Zero刻 SER5 MAX: A Mini PC for Under 1000 Yuan?

Who says big guys have the most wisdom? Mini PCs under 1000 yuan can also be productivity powerhouses!

Welcome to “Kim is Slim”, today we will reviewZero刻 SER5 MAX Mini PC, to see if it can become the gatekeeper of mini PCs in the under 1000 yuan range.

Zero刻 SER5 MAX: A Mini PC for Under 1000 Yuan?

The so-called mini PC is a computer with a very mini size, usually using a mobile processor platform (low voltage or standard voltage). Compared to bulky desktop computers, mini PCs not only have a higher integration but also a better energy efficiency ratio. This lightweight and compact box is usually only 1/40 the size of a desktop computer, yet it hides almost equal intelligence, undoubtedly a space-saving magic on the desktop.

With the active iteration of processors, the performance of mini PCs is becoming increasingly powerful, while prices are becoming more approachable, and the market is further segmented. For example, performance-sensitive users or moderate gamers can choose the Ryzen 7 7735HS or Ryzen 7 7840HS platforms with powerful integrated graphics; while price-sensitive users or light gamers can pay attention to the discounted Ryzen 7 5800H platform.

Today we will experience the small upgrade of the Ryzen 7 5800H mini PC produced by Zero刻, model SER5 MAX, with a new price of 1588 yuan (barebone), a solid configuration in the under 1000 yuan range.

1. Zero刻 SER5 MAX

Zero刻 is a computer brand under Shenzhen Android Micro (AZW), which is a bestseller overseas under the name Beelink. It focuses on the mini PC category, including the flagship GT series, cost-effective SE series, and special-purpose EQ series. The main character of this issue, SER5 MAX, naturally belongs to the cost-effective SE series, where R stands for AMD Ryzen and 5 represents the fifth generation of Ryzen.

In fact, the Zero刻 SER5 MAX is a minor upgrade based on the SER5 Pro, with little change in the body mold. It is still equipped with the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor, but the power consumption has been adjusted to 54W, commonly known as the “SER5 Pro Blood Edition”, which may also be the ultimate form of the R7 5800H in the mini PC field.

For the differences with other popular models, see Kim is Slim’s secret“A Picture to Understand the Zero刻 Universe, the Differences Between SER5 Pro × SER5 MAX × SER6 Pro VEST”, the differences in processors are obvious, and the differences among the three models are mainly reflected in the mold, power consumption, interfaces, and power supply.

Mold:SER5 MAX basically continues the mold of SER5 Pro, the middle frame is still plastic, only the top cover has been updated to the design of SER6 Pro VEST, while SER6 Pro VEST has a metal middle frame.

Power Consumption:SER5 MAX unlocks the processor power consumption to 54W, theoretically outperforming the 45W power consumption of SER5 Pro, while SER6 Pro VEST also adjusts the power consumption to 45W (the Blood Edition 65W SER6 MAX is on the way).

Interfaces:SER5 MAX basically continues the interface of SER5 Pro, no longer providing a dual HDMI version, while SER6 Pro VEST upgrades the USB-C to USB4.0 and upgrades the network port to 2.5G.

Power Supply:SER5 MAX and SER6 Pro VEST both use the new mini power supply of the Zero刻 family, while SER5 Pro still uses the old large power supply (just a large size, not a large power).

Interestingly, both SER5 MAX and SER5 Pro are currently on sale, with barebone prices of 1588 yuan and 1488 yuan respectively. The new model is 100 yuan more expensive, getting a prettier top cover, a lighter yet more powerful power supply, and more powerful processor performance release. Is it worth it? Let’s take a closer look with Kim is Slim.

The sample for this review is the Millennium Gray color, 16GB+1TB (pre-installed Win11), let’s unbox it!

2. Light Unboxing

The Zero刻 SER5 MAX adopts the family’s signature “sleeve + box cover + pure black” packaging design, simple yet mysterious, with the capital letter “5” on the sleeve representing the fifth generation Ryzen mobile processor. To be honest, the packaging box has a temperament that surprisingly matches Batman, as a Batman fan, Kim is Slim looks forward to Zero刻 launching a DC co-branded version.

