Mofang’s M600 is one of the most competitive Ryzen mini PCs available, capable of being equipped with the Ryzen 9 7940HS processor, supporting up to three hard drives and featuring USB4, HDMI, and DP video output interfaces. Whether under load or during gaming, noise levels are consistently suppressed to below 40 decibels, making it the quietest high-performance mini PC I have ever tested.

Mofang M600

Now, Mofang has launched a new product called the S500+, which is essentially a slimmed-down version of the M600. The most significant change compared to its predecessor is the use of onboard memory, with a smaller built-in fan, resulting in a thinner body while retaining the powerful expansion capability of three hard drive slots.

So, is the successfully slimmed-down Mofang S500+ worth our anticipation? In this article, we will explore the actual experience of this mini PC.

Continuing the Classic with Successful Slimming

The packaging of the Mofang S500+ remains consistently black and minimalist, with a gold mini PC logo on the front and manufacturer information along with basic model specifications on the bottom and side. The mini PC inside is tightly wrapped in sponge foam, ensuring it withstands any bumps during logistics.

In addition to the mini PC, the box also includes a power adapter, 2.5-inch hard drive cables/power cables, an HDMI video cable, a wall mount bracket, screws, and a warranty card.

The power adapter is from HANGJIA, with a power output of 120W and a weight of about 273g, making it very lightweight.

The weight of the Mofang S500+ is 637g when installing one SSD.

Compared to predecessors like the M600 and S600, the thickness of the S500+ has been reduced from 50mm to 40mm, and the overall volume has decreased from 1L to 0.86L, making it appear significantly smaller. However, since the length and width remain unchanged at 149×145mm, the footprint remains the same.

This product still features a full metal integrated chassis, with a matte finish that provides a rich metallic feel and good anti-slip properties, giving it a very high-end visual effect.

The top cover is still an acrylic glossy panel with a woven texture inside, featuring Mofang’s white logo in the middle, which is quite aesthetically pleasing. The factory cover is protected by a film; if you’re worried about scratches on the acrylic gloss panel, you don’t need to remove this film.

The bottom cover of the mini PC is also made of metal, with ventilation holes corresponding to the fan location and screw holes for fixing the wall mount bracket. With the included wall mount bracket, it can be mounted on a VESA-compatible monitor, further saving desktop space.

The interface layout of the Mofang S500+ is the same as its predecessors, with the front panel providing USB4, USB3.2 Gen2, USB2.0, and a power switch.

The back of the chassis provides a power socket, two USB2.0 ports, two USB-A3.2 Gen2 ports, HDMI2.1, DP1.4, two network ports (2.5G+Gigabit), and an audio interface. The mini PC has ventilation holes on the left, right, back, and bottom, with the right side being the exhaust and the other three sides being the intake.

The front USB4 port is fully functional, capable of using a 100W or higher GaN charger to power the mini PC. This port can also connect to portable screens, handling video output and powering the display simultaneously. If you find the performance of the Radeon 780M integrated graphics insufficient, you can connect an external graphics card dock to further enhance 3D performance.

Using USB4 to connect to a portable screen

Using USB4 for power supply

Onboard Memory, Worry-Free Expansion

The disassembly method of the Mofang S500+ is the same as its predecessors, with the top cover secured by two screws on the back. After unscrewing, the cover can be easily opened, but be careful with the antenna fixed inside the top cover to avoid breaking it.

In the upper half of the mini PC, there is one 2280 M.2 hard drive slot, with the standard hard drive being the Inland P3 Plus, which has been tested to achieve sequential read and write speeds of 4800MB/s and 4100MB/s, respectively, making it a mid-range PCIe 4.0 SSD. Next to the hard drive is the MediaTek MT7921 wireless card, supporting Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2.

Compared to predecessors like the M600, the Mofang S500+ has eliminated the memory slot design in the upper half, making the motherboard appear very spacious.

Inside the top cover, there is a metal bracket for securing a 2.5-inch hard drive, allowing users to easily purchase and install SATA interface mechanical or solid-state drives using the cables provided in the packaging.

The bottom cover of this product is secured by screws hidden under four foot pads. After removing the bottom cover, you can see the cooling module and a second M.2 hard drive slot next to the fan. With the two hard drive slots in the upper part, the Mofang S500+ can still support the installation of three hard drives simultaneously, which is a rare configuration among mini PCs of the same size.

