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MagyarMinisforum Mercury Series EM680 review: An astoundingly small mini PC with a Ryzen 7 6800U and USB4
The Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 is another mini PC that sets the bar even higher (or smaller) when it comes to size. Despite its small footprint, it still has good performance to offer. Next to its AMD Ryzen 7 6800U, the PC also has 16 GB RAM and a 512 GB SSD. Prices for the smallest configuration, which is the one we tested, start from around $499. For $60 more, you can get the Minisforum EM680 with 32 GB RAM and for another $60 on top of that, the larger RAM is accompanied by a 1 TB SSD.
Due to its extremely compact size, the mini PC barely has any direct competitors which can offer the same level of performance. Only the Ace Magician T8Pro is even able to come near to the Minisforum EM680 in terms of size - but its installed SoC is considerably weaker. So, we have put together a mix of competitors consisting of compact devices and ones which offer similar performance levels, in order to better contextualize where the Minisforum EM680 can actually be placed.
You can see a list of all the comparison devices in the following table.
Possible competitors compared
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Best Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 81.8 % | 06/2023 | Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 R7 6800U, Radeon 680M | 239 g | 43 mm | |
| 83.7 % | 05/2023 | Morefine M600, 6600U R5 6600U, Radeon 660M | 768 g | 40.6 mm | |
| 81.9 % | 05/2023 | Minisforum Venus Series NAB6 i7-12650H, UHD Graphics 64EUs | 616 g | 55 mm | |
| 81.7 % | 05/2023 | Minisforum Venus Series UM560 XT R5 5600H, Vega 7 | 652 g | 48 mm | |
| 79.5 % | 02/2023 | Minisforum Mars Series MC560 R5 5600U, Vega 7 | 562 g | 66 mm | |
| 68.2 % | 03/2023 | Minipc Union NiPoGi GK3PLUS - N95 N95, UHD Graphics 24EUs (Alder Lake-N) | 381 g | 47 mm | |
| 65.9 % | 01/2023 | Minipc Union Ace Magician T8Pro Celeron N5095, UHD Graphics (Jasper Lake 16 EU) | 209 g | 43.5 mm |
The Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 in detail
Case - The Minisforum EM680 takes up only 8 cm²
In comparison, the tiny Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 not only has the smallest foorprint, but its height of just four centimetres is just as impressive. The manufacturer has mostly relied on plastic for the case's construction, but the device is very stable thanks to its compactness. The top and bottom of the case have ventilation slits - two fans guarantee that the system runs smoothly under load while cooling the SoC and SSD. Weighing in at only 239 grams, our test sample is extremely light and only the Ace Magician T8Pro can beat this. The power supply is only ever so slightly smaller than the device itself and weighs 131 grams.
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Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Mercury Series Series)Related Articles
Connectivity
If you guessed that a small PC means limited connectivity options, then you might have to guess again. In total, it has five USB connections, two of which actually offer USB-4 speeds. This already makes the PC well equipped and thoroughly leaves its competitors in the dust. Furthermore, the device features an HDMI output as well as an audio jack for a headset. It even has an SD card reader, even if it is only capable of reading microSD cards. In total, the Minisforum EM680 can run up to three screens simultaneously - if you use both Thunderbolt ports along with the HDMI connection. Although, in order to do so, your peripheral equipment must also support Power Delivery, as one of the USB-C ports also supplies the EM680 with power.
SD card reader
The Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 is equipped with an SD card reader which only supports microSC cards. Although, with USB 2.0 speeds, it sure won't set any new records. In comparison, the EM680 did worse than all bar one of our comparison devices.