The inner packaging adopts a commonly seen double-layer structure in the digital field, and taking out the main unit reveals neatly stored accessories, including a white mini power adapter, HDMI cables of different lengths (the short cable is very considerate), wall mount bracket kit, etc. It is worth mentioning that the gray main unit is equipped with a white power supply, the color scheme is basically consistent, and the details are well done.

The Zero刻 SER5 MAX adopts a square box shape, dimensions 126×113×42mm, volume about 0.6L, bare weight about 0.5kg, its size is even comparable to a thin laptop, it is not an exaggeration to say that it can be easily stuffed into a bag for commuting. SER5 MAX uses a minimalist color scheme & material mix, the body is made of ABS plastic, while the side mesh and bottom plate are metal, and the top cover is fabric, presenting an excellent sense of harmony with gentle lines.

The top cover of SER5 MAX has changed significantly, no longer using the mesh cover design of the SER5 series, but adopting the breathable fabric of the SER6 series, providing a more pure visual integrity and a unique touch. It should be noted that the fabric material has waterproof and dustproof properties while maintaining heat dissipation capabilities.

The secret to the minimalist design of the Zero刻 main unit is that the nameplate and labels are hidden at the bottom, further reducing visual interference. The bottom plate of SER5 MAX is made of metal, but there are no wind channel openings. If fully equipped with dual hard drives (M.2 2280 + SATA 2.5″), it may cause some pressure on heat dissipation.

The Zero刻 SER5 MAX is equipped with the new mini power supply of the family, compact yet capable of outputting 100W (19V/5.26A), produced by Huntkey, with global wide voltage input (100V-240V), significantly improved over the 60W power supply standard for SER5 Pro, which is no wonder it can give the R7 5800H a boost.

SER5 MAX continues the interface layout of the Zero刻 SER series, with 4 interfaces on the front side + 5 interfaces on the back side (excluding DC), including:

1 USB-C 3.2Gen2×1 (10Gbps/4K@120Hz)
3 USB-A 3.2Gen2×1 (10Gbps)
1 USB-A 2.0
1 DP1.4 (4K@144Hz)
1 HDMI2.0 (4K@60Hz)
1 GE network port (Realtek RTL8111 scheme)
1 3.5mm audio port (Realtek ALC897 scheme)

Overall, the interface configuration is standard, but the number of USB-C ports is relatively few. However, the three video output ports are very friendly to multi-screen users. It should be noted that the specifications of the three video interfaces are not unified, where the HDMI port only supports 4K@60Hz, which is more suitable for connecting a secondary display.

3. Internal Structure

Although both are based on mobile processor platforms, the design space of mini PCs is far more flexible than that of laptops, especially with fewer restrictions in the cooling area, allowing the processor to achieve more ideal performance release. The Zero刻 SER5 MAX adopts a mainstream dual-layer structure for mini PCs, dividing the internal structure into upper and lower cooling zones with the motherboard as a partition, where the upper layer is for processor cooling and the lower layer is for storage cooling.

Processor Airflow adopts active cooling with air intake from above and exhaust from the back, combined with heat pipes and MSP technology, helping the R7 5800H processor unlock 54W blood performance. Storage Airflow adopts active cooling with air intake and exhaust from the sides, mainly serving the memory, hard disk, and wireless network card.

The disassembly process that the crowd loves to watch is relatively easy. After unscrewing the screws at the four corners of the anti-slip pad, gently pull the exposed rubber handle on the bottom plate to separate the metal bottom plate.

After removing the bottom plate, you can see the fan bracket in the storage area, which also serves as the SATA 2.5″ hard drive bracket. It should be noted that the SATA hard drive storage area coincides with the cold air channel. Oh, you know, it is not recommended to install SATA hard drives, as it will affect the heat dissipation effect in the storage area.

