Minisforum is well known for its inexpensive ultra-compact and quite capable desktops, but its ambitions do not end there. From time to time the company introduces gaming PCs and this week it introduced its Neptune NH2673 system that features a 10-core CPU and a discrete Intel Arc A730M graphics processor.
The Minisforum Neptune NH2673 is based on Intel's Core i7-12650H processor (6P, 4E, 16T, up to 4.70 GHz, 24 MB, 45W) that is mated with up to 64 GB of DDR4 memory using two SO-DIMM modules and an M.2-2280 SSD with a PCIe 4.0 interface and a capacity of 2TB. For those who need more storage, the NH2673 has a 2.5-inch bay for a higher-capacity drive. To ensure consistently high performance in gaming workloads, the Neptune NH2673 comes with a rather sophisticated cooling system featuring four fans.
One of the PC's main selling points is perhaps its discrete Intel Arc A730M GPU (24 Xe cores, 3072 stream processors, up to 95W) with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory that promises to provide performance that by far outpaces all integrated GPUs that exist today. This graphics processor comes on an MXM board, so it will be possible to upgrade it later, assuming that the new module is compatible with the system. Meanwhile, Minisforum does not directly say that the MXM module is upgradeable and only mentions DRAM and storage upgradeability.
That extra gaming performance and potential upgradeability of the graphics subsystem should justify the dimensions of the system, which seems to be larger than what you typically expect from a Minisforum PC. We are certainly not looking at a tower here, but the Neptune NH2673 is probably comparable to other compact gaming systems, such as Falcon Northwest's Tiki.
When it comes to connectivity, the Neptune NH2673 has everything that one comes to expect from a modern midrange gaming PC, including a Wi-Fi 6E + Bluetooth module, a 2.5 GbE port, three USB 3.2 Type-C ports (see their configurations in the specifications table and the picture), two HDMI outputs, five USB Type-A ports, and audio in/out connectors.
As far as price is concerned, Minisforum's Neptune NH2673 can be obtained for $649 with 16 GB of memory and a 512GB SSD, a configuration with 32 GB of DDR4 and a 1TB drive costs $709, whereas the range-topping model with 64 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage is priced at $799.
