GMKtec EVO-X2 (Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128GB) Mini PC Review

Mini PCs have spent years being defined by what they can't do. The GMKtec EVO-X2 is an attempt to end that conversation: AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ 395 brings 16 cores and 32 threads alongside a 40-core Radeon 8060S integrated GPU, and GMKtec pairs it with up to 128GB of onboard LPDDR5X-8000 that both the CPU and GPU can draw on. That unified memory pool is the headline feature, not the clock speeds — it's what allows GMKtec to talk about running a 70B-parameter model on something that fits on a bookshelf.

The rest of the machine is specified like a small workstation rather than a media box: two M.2 PCIe 4.0 slots totalling up to 16TB, dual 2.5G Ethernet, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, two USB4 ports plus HDMI 2.1 for up to four displays, and Windows 11 Pro preinstalled with Linux listed as supported. A 240W adapter feeds a chip that sits around 120W under sustained load and peaks at 140W, cooled by a triple-fan aluminium chassis with the near-obligatory RGB lighting.

This is a machine for a fairly specific buyer: someone experimenting with local LLMs and AI workloads who wants a large memory pool without building a GPU tower, or a developer, creator or homelab user who values the dual 2.5G networking and quad-display output in a compact footprint. Casual desktop users will be paying for capability they'll never touch.

On the evidence available, the EVO-X2 delivers on its central promise. A 40-CU RDNA 3.5 GPU with access to 128GB of eight-channel LPDDR5X is a genuinely unusual configuration, and it addresses the one thing discrete graphics cards can't easily fix: VRAM capacity. For inference work where model size matters more than raw throughput, that trade is a compelling one, and the 50 TOPS XDNA 2 NPU gives Windows 11 AI features something to lean on.

The caveats are real, though. Onboard memory means your purchase decision is permanent — buy the 128GB configuration now or live with the limit forever, and there's no repair path if a module fails. Power draw of 120W sustained is modest next to a gaming desktop but substantial for a 2-litre chassis, and a review noting temperatures of 85–98°C in Performance mode suggests the triple-fan cooler is working at its limits rather than comfortably within them. The lack of SATA support and reliance on just two NVMe slots is a fair design choice, but worth knowing before you plan storage.

Two further points temper enthusiasm. GMKtec's marketing claim of 2.2× the LM Studio performance of an RTX 4090 is vendor-supplied and specific to one workload type; treat it as a signal about memory capacity advantages rather than a general performance ranking. And we have no verified price to work with, which matters a great deal here — at least one reviewer has called the asking price high. A machine like this lives or dies on its cost relative to a mid-range GPU build, so we're withholding a value judgement rather than guessing.

Rated on capability, configuration and the trade-offs we can verify, this is a strong and unusually ambitious mini PC with clear thermal and upgradeability compromises. Confirm the price against your local alternatives before you commit.