Geekom A5 mini PC 2027 Edition review: Good value, well-made, and a decent user experience for those who arent excessively ambitious

Date:
Sat, 19 Sep 2026 06:15:00 +0000

Description:
This mini PC keeps the same well-liked enclosure and upgrade-friendly layout as its predecessor, but swaps in a lower-power chip and a reworked cooling system.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Geekom A5 2027 Edition: 30-second review Often, reviewing computer equipment has an odd, unexpected cyclical nature. Because many companies cant be bothered with new nomenclature and launch new products with old names.

This is at least the third version of the Geekom A5 Ive seen, and thankfully Geekom have decided to call this the 2027 Edition to segment it slightly from prior options. Where the original Geekom A5 went after desktop-class performance on a budget, the 2027 Edition changes tack. Geekom has kept the same compact metal chassis, the same generous port selection and the same
easy access to internals, but it has fitted a very different processor under the hood.

Out goes the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H, a 45-watt mobile chip that pushed hard for performance. In comes the AMD Ryzen 7 7730U, a 15-watt part that shares the same Cezanne silicon and Zen 3 cores but is tuned for efficiency rather than speed.

The result, on paper at least, is a machine that runs cooler and quieter, backed by a new IceBlast 3.0 cooling system that Geekom claims cuts noise to as low as 28dB at idle. Geekom is now pitching the A5 2027 Edition for 24/7 office and commercial use, rather than as a budget performance desktop.

The available SKUs offer two CPU options: a cheaper AMD Ryzen 5 7430U and a more powerful AMD Ryzen 7 7730U. All machines come with 16GB of DDR4 memory, but storage can be 256GB, 512GB or 1TB.

Memory is expandable to 64GB, and storage has actually grown more flexible, with room for two NVMe SSDs and a 2.5-inch SATA drive, but the second M.2
slot is the smaller 2242 variety. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news
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What the A5 2027 Edition offers is a relatively affordable platform for general office use, but it lacks the expansion possibilities that the best mini PCs provide with technology like OCuLink, USB4 and Thunderbolt. (Image credit: Mark Pickavance) Geekom A5 2027 Edition (256GB 16GB RAM) at Amazon
for 364.65 Geekom A5 2027 Edition: Price and availability How much does it cost? From $465/446/479 When is it out? Available now Where can you get it? Currently, this machine can be obtained directly from Geekom or via online retailers The A5 2027 Edition is sold in several bundles, and the number of SKUs varies by region. Most come with 16GB of RAM, but with different processors and storage.

The variations are complicated, so Ive created a small table showing the options and prices for the US , UK and EU . Each region also has a discount code that improves prices by 10% in the US, 5% in the UK, and 50 off in the EU. Swipe to scroll horizontally Global pricing for Geekom A5 2027 Edition

CPU

RAM/SSD

USA price

UK price

EU price

Ryzen 5 7430U

16GB+1TB

$465

449

479

Ryzen 7 5825U

16GB+512GB

$499

N/A

N/A

Ryzen 7 7730U

16GB+256

$499

399

479

Ryzen 7 7730U

16GB+512GB

$549

469

549

Ryzen 7 5800H

32GB+512GB

N/A

N/A

549 As you can see in the table, only three SKUs are available in all locations, and some 5800 series options are unique to the US and parts of the EU.

What needs to be acknowledged is that the prices of RAM and storage have skyrocketed in the past year, and given those increases, the price of this A5 doesnt seem excessive. Though, considering that the memory and storage on these machines are replaceable, it seems odd that Geekom didnt offer a barebones SKU.

It should be noted that the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H model was on the German and Spanish Geekom sites, but not on their French or Italian. Canada has the same SKUs as the USA, and Japan has the same, but with the Ryzen 5 7430U model removed. The older A5 had the 5800H, so these machines may not be the 2027 Edition, but older stock.

Curiously, via Amazon you can buy the AMD Ryzen 7 7730U 16GB+512GB for the same price as Geekom offers it (before the discount code), $549 or 469, but
it comes in Rose Gold, not silver.

