MINISFORUM Desk Mini Ryzen 9 7940HS Review – Best Compact AI Mini PC Under £400Review Mini PC · March 2026
Expert Review · MINISFORUM DeskMini
The Minisforum UM790 Pro (AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS) is the best overall mini PC in 2026. Sustained Cinebench R23 multi-core: ~13,800pts over 30 minutes — it barely throttles under load. The Radeon 780M iGPU handles 1080p gaming above 40fps in demanding titles. UK price: ~£350–380. It is the top recommendation for developers, creators, and power users.
MINISFORUM DeskMini Ryzen 9 7940HS Review – Best Compact AI Mini PC Under £400
The MINISFORUM DeskMini with Ryzen 9 7940HS delivers exceptional performance in a compact form factor, combining Zen 4 CPU power, Radeon 780M graphics, and integrated Ryzen AI acceleration. It stands out as one of the best mini PCs for AI workloads, development environments, and high-performance multitasking in small workspaces. While it lacks a dedicated GPU, its USB4 support enables future expansion via eGPU, making it a highly scalable compact workstation.
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Table of Contents
- First Impressions
- Full Specs at a Glance
- Performance — How Fast Is It Really?
- Ryzen AI — What the NPU Actually Does
- Cold Wave 2.0 Cooling System
- Ports & Connectivity
- Who Should Buy This?
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Final Verdict
First Impressions — Small Box, Serious Ambitions
When the Minisforum UM790 Pro landed on my desk, my first thought was simple: there is no way something this small runs a proper Ryzen 9 chip. I was wrong. Dead wrong.
The Minisforum Venus UM790 Pro is a mini PC built around the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS — the same processor you find inside gaming laptops that cost twice as much. Minisforum has squeezed it into a palm-sized metal box, kept the noise down, added a dedicated AI processing unit, and topped it off with a port selection that makes most desktop towers look lazy.
But is it actually worth your money? Let’s find out.
Starting price: £319 (Barebone — no RAM, SSD, or OS)
The barebone gives you the chassis, CPU, cooling, and all connectivity — but no RAM, SSD, or operating system. You supply those yourself, which keeps the entry cost low and lets you spec only what you actually need. Ready-to-run bundles with 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD start around £659.
Minisforum UM790 Pro Mini PC — Full Specs at a Glance
| Component | Detail |
|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS — 8 cores, 16 threads, up to 5.2GHz (Zen 4) |
| Process Node | TSMC 4nm |
| AI Processor | AMD Ryzen AI NPU (integrated) |
| Integrated GPU | AMD Radeon 780M — 12 RDNA3 CUs at 2.8GHz |
| RAM Support | DDR5 5600 SODIMM dual-channel, up to 64GB |
| Storage | 2× M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 slots (RAID 0/1 supported) |
| USB Ports | 4× USB 3.2 Type-A + 2× USB4 (40Gbps, full-function) |
| Display Output | 2× HDMI 2.1 + 2× USB4 — up to 4 screens at 4K |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi 6E (2.4Gbps) + Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Cooling | Cold Wave 2.0 — liquid metal TIM + active SSD & RAM cooling |
| Power Delivery | USB4 PD-IN (65W min) & PD-OUT (15W max) |
| OS | None included (barebone) |
Performance — How Fast Is the Minisforum UM790 Pro Really?
Everyday Use and Productivity
For day-to-day tasks — browser tabs, video calls, spreadsheets, document editing — the UM790 Pro feels instant. The Ryzen 9 7940HS handles multitasking with the kind of calm confidence you normally associate with machines three times this size.
Running 30 Chrome tabs alongside a 4K stream and a Teams call? It doesn’t blink. The 8-core, 16-thread Zen 4 setup on a 4nm process node gives this machine significantly more headroom than older Ryzen 5000-series mini PCs — or anything running an Intel N-series chip at a similar price.
Gaming on the Radeon 780M
The AMD Radeon 780M is the most capable integrated GPU you can get in this form factor right now. At 1080p with medium settings, titles like CS2, Fortnite, and League of Legends run comfortably. Do not expect ultra settings in Cyberpunk 2077, but for casual and competitive gaming this iGPU genuinely surprises.
Performance Tip The Radeon 780M is sensitive to memory speed. Pairing it with fast DDR5 5600MHz RAM makes a noticeable difference in frame rates — do not go budget on RAM if gaming matters to you.
Content Creation and Video Editing
4K video editing in DaVinci Resolve is genuinely workable at this price point. Exports take longer than a dedicated GPU workstation, but for a machine that fits under your monitor, the results are impressive. The two PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots mean storage speed will not become a bottleneck during large file transfers or render caching.
Ryzen AI — What the NPU Actually Does for You
This is the detail that separates the UM790 Pro from earlier mini PCs, and most reviews gloss over it. The Ryzen 9 7940HS includes AMD’s dedicated AI NPU — a separate processor built specifically for AI inference tasks that runs completely independently from the CPU and GPU.
Real-World AI Applications
The NPU handles things like AI background removal in video calls, real-time noise cancellation, AI-upscaled video playback, and local inference with smaller language models — without touching the CPU or GPU. That means your other workloads keep running at full speed while AI features run quietly in the background.
For developers experimenting with local LLMs, running a quantised 7B parameter model is entirely feasible on this hardware. Larger models will push against the 64GB RAM ceiling, but for most practical AI development and inference tasks, this machine handles things cleanly and without drama.
Important Limitation No CUDA support here — this runs AMD hardware only. If your workflow depends on NVIDIA-specific tools like CUDA-accelerated PyTorch or certain ML frameworks requiring an NVIDIA GPU, this is not the right machine. ROCm support for AMD is growing, but it is not yet at parity with CUDA.
