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MagyarMinisforum Mars Series MC560 review: Powerful mini PC with AMD Ryzen 5 and integrated webcam for office use
Mini PCs are very popular right now because they are efficient and offer enough performance for everyday work. But, unlike a laptop, they usually aren't equipped with important elements such as cameras and speakers. Minisforum has took it upon themselves to create the first mini PC with built-in webcam and speakers – the new Mars Series MC560. The machine also features a decent hexacore processor in the form of the AMD Ryzen 6 5625U. Graphics processing is handled by the AMD Radeon RX Vega 7, which is an integrated GPU we have seen many times in compact laptops.
Before going any further, we would like to point out that Minisforum has provided us with a pre-production unit of the Mars Series MC560. Our review sample is only equipped with a Ryzen 5 5600U, whereas the final product is going to sport the newer Ryzen 5 5625U. In terms of pure performance, there is nothing much separating these two processors as they are both based on the same Zen 3 architecture and are only very slightly different. After contacting the company, we were told that supply chain issues were the reason for this SoC change.
The Mars Series MC560 is available in two configurations, with the amount of memory being the only difference between them. The product is always equipped with an AMD Ryzen 5 5625U and a 512 GB SSD. As for RAM, you can choose between 16 and 32 GB. Minisforum has decided not to offer any barebones variant at all, and this can be attributed to how the system is constructed. The 16 GB option will set you back €489/US$399 right now, whilst the 32 GB model is currently going for €549/US$458.
In this review, we are going to compare the MC560 with other similarly compact mini PCs. The table below gives you an overview of these devices.
Comparison with possible competitors
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Best Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 79.5 % | 02/2023 | Minisforum Mars Series MC560 R5 5600U, Vega 7 | 562 g | 66 mm | x | ||
01/2022 | Minisforum EliteMini HX90 R9 5900HX, Vega 8 | 60 mm | x | ||||
01/2022 | Morefine S500+ R9 5900HX, Vega 8 | 697 g | 40 mm | x | |||
05/2022 | Minisforum EliteMini B550 R7 5700G, Vega 8 | 1.1 kg | 67 mm | x | |||
04/2022 | Beelink SER4 R7 4800U, Vega 8 | 494 g | 40 mm | x | |||
02/2022 | Minisforum EliteMini TH50 i5-11320H, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 763 g | 55.5 mm | x | |||
09/2022 | Minipc Union Ace Magician AMR5 R5 5600U, Vega 7 | 628 g | 72 mm | x | |||
| 70.9 % | 12/2022 | Minipc Union NiPoGi CK10 - 10810U i7-10810U, UHD Graphics 620 | 468 g | 50 mm | x |
Detailed look at the Minisforum Mars Series MC560
Case
Despite being a pre-production unit, our review sample has excellent fit and finish and shouldn't be inferior to the retail version in any way.
In terms of materials, Minisforum has chosen a mostly plastic construction in the colours white and silver, which lends the Mars Series MC560 a premium look. Unfortunately, it is very apparent that the device feels plasticky. Nonetheless, we think it would still have been a nice touch if Minisforum had covered the silver-grey area with aluminium mesh.
At first glance, the machine appears quite small and compact in photos. However, at 15 cm (5.9") tall, it is slightly larger than you might originally think. You need to have enough space underneath your monitor if you wish to use the camera. The MC560 is nice and light at just 562 g (1.24 lb), and its compact power adapter isn't particularly heavy either (230 g, or 0.51 lb). Some of the other devices in our comparison weigh substantially more than the MC560.
Specifications
The Minisforum Mars Series MC560 has a very modest selection of ports, which are distributed across the right side and back of the device. There are a total of three USB ports, two of which are Type-A receptacles. Besides an HDMI port, the MC560 has a USB-C port capable of outputting a display signal, meaning it can drive up to two native 4K monitors at once. Though it would have been nice to have an additional USB-A port on the back of the device. The MC560 is sadly also lacking an SD card reader.
Connectivity
Minisforum has equipped the MC560 with a Mediatek Wi-Fi 6E module. This wireless card supports the 6GHz band, and we have seen the same card in many other mini PCs. We always use the same reference router (Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000) when analysing a device's Wi-Fi connectivity. During the test, the MC560 delivered stable transmit and receive speeds. That said, we didn't notice any advantage when using the 6GHz band as opposed to the 5GHz band. Optionally, the device can also connect to a network via the Ethernet port. But this connection only supports transfer rates of up to 1 Gbit/s.