Disassembling the bracket takes a bit of effort. You must first remove the SATA slot, then unscrew several screws to open the entire bracket. Be careful of the power cable between the bracket and the motherboard; just be gentle and it will be fine. Take note, the pink silicone sheet stuck on the heat sink of the bracket must ensure it is in close contact with the main control of the solid-state drive to achieve the best heat dissipation effect. Players who are good with their hands are advised to purchase an additional strip of silicone to completely cover the main control and flash memory.

Let’s wrap up the disassembly here, as the memory, hard drive, and wireless network card are already exposed, allowing for standard upgrade and expansion operations; there is no need to disturb the processor cooling area. It is worth mentioning that the design of Zero刻’s motherboard is quite compact, with a reasonable layout of various components. Wait, where is the wireless network card? Don’t worry, just remove the solid-state drive and you can see it!

4. Hardware Configuration

This review sample is the Zero刻 SER5 MAX, 16GB+1TB standard version, let’s say hello to them!

▼Processor

SER5 MAX is equipped with AMD Ryzen R7 5800H, belonging to the fifth generation of mobile processors, code-named Cezanne, R7 standard voltage specifications, a true flagship cost-effective dessert.

▼CPU

The R7 5800H uses TSMC’s 7nm FinFET process, Zen 3 architecture, 8 cores and 16 threads, base frequency 3.2GHz, single-core boost frequency 4.4GHz, official TDP power consumption of 45W (the Zero刻 SER5 MAX is adjusted to 54W), supporting PCIe3.0. According to the CPU-Z score database, the CPU performance of SER5 MAX is comparable to that of the i7-10700, which is a desktop processor with a TDP of 65W!

▼GPU

The integrated graphics model is Radeon Graphics, using Vega architecture, with 8 compute units and a frequency of 2000MHz. This is also the last generation of Vega architecture in the Ryzen mobile processors; starting from the sixth generation, Ryzen integrated graphics officially transitioned to the RDNA universe.

▼Memory

SER5 MAX comes standard with 8GB×2 dual-channel DDR4, sourced from Crucial DDR4 3200MHz laptop memory, with DRAM using Micron original chips, consisting of 8 chips forming a single 8GB module.

The memory frequency is 3200MHz, with timings of 22-22-22-52. AIDA64 memory benchmark shows read speeds of 47364MB/s, write speeds of 44449MB/s, copy speeds of 41947MB/s, and latency of 78.1ns, meeting performance expectations.

▼Solid-State Drive

SER5 MAX comes standard with a 1TB solid-state drive, sourced from Crucial P3 Plus SSD, using the PCIe4.0 protocol and a no-cache design. The controller is Phison (PHISON) PS5021-E21, and the flash memory is Micron original chips, model MT29F4T08GMLCEJ4-QA:C, belonging to 176-layer QLC flash memory, with a single chip of 4Tb (512Gb×8bit), and two chips forming a single 1TB module.

It should be noted that the R7 5800H only supports PCIe3.0, using PCIe4.0 SSD will impose a small limitation, which can be seen in the CrystalDiskMark transfer mode.

CrystalDiskMark benchmark shows sequential read and write speeds of 3668MB/s and 3222MB/s, and 4K random (Q1T1) read and write speeds of 53MB/s and 175MB/s, truly representing the performance limit of PCIe3.0 SSD.

TxBENCH benchmark is relatively strict, showing sequential read and write speeds of 3533MB/s and 3182MB/s, and 4K random (Q1T1) read and write speeds of 52MB/s and 173MB/s, which is consistent with the results of CrystalDiskMark.

▼Wireless Network Card

SER5 MAX comes standard with Intel AX200NGW wireless network card, supporting WiFi6 and Bluetooth 5.2. The WiFi specification is 802.11ax protocol/160MHz bandwidth/1024QAM modulation/2×2 spatial streams, with a theoretical bandwidth of 2402Mbps on the 5G band and 574Mbps on the 2.4G channel. It should be noted that this network card uses a built-in simple antenna, and the WiFi signal is easily affected by the positioning of the main unit; players who are good with their hands may try upgrading the network card or modifying it to an external antenna.

5. Benchmark Performance

Although computers are not made for benchmarking, scores are the most intuitive way to measure performance, and subsequent tests will be conducted with an external 1080p resolution monitor.