| SD Card Reader | |
| average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
| Intel Beast Canyon NUC (AV Pro SD microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| Average of class Mini PC (16.9 - 181.8, n=17, last 2 years) | |
| Intel NUC 12, NUC12SNKi72_Serpent Canyon (AV Pro SD microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C (AV Pro SD microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (AV Pro SD microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| Zotac ZBOX PI336 pico (AV PRO MICROSD V60) | |
| maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB) | |
| Intel Beast Canyon NUC (AV Pro SD microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| Average of class Mini PC (18.2 - 200, n=17, last 2 years) | |
| Intel NUC 12, NUC12SNKi72_Serpent Canyon (AV Pro SD microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C (AV Pro SD microSD 128 GB V60) | |
| Zotac ZBOX PI336 pico (AV PRO MICROSD V60) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (AV Pro SD microSD 128 GB V60) | |
Communication
The Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 houses a Wi-Fi 6E module from Realtek. In our practical test, the WLAN module in our test sample delivered average results within the 5 GHz frequency area. After swapping to the new 6 GHz standard, the Wi-Fi module was able to show what it is capable of. We noted better values while sending and receiving data than its competitors could offer. We used an Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 as the test router for these tests.
Maintenance
While it is generally possible to open up the Minisforum EM680, you can only actually swap out the SSD. The bottom of the case can be taken off quite easily after the four screws have been removed. Although, the screws are situated beneath the PC's rubber feet, making them a little hard to find at first. The manufacturer explicitly advises against removing the cooling unit, as this can cause damage to the device. We suspect this is due to the mini PC's use of liquid metal to better dissipate heat.
Performance - An AMD Ryzen 7 6800U in the tiniest of spaces
An AMD Ryzen 7 6800U makes up the solid base of the Minisforum Mercury Series EM680. This means that a solid iGPU is part of this SoC, namely an AMD Radeon 680M. In addition, the PC features fast DDR5 RAM (6,400 MT/s), so the iGPU certainly won't be slowed down at all.
Testing conditions
We used the energy profile "highest performance" for all the performance tests on this device. Deviations from this were only made in the power and volume measurements according to our test criteria.
Processor
The installed AMD Ryzen 7 6800U is a good choice and guarantees solid performance in everyday use. The frugal 8-core processor could be run stably at 28 watts under permanent load. Subsequently, the device delivered good single-core and multi-core performance levels. In our test, the Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 was able to keep up with the Minisforum Venus Series UM560 XT and the Morefine M600 6600U. All three had very similar performance ratings, even though the individual tests showed differing devices coming out on top. Compared to the equally small Ace Magician T8Pro, our test sample had nothing to worry about, as the Intel N95 isn't even competition-worthy.
The Minisforum EM680 triumphed in our AIDA64 benchmarks - so well that even secured itself the first place. Its harmonious teamwork shown by the hardware, especially its fast RAM (DDR5-6400), was to thank for these excellent results.
You can find further processor benchmarks here.
* ... 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
The Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 during the Cinebench R15 Multi loop
At this point, the Cinebench R15 continuous loop shows how well the system copes with the built-in cooling. We didn't note any devastating performance losses on the Minisforum Mercury Series EM680. We could only see a slight dip in performance in the first five runs. In direct comparison, the Minisforum EM680 delivered better results after 50 runs than the Minisforum NAB6.
System performance
Working on the Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 is great fun and we have no issues to note in everyday use. Even so, the comparison devices were quicker if you compare their performances directly using the benchmarks. The mini PC achieved average results in the PCMark10 test, and during Crossmark, it actually managed to reach third place. Although, we noted considerably better results in our RAM tests - of course, thanks to the device's fast RAM.