Webcam
The built-in webcam is a good solution for video conferencing. But we don't recommend using it to take photos due to the stationary nature of the machine. The camera isn't great in terms of colour accuracy. However, it can produce a higher level of detail than many laptop webcams thanks to its 2.5K resolution (5 MP). There is an integrated tilt stand that lets you lean the device back 10 degrees and adjust the camera to a usable position.
Accessories
Other than the device itself, you'll only find a 65-watt power adapter and an HDMI cable inside the box.
Maintenance
Minisforum expressly advises users against any maintenance work that requires opening the device. The reason for this is the built-in camera. The MC560 is assembled in a clean room to prevent dust particles getting inside the device and negatively affecting the camera's image quality. This is also why the company chose not to offer the machine as a barebones kit. Considering all the reasons stated above, we have decided not to open up our sample unit for this review. Nonetheless, the following image will give you a look inside the Minisforum Mars Series MC560.
Performance - AMD's Cezanne is still fast enough
The AMD Ryzen 5 5600U in our review unit is comparable to an AMD Ryzen 5 5625U in terms of performance. The six-core processor offers solid performance for everyday use and doesn't even need to shy away from intensive tasks. The MC560 also comes with Radeon RX Vega 7 integrated graphics and at least 16 GB of RAM. If you are the kind of person who keeps a lot of browser tabs open at once, you might want to consider buying the 32 GB model straight away to avoid the previously mentioned problem with upgrading the device.
Test conditions
We selected the "High performance" power plan on the MC560 for all performance-related tests in this review. In line with our test criteria, the only exceptions were when we were measuring power consumption and noise levels. We didn't modify the SoC's power usage or the fan curve in the BIOS.
Processor
At the heart of the Minisforum Mars Series MC560 is an AMD Ryzen 5 5600U, which has six Zen 3 cores along with SMT. But as we mentioned at the start, the device currently only ships with the AMD Ryzen 5625U, which is a slightly newer model with a marginally higher clock speed. This means retail units of the MC560 should perform a smidge better than what we see here with our review unit. For comparison purposes, we have included the average performance of the Ryzen 5 5625U in the table. Our review unit delivered great performance and is neck and neck with the Minipc Union Ace Magician AMR5, which uses the same hexacore AMD processor. It performed worse than the competitors with a native eight-core processor, but not by much – the difference in performance rating is 12% at most.
Head on over to this page for more processor benchmarks.
* ... 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
Minisforum Mars Series MC560 in Cinebench R15 Multi loop
Running Cinebench R15 in a loop gave us an insight into how efficient the cooling system is. We saw a performance drop of roughly 10% after just the first run. With an average score of 1,099, the Minisforum Mars Series MC560 trails slightly behind the Ace Magician AMR5.
System performance
The MC560 can definitely hold its own against other devices in our comparison during system performance benchmarks. The performance differential between it and devices with a faster eight-core CPU is fairly reasonable and not really noticeable in normal, day-to-day use.
| AIDA64 / Memory Copy | |
| Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
| Average of class Mini PC (6481 - 70620, n=97, last 2 years) | |
| Morefine S500+ | |
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560 | |
| Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
| Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
| Beelink SER4 | |
| Minipc Union Ace Magician AMR5 | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 5600U (19785 - 38102, n=6) | |
| Minipc Union NiPoGi CK10 - 10810U | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Read | |
| Morefine S500+ | |
| Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
| Beelink SER4 | |
| Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
| Average of class Mini PC (6914 - 71285, n=97, last 2 years) | |
| Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560 | |
| Minipc Union Ace Magician AMR5 | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 5600U (22505 - 40126, n=6) | |
| Minipc Union NiPoGi CK10 - 10810U | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Write | |
| Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
| Average of class Mini PC (6862 - 89318, n=97, last 2 years) | |
| Beelink SER4 | |
| Morefine S500+ | |
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560 | |
| Minipc Union Ace Magician AMR5 | |
| Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
| Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 5600U (19884 - 40633, n=6) | |
| Minipc Union NiPoGi CK10 - 10810U | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Latency | |
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560 | |
| Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
| Beelink SER4 | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 5 5600U (88.2 - 96.2, n=6) | |
| Minipc Union Ace Magician AMR5 | |
| Average of class Mini PC (44.9 - 154.6, n=97, last 2 years) | |
| Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
| Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
| Morefine S500+ | |
| Minipc Union NiPoGi CK10 - 10810U | |
* ... smaller is better
DPC latency
We only observed a small increase in latency when we started playing our YouTube demo video in 4K. In contrast, leaving several browser tabs open at the same time didn't cause any issues. Utilisation of the Ryzen 5's iGPU was just below 40% during playback of our demo video. And the number of dropped frames was negligible at just two.