▼鲁大师 (Lu Master)

The overall comprehensive score is close to 950,000, meeting the benchmark score of Zero刻, surpassing 66% of users nationwide, which is considered above average in the computer circle. The processor score is 567,000, ranking high in Lu Master’s laptop processor ladder, equivalent to the score of R7 6800H, which is impressive!

▼Cinebench R23

This is an authoritative CPU benchmark testing software based on the Cinema 4D special effects engine in the film industry, with a single-core score of 1433, ranking second in the old score database, indicating that the single-core performance of Zen 3 architecture is outstanding; the multi-core score is 11283, ranking fourth in the ancient score database, completely meeting your expectations for the performance of an 8-core processor.

▼PCMark10

This is a typical benchmark for productivity testing, with a total score of 6233, and the scores of various sub-projects generally fall within the range of 4800-12900, mainly losing points in digital content creation (i.e., video editing or image processing), with an overall balanced performance.

In the PCMark10 score distribution chart, the benchmark score of Zero刻 SER5 MAX has surpassed 70% of the samples, barely qualifying as a “2020 gaming computer”, definitely a productivity machine.

▼3DMark-Time Spy

This is a DirectX 12 benchmark test with a rendering resolution of 2K, which is somewhat demanding. The total score is 1636, with a graphics score of 1434 and a CPU score of 8110. The integrated Vega graphics struggles at 2K resolution, but SER5 MAX still achieves the best score for the R7 5800H.

In the 3DMark-Time Spy score distribution chart, the total score of Zero刻 SER5 MAX surpasses 3% of the samples, cough, it still does not reach the level of a “gaming laptop”.

▼3DMark-Fire Strike

This is a DirectX 11 benchmark test with a rendering resolution of 1080p, which is relatively less demanding. This time the total score is 4018, with a graphics score of 4435, a physics score of 23381, and a CPU&GPU combined score of 1364. Zero刻 SER5 MAX once again achieved the best score for the R7 5800H, the blood performance is very noticeable.

In gaming scenarios at 1080p resolution, the performance of Zero刻 SER5 MAX shows a slight improvement, with the 3DMark-Fire Strike score distribution chart surpassing 13% of the samples.

▼3DMark-Night Raid

This is a DirectX 12 benchmark test with a rendering resolution of 1080p, designed for integrated graphics. This time the total score is 17468, with a graphics score of 18766 and a CPU score of 12551. Unsurprisingly, Zero刻 SER5 MAX still achieves the best score for the R7 5800H.

As the performance pressure eases, the performance of SER5 MAX continues to rise, surpassing 35% of the samples in the 3DMark-Night Raid score distribution chart, sufficient for handling light-load games.

6. Gaming Performance

Considering the limited integrated graphics capabilities of Zero刻 SER5 MAX, we will only select a game with relatively low performance requirements for testing, typically at 1080p resolution.

▼Memory Settings

As we all know, integrated graphics do not have physical memory but allocate a fixed amount of storage from the RAM as virtual memory. The SER5 MAX has a default memory of 3GB, which basically meets the performance positioning of integrated graphics; users can fine-tune it according to their personal usage habits.

BIOS>Advanced>AMD CBS>NBIO Common Options>GFX Configuration>UMA Frame buffer Size

▼Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege

R6 is a first-person shooter game operated by Ubisoft for many years, which puts relatively less pressure on graphics cards. The official recommended configuration is GTX 670, and the integrated Vega graphics barely meets the standard, so the goal is to achieve 60fps.

In the first round, “Overall Quality = Ultra High”, SER5 MAX basically meets expectations, with an average frame rate of 59fps, and the minimum frame rate is also 45fps, indicating that the highest preset quality barely meets the gameplay requirements.

In the second round, “Overall Quality = Very High”, slightly reducing the load, interestingly, the performance of SER5 MAX is very similar to the previous round, with an average frame rate only improving by 1fps, but the frame rate fluctuation is more moderate.

In the third round, “Overall Quality = High”, continuing to reduce the load, the running smoothness of SER5 MAX further improves, especially the minimum frame rate is close to 60fps, indicating that the preset medium quality can easily meet gameplay requirements.