| AIDA64 / Memory Copy | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 7 6800U (47010 - 52159, n=6) | |
| Morefine M600, 6600U | |
| Minisforum Venus Series NAB6 | |
| Average of class Mini PC (6481 - 70620, n=98, last 2 years) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM560 XT | |
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560 | |
| Minipc Union Ace Magician T8Pro | |
| Minipc Union NiPoGi GK3PLUS - N95 | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Read | |
| Minisforum Venus Series NAB6 | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM560 XT | |
| Morefine M600, 6600U | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 | |
| Average of class Mini PC (6914 - 71285, n=98, last 2 years) | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 7 6800U (39197 - 45084, n=6) | |
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560 | |
| Minipc Union Ace Magician T8Pro | |
| Minipc Union NiPoGi GK3PLUS - N95 | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Write | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 7 6800U (48723 - 51117, n=6) | |
| Morefine M600, 6600U | |
| Minisforum Venus Series NAB6 | |
| Average of class Mini PC (6862 - 89318, n=98, last 2 years) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM560 XT | |
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560 | |
| Minipc Union Ace Magician T8Pro | |
| Minipc Union NiPoGi GK3PLUS - N95 | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Latency | |
| Minipc Union NiPoGi GK3PLUS - N95 | |
| Average AMD Ryzen 7 6800U (106.3 - 123.1, n=6) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 | |
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560 | |
| Morefine M600, 6600U | |
| Average of class Mini PC (44.9 - 154.6, n=98, last 2 years) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM560 XT | |
| Minipc Union Ace Magician T8Pro | |
| Minisforum Venus Series NAB6 | |
* ... smaller is better
DPC latency
LatencyMon already showed slightly increased latencies when opening several tabs in the Edge browser. These didn't increase further during playback of our 4K test video. Even with Prime95, we didn't note any deterioration of the latencies documented at the beginning.
| DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
| Minipc Union Ace Magician T8Pro, Intel Celeron N5095 | |
| Minipc Union NiPoGi GK3PLUS - N95, Intel Processor N95 | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680, AMD Ryzen 7 6800U | |
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560, AMD Ryzen 5 5600U | |
| Morefine M600, 6600U, AMD Ryzen 5 6600U | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM560 XT, AMD Ryzen 5 5600H | |
| Minisforum Venus Series NAB6, Intel Core i7-12650H | |
* ... smaller is better
Storage devices
The shape and small size of the Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 means a slightly different storage device format. As a result, the mini PC has an M.2 SSD which has a length of 30 millimetres - but it still has a 512-GB capacity and so should be more than sufficient for a start. Different to its RAM, which is securely attached, the SSD can be swapped out. In order to do so, you just have to detach the bottom of the case. At the same time, the manufacturer utilizes the case bottom to cool the SSD. A small fan supposedly secures stable performance. Unfortunately, this doesn't prove to be too easy during longer periods of use, as the documented continuous performance rates show. However, these short performance dips really don't last long and so shouldn't be too big an issue in everyday use.
The Kingston-made SSD uses the PCIe connection perfectly, which our benchmarks confirm. This is enough to secure second place for the Minisforum EM680, directly behind the Minisforum NAB6. Its 4K read rates prevented a better result, although 71.5 MB/s still isn't too shabby.
For further comparisons and benchmarks, take a look at our comparison table.
* ... smaller is better
Reading continuous performance: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
Graphics card
In addition to the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U, the PC benefits from a good iGPU, the AMD Radeon 680M. The iGPU doesn't have its own VRAM, which is why a part of the installed RAM has to be used. Its size can be determined in the BIOS. In our case, 2 GB were already assigned. In our test, we noted solid performance during the synthetic benchmarks, although it remained slightly below average. The cause for this is the PC's low power consumption - you can see how a much faster AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX features the same iGPU. Compared to its competitors, the Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 still did the best by far. Even the Morefine M600 6600U couldn't keep up and has to make do with being 20 per cent behind.
You can find more AMD Radeon 680M benchmarks here.
| 3DMark 05 Standard | 11711 points | |
| 3DMark 06 Standard Score | 13533 points | |
| 3DMark Vantage P Result | 17643 points | |
| 3DMark 11 Performance | 7635 points | |
| 3DMark Ice Storm Standard Score | 63746 points | |
| 3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 22088 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Score | 5001 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme Score | 2611 points | |
| 3DMark Time Spy Score | 2057 points | |
Help | ||
Gaming performance
Although the Minisforum Mercury Series EM680's AMD Radeon 680M did quite well in the synthetic test, its performance during the practical test while playing a multitude of games just couldn't keep up with the comparison devices. The Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 is definitely best suited to be used as a compact office PC. Subsequently, we wouldn't deem its low gaming performance as being that big of a deal. For games with simple graphics or just generally for casual gaming, the iGPU's performance should still be sufficient.
