mini has been pitted against the Ryzen 9 5900HX-powered EliteMini HX90 in a clash of processor titans. While the Apple M1 couldn’t completely overpower the AMD Zen 3 part in every single benchmark, it was clearly dominant overall. The M1’s 8-core iGPU also stood up well against the AMD Radeon Graphics 8 iGPU.

The Apple M1 Mac mini has taken on the Minisforum EliteMini HX90 with AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX APU in a battery of benchmarks put to them by YouTube channel Max Tech. It actually seemed like a one-sided affair initially, as the M1 Apple Silicon has an 8-core CPU part that can clock at up to a maximum of 3.2 GHz while the Ryzen 9 5900HX is also an 8-core chip that has a base clock of 3.3 GHz but can boost to an advantageous 4.6 GHz. Both Mini PCs have 16 GB RAM and a 256 GB SSD, and they both cost US$899 (although the HX90 is currently available at a pre-sale rate of US$799 for this particular SKU).

The clip host Max Yuryev put the M1 Mac mini and Ryzen 9 5900HX Mini PC through numerous tests, including Geekbench 5 (CPU and GPU), Speedometer 2.0, Cinebench R23, 3DMark, GFXBench, Lightroom, and DaVinci Resolve editing. The results can be seen in the screenshots posted below, but it clearly looks very positive for the Apple M1 chip with both its CPU and GPU components consistently outpacing the not unremarkable Zen 3 processor. Single-core and multi-core scores were higher with the Apple Silicon in Geekbench and web-browsing was also snappier with the Mac mini.

Unsurprisingly, the Ryzen 9 processor really flexed some impressive muscles in CBR23, with the AMD APU hitting around 4.6 GHz on all of its eight cores and easily beating the score by the M1 SoC. However, as Yuryev points out, this is at a considerable power cost as the Apple chip uses 15 W and the AMD part relies on up to 65 W, so the result for performance per watt was deeply in the Mac mini’s favor. The M1 continued to impress throughout the testing course, including in graphics performance, although the channel seems to mistakenly label the Radeon Graphics 8 iGPU in the Ryzen 9 5900HX as the “Radeon Pro W6900X”.

The AMD chip cannot keep up with the Apple M1 in the final benchmarks, which involve editing, exporting, and stabilizing images or video clips. It’s an overall terrific performance from the M1 Mac mini that once again manages to prove itself as a versatile and powerful mini desktop PC. However, the HX90 is also quite appealing regardless of losing out to the Apple competitor in this particular scenario. The Minisforum Mini PC is blessed with a much wider port selection and is clearly built in such a manner (roomy case, liquid metal cooling, etc.) more to allow the Ryzen 9 5900HX mobile APU to reach the upper limit of its potent performance capabilities rather than trying to look sleek and minimalistic.

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Geekbench 5 single-core. (Image source: Max Tech)
Geekbench 5 single-core
Geekbench 5 multi-core. (Image source: Max Tech)
Geekbench 5 multi-core
Speedometer 2.0. (Image source: Max Tech)
Speedometer 2.0
Cinebench R23. (Image source: Max Tech)
Cinebench R23
CBR23 performance per watt. (Image source: Max Tech)
CBR23 performance per watt
Geekbench 5 Metal. (Image source: Max Tech)
Geekbench 5 Metal
GFXBench. (Image source: Max Tech)
GFXBench
Lightroom exporting. (Image source: Max Tech)
Lightroom exporting
DaVinci Resolve exporting. (Image source: Max Tech)
DaVinci Resolve exporting

Source(s)

Max Tech (YouTube & all screenshots)

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2021 09 > Merciless Apple M1 Mac mini takes AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX Mini PC to pieces in benchmark obstacle course
Daniel R Deakin, 2021-09- 4 (Update: 2021-09- 4)