The onboard memory chips are obscured by the fan, and the performance tested is shown in the image, with decent read and write speeds and slightly higher latency.

In my opinion, since the Mofang S500+ has slimmed down by using onboard memory, simplifying the layout of the upper half of the motherboard, it would be better if the M.2 hard drive slot located at the bottom of the chassis could be moved to the top for easier user access in the future. Currently, every time you replace the hard drive inside the bottom cover, you need to remove the foot pads, and over time, the adhesive decreases, leading to the potential for foot pads to fall off and get lost.

Performance Testing and Noise Levels

Before performance testing, let’s take a look at the power release of the Mofang S500+. At room temperature of 25 degrees, running the AIDA64 FPU stress test, the initial CPU power can reach 47W, quickly dropping to between 32W and 34W. At this point, the frequency is 3.5GHz, and the temperature remains at around 85 degrees.

During dual-stress testing, the overall CPU power can rise above 43W (with peak power reaching 50W), while the temperature remains around 85 degrees, and the CPU frequency drops to 1.4GHz, with the GPU core frequency around 2180MHz.

During dual-stress testing, the noise level near the Mofang S500+ is below 45 decibels, while the noise level on the user side can be suppressed to below 39 decibels, which is quite quiet. The monitored overall power consumption at the socket peaks close to 90W, fluctuating between 80W and 85W afterward.

Due to the thinner chassis, the cooling module has been reduced, so the Mofang S500+ operates with relatively conservative power release settings, which benefits users by providing a quieter usage environment.

So, what is the performance level of the Mofang S500+?

To summarize the configuration of the Mofang S500+, it is equipped with the AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS processor, standard 16GB LPDDR5X-6400 onboard memory, and a 512GB PCIe 4.0 SSD.

In the benchmarking software, the Mofang S500+ scored 1.2 million, surpassing 75% of computer users nationwide.

In PCMark10, this mini PC achieved an impressive score of 7365.

In comparison with other common mobile processors, even though the Mofang S500+ only releases less than 35W of power during single-core testing, its multi-core performance still surpasses the 13th generation Core i5-13500H, placing it on par with the Core Ultra 5 125H. However, its single-core performance still lags significantly, and AMD’s revival in single-core performance will depend on the future upgrade to the Zen 5 micro-architecture platform.

In 3DMark graphics testing, with the support of LPDDR5X-6400 high-frequency memory, the Mofang S500+ outperformed the 13th generation Core integrated Iris Xe, but did not match the integrated Iris Xe from Core Ultra. However, the Core Ultra integrated graphics may have higher benchmark scores, but the actual gaming experience is still better optimized with the Ryzen integrated graphics.

In the gaming test segment, in League of Legends at 2K resolution with maximum graphics settings, the Mofang S500+ achieved an average frame rate of 132FPS, with a maximum of 189FPS and a minimum of 88FPS, providing a very smooth experience.

In AAA game testing at 1080P resolution, Far Cry New Dawn achieved an average frame rate of 45FPS at low settings.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey achieved an average frame rate of 55FPS at low settings.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla achieved an average frame rate of 57FPS at low settings.

Tomb Raider: Shadow achieved an average frame rate of 54FPS at low settings.

Horizon Zero Dawn achieved an average frame rate of 51FPS under performance priority settings.

Cyberpunk 2077 achieved an average frame rate of 47FPS at low settings, which is a decent performance for an integrated graphics platform.

A More Competitive Ryzen Mini PC

Although the Ryzen 7 8845HS processor has already entered production, its specifications and performance are almost identical to the previous 7840HS, so as long as machines equipped with the older processor are affordable, the value of purchasing them is actually higher. Take the Mofang S500+ as an example; its quasi-system price is 2499 yuan, which seems a bit expensive. However, don’t forget that it comes with onboard 16GB of memory for free, so excluding the cost of memory, the actual price is less than 2300 yuan, making it one of the cheapest batches of 7840HS mini PCs.

This product also has considerable competitiveness, with the Ryzen 7 7840HS processor ensuring performance, while the 6400MHz high-frequency memory unlocks stronger gaming potential. The inclusion of one fully functional USB4 port, two network ports, and three hard drive slots are also significant advantages. Recently, Mofang has also launched the S500+ version with the Ryzen 7 7735HS, which, with an upgrade to 32GB of memory, has a quasi-system price of 2399 yuan. Considering that the 7840HS version often goes out of stock, interested individuals may want to pay attention to this product as well.

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