For an overview of the iGPU's performance compared to other graphics cards, take a look at our GPU games list.
| The Witcher 3 | |
| 1024x768 Low Graphics & Postprocessing | |
| Minisforum Venus Series NAB6 | |
| Morefine M600, 6600U | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM560 XT | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 | |
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560 | |
| 1920x1080 High Graphics & Postprocessing (Nvidia HairWorks Off) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 | |
| Minisforum Venus Series NAB6 | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM560 XT | |
| Morefine M600, 6600U | |
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560 | |
| Borderlands 3 | |
| 1280x720 Very Low Overall Quality (DX11) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM560 XT | |
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560 | |
| Morefine M600, 6600U | |
| Minisforum Venus Series NAB6 | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 | |
| 1920x1080 High Overall Quality (DX11) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM560 XT | |
| Morefine M600, 6600U | |
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560 | |
| Minisforum Venus Series NAB6 | |
| GTA V | |
| 1024x768 Lowest Settings possible | |
| Morefine M600, 6600U | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM560 XT | |
| Minisforum Venus Series NAB6 | |
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560 | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 | |
| Minipc Union NiPoGi GK3PLUS - N95 | |
| 1920x1080 High/On (Advanced Graphics Off) AA:2xMSAA + FX AF:8x | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 | |
| Morefine M600, 6600U | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM560 XT | |
| Minisforum Mars Series MC560 | |
| Minisforum Venus Series NAB6 | |
| Minipc Union NiPoGi GK3PLUS - N95 | |
| low | med. | high | ultra | |
| GTA V (2015) | 67.7 | 61.7 | 34 | 19.6 |
| The Witcher 3 (2015) | 67.4 | 47.7 | 32.1 | 20.1 |
| Dota 2 Reborn (2015) | 62.4 | 57.3 | 44.8 | 42 |
| Final Fantasy XV Benchmark (2018) | 45.7 | 28.9 | 20.9 | |
| X-Plane 11.11 (2018) | 26.8 | 21.1 | 16.6 | |
| Far Cry 5 (2018) | 41 | 26 | 24 | 23 |
| Strange Brigade (2018) | 84.5 | 46.2 | 39.4 | 34.2 |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018) | 53.6 | 29.8 | 28 | 24.4 |
| Far Cry New Dawn (2019) | 36 | 25 | 23 | 21 |
| Metro Exodus (2019) | 41.9 | 24.3 | 18.7 | 15.5 |
| Borderlands 3 (2019) | 38.3 | 23.8 | 17.8 | 14.9 |
| F1 2020 (2020) | 92.3 | 52.4 | 44.5 | 31.4 |
| F1 2021 (2021) | 99.6 | 57.8 | 45.5 | 19.9 |
| Far Cry 6 (2021) | 29.6 | 18.8 | 16.1 | 13.3 |
| God of War (2022) | 24.9 | 22 | 18.2 | 12.2 |
| GRID Legends (2022) | 35.5 | 29.5 | 24.4 | 21.2 |
| Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (2022) | 39.3 | 30.6 | 21.8 | 18.5 |
| F1 22 (2022) | 49.7 | 46.1 | 34.8 | 8.92 |
3D performance via an eGPU dock with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
Thanks to Thunderbolt 4, you can significantly increase the mini PC's 3D performance with the correct accessories. Together with our Razer Core X and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, we took a look at what is possible in this combination. Generally, you can expect a massive increase in performance. Even though the Minisforum Mercury Series EM680, together with the Razer Core X, achieved last place, its performance is still excellent. At only 5 percentile points behind, our test sample was almost as good as all the other comparison devices - at times with much faster processors.
Its gaming performance is more realistic in this same combination. Here, you can expect to play many games smoothly using high to maximum detail settings. This leads us to believe that - with the right accessories - you can definitely use this mini PC for gaming. The game F1 22 is noteworthy, as it is quite strongly impacted by bandwidth limitations - via Thunderbolt, you can only achieve PCI Express 3.0 speeds with 4 lanes.
