Minisforum AtomMan G1 Pro GBAtemp review

In the midst of the RAMaggedon and the corresponding price hikes brought about by the AI gold rush, you might not be considering a new desktop PC any time soon. However, mini PC manufacturer Minisforum aims to convince you with a mini gaming PC that packs a discrete desktop-class GPU. Let's see what the Minisforum AtomMan G1 Pro has to offer!

Minisforum AtomMan G1 Pro contents and specs

The official Minisforum product page for the AtomMan G1 Pro allows you to customise your rig to a certain degree by choosing GPUs between the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 and the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT. This determines the pricing, with the RTX 5060 costing £1,559 and the RX 9060 XT costing £1,599, at the time of writing.

The model under review is the RTX 5060 and comes with the following items:

Mini or midi PC?

Minisforum’s PC catalogue is currently split between “mini PCs” and “mini workstation series”. Notice the recurring “mini”, even in the company's name; after all, Minisforum has styled itself as a mini PC-focused company. However, with the AtomMan G1 Pro, this categorisation might be a bit loose. The product stands at 315mm, making it look more like a smaller (midi?) PC tower or console than a typical “boxy” mini PC.

In fact, the AtomMan G1 Pro looks suspiciously like a current-gen console, going by the name of the PlayStation 5. The colour scheme, vertical orientation (unlike the common horizontal mini PC setups) and inclusion of a base plate are clearly inspired (to say the least) by Sony’s console. However, it does not pack the latter’s awkward “collar”, making the AtomMan look sleeker than the PS5. Another aesthetic difference is that the G1 Pro also integrates minimal and customisable RGB lighting.

While I am not exactly a fan of the uninspired design, I am a fan of the build quality. The AtomMan G1 Pro is sturdily built and well designed with integrated ventilation shafts on the side panel. The included baseplate ensures that it stays upright, even if it encounters occasional accidental knocks, such as when plugging in cables/accessories. It is also impressive that Minisforum crammed desktop-level specs into a slim midi tower that weighs only 3.81kg.

The front-facing part provides access to USB ports, a headphone jack and the power button. The rest of the ports are located at the rear of the tower. There is a decent amount of input options, from USB-C to DP/HDMI, to cater for multiple displays and control setups.

In terms of accessories accompanying the package, Minisforum included a handy HDMI cable. However, a DP cable feels amiss here for the higher refresh rate its connection allows, especially for a PC that is marketed for gaming purposes.

AtomMan G1 Pro performance

With the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 under the hood, the AtomMan G1 Pro is a very capable machine. While it has been about 1.5 years since this GPU’s debut, it still delivers very decent performance. The system can support up to 245W power output, with the GPU sustaining 145W and the CPU 100W, making the G1 Pro achieve performance comparable to dedicated gaming laptops. It also features a built-in 350W PSU for steady performance. GeekBench 7 CPU benchmarks show a 2399 Single-Core Score and 14289 Multi-Core Score, and the GPU benchmark achieves 126150 OpenCL Score.

This compact PC handled the latest games I threw at it very well. At 2K resolution and with custom graphics settings (a mix of high, medium and low), Control Resonant plays at 65-75fps, The Blood of Dawnwalker at a smooth 80-90 fps, while Frosthaven runs at 90-95fps. Switching to 1080p delivers higher performance, with the games listed running at an average of 100 fps, 100 fps and 125fps, respectively. None of these experienced audiovisual glitches or slowdowns, indicating reliably steady performance from the G1 Pro. The performance might vary based on your setup, but I would say up to 2K delivers very good performance with impressive visual fidelity.

Gaming performance at 2K resolution

Gaming performance at 1080p resolution​

Don’t let its form factor deceive you, but the G1 Pro is also VR-ready. I tried titles such as Half-Life: Alyx and Ruinsmagus via the new Pimax Dream Air SE and did not encounter any issues. The games ran flawlessly, without any nausea-inducing framerate drops.

Of course, you can use this workstation as your daily driver. With support for up to 96GB of DDR5 Memory, expandable storage via dual M.2 slots (up to 8TB), and a 5Gb Ethernet port and Wi-Fi 7 support, you can safely use the G1 Pro as your work and play device. These options ensure you can store all of your games and work projects as well as support smooth multitasking. Minisforum includes a control centre in the system. It allows users to switch between Beast, Gaming, and Office mode based on their performance needs, customise the RGB lighting, monitor performance and manage the fan. It delivers swift performance for general productivity tasks, from web browsing and document editing to Photoshop and video editing.

Whether it is for gaming or productivity, Minisforum designed the AtomMan G1 Pro to remain cool and silent (relatively speaking). This is supported by its 3rd-Gen Glacier Cooling System, which enables a total system power dissipation of 300W. This is significant, helping keep the device from getting excessively hot. The 3600 RPM fans that are part of this system do not get excessively loud either, reducing distraction and noise pollution in the user’s setup.

Minisforum AtomMan G1 Pro: a compact all-rounder gaming PC

The Minisforum AtomMan G1 Pro sits among the higher end of the price spectrum, costing more than the Steam Machine’s starting price of £879 and more than handheld gaming PCs or other mini PCs. This will likely limit its adoption, but the pricing is indicative of the rising costs for powerful hardware; you can always find cheaper second-hand PCs or build your own one for less. But if you do decide to invest in one, then you will find in the AtomMan G1 Pro a very powerful PC that offers fluid AAA and VR gaming in a small form factor.

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