Minisforum MS-A2 debuts with new AMD Ryzen 9 HX CPU and support for dGPU

Minisforum has showcased a handful of new PCs at the Japan IT Week Tokyo Spring Show. Among them is the MS-A2, which is the successor to the MS-A1 that launched last year. While the predecessor could be equipped with up to the Ryzen 9 9950X, the new SFF (Small Form Factor) PC packs the newly launched Ryzen 9 9955HX.

This new Fire Range CPU brings 16 Zen 5 cores and has the Radeon 610M iGPU. While that isn't a very capable integrated GPU, like the MS-A1, the MS-A2 has support for discrete GPU. However, due to the chassis, the PCIe 4.0 x8 slot of the PC can only hold a single-slot, low-profile GPU.

Another highlight of the MS-A2 is that it retains the M.2 slots that were in the predecessor. Among the three, two are PCIe 4.0 x4 slots (2 TB Samsung 990 Pro curr. $169.99 on Amazon), while the other is a 3.0 x4 slot. As for memory, the new Minisforum SFF PC pairs the Ryzen 9 9955HX with DDR5 SO-DIMM RAM with support for speeds of up to 5200 MT/s.

The Minisforum MS-A2 also sports a decent selection of connectivity ports, including:

• 1x USB 2.0
• 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A
• 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C
• 2x 2.5G Ethernet
• 1x HDMI 2.0
• 1x DisplayPort

For wireless connections, the new SFF PC has Bluetooth 5.2 and WiFi 6E. Per the initial showcase, the design of the MS-A2 doesn't appear to be too different from the MS-A1, featuring a slim and relatively compact chassis that measures 196 x 189 x 48 mm. Minisforum has also shared that there will be a configuration with the Ryzen 9 7845HX, but the company hasn't revealed details on the pricing and availability.