Minisforum Launches MS-A2 Mini Desktop Server with AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX

Minisforum is known for making powerful mini PCs, like the Core Ultra 9 285H-powered M1 Pro we recently reviewed, and the latest entry into the company’s line-up is the MS-A2, an upgrade to 2024’s MS-A1. The new mini workstation is marketed as a small form factor desktop server for programming, business, and home lab use cases, and it seems to have the specs to back that up. The whole package measures just 196×189×48 mm, or 1.78 L, making it seriously compact. Official US pricing for the MS-A2 with the Ryzen 9 9955HX starts at $799 with no RAM or storage or $1,199 with 32 GB RAM and a 1 TB SSD. The mini PC with 96 GB of RAM and 2 a 2 TB SSD costs $1,919 on the Minisforum store.

The MS-A2 uses AMD’s Ryzen 9 9955HX mobile CPU—with a claimed 100 W turbo TDP—paired with up to 96 GB of DDR5-5600 memory and up to three PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, for up to 12 TB total capacity, as well as support for U.2 NVMe 22110 drives, bringing total storage capacity up to 23 TB. Networking is also impressive, thanks to dual 10 Gb SFP+ ports and dual 2.5 Gb Ethernet ports. The MS-A2 also sports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless connectivity, and it has more than enough ports for proper workstation use. The front of the mini PC has dual USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a USB 2.0 port, and a 3.5 mm audio combo jack, while the back has 2× USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports with DisplayPort 2.0 Alt mode support, 1× HDMI 2.1, 2× 2.5 Gb RJ45 ports, 2× 10 Gb SFP+ ports, 1× USB 3.1 Gen 2, and 1× USB 3.1 Gen 1 port. The Ryzen 9 9955HX has a pretty weak Radeon 610M iGPU, which will get the job done for most productivity tasks, but the MS-A2 also has a built-in full-length PCIe 4.0 ×8 slot for GPU or IO upgrades, and that slot supports can be split into two PCIe ×4 connections.