Summarizing the above test data, playing sweet spot games falls under the preset medium quality (overall quality = high), and as for memory, the BIOS default of 3GB is just right.

7. Video Editing

The most precious thing for content creators is time. When dealing with a large number of images and videos, the speed of loading materials or exporting later will affect the creator’s mood. At this time, a high-performance mini PC may be the most effective salvation.

▼Material Loading

Recently, Kim is Slim used Wondershare Filmora to edit a short video with as many as 40 original materials and a length of 4’35”. On an old computer, whether opening Wondershare Filmora or loading the entire project file, it took half a minute or even more than a minute, severely impacting productivity.

Switching to Zero刻 SER5 MAX, directly opening the wfp project file, from launching Wondershare Filmora to completing material loading, it only took 36 seconds, a significant speedup, instantly boosting productivity.

▼Video Export

Now let’s look at the later export. For the previous video demo, with a resolution of 1080p/frame rate of 30fps/duration of 4’35”, exporting to mp4 format using H.264 encoding at a high bitrate of 10000kbps, the estimated video file is 334MB. Thanks to the balanced performance of the Zero刻 SER5 MAX, the export took 5’13”, just enough time to have a cup of tea.

8. Stress Testing and Power Consumption

Finally, let’s test the operational stability of SER5 MAX and check the performance under different power consumption conditions. The testing environment is the regular indoor air-conditioned temperature, for reference only.

▼Standby Power Consumption

First, let’s look at the idle standby situation, with AIDA64 and HWiNFO64 sensor functions turned on in the foreground, and only Win11 default processes in the background. After a period of inactivity, observe the average value of the sensors.

CPU package power: 4.4W
CPU temperature: 42.7℃
Fan speed: 1810/2163RPM
Hard disk temperature: 38℃

▼CPU Single Stress Test

Continuing from the previous scenario, AIDA64 stress FPU is enabled, running a CPU single stress test for over 43 minutes, observing the current values of the sensors.

CPU package power: 53.8W
CPU temperature: 83.4℃
CPU all-core boost frequency: 3.3GHz
Fan speed: 3902/3230RPM
Hard disk temperature: 44℃

▼GPU Single Stress Test

In the foreground, GPU-Z, HWiNFO64, and AMD Software sensor functions are enabled; in the background, only Win11 default processes are running. FurMark is enabled for GPU stress testing, running GPU single stress test for over 48 minutes, observing the current values of the sensors.

CPU/GPU package power: 41W
CPU/GPU temperature: 75.5℃
GPU frequency: 2000MHz
Memory frequency: 1600MHz
Fan speed: 3649/3096RPM
CPU utilization: 4.7%

▼CPU Single Stress Test (45W)

Restart and enter BIOS, changing the system mode from the default “Performance (54W)” to “Balance (45W)”, exiting the blood mode and returning to the state of SER5 Pro.

BIOS>Advanced>AMD CBS>NBIO Common Options>SMU Common Options>System Mode Configuration

Re-testing the same scenario, AIDA64 stress FPU is enabled, running CPU single stress test for over 16 minutes, observing the current values of the sensors.

CPU package power: 44.9W
CPU temperature: 76.5℃
CPU all-core boost frequency: 3.2GHz
Fan speed: 3649/3013RPM
Hard disk temperature: 43℃

Conclusion

The Zero刻 SER5 MAX is a practical mini PC under 1000 yuan, based on the mature platform of SER5 Pro with minor upgrades. Through internal performance tuning and external power adapter upgrades, it allows the Ryzen R7 5800H to release its performance more thoroughly, thereby re-establishing a cost-effective dessert in the mini PC market, making it very suitable for price-sensitive users or light gamers.

If we talk about regrets, the number of USB-C ports is relatively small, at least one front and one back would be more practical; the front RTC Key is a low-frequency button, and it is recommended to move it to the back; the processor’s heat dissipation performance is not perfect and can still be optimized a bit.

Alright, this lesson ends here. For more cool tech, please stay tuned to“Kim is Slim”!

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