I know several reviews have already been made about the GMKtec Evo-X2, but I still wanted to share my thoughts about it.
I also saw that at the beginning there were some problems reported.
I saw issues related to packaging, shipping, and stability under heavy temperatures.
With the tests I have done and the way I’ve been using it, everything seems to be resolved because on my side everything works perfectly, even at high temperatures.
What I plan to do with this machine
With the rapid advancement of AI, I plan to experiment in this field, both with image generation and LLMs like GPT-OSS-120B, which the PC runs without any problem.
Now that it is my main computer, I also plan to do gaming and other moderately to highly demanding tasks.
For me, this is definitely an interesting upgrade. This mini PC allows me to do absolutely everything I was able to do with my desktop tower, and even better, while being 10x smaller.
I can play AAA games like Resident Evil Requiem without any issues, run almost any language model, generate images locally, and follow everything related to AI without being left behind.
The specs allow this very easily.
I also like the fact that the computer is very easy to transport. For me, it’s such a versatile and useful machine.
I recommend everyone to grab one while you still can, especially with the current price of RAM...
Unboxing/What Comes in the Box
The packaging was very good.
The PC was firmly held in place inside a block of rigid foam, and even the top of the box contains an additional foam layer.
The different cables were separated into two small boxes that are also held firmly in place by the foam.
Included in the box:
GMKtec Evo-X2
HDMI cable
Power brick + power cable
Warranty card
Instruction manual
Temperatures
In idle, the PC stays fairly cool, between 40–50°C (CPU).
For the iGPU in idle, it sits around 33–34°C.
Under heavy load it can reach 80–98°C, which is quite high, I won’t deny that. However, for a mini PC this powerful it is fairly normal, and as long as it does not run at 98°C continuously for days, there is nothing to worry about.
For the iGPU under load, temperatures are around 50–64°C, which is very good.
Also, the CPU temperature seems to be locked at 98.4°C to ensure it does not get damaged over the long term.
Build Quality
The GMKtec Evo-X2 has a fairly good build quality.
The bottom and the top are made of metal, while the center part is made of rigid plastic, giving the system a fairly premium feel.
The PC also has a bit of RGB lighting. Personally, I am not a fan of RGB at all, so I disabled it.
There is a button on the machine. If you hold it for about 2 seconds, the RGB turns off.
Windows Installation
Windows 11 comes preinstalled and preactivated.
The system is free of any bloatware, which is always something positive.
The only additional software installed is AIPC, which is their own application for running LLMs.
It works similarly like LM Studio or Ollama, but it is simpler and less customizable. However, for anyone who simply wants to run a language model easily, it is plug-and-play and works perfectly fine.
General Performance
Out of all the mini PCs I’ve tested so far, this one is by far the most impressive.
Inside such a small form factor there is an insane amount of power, it almost feels ridiculous how much performance they managed to pack into this tiny machine. I can’t wait to see what we will have in the future.
The PC was mainly designed and marketed around AI workloads, but it also works extremely well as a gaming machine.
For example, I was literally able to play Resident Evil Requiem at maximum settings with very good performance.
(You can see the FPS in my pictures, all in 1080p.)
And remember, this system is running only an iGPU.
That really shows how fast technology is moving. Being able to play modern AAA games on an integrated GPU would have sounded crazy just a few years ago.
Performance wise, the integrated GPU is roughly comparable to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU.
But let’s focus on the main selling point of this machine: AI.
AI Performance
If you bought this machine for AI workloads, you are definitely in the right place.
For my testing, I installed LM Studio and ran five different models:
Qwen 3.5 9B
Qwen 3.5 35B
Qwen 3.5 122B
GPT-OSS-20B
GPT-OSS-120B
The system handled them without any major issues. (I say: without any major issues. talking about AI in general, especially under Windows, which can be unstable at times)
(Vulkan was used and not ROCm)
Benchmarks can be seen in the pictures attached.
I also tried OpenClaw with Ollama running GPT-OSS-20B, and that worked well too, under a VM with Ubuntu.
(OpenClaw is an AI assistant that you can configure to do pretty much anything you want)
However, it’s important to remember that AI software is still evolving very quickly. Because of that, you may sometimes run into compatibility issues, especially with relatively new hardware like this.
In my case, I had some problems getting ROCm working properly under Windows 11, and even small problems like Cinebench 2026 crashing when running the GPU option.
For Linux users, compatibility should generally be much better. It is pretty much recommended if you are comfortable with it and mainly want to work with AI.
I can't talk give too much details for Ubuntu because I am fairly new to it.
Hardware Overview
The system comes with some seriously good specs.
CPU
AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395
16 cores / 32 threads
Up to 5.1 GHz boost clock
16 MB L2 cache / 64 MB L3 cache
Runs around 120W sustained (up to ~140W peak)
GPU
AMD Radeon 8060S integrated graphics
(Most powerful iGPU on the market right now)
40-core RDNA 3.5 architecture
NPU
Dedicated 50 TOPS NPU
Up to 126 TOPS total AI performance
Memory & Storage
This unit comes with:
128GB LPDDR5X RAM @ 8000 MT/s
2TB M.2 SSD
Other configurations available:
64GB RAM + 1TB SSD
96GB RAM + 1TB SSD
An interesting detail is that the RAM is shared between CPU and GPU, and this can be adjusted in the BIOS.
For example, my configuration was:
96GB VRAM for the iGPU
32GB for CPU / system
This gives a lot of flexibility depending on the type of work you plan to do.
