I now have two Panther Lake mini PCs running, one as my primary workstation and one as a Hyper-V replica server, here are my rambling thoughts:
Workstation: ASRock 358H Nucbox
Server: Minisforum M2 elite 356H (probably have both of these names wrong but they are close enough)
I switched my workstation from a Minisforum mitx motherboard with a 16 core zen4 laptop cpu to the ASRock system.
I switched a Server 2025 Hyper-V replica system from the same Zen4 hardware as my old workstation (with more ram as the only difference) to the Minisforum M2 system. As far as I know neither system supports ECC RAM, correct me if I'm wrong. Not a big deal for a backup server but I wouldn't use either as a primary server.
The primary motivation was to reduce power consumption, here in Cali I'm paying over $0.52/KWh and even with solar it adds up if you go over your production, both of these systems run 24/7. Also, I like tinkering and wasting money I will never recoup.
I'm very impressed by both the performance and the power consumption, I thought the Zen4 systems were low power, they don't hold a candle to the Panther Lake. The Minisforum is a bit more power efficient, it uses the same CPU but only has a 4 core GPU. When I was using it as a workstation while waiting for the ASRock machine it would consistently idle at or below 10W, that is with quite a few apps loaded (using about 33GB RAM) but no interaction. It also seems as fast as the Zen4 system it replaced, maybe a bit snappier. When I switched it over to act as a Server 2025 Hyper-V replica system it idles a bit higher at around 12-14W but it is also running 3 VMs and replicating a few dozen others so I consider that reasonable. The system it replaced bounced between 30-40W.
The ASRock system isn't as impressive power wise, I don't know if it's the 12 core GPU or just different tuning but it idles between 15-20W and its overall power consumption under use is higher, it seems far more eager to clock up and burn power. If I didn't need three video outputs I would have purchased a second Minisforum system. I don't dislike the ASRock but I have no need for the larger GPU right now (gaming happens on other systems) though I may see what it can do with local AI if I get some free time one of these days. The ASRock system does have one potentially large advantage in that it will likely receive far more BIOS updates, I would be surprised of the Minisforum system gets a single update.
There is a major drawback to these systems when it comes to video output. For my workstation I need to drive a 5k2k 165hz screen, a 4k 160hz screen, and a 4k 60hz screen. This cannot be done on the Minisforum system with the 4 core GPU. I can get all 3 displays to light up but their refresh rates all drop to 60Hz. That is one reason it's been moved to the server roll. The ASRock system with the 12 core GPU can handle all 3 displays at full res/refresh but that's it, adding a 4th display drops everything back to 60Hz. Looking into it this is just how Intel decided to wire everything.
Price wise the Minisforum was about $600 and the ASRock about $1200, double the price for basically getting a larger GPU. If you don't need the better video output capabilities I would go with the Minisforum box every time. Both come barebones and accepted the 5600MT/s SODIMMs I had without issue. The Minisforum has a fan that cools the RAM/SSD which is a pretty big upgrade from the passive cooling of the ASRock.
Workstation: ASRock 358H Nucbox
Server: Minisforum M2 elite 356H (probably have both of these names wrong but they are close enough)
I switched my workstation from a Minisforum mitx motherboard with a 16 core zen4 laptop cpu to the ASRock system.
I switched a Server 2025 Hyper-V replica system from the same Zen4 hardware as my old workstation (with more ram as the only difference) to the Minisforum M2 system. As far as I know neither system supports ECC RAM, correct me if I'm wrong. Not a big deal for a backup server but I wouldn't use either as a primary server.
The primary motivation was to reduce power consumption, here in Cali I'm paying over $0.52/KWh and even with solar it adds up if you go over your production, both of these systems run 24/7. Also, I like tinkering and wasting money I will never recoup.
I'm very impressed by both the performance and the power consumption, I thought the Zen4 systems were low power, they don't hold a candle to the Panther Lake. The Minisforum is a bit more power efficient, it uses the same CPU but only has a 4 core GPU. When I was using it as a workstation while waiting for the ASRock machine it would consistently idle at or below 10W, that is with quite a few apps loaded (using about 33GB RAM) but no interaction. It also seems as fast as the Zen4 system it replaced, maybe a bit snappier. When I switched it over to act as a Server 2025 Hyper-V replica system it idles a bit higher at around 12-14W but it is also running 3 VMs and replicating a few dozen others so I consider that reasonable. The system it replaced bounced between 30-40W.
The ASRock system isn't as impressive power wise, I don't know if it's the 12 core GPU or just different tuning but it idles between 15-20W and its overall power consumption under use is higher, it seems far more eager to clock up and burn power. If I didn't need three video outputs I would have purchased a second Minisforum system. I don't dislike the ASRock but I have no need for the larger GPU right now (gaming happens on other systems) though I may see what it can do with local AI if I get some free time one of these days. The ASRock system does have one potentially large advantage in that it will likely receive far more BIOS updates, I would be surprised of the Minisforum system gets a single update.
There is a major drawback to these systems when it comes to video output. For my workstation I need to drive a 5k2k 165hz screen, a 4k 160hz screen, and a 4k 60hz screen. This cannot be done on the Minisforum system with the 4 core GPU. I can get all 3 displays to light up but their refresh rates all drop to 60Hz. That is one reason it's been moved to the server roll. The ASRock system with the 12 core GPU can handle all 3 displays at full res/refresh but that's it, adding a 4th display drops everything back to 60Hz. Looking into it this is just how Intel decided to wire everything.
Price wise the Minisforum was about $600 and the ASRock about $1200, double the price for basically getting a larger GPU. If you don't need the better video output capabilities I would go with the Minisforum box every time. Both come barebones and accepted the 5600MT/s SODIMMs I had without issue. The Minisforum has a fan that cools the RAM/SSD which is a pretty big upgrade from the passive cooling of the ASRock.