| Performance Rating - Percent | |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro Kit NUC13ANK (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Acer Swift Edge SFE16 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM690 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| 3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance GPU | |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro Kit NUC13ANK (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM690 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Acer Swift Edge SFE16 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| 3DMark | |
| 1280x720 Cloud Gate Standard Graphics | |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro Kit NUC13ANK (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Acer Swift Edge SFE16 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM690 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| 1920x1080 Fire Strike Graphics | |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro Kit NUC13ANK (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Acer Swift Edge SFE16 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM690 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| 2560x1440 Time Spy Graphics | |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro Kit NUC13ANK (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM690 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Acer Swift Edge SFE16 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Fire Strike Extreme Graphics | |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro Kit NUC13ANK (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Acer Swift Edge SFE16 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM690 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Performance Rating - Percent | |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro Kit NUC13ANK (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM690 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Acer Swift Edge SFE16 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) -5! | |
| Unigine Heaven 4.0 | |
| Extreme Preset OpenGL | |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro Kit NUC13ANK (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM690 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Acer Swift Edge SFE16 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Extreme Preset DX11 | |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro Kit NUC13ANK (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Acer Swift Edge SFE16 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM690 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Unigine Valley 1.0 | |
| 1920x1080 Extreme HD DirectX AA:x8 | |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro Kit NUC13ANK (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM690 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Acer Swift Edge SFE16 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| 1920x1080 Extreme HD Preset OpenGL AA:x8 | |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro Kit NUC13ANK (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM690 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Acer Swift Edge SFE16 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Unigine Superposition | |
| 1920x1080 1080p High | |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro Kit NUC13ANK (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Acer Swift Edge SFE16 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM690 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| 1920x1080 1080p Extreme | |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro Kit NUC13ANK (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM690 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Acer Swift Edge SFE16 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| ComputeMark v2.1 | |
| 1024x600 Normal, Score | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro Kit NUC13ANK (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM690 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| 1024x600 Normal, Fluid 3DTex | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro Kit NUC13ANK (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM690 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| 1024x600 Normal, Fluid 2DTexArr | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM690 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro Kit NUC13ANK (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| 1024x600 Normal, Mandel Vector | |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro Kit NUC13ANK (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM690 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| 1024x600 Normal, QJuliaRayTrace | |
| Intel NUC 13 Pro Kit NUC13ANK (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Venus Series UM690 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| Morefine M600 (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE TB3) | |
| low | med. | high | ultra | QHD | 4K | |
| GTA V (2015) | 157.4 | 149.4 | 115.7 | 68.2 | 66.6 | 94.3 |
| The Witcher 3 (2015) | 207.9 | 142.1 | 108.3 | 56.8 | 60.8 | |
| Dota 2 Reborn (2015) | 103.8 | 95.9 | 93.6 | 89.2 | 87.1 | |
| Final Fantasy XV Benchmark (2018) | 53.7 | 44.3 | 37.5 | 42.1 | 28.8 | |
| X-Plane 11.11 (2018) | 78.1 | 67.8 | 54.4 | 47.7 | ||
| Far Cry 5 (2018) | 103 | 90 | 87 | 82 | 80 | 55 |
| Strange Brigade (2018) | 152.1 | 120.8 | 118 | 115.3 | 110.5 | 77.2 |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018) | 103.8 | 86.3 | 85 | 82.5 | 75 | 51.4 |
| Far Cry New Dawn (2019) | 89 | 79 | 76 | 68 | 66 | 56 |
| Metro Exodus (2019) | 111.9 | 76 | 58.4 | 44.1 | 39.4 | 30.2 |
| Borderlands 3 (2019) | 102.3 | 90.3 | 82.6 | 72.4 | 60.4 | 36.9 |
| F1 2020 (2020) | 157.2 | 87.3 | 94.6 | 79.9 | 69.9 | 50.6 |
| F1 2021 (2021) | 110.5 | 81.5 | 53.9 | 41.7 | 37.8 | 33.5 |
| Far Cry 6 (2021) | 56.7 | 48.4 | 40.5 | 34.7 | 34.3 | |
| God of War (2022) | 97.2 | 86.9 | 73.2 | 57.1 | 49.2 | 36.8 |
| GRID Legends (2022) | 84.8 | 74.5 | 65.5 | 57.9 | 53 | 44.1 |
| Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (2022) | 152.3 | 123.8 | 90.9 | 74.4 | 57.8 | 34.8 |
| F1 22 (2022) | 47.1 | 42.7 | 33.5 | 21.8 | 21.2 | 17 |
Emissions - The Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 with liquid metal
Noise emissions
In our noise emission measurements, the Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 behaved quite quietly. At the same time, the fans still run when the PC is idle. Under load, our measuring equipment noted a maximum of 33.6 dB(A), which is still great compared to its competitors. However, subjectively seen, both of the fans appear to seem a lot more present than the 33.6 dB(A) would suggest. The reason behind this is probably both of the fans' high-pitched sound.
