Beelink GTR7 mini-PC Review: A Complete AMD Phoenix Package at 65W
by Ganesh T S on August 24, 2023 8:00 AM ESTSetup Notes and Platform Analysis
Our review sample of the Beelink GTR7 7840HS came with all necessary components pre-installed - including the OS. Prior to setting up the OS on first boot, we took some time to look into the BIOS interface. While the interface is fairly basic (navigable only via keyboard), a lot of options are exposed for end users to play around with. The video below presents an overview of the BIOS interface.
The main screen provides a quick overview of the system configuration with the memory capacity and speed being the most important from a system configuration viewpoint. The BIOS version is also available in this screen. The system is equipped with both firmware and discrete TPMs, with the firmware TPM enabled by default. Various TPM aspects can be configured in the 'Advanced > TPM/DTPM Computing' sub-section. ACPI settings in the same section allows for configuration of hibernation and suspend states.
The UMA Frame buffer size (VRAM) is set to 4GB by default under 'AMD CBS > NBIO Common Options > GFX Configuration', but it can be as high as 16GB (with 32GB of DRAM installed). Other iGPU configurations such as GPU host cache settings can also be configured in this sub-section. Other northbridge options such as audio output paths and PCIe loopback mode can also be configured in this section. AMD CBS also allows configuration of behavior on AC power loss and restoration, and various system management unit options such as thermal and power parameters (sustained power limit, package power tracking, skin-temperature aware power management, etc.). Beelink sets all power numbers under SmartShift control to 65000 (mW) by default. The other configuration sub-sections under AMD CBS also allows control over aspects like CPU virtualization support, resizable BAR, SR-IOV, and PCIe hot-plug support, USB hardware parameters like timeouts, NVMe device tests, UEFI network stack configuration for the I225-V LAN controllers, etc.
USB ports can be selectively locked from 'Chipset > South Bridge > SB USB Configuration'. The 'North Bridge' subsection is informative in nature and provides the size and speed of the memory modules attached. The BIOS password and secure boot state can be modified in the 'Security' section. This section also includes the TCG Pyrite 2.0 configuration for the NVMe SSD (if it is supported by the installed drive). The 'Boot' section allows configuration of the NumLock state during the boot process, and the fast boot setting. The boot order for various boot devices can also be set up. The 'Save & Exit' section allows users to either save and reset, or reset without saving, override all settings with the factory defaults, or save a particular configuration as user defaults. Most importantly, it also includes a boot override that allows the selection of a particular boot device for the next boot alone.
The block diagram below presents the overall high-speed I/O distribution.
Except for the two rear USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-A ports enabled by an ASMedia ASM3142 controller chip (detected as ASM2142 in the kernel), all the other USB ports (including the two USB4 ports denoted as PCIe USB4 Bridge in the diagram above) are natively from the controller hub on the Phoenix die. There are twenty usable PCIe Gen4 lanes, and the break-up is as below:
- PCIe 3.0 x2: ASMedia ASM3142
- PCIe 4.0 x4: M.2 2280 SSD Slot #0
- PCIe 4.0 x4: M.2 2280 SSD Slot #1
- PCIe 2.0 x1: Intel I225-V #0
- PCIe 2.0 x1: Intel I225-V #1
- PCIe 2.0 x1: Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6
While the USB4 ports support PCIe tunneling with full Thunderbolt 3 compatibility (including external GPU enclosures), they do not have support for USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) clients. Those operate at 10 Gbps speeds in both USB4 ports of the GTR7 7840HS.
In today's review, we compare the Beelink GTR7 against a host of other systems configured with similarly high TDPs. Since the GTR7 claims to operate at 65W, we also included the ASRock DeskMeet B660 in the mix - even though it is configured with a 65W budget for the CPU alone, and the discrete GPU having its own envelop.
| Comparative PC Configurations | ||
| Aspect | Beelink GTR7 | |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS Zen 4 (Phoenix) 8C/16T, 3.8 - 5.1 GHz TSMC 4nm, 16MB L3, 35-54W Target TDP : 65W |
AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS Zen 4 (Phoenix) 8C/16T, 3.8 - 5.1 GHz TSMC 4nm, 16MB L3, 35-54W Target TDP : 65W |
| GPU | AMD Radeon 780M (RDNA3 / Phoenix) - Integrated (12 CUs @ 2.7 GHz) |
AMD Radeon 780M (RDNA3 / Phoenix) - Integrated (12 CUs @ 2.7 GHz) |
| RAM | Crucial CT16G56C46S5.M8G1 DDR5-5600 SODIMM 46-45-45-90 @ 5600 MHz 2x16 GB |
Crucial CT16G56C46S5.M8G1 DDR5-5600 SODIMM 46-45-45-90 @ 5600 MHz 2x16 GB |
| Storage | Crucial P3 Plus CT1000P3PSSD8 (1 TB; M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe;) (Micron 176L 3D QLC (N48R); Phison E21T Controller) |
Crucial P3 Plus CT1000P3PSSD8 (1 TB; M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe;) (Micron 176L 3D QLC (N48R); Phison E21T Controller) |
| Wi-Fi | 2x 2.5 GbE RJ-45 (Intel I225-V) Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2x2 802.11ax - 2.4 Gbps) |
2x 2.5 GbE RJ-45 (Intel I225-V) Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2x2 802.11ax - 2.4 Gbps) |
| Price (in USD, when built) | (Street Pricing on Aug 19th, 2023) US $709 (as configured, with OS) |
(Street Pricing on Aug 19th, 2023) US $709 (as configured, with OS) |
Benchmarks were processed afresh on all of the above systems with the latest BIOS for each. The next few sections will deal with comparative benchmarks for the above systems.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
56 Comments
View All Comments
Gm2502 - Friday, August 25, 2023 - link
Games, productivity or anything else the VAST majority of the world does when they don't have to run on a proprietary, non-upgradable glorified mobile phone. This Miniforum is superior in EVERY metric mate, so take your fan boy rubbish elsewhere.darkswordsman17 - Friday, August 25, 2023 - link
"Glorified mobile phone" despite this not being in a phone, and the reason the AMD chip isn't is because its literally incapable of being put in such a form factor due to the power and thermal limits still exceeding what a phone could deal with. And the M2 chip is still competitive enough that its not ridiculous to compare them.There's definitely flaws (and plenty of legitimate criticisms of Apple/Apple product), but anyone acting like there aren't flaws with the PC side is just delusional. Acting like you can't do anything more than run a few proprietary apps on Apple stuff is so ridiculously nonsensical at this point that you really need to look in the mirror. Yes, lemurbutton is ridiculously nonsensical, but going the total opposite direction is just as pointless and biased.
