Thermalright plans to enter mini PC market with liquid-cooled AMD Strix Halo systems

Thermalright initially started out by selling competitively-priced air coolers then gradually expanded into other niches. Presently, air coolers are still its main business, but the company also sells AIOs, PC cases and, as showcased at Computex this year, Thermalright is looking to enter the mini PC market with powerful and compact PC systems featuring custom liquid coolers.

The guys over at LinusTechTips (ShortCircuit) and Gamers Nexus got some hands-on time with a few of the upcoming mini PCs at the Thermalright booth. According to Stephen from GN, Thermalright is planning to launch its first mini PCs at competitive prices that are under or matching other existing makers like Minisforum. LTT actually mentions a starting price of ~$2,000 for an AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 configured with 128 GB unified RAM that can allocate 32 GB for the CPU and 96 GB for the Radeon RX 8060S dGPU or vice-versa.

You might think this is not exactly competitive pricing, but keep in mind that Thermalright is adding some unique features. First, the chassis includes some CNC-ed parts like the bottom removable plate from one of the models presented in the LTT video. Second, and most important, these models feature custom liquid coolers that are very compact. Last, but not least, these models integrate a small front display with temperature and other relevant info.

Are these liquid-cooled solution actually efficient in such small form-factors? Well, the model in the LTT video appears to be hitting 89° C when all CPU cores are running at max frequency for a longer time, so it seems quite constrained. Still, that is not bad if TJMax is 95° C and it remains to be seen if the fan noises are reduced compared to normal air cooling solutions. For better airflow and possibly lower temperatures, Thermalight also offers a longer case with a larger liquid cooler. 

There is also an even smaller case presented at the booth, but that might be equipped with lower-tier processors. Other specs we can identify from the LTT video include a Wi-Fi 7 card from MediaTek, dual M.2 slots for SSDs, and the front panel with a full size SD card reader, a USB4 and 2X USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports.

Additionally, Thermalright displayed a prototype mini PC with a unique red/black frame that resembles something straight out of Cyberpunk 2077. It comes with an innovative liquid cooling system on top of a Ryzen 7 8845HS , plus easy to access SSD and SO-DIMM slots for future upgrades. This might not make it to mass production, but things could change if there is enough demand from fans.