MINISFORUM MS-R1 is an AI mini PC running Debian 12 Linux that’s powered by a CIX P1 (CP8180) 12-core Arm Cortex-A720/A520 processor with up to 45 TOPS of AI performance.
The mini PC supports up to 64GB of soldered-on LPDDR5 memory, M.2 storage, and provides HDMI, USB-C DP, and eDP display interfaces, two 10GbE ports and WiFi 6E, a total of nine USB ports, a PCIe Gen x16 slot for a graphics card, U.2 storage, or networking expansion, a 40-pin internal GPIO header, and more.
MINISFORUM MS-R101 specifications:
- SoC – Cix CP8180 (P1)
- 12-core DynamIQ processor
- 4x Cortex‑A720 big cores @ up to 2.6 GHz
- 4x Cortex‑A720 medium cores
- 4x Cortex‑A520 LITTLE cores
- Cache – 12MB shared L3 cache
- GPU – Arm Immortalis G720 MC10 with hardware ray-tracing support, graphics APIs: Vulkan 1.3, OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 3.0
- VPU
- Video Decoder – Up to 8Kp60 AV1, H.265, H.264, VP9, VP8, H.263, MPEG‑4, MPEG‑2
- Video Encoder – Up to 8Kp30 H.265, H.264, VP9, VP8
- AI accelerator – Up to 28.8 TOPS Neural Processing Unit (NPU) with support for INT4/INT8/INT16, FP16/BF16, and TF32; up to 45 TOPS with CPU+CPU+NPU
- Manufacturing Process – TSMC 6nm
- TDP – 28 Watts
- 12-core DynamIQ processor
- Memory – Up to 64GB LPDDR5 @ 5,500 MHz with LinkECC & Inline ECC support
- Storage
- M.2 2280/22110 NVMe SSD slot (PCIe 4.0 x4)
- M.2 2280 NVMe SSD from M.2 E-Key transfer card
- Bundled adapters for U.2 or extra NVMe
- Video Output
- HDMI 2.0 port up to 4K @ 60Hz
- 2x USB Type-C (Alt DP 1.4) ports up to 4K @ 120Hz
- eDP connector (internal only)
- Audio
- 3.5mm audio output/input jack
- Digital audio via HDMI
- Networking
- 2x 10GbE RJ45 ports via Realtek RTL8127 controllers
- Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 via M.2 2230 E-Key module (RZ616)
- USB
- 3x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A ports
- 2x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port with 100W PD IN, 15W PD OUT, and Alt DisplayPort 1.4 mode
- 4x USB 2.0 Type-A ports
- Expansion (internal only)
- 40-pin GPIO header
- PCIe x16 slot with PCIe Gen4 x8 signalling
- Misc
- Power button
- Power loss switch
- BIOS flash pin and UART1 pins
- UART2 pins
- Cooling system with three copper heat pipes and a turbine fan
- Power Supply
- 19V (180W) via DC jack
- Up to 20V (100W) via USB-C port
- Dimensions – 1.7L
- Weight – TBD
The mini PC ships with Debian 12, but the company tells users to use the provided OS image until drivers are upstreamed. Since the mini PC features a UEFI BIOS, you’d be able to run other operating systems, but drivers will be an issue, especially on Windows.
The CIX CP8180 is almost the same processor as the CD8180 (both are called CIX P1 SoCs) found in SBCs such as the Radxa Orion O6 and Orange Pi 6 Plus. The CD8180 is designed for general computing applications, while the CP8180 is optimized for AI mini PCs, but I’m still confused about the exact differences between the two parts since both are advertised up to 45 TOPS. My early review of the Orion O6 mini-ITX motherboard last March revealed excellent performance compared to other Arm platforms, but there was still some work to do on the software side, and the idle power consumption was really high. Since the review, software support has improved with Arm SystemReady SR certification and improved UEFI/ACPI support. However, users should note MINISFORUM promotes the MS-R1 as an Arm workstation for developers rather than a consumer product. Jeff Geerling has got a sample, and you can watch his 10-minute video review for additional details, and confirmation of the rather high (17W) idle power consumption.
The MINISFORUM MS-R1 Arm Linux AI mini PC can be purchased for $503 with 32GB RAM and no built-in storage. The price goes up to $695.90 in the 64GB RAM/1TB SSD configuration.
Thanks to TLS for the tip.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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