EYERTEC AD650I Mini-ITX “Intel Core i7-12650H” Motherboard Evaluation

The world of Mini PCs is evolving quickly with new and improved {hardware} from all tech distributors accelerating efficiency and progressive designs. In the present day, we can be testing a current entrant within the Mini PC section, the EYERTEC AD650I which is a DIY Mini-ITX motherboard that comes geared up with Intel’s Alder Lake-H CPUs. These CPUs had been initially designed for the mobility platforms nevertheless it seems to be like Mini PC distributors are actually repurposing them for DIY builders.

A purpose for the transfer from cell to desktop-oriented DIY motherboards occurs to be the environment friendly nature of those chips which make excellent sense for SFF, HTPC & NAS builds. Additionally, not having to cope with increased TDP variants and their increased cooling/energy necessities advantages these Mini-ITX designs.

Speaking about Mini PCs, EYERTEC is a model that you just might need not heard about previously. That’s as a result of the corporate is comparatively new and the AD650I Motherboard is its first product.

However you will have heard of a special firm that’s well-known inside the Mini PC area and that is Minisforum. What’s Minisforum acquired to do with EYERTEC? Effectively EYERTEC is Minisforum’s sub-brand which is aiming to develop DIY motherboards and options such because the AD650I. In truth, the model is effectively on its method to providing much more highly effective Phoenix, Raptor Lake, Dragon Vary, and Meteor Lake CPU-powered options within the coming months.

EYERTEC AD650I Mini-ITX Motherboard – Specs At A Look

The EYERTEC AD650I Mini-ITX motherboard at the moment comes within the barebone version which packs the Intel Core i7-12650H CPU (the one CPU choice you’ll be able to choose), the Mini-ITX motherboard, and the cooling answer. All of that is pre-installed and the entire bundle is listed for a value of $359 US.

When it comes to CPU specs, the Intel Core i7-12650H is available in a 10-core configuration which relies on a 6 P-Core and 4 E-Core format. The CPU encompasses a complete of 16 threads and 24 MB of L3 cache. When it comes to clock speeds, you rise up to 4.7 GHz clocks for the P-Cores and three.5 GHz clocks for the E-Cores. The CPU is rated at a default TDP of 45W.

The EYERTEC AD650I Mini-ITX motherboards lack a devoted PCIe slot for GPU which signifies that the one graphics supply could be the Intel UHD built-in graphics with 64 Execution Models. The GPU does supply help for 4K 60Hz over HDMI, and 8K 60Hz over DP together with DX12.1 OpenGL 4.6 & OpenCL 3.0 help however may be a lackluster chip for gaming contemplating how far AMD has include its new RDNA iGPUs.

Different specs embrace two DDR4 SO-DIMM slots which might help as much as 64 GB reminiscence capacities. Moreover, there are a complete of 6 M.2 slots together with one devoted WIFI M.2 slot. Now you realize that Intel Alder Lake-H CPUs include a complete of 28 PCIe lanes that are break up into 16 PCIe 4.0 and 12 PCIe 3.0 lanes. The chips supply two devoted PCIe Gen 4.0 lanes for NVMe M.2 units however since there isn’t any dGPU or mGPU onboard the AD650I, you additionally get entry to the extra PCIe Gen 3.0 lanes for SSDs. The remainder of the three M.2 slots additionally run over the PCIe Gen 3.0 lanes. The primary three slots are situated on the entrance of an MXM enlargement card whereas the remainder of the three slots are on the bottom of the motherboard.

I/O on the EYERTEC AD650I motherboard consists of 2 HDMI, 1 USB4, 1 2.5 GbE Ethernet Port, 2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Sort-A ports, 2 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Sort-A ports, a Clear CMOS swap and a DC19V plug. The requires the 9V9.47A 180W DC Adapter besides. There are additionally two SATA III connectors & the board has a 4-pin Molex port to energy two HDDs and comes with the cable too.

EYERTEC AD650I Mini-ITX Motherboard – Unboxing & A Nearer Look

The EYERTECH AD650I Mini-ITX motherboard is available in a properly packaged field with a purple and black shade theme.

The again of the field lists some options together with the complete specs of the motherboard that can give customers an thought earlier than buying the product.

The bundle features a handbook, the Molex to SATA cable, the IO Protect, a single SATA cable, and a four-screw mounting set. The motherboard is filled with anti-static wrapping.

The EYERTEC AD650I motherboard is unquestionably a singular Mini-ITX product that comes with a really eye-catching cooling design.

The AD650I measures 170x170x1.6mm. It is an ideal sq. and conforms to the Mini-ITX commonplace which signifies that it may be housed inside any commonplace PC chassis with out compatibility worries. It additionally comes with a low-profile cooling answer which you may as well use in a passive-cooled heatsink by merely eradicating the top-fan.

The heatsink on the EYERTEC AD650I is split into two elements. The principle block covers the CPU whereas the secondary block covers the MXM slot which homes the three M.2 slots.

The Intel Core i7-12650H CPU comes within the BGA kind issue which signifies that there isn’t any socket on the motherboard and the CPU is completely etched to the board.

