Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G review: Compact gaming PC with AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX and AMD Radeon RX 6600M also includes USB4 and Thunderbolt

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With the Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G, the Chinese manufacturer performs some product maintenance, now offering the compact gaming PC with AMD's Rembrandt SoC also known as AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX. In addition to the CPU upgrade, there is also USB4 including Thunderbolt. Using our external graphics dock, we took a closer look at what you can do with this, and also included this in our review.
As we already know, the Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G can be ordered from the manufacturer's own online shop. You also continue to have the option to purchase the device in various configurations. The barebone version without RAM, SSD, or Windows license starts from 959 Euros (~$1029), and you currently have to expect 1,099 Euros (~$1179) for our test configuration. As already in the Minisforum Neptune Series HX90G , the SoC is accompanied by an AMD Radeon RX 6600M, which ensures a good 3D performance. We are already familiar with this graphics chip, which is also able to operate without throttling in the HX99G.
We use other compact desktop PCs with a dedicated graphics card as comparison devices in this review. In order to allow for a direct comparison of the GPU performance, we also include similarly equipped gaming laptops in our charts.
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Possible Competitors in Comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Best Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
89.9 % | 02/2023 | Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G R9 6900HX, Radeon RX 6600M | 1.6 kg | 69.3 mm | |
12/2021 | Intel Beast Canyon NUC i9-11900KB, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | 189 mm | |||
06/2021 | Zotac Magnus One (ECM73070C) i7-10700, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 | ||||
05/2022 | Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C i7-11800H, GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU | 1.8 kg | 62.2 mm | ||
04/2022 | Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 i9-12900, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | 189 mm | |||
82.6 % | 05/2022 | Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH6A-82NW0010GE R5 5600H, Radeon RX 6600M | 2.5 kg | 25.75 mm | |
09/2022 | Minisforum NUCX i7 i7-11800H, GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU | 2.4 kg | 393 mm | ||
10/2022 | Minisforum Neptune Series HX90G R9 5900HX, Radeon RX 6600M | 1.4 kg | 69.3 mm |
Top 10 Laptops
Multimedia, Budget Multimedia, Gaming, Budget Gaming, Lightweight Gaming, Business, Budget Office, Workstation, Subnotebooks, Ultrabooks, Chromebooks
under 300 USD/Euros, under 500 USD/Euros, 1,000 USD/Euros, for University Students, Best Displays
Top 10 Smartphones
Smartphones, Phablets, ≤6-inch, Camera Smartphones
Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G in detail
Case
Visually, there are hardly any differences between the Minisforum Neptune Series HX90G and the Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G. The case continues to be constructed mainly from plastic, with some added small Carbon visual elements. Internally, there is also some metal, which supports the stability. The workmanship of our test unit is good, although we would have also appreciated a higher quality selection of materials. With the Minisforum Neptune Series NAD9, the manufacturer already proved that things can also be done differently. The computer includes a stand that allows you to place it vertically on the desk. But you don't have to use it, since you can also operate the device horizontally without any problems.
Compared to the HX90G, the size is identical, but at 1.6 kg (~3.5 lb), we see a clear difference in the weight, with the Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G weighing almost 200 grams (~7 oz) more, which is probably due to more powerful cooling. The external power supply brings an additional 650 grams (~1.5 lb) to the scale.
Connection Equipment
The variety of connections of the Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G is good, offering all that is necessary, including USB4 and Thunderbolt. We count seven USB ports in total, four of which are Type-A. In addition to the conventional HDMI ports, the two USB-C ports in the back also allow you to connect two additional displays. The positioning of the connections is well thought-out and makes sense in our opinion. There are no potential conflicts with cable usage, neither in the vertical, nor the horizontal positioning of the device.
Communication
Minisforum uses a Wi-Fi 6E module from Mediatek in the Neptune Series HX99G. An identical WLAN module is also used in the HX90G and in the recently tested Minisforum Venus Series UM690. In the practical test with our Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 test router, we see a similar performance in our test unit as that of the competitors from the same manufacturer. However, it is unable to reach the performance of an Intel Wi-Fi 6E-AX210. For a faster data connection, you can also use the LAN port as an alternative, which supports a maximum of 2.5 Gbit/s.
Accessories
In addition to the computer itself, the box also includes the 262-Watt power supply and the stand that allows you to place the computer horizontally.
Maintenance
Basically, you can perform maintenance tasks with the Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G, since you can also purchase the device as a barebone version anyways. However, we still have a complaint about the same point in the HX99G as already in the HX90G, with their basic construction being the same. The screws to open the case are hidden underneath the rubber strips the device rests on when placed horizontally, so after their removal, you might risk that the strips might not stick correctly anymore. After removing the screws, the case bottom can be opened relatively easily. Below this, you find an additional metal cover that you also have to remove in order to access the RAM, SSD, or Wi-Fi module. This metal plate serves to hold the side covers. To access the two fans, you have to take apart the device further, but this could easily be done with some skill. The manufacturer explicitly advises not to remove the heat sink from the SoC and GPU. Heat paste to facilitate the heat removal has already been applied, so you shouldn't have to change anything here, in our opinion.