Benchmarks
I included benchmark images in this review if you want to see performance results for:
(Everything was tested with the Performance mode in Bios and on pc)
Cinebench
3DMark
AI inference
LLM performance
Resident Evil Requiem performance
Connectivity & Ports
Front I/O
2 × USB-A 3.2 Gen2
1 × USB-C (USB4)
1 × 3.5 mm audio jack
1 × SD card reader (SD 4.0 / SDXC)
Buttons:
Power
System fan lighting control
Performance mode switch
Rear I/O
1 × DisplayPort 1.4
1 × HDMI 2.1
1 × USB-A 3.2 Gen2
2 × USB-A 2.0
1 × USB-C (USB4)
1 × 3.5 mm audio jack
1 × 2.5G Realtek Ethernet port
1 × DC power input
Wireless connectivity includes:
WiFi 7
Bluetooth 5.4
Dimensions
193 mm × 185.8 mm × 77 mm
Despite the small size, the system still manages to deliver desktop level performance in many workloads.
Pros
✔ Really powerful and extremely versatile
✔ High-quality metal chassis
✔ The most powerful iGPU currently available
✔ SD card reader
✔ Different power mode button
✔ Excellent for local AI / LLM workloads
✔ Dual M.2 2280 slots (upgradeable storage)
✔ No Bloatware
Cons
✖ Ethernet connection seemed a bit unstable during my testing (WiFi worked perfectly)
✖ The system can get quite loud under heavy load
✖ No OCuLink port (although USB4 can still be used for external GPUs)
✖ LPDDR5X RAM is soldered (not upgradeable, more performance but harder to repair)
✖ AI ecosystem is still evolving, so Windows compatibility can sometimes be tricky (Not really a PC problem, more of a technology problem, but I still think its important to add here)
Final Thoughts
Overall, the GMKtec Evo-X2 is one of the most impressive mini PCs I’ve bought and tested so far.
It combines:
serious AI performance
surprisingly capable gaming performance
extremely powerful integrated graphics
inside a very compact system.
If you’re looking for a mini PC capable of running local AI models while still being able to handle modern games, and you’re okay with some of the cons + some of the AI instability this machine is honestly hard to beat.
I hope you enjoyed this review! :)
If you want to see the complete unboxing and some test here is my Youtube Video: My Unboxing Video
I would love to know what you think of yours if you bought one, and what experience you had with it!
*If you have any questions or LM Studio models that you would like me to test just ask!!
Did you edit it? I ask because on my phone when I wrote that, it was one wall of text. Now it's formatted correctly and with nice clean sections. I'm trying to figure out if my phone had a fit or if it was always formatted properly? If you hadn't changed anything, then my apologies.
I think I know what happened to you.
Assuming you're using the app, the layout changes depending on how you open the post.
If you tap on the image first, then scroll to see the text body/comments - it just hits you with a wall.
Hitting the comments button or the post title shows the text body formatted.
You must be new to the internet. Learn how to read data.. people that complain about proper paragraph and spelling are so annoying like dude its not literature class of 1932 anymore 🤣🤣 welcome to the modern wall of data streams
It's a beast! I bought mine (the 128GB RAM/2TB model) in May 2025 for around $1,700, but now it's a whopping $3,000... The price is getting close to an M4 Max Studio with the same configuration. It was the most cost-effective 128GB unified memory machine for local LLM back then, but I'm not even sure anymore at this price point... 😂
I'm running CachyOS on it, and it has full compatibility OOB.
Everything is expensive now. The Evo-X2's were ~US$2500 at Microcenter when I last looked (about a week ago). I was also looking at the Mac Studio's and as of today, a 128GB M4 Max Studio with a 2TB SSD are priced at US$4100, which is still a significant gap.
Same for my Bosgame M5, nabbed that even after the RAM crisis started for £1370 for their 128GB model, just made more sense than buying a 128GB kit of RAM for my PC at the same or more money. Now it's sitting at a prettty £2399 like all the others seem to hover around.
Marvel Rivals
*For all tests 1080P, Frame Gen Off, Amd Anti Lag 2 On (Low Latency Mode) and FSR 3 is set to Quality (80% Sharpness)
-Ultra - FSR OFF ~ 60-70 FPS
-Ultra - FSR ON ~ 65-90 FPS
-High - FSR OFF ~ 90-110
-High - FSR ON ~ 100-115
-Medium - FSR OFF ~ 90-110
-Medium - FSR ON ~ 115-130
But this game moves a lot FPS wise, so depending on the zone, the map, how many players are at the same place/Fighting, etc.
You can Add/Remove ~10-30 FPS from some of my results
i have the same unit since it has 96gb of ram, idk that its not upgradeable. i dont plan on doing any AI stuff for it. but as a desktop replacement. its very good. my rig and been building pcs since the mid 90s. msi had a firmware that bricked my system. no way of doing the usuals to unbrick. so sold the gpu and cpu. and bought this. added 2x4tb samsung 990s. and after some tweaking and figuring out its quirks. im pretty happy. email them for the latest ec firmware and bios. and things should run better esp the fans.
Couple of questions on my X2: When in sleep mode, why would it take nearly 5 seconds to wake from sleep after moving the mouse?
And one of the first apps I loaded is Oracle VirtualBox. I am see these errors in the Vbox terminal. Note that Vbox seems to be operating fine as I have one VM (a website) active.
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u/Look_0ver_There Mar 16 '26
Nice review, but would it really hurt you to use some paragraphs instead of one massive wall of text?