You’ll find two DDR4 SO-DIMM slots that may help as much as 64 GB capacities with as much as 3200 MT/s speeds. We went with Essential DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM 32 GB reminiscence for our take a look at config.

You’ll be able to see that the MXX enlargement port is situated proper subsequent to the CPU heatsink. This heatsink additionally comes with aluminum fins and has a pleasant and glossy EYERTEC emblem on high of it. It will be actually fascinating when you had been to interchange the SSD MXM enlargement slot with an MXM dGPU because the Gen 3.0/4.0 lanes are already there however the cooler is probably not an ideal match to that. We do have the RTX 3070 Max-Q MXM board from our Minisforum NUCX17 mendacity round so we would give it a strive.

This MXM enlargement card has three M.2 Gen 3.0 SSD slots which make up for a complete of six slots on the motherboard itself making for a disruptive storage answer in a small kind issue.

The again I/O of the EYERTEC AD650I Mini-ITX motherboard consists of 2 HDMI, 1 USB4, 1 2.5 GbE Ethernet Port, 2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Sort-A ports, 2 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Sort-A ports, a Clear CMOS swap and a DC19V plug. The requires the 9V9.47A 180W DC Adapter besides.

The entire cooling answer together with the motherboard is simply as broad as a dual-slot graphics card.

On the again, yow will discover three M.2 PCIe 3.0 slots that are situated beneath a really slim steel heatsink. This heatsink comes with thermal adhesive and it ought to do a ok job because the Gen 3.0 speeds do not run as sizzling as newer Gen 4 or Gen 5 SSDs.

The Intel Core i7-12650H CPU will be seen splattered with a lot of thermal goo. The motherboard comes with a 4+2+1 part VRM energy supply and the CPU is ready to a default 45W mode.

Wanting intently on the CPU cooler, we see a 92mm fan with 9-fan blades and an ordinary BGA socket format that helps the Alder Lake-H chips. The heatsink has a number of aluminum fins together with three copper nickel-plated copper warmth pipes. The entire nickel-plated design for the cooler seems to be nice and it ought to carry out higher than commonplace heatsinks.

There are two SATA III ports on the motherboard and a 4-pin Molex connector gives two SATA energy connectors for these. There are additionally two extra 4-pin fan headers and entrance panel USB2/3.2 ports.

Lastly, now we have the M.2 WIFI Key-E slot with which you’ll be able to choose your alternative of networking answer within the 2230 kind issue.

EYERTEC AD650I Mini-ITX Motherboard – CPU System Efficiency

For efficiency testing, we used the 54W and 65W energy profiles for the AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS APU when testing the Beelink SER7 Mini PC.

EYERTEC AD650I Mini-ITX Motherboard – 1080P GPU Gaming Efficiency

For gaming, we examined a few the most recent and most performed esports titles together with a mixture of AAA titles at 1080p decision. The efficiency was measured between the AMD Radeon 780, Radeon 680M, AMD Vega 8, Vega 7, Vega 6, and Intel Iris Xe-LP built-in graphics.

EYERTEC AD650I Mini-ITX Motherboard – Thermals & Energy Consumption

Following are the facility and thermal numbers of the EYERTEC AD650i utilizing the default 45W energy mode.

As for thermals, the EYERTEC AD650I ran round 62C when operating at load below the fan, and in passive mode, we noticed temperatures hover round 84C.

Conclusion – A Mini Storage Powerhouse

Taking a look at EYERTEC’s first providing, the corporate has a singular product on its palms and we could not be extra excited for what they convey out sooner or later. The Core i7-12650H is a strong CPU for single & multi-threaded duties, providing nice effectivity and whereas the iGPU facet is a bit lackluster, we hope to see extra variants sooner or later, particularly AMD choices that pack extra GPU efficiency. There’s additionally a less expensive Core i5-12400H variant on the way in which however when it comes to pricing, the barebone of the Core i7-12650H prices $359.99 US.

If you wish to go the complete DIY route, then an analogous configuration will be discovered for round $320 US for the CPU and motherboard alone. You’ll find the Core i5-13400F with 10 cores for $207.99 US & an H610 Mini-ITX motherboard for round $110 US. However the primary difficulty is that you may be caught with both 1 or 2 M.2 slots at max and will not get USB4 help both that are two important promoting factors of the AD650I. In truth, the six M.2 slots are the very best ever in a Mini-ITX motherboard and make for an fascinating HTPC and NAS construct in an SFF ecosystem.

My difficulty with the product is that there isn’t any devoted PCIe slot which occurs to stem from the truth that the MXM enlargement card takes up a whole lot of area. The MXM board can theoretically equip an MXM dGPU however we should strive that out for ourselves to verify if that is a risk. Aside from that, I’ve a minor difficulty with the entire MXM enlargement card heatsink which was barely troublesome to take away however all slots have a heatsink connected to them and that moreover comes with thermal adhesive. For $359.99 US, I feel this can be a nice SFF combo from EYERTEC and as soon as once more, I can not wait to see extra fascinating Mini-ITX designs from them.