* ... smaller is better
Mass storage
The Mars Series MC560 ships with a 512 GB NVMe SSD that delivered solid performance in our testing. The company says it won't be offering any other SSD options. And upgrading the system is going to be a difficult task due to the reasons we already discussed. Nevertheless, we think that 512 GB is a good amount of storage for office applications. The drive in the MC560 maintained a very consistent level of performance under sustained load. But the same can't be said for all of the devices in the comparison.
Refer to our storage drive list for more comparisons and benchmarks.
* ... smaller is better
Sustained Load Read: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
Graphics card
The MC560 uses the built-in Radeon RX Vega 7 on the Ryzen 5 5600U for graphics processing. The Ryzen 5 5625U in the final version of the product comes with the same iGPU. With the Radeon RX Vega 7, users have a good integrated graphics card at their disposal. In our testing, the iGPU was able holding its own against Intel Iris Xe graphics.
The Radeon RX Vega 7 in our review unit delivered good performance – better than what the Vega 7 can do on average. The review model is also approaching the level of the Beelink SER4 (which has an AMD Radeon RX Vega 8) in terms of graphics performance.
You can refer to our GPU list for more comparisons and benchmarks.
| 3DMark 05 Standard | 36088 points | |
| 3DMark 06 Standard Score | 22723 points | |
| 3DMark Vantage P Result | 18506 points | |
| 3DMark 11 Performance | 6289 points | |
| 3DMark Ice Storm Standard Score | 112710 points | |
| 3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 20194 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Score | 3421 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme Score | 1560 points | |
| 3DMark Time Spy Score | 1304 points | |
Help | ||
Gaming performance
Although the Minisforum Mars Series MC560 is marketed purely as an office machine, we still wanted to take a look at its gaming performance. The mini PC can handle many games at 720p and low settings. That said, users should be aware that the Radeon RX Vega 7 doesn't have enough performance to keep up with a modern dedicated graphics card.
Please refer to our GPU gaming performance table for more comparisons and benchmarks.
| The Witcher 3 | |
| 1024x768 Low Graphics & Postprocessing | |
| Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
| Morefine S500+ | |
| Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
| Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560 | |
| Minipc Union Ace Magician AMR5 | |
| Average AMD Radeon RX Vega 7 (25.5 - 105.8, n=50) | |
| 1366x768 Medium Graphics & Postprocessing | |
| Minisforum EliteMini TH50 | |
| Morefine S500+ | |
| Minisforum EliteMini HX90 | |
| Minisforum EliteMini B550 | |
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560 | |
| Minipc Union Ace Magician AMR5 | |
| Average AMD Radeon RX Vega 7 (9.74 - 81.3, n=37) | |
| low | med. | high | ultra | |
| GTA V (2015) | 121.3 | 103.7 | 28.5 | 12.6 |
| The Witcher 3 (2015) | 63.6 | 40.6 | 20.7 | 13.7 |
| Dota 2 Reborn (2015) | 117.4 | 97.5 | 57.2 | 50 |
| Final Fantasy XV Benchmark (2018) | 34.6 | 17.5 | 12.6 | |
| X-Plane 11.11 (2018) | 43.6 | 31 | 27.2 | |
| Far Cry 5 (2018) | 49 | 22 | 20 | 19 |
| Strange Brigade (2018) | 86.3 | 31.3 | 26 | 21.9 |
| Far Cry New Dawn (2019) | 43 | 21 | 20 | 18 |
| Borderlands 3 (2019) | 54.3 | 21.3 | 13.2 | 10.2 |
| F1 2020 (2020) | 90.6 | 40.8 | 31.7 | 22.4 |
| F1 2021 (2021) | 97.9 | 41.1 | 32.4 | 21.9 |
| Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (2022) | 27.1 | 21.3 | 13.5 | 9.8 |
| F1 22 (2022) | 38.8 | 34.8 | 26.1 | 18 |
Emissions - Highly efficient and relatively quiet
Noise emissions
The Mars Series MC560 ran very quietly under light load, producing only 30.4 dB(A) of noise according to our sound level meter. The noise level reached as high as 33.4 dB(A) under load, which is still very quiet by comparison. The Minisforum EliteMini HX90 wasn't any louder, but the MC560 sounded more noticeable to our ears because of the high-pitched fan noise it produces. Nonetheless, the noise is still far from being disruptive, let alone annoying.