Noise Level
| Idle |
| 30.8 / 30.8 / 31 dB(A) |
| Load |
| 31.2 / 33.6 dB(A) |
 | ||
30 dB silent 40 dB(A) audible 50 dB(A) loud |
||
min:  , med:  , max:  Earthworks M23R, Arta (15 cm distance) environment noise: 29.7 dB(A) | ||
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 R7 6800U, Radeon 680M | Morefine M600, 6600U R5 6600U, Radeon 660M | Minisforum Venus Series NAB6 i7-12650H, UHD Graphics 64EUs | Minisforum Venus Series UM560 XT R5 5600H, Vega 7 | Minisforum Mars Series MC560 R5 5600U, Vega 7 | Minipc Union NiPoGi GK3PLUS - N95 N95, UHD Graphics 24EUs (Alder Lake-N) | Minipc Union Ace Magician T8Pro Celeron N5095, UHD Graphics (Jasper Lake 16 EU) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noise | 6% | -1% | 0% | 0% | -7% | 3% | |
| off / environment * | 29.7 | 29.4 1% | 29.4 1% | 30 -1% | 30.2 -2% | 30.4 -2% | 30.2 -2% |
| Idle Minimum * | 30.8 | 29.4 5% | 29.4 5% | 30.3 2% | 30.4 1% | 31 -1% | 30.2 2% |
| Idle Average * | 30.8 | 29.4 5% | 29.5 4% | 30.5 1% | 30.4 1% | 31.1 -1% | 30.2 2% |
| Idle Maximum * | 31 | 29.5 5% | 29.7 4% | 30.6 1% | 30.4 2% | 31.8 -3% | 30.2 3% |
| Load Average * | 31.2 | 29.6 5% | 34.6 -11% | 32.5 -4% | 31.8 -2% | 33.3 -7% | 30.5 2% |
| Witcher 3 ultra * | 32.2 | ||||||
| Load Maximum * | 33.6 | 29.6 12% | 36.1 -7% | 33.2 1% | 33.4 1% | 42.5 -26% | 30.9 8% |
* ... smaller is better
Temperature
In idle mode as well as under load, the Minisforum Mercury Series EM680's case only heats up a tiny bit, as warm air is immediately led out of the case. The manufacturer has installed two small fans which cool the SoC as well as the SSD on the bottom.
For a more effective cooling, the PC uses liquid metal. Under load, the Minisforum EM680 faces no temperature issues. We noted a maximum CPU temperature of 83.6 °C at an average power consumption of 28 watts.
Power consumption
In our test, the Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 showed impressive performance and at the same time, it didn't use much energy. Our power consumption measurements showed this in a few different scenarios. In idle mode, the tiny PC only uses 7 watts and under average load, it uses 20 watts - thus, it is still very frugal indeed. We noted a maximum of 52 watts, which is more than manageable for the PC's power supply. If you want to use the Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 connected to a monitor which supports Power Delivery, then you just have to make sure that the USB-C cable can provide enough power to run it.
| Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 R7 6800U, Radeon 680M | Morefine M600, 6600U R5 6600U, Radeon 660M | Minisforum Venus Series NAB6 i7-12650H, UHD Graphics 64EUs | Minisforum Venus Series UM560 XT R5 5600H, Vega 7 | Minisforum Mars Series MC560 R5 5600U, Vega 7 | Minipc Union NiPoGi GK3PLUS - N95 N95, UHD Graphics 24EUs (Alder Lake-N) | Minipc Union Ace Magician T8Pro Celeron N5095, UHD Graphics (Jasper Lake 16 EU) | Average AMD Radeon 680M | Average of class Mini PC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power Consumption | -58% | -110% | -31% | -16% | 11% | -5% | -52% | -86% | |
| Idle Minimum * | 7 | 8 -14% | 10.4 -49% | 6.6 6% | 6.2 11% | 6.1 13% | 8.4 -20% | 6.75 ? 4% | 9.75 ? -39% |
| Idle Average * | 7.2 | 8.7 -21% | 12.3 -71% | 6.8 6% | 6.3 12% | 6.9 4% | 8.4 -17% | 8.75 ? -22% | 11.7 ? -63% |
| Idle Maximum * | 7.2 | 8.8 -22% | 12.4 -72% | 7.2 -0% | 7.5 -4% | 8.9 -24% | 11.1 -54% | 10.3 ? -43% | 14.7 ? -104% |
| Load Average * | 20 | 54.6 -173% | 72.9 -265% | 45.1 -126% | 41.3 -107% | 20 -0% | 16.5 17% | 52.8 ? -164% | 51.9 ? -160% |
| Load Maximum * | 52.1 | 83.2 -60% | 101.2 -94% | 73.4 -41% | 49 6% | 21.1 60% | 26.3 50% | 69.4 ? -33% | 86 ? -65% |
* ... smaller is better
Power consumption with external monitor
Pros
Cons
Verdict - A small-scale powerhouse
The Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 is a mini PC which truly lives up to its name. Taking up a space of only 80 x 80 millimetres, the Minisforum PC comes with an AMD Ryzen 7 6800U with either 16 GB or 32 GB DDR5 RAM. Our 16-GB version made speedy working possible. Although, when it comes to being future-proof, we would suggest going for the model with 32 GB, as the PC's RAM cannot be upgraded. Due to the device's build, the available space for an SSD is limited - but, the 512 GB which is included should be more than enough for a start.
Its compact design is great and despite its size, it still features a selection of modern connectivity options. This means you don't have to miss out on Thunderbolt 4 and your third-party expansion options are nearly limitless. As an example, we connected the Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 with our Razer Core X - together with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, the PC's 3D performance was increased considerably. Thanks to its modern AMD SoC, the AMD Radeon 680M already proves to be a good iGPU on its own. Even so, the device couldn't perform quite as well as expected due to its low power consumption. However, its performance is still better than Intel's iGPUs.
The Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 boasts great performance within a tiny space. At the same time, it hasn't had to miss out on the most modern connectivity options, such as Thunderbolt.
We particularly liked its cooling system, which cools the SoC effectively and reliably. Its use of liquid metal is clever and guarantees decent performance even under permanent load. One critique point is the small fan on the bottom of the device, which is supposed to cool the SSD - however, in our test, it also showed to cause a bit of noise disturbance. If you are looking for a quieter system, then you can remove this fan, but then the SSD performance will likely be throttled quicker than in our test. Another negative point can be noted in the PC's WLAN transfer rates within the 5-GHz frequency. As the Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 doesn't have an Ethernet port, this type of network connection becomes even more important. Price-wise, this mini PC won't break any banks, retailing at around $499. Included is a Windows 11 Professional license, which is definitely worth mentioning. For $60 more, you can get the EM680 with 32 GB RAM - we would see this as a more logical product to go for. A realistic competitor could be the Morefine M600 6600U. This PC offers similar performance, but it clearly isn't as compact as the Minisforum Mercury Series EM680.
Price and availability
The Minisforum Mercury Series EM680 can be purchased directly on Minisforum's website. At the time of writing, you can currently get $100 off the PC's original price, meaning that they currently charge $399 for the smallest model, which is the one we tested.
Transparency
The present review sample was given to the author by the manufacturer free of charge for the purposes of review. There was no third-party influence on this review, nor did the manufacturer receive a copy of this review before publication. There was no obligation to publish this review.
Minisforum Mercury Series EM680
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02/27/2024 v7
Sebastian Bade
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