Heck, is no one going to call out the proprietary power connector on this? That alone stopped me from considering this over its competition, and is just absurd in this market space.
Further, Apple could make the Mini even smaller (there is a YouTube where someone does exactly that, I think it ended up roughly 3/5 the size, maybe even smaller) with no real performance loss. That'd put it roughly 1/4 the size of this box. Try putting Phoenix in such and the M2 would probably outperform it.
Gm2502 - Saturday, August 26, 2023 - link
Roflol, so ARM architecture isn't synonymous with mobile technologies? Literally accounts for over 95% of ARM sales, so my statement about it being a glorified mobile phone isn't far off. The M2 Chip is not even close to be competitive, with cpu performance difference from Tomshardware - "The Ryzen 7 7840U was anywhere from 15-71% faster than the M2" and The Ryzen 7 7840U was anywhere from 35 - 180% faster than the M2" in graphics testing. So again, if it wasn't for the stupid propietry OS optimised for the iPhone reject chip, it wouldnt even be a comparison.As for size, again your lying about a mac mini being 1/4 the size. M2 Mini - 197mm x 197mm x 36mm, this GTR7 box is 168mmx120mmx49mm, so cut the crap there. This thing is roughly the same size as the Mac Mini. You complain about design choices, well you literally have hundreds of designs for tens of companies to choose from, each with different hardware (like use a DIN plug is a big deal, but fanboyz have to clutch at straws), all of which can be upgraded and user repaired. Want more RAM or storage on a M2, go buy a new PC.
Want freedom of choice to run any application and game, go windows. If you go apple, pray it works if its not on the very specific optimised for MacOS list, and good thing most games don't run in it becuase the god awful IGPU of the M2 won't be able to produce much more then a slide show, unless I look to double or quadruple the price and look at M2 Pro or ultra equiped M2 machine, which will be roughly 5-10 x the price is this machine...
So again, calling you and your "facts" as fanboyism not grrounded in any reality. Especially stuoid when you comment on a single PC manafacturer design choices knowing full well that PC allows choice across multiple manafacturers while Apple if wholly proprietary. Stupid argument across the board.
Samus - Thursday, August 24, 2023 - link
You can upgrade it to Windows 10 and it'll be solid.mode_13h - Thursday, August 24, 2023 - link
The M2 has 4x P-cores and 4x E-cores. Is that really faster than 8x dual-threaded Zen 4 cores?> has AI inference
Phoenix features AMD's new "Ryzen AI" accelerator. I don't know how they compare, but if you're running Windows or Linux, you'll probably find AMD's solution better supported than Apple's.
I think that's the key. If you *want* to run MacOS, then you'll do better with the M2 mini. If you'd rather run Linux or Windows, then it's really no contest. Recent benchmarks of the M2 running Linux have shown that its Linux support has a long ways to go, before it's remotely competitive.
https://www.phoronix.com/review/apple-m2-zen4-mobi...
dontlistentome - Thursday, August 24, 2023 - link
Have you any concept of how bored we are of these comments about Macs?Qasar - Thursday, August 24, 2023 - link
keep in mind lemurbutton is paid by apple to post how great their products are, while posting no proof or anything.you wouldnt want him to get punished by his apple overlords, would you???
bji - Thursday, August 24, 2023 - link
Do you have proof of that or are you just talking out of your ass?Qasar - Thursday, August 24, 2023 - link
have you seen his other posts ? nothing but pro apple, amd and intel suck and cant compete with m1/m2/m3/ etc on any levelhe mostly talks out of his ass when it comes to apple
PeachNCream - Friday, August 25, 2023 - link
Not a paid shill, I would think, but someone just having fun with the bags of hammers that read Anandtech that fall for trolling every. single. time.Wouldn't you keep that up if you didn't need to change tactics and could "outsmart" your audience while gaining imaginary internet attention to feel good about yourself?