Noise Level
| Idle |
| 30.4 / 30.4 / 30.4 dB(A) |
| Load |
| 31.8 / 33.4 dB(A) |
 | ||
30 dB silent 40 dB(A) audible 50 dB(A) loud |
||
min:  , med:  , max:  Earthworks M23R, Arta (15 cm distance) environment noise: 30.2 dB(A) | ||
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560 R5 5600U, Vega 7 | Minisforum EliteMini HX90 R9 5900HX, Vega 8 | Morefine S500+ R9 5900HX, Vega 8 | Minisforum EliteMini B550 R7 5700G, Vega 8 | Beelink SER4 R7 4800U, Vega 8 | Minisforum EliteMini TH50 i5-11320H, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | Minipc Union Ace Magician AMR5 R5 5600U, Vega 7 | Minipc Union NiPoGi CK10 - 10810U i7-10810U, UHD Graphics 620 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noise | -2% | -11% | -1% | -8% | -8% | -22% | 1% | |
| off / environment * | 30.2 | 30.8 -2% | 30.1 -0% | 30.2 -0% | 23.4 23% | 30.2 -0% | 30.5 -1% | 30.4 -1% |
| Idle Minimum * | 30.4 | 30.5 -0% | 33.2 -9% | 30.8 -1% | 31.5 -4% | 30.8 -1% | ||
| Idle Average * | 30.4 | 31.6 -4% | 33.15 -9% | 30.5 -0% | 33.2 -9% | 32.1 -6% | 32.6 -7% | 30.9 -2% |
| Idle Maximum * | 30.4 | 30.5 -0% | 33.2 -9% | 32.9 -8% | 33.8 -11% | 30.9 -2% | ||
| Load Average * | 31.8 | 31.2 2% | 38.6 -21% | 33.9 -7% | 49.3 -55% | 31 3% | ||
| Load Maximum * | 33.4 | 33.4 -0% | 41.63 -25% | 35.1 -5% | 40.8 -22% | 41.4 -24% | 50.9 -52% | 31 7% |
| Witcher 3 ultra * | 39.2 |
* ... smaller is better
Temperature
The MC560's chassis barely gets warm when the device is running. We only observed slightly higher temperatures at the air vent on the top. Even though CPU temperatures reached as high as 87.1°C (188.8°F) under load, the Ryzen 5 5600U was able to maintain its base clock speed throughout.
Speakers
Besides the integrated camera, Minisforum has fitted the MC560 with two 3-watt speakers so that it can be used for video conferencing without any external webcam or sound devices. Both speakers are very usable for playing back music and voice. But with a maximum volume of 62 dB(A), they are not loud enough to fill large office spaces. Meanwhile, the built-in microphones make use of AI-based noise suppression to filter out background noise.
Minisforum Mars Series MC560 audio analysis
(-) | not very loud speakers (62.3 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 22.8% lower than median
(+) | bass is linear (5.9% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | reduced mids - on average 6.5% lower than median
(-) | mids are not linear (20.8% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 4.1% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (4.8% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(-) | overall sound is not linear (38.4% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 75% of all tested devices in this class were better, 25% similar, 0% worse
» The best had a delta of 16%, average was 23%, worst was 38%
Compared to all devices tested
» 94% of all tested devices were better, 1% similar, 6% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Minipc Union Ace Magician TK11-A0 audio analysis
(±) | speaker loudness is average but good (80.3 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(±) | reduced bass - on average 7.4% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (10.2% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | higher mids - on average 9.3% higher than median
(±) | linearity of mids is average (10.8% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 5.7% higher than median
(±) | linearity of highs is average (8.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (20.4% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 50% of all tested devices in this class were better, 25% similar, 25% worse
» The best had a delta of 16%, average was 23%, worst was 38%
Compared to all devices tested
» 48% of all tested devices were better, 8% similar, 44% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Power consumption
The Mars Series MC560's power usage is consistently very low. Our usage monitor indicated that the device drew just 6.2-7.5 watts at idle. Its power consumption peaked at 49 watts during the stress test, which is still a great result regardless. In our comparison, only the Beelink SER4 consumed less power under full load. The included power adapter is rated at 65 watts and didn't have any issue coping with the power usage.
