In a world the place PC gaming {hardware} is dominated by a handful of behemoths, whose foghorn message of “GET OUR STUFF, CRUSH YOUR FOES” is expressed in some actually terrible product aesthetics, I am simply super-happy to see a producer like Ayaneo treading a special path.
It specialises in handheld gaming PCs (such because the Ayaneo Kun and the Air 1S), constructed round AMD’s low-power, performant APUs, however dabbles in mini-PCs as properly. The Retro Mini AM02 is its second such launch, and it is cute as a button.
It is a pint-sized homage to the unique Nintendo Leisure System, full with a entrance hood which pops open to disclose twin USB 2.3 ports, a USB4 Sort-C, and a mixed audio socket. It is elegant, tactile, straightforward on the attention, and after getting it put in in your desk (or by your TV, we’ll come to that), I defy you to not throw admiring glances at it sometimes.
The styling of the Retro Mini AM02 goes hand-in-hand with the capabilities of the machine. It says “Make an emulator out of me! PLAY ALL THE GAMES YOU GREW UP WITH!”, which you completely can, you completely ought to—I completely did—however that does not preclude the truth that the {hardware} is able to extra.
Housing AMD’s Ryzen 7 7840HS, the higher-wattage model of the 7840U present in Ayaneo’s handhelds, and packing a Radeon 780M iGPU, most fashionable video games ought to run playably at 1080P, offered you are prepared to sacrifice greater graphics settings.
There is a 4-inch touchscreen on the lid which could be swiped left or proper to show detailed system information, a clock, or a quick-access panel to change between preset efficiency modes. It is simply begging for some customized wallpaper choices, although the performance is not there but—Ayaneo is planning this for a future software program replace.
Around the again, you get twin 1 Gb and a couple of.5 Gb Ethernet ports, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4, a pair of USB 2.0 ports, and a USB-C port reserved for the AM02’s energy adapter. The package additionally handles WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. Briefly, it is all good on the specs entrance, although a second USB-C on the entrance would’ve been welcome.
The Retro Mini AM02 ships preinstalled with Ayaspace, Ayaneo’s {hardware} and game-library interface layer. Designed for his or her handhelds, it feels most at residence with a gamepad. This suggests a robust use-case for the Retro Mini as a devoted micro-console to plug into your TV, and in that situation, you may configure Ayaspace to run fullscreen at boot. It is nonetheless an app working in Home windows 11 after all, not an OS in its personal proper, and for extra conventional desktop PC use, I set it to minimise to the system-tray at Home windows boot and invoked it solely when wanted.
It will probably really feel slightly clunky and slow-to-act utilizing a keyboard and mouse as your precept enter units—the UX has clearly been designed round gamepad controls first—however it works properly sufficient. What I did discover in my time with the Retro Mini was a number of small technical and UI-improving updates to Ayaspace, which I might count on to proceed.
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The efficiency tab of Ayaspace is awash with tweakers. These toggles and sliders expose BIOS-level {hardware} settings, together with the CPU’s TDP restrict, sliders for the CPU and iGPU clock speeds, a CPU turbo toggle, a basic power-policy setting, and computerized or customized fan-curves for the CPU cooler.
There are three presets out of the field: Energy Saving (8 W TDP, potato mode, borderline advantageous for net searching), Balanced (15 W TDP, good for emulation and easier indies) and Excessive (28 W TDP, with less-than-full CPU and iGPU clockspeeds, however advantageous for much less demanding titles). You’ll be able to create customized presets too, although solely the manufacturing unit presets present up on the 4-inch touchscreen’s mode-switcher.
Clearly the very first thing I did was to crank every thing up; that TDP slider goes to 45 W in spite of everything. It is doable to get some good efficiency features with customized presets, although whether or not these features are marginal or considerable is completely title-dependant. I arrange an ‘Overclock’ preset, with the TDP set to 45 W, the CPU and iGPU given free rein with their full clockspeed ranges, and the CPU Turbo possibility activated.
Bumping issues up like this will get you a good efficiency uptick. The perfect enhance I noticed was in Doom Everlasting—which seems fabulous at 1080p with medium settings, by the way in which—and switching between the inventory 28 W Excessive preset and my 45 W customized ‘Overclock’ preset, the body price jumped from round 60-70 fps to 70-90 fps taking part in the identical part of the identical stage. Which was deeply gratifying, and speaks volumes for the way enormously well-optimised Doom Everlasting is. Simply do not count on these form of features in each recreation.
On paper, the Ryzen 7 7840HS can attain as much as 54 W, however Ayaspace units a max restrict of 45 W. Equally, the chip ought to spice up to five.1 GHz, however Ayaspace limits this to 4.7 GHz. We queried Ayaneo on this, and it responded by telling us the Retro mini is designed with particular dimension and thickness constraints, and that the limitation is in place to make sure efficient cooling and optimum efficiency. Which is smart; it’s certainly a tiny field, and little question a problem to chill.
It is a tactic typically seen within the laptop computer house to maintain temps down and protect battery life, although the latter is clearly not a consideration right here. So it is a disgrace you may’t entry absolutely the top-end of the 7840HS’ capabilities, which another producers have achieved with their very own proprietary cooling options.
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Purchase if…
✅ You wish to construct a stunning, TV-friendly emulation station: I imply, have a look at it. How cute is that wee factor?
✅ You play quite a lot of indies, and the odd heftier title: The AMD CPU, with its highly effective built-in GPU, are completely able to taking part in each indie classics and fashionable video games at a good tempo.
Do not buy if…
❌ You need essentially the most highly effective mini PC there may be: There are definitely micro machines that get extra out of very comparable silicon.
❌ You are in search of fully silent operation: It will probably undoubtedly get slightly ‘chatty’ when its followers crank up must you begin making that AMD CPU run slightly more durable.
When it comes to fashionable recreation efficiency, and if we’re contemplating a 30+ fps as playable, the Retro Mini provides a good account of itself. Cyberpunk at 1080P with Extremely settings, FSR2 set to auto and no Ray Tracing runs properly at 52 fps. Whole Struggle: Warhammer 3’s marketing campaign map is reasonably extra bruising, netting solely 25 fps at 1080P/medium/28 W, although this rises to a extra comfy 30 fps after we bump up the TDP to 45 W and crank the clock speeds. Forza Motorsport was slick, easy and fulfilling at 45 W, however It is tough to advocate Homeworld 3 on {hardware} of this class; regardless of the examined common of round 40 fps, you are beset with frequent, jagged 1% lows.
We additionally ran a handful of indies and older video games at 1080p/medium/45 W, to get a really feel for the form of body rate-ranges you may count on throughout completely different video games. Not one of the following have built-in benchmarks, so we have saved them off the official desk, however hopefully they’re going to provide you with a flavour of the Retro Mini’s wider capabilities. Subnautica was eminently playable across the 50-60 fps mark, Stray sat comfortably within the 45-60 fps vary, Soulstone Survivors acquired 90 fps which dropped to a still-highly-palatable 45 fps throughout peak pyrotechnics, Nonetheless Wakes the Deep managed 60-70 fps, and Bioshock Remastered capered alongside at a frankly hilarious 130-200 fps.
Setting it up as an emulator was a doddle utilizing the free and wonderfully user-friendly Emudeck, and very quickly I had my favorite video games of yesteryear populating my Steam library, flawlessly playable on the TV utilizing an Xbox Elite gamepad. And I believe that is simply superb. I imply certain, any previous PC could be arrange as an emulator in the identical method. However once you flip the Retro Mini AM02 right into a living-room retro console emulator, every thing falls into place, and also you get the sense it is fulfilling its future.