Performance - AMDs Rembrandt SoC with a good performance
Minisforum has equipped the Neptune Series HX99G with AMD's new Ryzen 9 6900HX. At first glance, the upgrade to the HX90G offers only a small performance increase, but with DDR5 and Thunderbolt 4, the additional value of the new platform can be quite high. With the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, there is also a quite powerful graphics card that allows us to see the device as a gaming PC at all.
Test Conditions
We ran all the performance tests with the "Highest performance" power profile activated. We did not change the power parameters of the CPU, leaving it in the "Auto" mode according to the BIOS settings.
Processor
The AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX is a modern octa-core processor from the current Rembrandt line-up, which is able to operate on a total of 16 threads in parallel. In the Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G, this replaces the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, allowing it to slightly increase the performance overall. However, this is still far from a noticeable performance increase, and both SoCs offer the same speed subjectively. Since Minisforum also offers the Neptune Series as the HX80G with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H, we also included this SoC in our comparison chart.
You can find additional benchmarks of the processors 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
AIDA64 / FP32 Ray-Trace | |
Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G | |
Minisforum Neptune Series HX90G | |
Intel Beast Canyon NUC | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum NUCX i7 | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH6A-82NW0010GE | |
Average of class Mini PC (561 - 15814, n=43, last 2 years) |
AIDA64 / FP64 Ray-Trace | |
Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G | |
Minisforum Neptune Series HX90G | |
Intel Beast Canyon NUC | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum NUCX i7 | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH6A-82NW0010GE | |
Average of class Mini PC (308 - 8447, n=43, last 2 years) |
AIDA64 / CPU PhotoWorxx | |
Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G | |
Average of class Mini PC (4408 - 44347, n=43, last 2 years) | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum NUCX i7 | |
Intel Beast Canyon NUC | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum Neptune Series HX90G | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH6A-82NW0010GE |
Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G in the Cinebench R15 Multi loop
In our Cinebench R15 constant loop, our test unit performs at the same level as the Minisforum Neptune Series HX90G. After half of the 50 runs, we notice a slight performance drop, but this is not very pronounced.
System Performance
The largest difference to the Minisforum Neptune Series HX90G is the newer SoC in combination with DDR5 working memory, allowing the Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G to work up an advantage of up to 16% in parts. The higher data throughput of the working memory shows clearly in the AIDA64 tests, in contrast to PCMark 10 where the supposed performance advantage downright fizzles out.
AIDA64 / Memory Copy | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX (47938 - 53345, n=18) | |
Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G | |
Intel Beast Canyon NUC | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum NUCX i7 | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum Neptune Series HX90G | |
Average of class Mini PC (6481 - 70620, n=43, last 2 years) | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH6A-82NW0010GE |
AIDA64 / Memory Read | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX (43892 - 53321, n=18) | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G | |
Intel Beast Canyon NUC | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Minisforum NUCX i7 | |
Minisforum Neptune Series HX90G | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH6A-82NW0010GE | |
Average of class Mini PC (6914 - 65856, n=43, last 2 years) |
AIDA64 / Memory Write | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX (51085 - 57202, n=18) | |
Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum NUCX i7 | |
Intel Beast Canyon NUC | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Average of class Mini PC (6862 - 66047, n=43, last 2 years) | |
Minisforum Neptune Series HX90G | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH6A-82NW0010GE |
AIDA64 / Memory Latency | |
Minisforum NUCX i7 | |
Average AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX (80.7 - 120.6, n=18) | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH6A-82NW0010GE | |
Intel Beast Canyon NUC | |
Intel Dragon Canyon NUC - RTX 3060 | |
Average of class Mini PC (55.3 - 146, n=43, last 2 years) | |
Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G | |
Zotac ZBOX Magnus EN173070C | |
Minisforum Neptune Series HX90G |
* ... smaller is better
DPC Latencies
The Minisforum HX99G has no problems when opening several browser tabs in Edge and playing our 4K YouTube videos. LatencyMon does not report any increased latencies at that time. At only about 6%, the AMD Radeon RX 6600M isn't really challenged when playing the test video.
Storage Solution
Currently the SSD from Kingston is used relatively often in the mini-PCs from Minisforum. This is also the case in the Minisforum Neptune Series HX99G, with the model also delivering a very good performance. With 512 GB, the model used here doesn't offer a particularly high amount of storage space, and it is also the smallest model the manufacturer offers in its preconfigured systems. However, as a gaming device, there should be at least 1 TB of storage space. Fortunately, you can also expand the storage space easily at a later point using the second M.2 slot. We also want to emphasize the good 4K reading performance here, which noticeably improves the loading of many small files.
You can find additional comparisons and benchmarks in our comparison chart.