Cold Wave 2.0 — Does the Cooling Actually Hold Up?
Cooling is always the question mark with mini PCs. Small chassis, powerful chips — something has to give. Minisforum’s answer is Cold Wave 2.0, and it is one of the more thoughtful thermal solutions in this whole product category.
Liquid Metal Thermal Interface
Instead of standard thermal paste, the UM790 Pro uses liquid metal TIM between the CPU die and heatsink. Liquid metal conducts heat dramatically better than paste, which keeps the chip cooler under sustained loads and lets it hold boost clocks for longer without thermal throttling.
Active Memory and SSD Cooling
Most rivals skip this entirely. The UM790 Pro includes active cooling for both RAM modules and the SSD — small heatsinks plus directed airflow. Hot memory and a throttling SSD are silent performance killers under sustained load. Minisforum has addressed both directly.
The all-metal chassis also acts as a secondary heat spreader. Under heavy loads — encoding, gaming sessions, compiling large codebases — the unit gets warm to the touch but never uncomfortable, and fan noise stays at a level that disappears in a normal room environment.
Ports & Connectivity — Where the Minisforum Venus UM790 Pro Truly Shines
This is one of the best port selections on any mini PC at any price. Minisforum has not cut corners here.
USB4 at Full 40Gbps — Both Ports Are Completely Functional
Both USB4 ports run at full 40Gbps, support power delivery in and out, carry DisplayPort signal, and work with Thunderbolt 4 peripherals. You can connect an eGPU enclosure, an ultra-fast NVMe enclosure, or a dock that consolidates every cable on your desk into a single connection.
The eGPU upgrade path is a smart long-term play. Buy barebone today, add an external GPU via USB4 if your GPU needs grow — without replacing the whole machine.
Four-Screen Output at 4K
The combination of 2× HDMI 2.1 and 2× USB4 with DisplayPort Alt Mode gives you four monitors at once, all at 4K resolution. For something this small, that is remarkable. It makes the UM790 Pro a compelling option for multi-display productivity setups, trading desks, and design studios where screen space matters.
Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3
Wi-Fi 6E supports the full 6GHz band, meaning lower latency and faster throughput in congested wireless environments. Bluetooth 5.3 handles peripheral pairing cleanly without connection hiccups.
Minisforum um790 pro price
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Who Should Buy the Minisforum UM790 Pro Mini PC?
It Is Perfect For…
Home office workers who want a fast, quiet, multi-monitor setup without a tower taking over their desk. Four-display support and silent operation make it ideal for anyone running multiple applications simultaneously.
AI developers and local LLM experimenters who want to run models locally without cloud API costs. The NPU plus CPU combination handles smaller models comfortably, and 64GB DDR5 support gives enough headroom for serious inference work.
Casual gamers who play competitive titles at 1080p and do not need a dedicated GPU. The Radeon 780M handles that comfortably, with the USB4 eGPU path available if needs grow.
Developers and engineers who compile code, run virtual machines, or need raw CPU throughput in a compact form factor — the 8-core Zen 4 chip delivers genuinely desktop-class single and multi-thread performance.
You Might Want to Look Elsewhere If…
You need GPU-accelerated AI training, CUDA-dependent workflows, or 4K gaming at high settings. For those use cases, a discrete NVIDIA GPU is required, and this machine does not offer one natively.
Frequently Asked Questions
What RAM does the Minisforum UM790 Pro use?
DDR5 5600 SODIMM dual-channel, expandable up to 64GB (2×32GB). Faster RAM noticeably improves Radeon 780M gaming performance, so do not go budget here if that matters.
Can the Minisforum UM790 Pro run Windows 11?
Yes. The Ryzen 9 7940HS is fully Windows 11 compatible. The barebone ships without an OS — you install Windows 11, Linux, or any supported system yourself.
How many monitors can the UM790 Pro support?
Up to four monitors simultaneously — two via HDMI 2.1 and two via USB4 with DisplayPort Alt Mode. All four outputs support 4K resolution.
Is the Minisforum UM790 Pro good for AI workloads?
Yes, for inference with smaller models (up to ~13B quantised parameters) and NPU-accelerated tasks. It is not suited for large model training or CUDA-dependent pipelines. The built-in Ryzen AI NPU handles AI-accelerated apps without affecting CPU or GPU performance.
What is the difference between the barebone and configured versions?
The barebone (£319) includes chassis, CPU, cooling, and all I/O — no RAM, SSD, or OS. Configured bundles like 32GB/1TB come ready to use from around £659.
Does the UM790 Pro support an external GPU?
Yes — the 40Gbps USB4 port supports eGPU enclosures. Performance is limited compared to native PCIe, but it is a realistic and cost-effective upgrade path if your needs grow after purchase.
Final Verdict
The Minisforum UM790 Pro Gets More Right Than It Gets Wrong
There are faster desktops. There are cheaper mini PCs. But very few machines at this price deliver this combination of CPU power, AI acceleration, thermal engineering, port variety, and long-term scalability in something smaller than a hardback book.
The Minisforum Venus UM790 Pro is not a novelty — it is a serious daily-use machine. The Ryzen 9 7940HS handles real workloads without drama. Cold Wave 2.0 keeps temperatures honest under sustained load. The port selection embarrasses the competition. And the built-in Ryzen AI NPU gives this machine relevance well beyond today’s use cases.
At £319 barebone, it is one of the most compelling compact workstations available in 2026. Spec it your way and stop paying for desk space you do not need.Final Score: 9.7 / 10 — Highly Recommended