| Off / Standby | 0.66 / 1.2 Watt |
| Idle | 6.2 / 6.3 / 7.5 Watt |
| Load |
41.3 / 49 Watt |
   
| |
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560 R5 5600U, Vega 7 | Minisforum EliteMini B550 R7 5700G, Vega 8 | Beelink SER4 R7 4800U, Vega 8 | Minipc Union Ace Magician AMR5 R5 5600U, Vega 7 | Minipc Union NiPoGi CK10 - 10810U i7-10810U, UHD Graphics 620 | Average AMD Radeon RX Vega 7 | Average of class Mini PC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power Consumption | -80% | 28% | -23% | 21% | -3% | -68% | |
| Idle Minimum * | 6.2 | 8.9 -44% | 4.1 34% | 8.4 -35% | 4.8 23% | 4.66 ? 25% | 9.8 ? -58% |
| Idle Average * | 6.3 | 9.6 -52% | 4.1 35% | 8.7 -38% | 4.9 22% | 7.56 ? -20% | 11.7 ? -86% |
| Idle Maximum * | 7.5 | 11.8 -57% | 4.6 39% | 9.3 -24% | 5.5 27% | 8.95 ? -19% | 14.7 ? -96% |
| Load Average * | 41.3 | 98.9 -139% | 35.6 14% | 46.4 -12% | 23 44% | 38.7 ? 6% | 51.9 ? -26% |
| Load Maximum * | 49 | 101.8 -108% | 39.9 19% | 52 -6% | 54 -10% | 51.9 ? -6% | 86 ? -76% |
| Witcher 3 ultra * | 35.6 |
* ... smaller is better
Power consumption with external monitor
Pros
Cons
Verdict - Great mini PC for video conferencing
The Minisforum Mars Series MC560 is a mini PC that stands out from the crowd with extra features such as its integrated camera and two speakers. The device is clearly aimed at office workers who have to take part in video calls. The built-in webcam and speakers mean that users don't need external hardware for video calls, thus making the system a compelling option for its target audience. The Minisforum Mars Series MC560 is no slouch either when it comes to pure performance. The machine has no problem handling demanding tasks with the help of its AMD Ryzen 5 5600U. The six-core processor is also fairly efficient and has sufficient power to keep the system consistently snappy.
The Minisforum Mars Series MC560 is a special mini PC that is well suited to many different applications. Gaming, however, is not one of its fortes due to its relatively weak iGPU. But the hardware is powerful enough to play back high-resolution videos smoothly.
The Minisforum Mars Series MC560 is an interesting mini PC that is perfect for video conferencing thanks to the built-in camera, microphones and speakers.
One drawback of the Minisforum Mars Series MC560 is the meagre selection of external ports. We also didn't like the fact that users can't access components such as the RAM and SSD. Though we understand the chassis should not be opened because of the integrated camera, having a cover that lets users access internal components would have probably been a good compromise. There isn't anything on the market right now that can compete directly with the MC560. The Minipc Union Ace Magician AMR5 is a similarly specced machine, but it is only comparable performance-wise as it doesn't have any built-in webcam or speakers. Alternatively, you can take a look at a compact laptop, for example the Dell Inspiron 14 5425.
Price and availability
As usual, the Mars Series MC560 can be ordered from the Minisforum store. It is currently priced at €489/US$399 for the 16 GB model and €549/US$458 for the 32 GB variant. From mid-March, Minisforum will be shipping the product from Hong Kong with a stopover in Germany, meaning that buyers in the EU will not face additional import duties. The product is expected to be available in Minisforum's German warehouse later on, which is going to reduce shipping time to about 3-7 days.
The review sample was loaned to the author for free by the manufacturer for review purposes. The company has no influence on this review and didn't receive any version of it before publication. There is no obligation to publish any article on the product.
Minisforum Mars Series MC560
-
02/12/2023 v7
Sebastian Bade