The two obvious competitor machines that use the same platform are the GMKtec NucBox M5 Ultra and BOSGAME P4 Ultra.

The GMKtec NucBox M5 Ultra can be found on Amazon for $599.99 or 609.96, but it comes with 32GB+1TB and the 7730U processor. A better value option is the BOSGAME P4 Ultra , which you can get on Amazon.co.uk with a voucher for 385, and it comes with 16GB+1TB and a Ryzen 7 CPU. The same machine is $519 on Amazon.com.

Therefore, if you want this platform cheaper, then BOSGAME is probably the right choice, but the GMKtec machines look better made, and the P4 Ultra can come with a single memory module, undermining its performance significantly. Value: 4 / 5 (Image credit: Mark Pickavance) Geekom A5 2027 Edition: Specs Swipe to scroll horizontally Geekom A5 2027 Edition Specifications

CPU:

AMD Ryzen 7 7730U (8 cores, 16 threads, 16MB cache, 2.0GHz to 4.5GHz)

GPU:

AMD Radeon Vega 8 Graphics (integrated)

RAM:

16GB DDR4 SODIMM (dual-channel 2x8GB, expandable to 64GB)

Storage:

512GB M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe SSD, plus free 2.5" SATA bay and M.2 2242
SATA slot

Ports:

3x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 1x USB 2.0 Type-A, 2x HDMI 2.0, 1x 3.5mm audio jack, SD card reader

Networking:

2.5GbE LAN, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2

OS:

Windows 11 Pro (pre-installed)

Base Power:

15W (TDP)

PSU:

19V 3.42A, 65W

Weight:

652g

Dimensions:

117mm x 112mm x 49.2mm Geekom A5 2027 Edition: Design Same enclosure again Easy access retained No USB4 Visually, the A5 2027 Edition is business as usual for Geekom. It reuses the same silver metal-and-plastic chassis as the original A5 and the Mini IT13 before it, with two USB ports and the audio
jack on the front, the SD card reader on the left, and the rest of the I/O around the back.

One aspect of this design I especially liked is that all the ports are labelled correctly, revealing the USB specification and whether the port is designed for charging. Some makers just completely ignore these details, leaving ports alongside others with a completely different specification looking identical.

Internal access follows the same familiar pattern too. Four retained screws release the base, which stays tethered by a ribbon cable feeding the free 2.5-inch SATA bay underneath. The DDR4 SODIMM slots and the primary M.2 2280 NVMe slot sit inside, alongside a second, smaller M.2 2242 slot for a SATA SSD.

I wish the second slot was 2280-sized, but evidently there was insufficient space for it.

That gives the A5 2027 Edition a genuinely unusual triple-storage layout for
a machine this size, and Geekom quotes a combined ceiling of around 7TB
across all three. Not sure how that works, because the 2280 slot could take 4TB, Ive seen 2TB on 2246, but SATA HDDs can be at least 5TB and SSDs to at least 4TB. Therefore, you could put more than 7TB in one of these machines.

Whats good about this system is that the internal access doesnt require removing adhesive-attached feet, and the memory is socketed, allowing for
easy upgrades. (Image credit: Mark Pickavance) The only caveat with the memory, other than the lower bandwidth of DDR4 compared to DDR5, is that to get the best performance, the memory upgrades need to be in pairs.

So if you want more memory, sticking one 16GB stick alongside an existing 8GB module isnt ideal. It might work, but it will reduce the memory mode to single-channel. Therefore, if you want more RAM, two 16GB or 32GB SODIMMs are the path to follow, leaving you two 8GB modules to re-home.

There are 48GB DDR4 modules available, but the maximum RAM on this platform
is 64GB. At the time of writing, a 32GB DDR4 SODIMM is typically around $250, making that upgrade about the same cost as the system. But should the AI bubble burst (or rather, when), then that might be a more realistic proposition.

My disappointment is that there is no USB faster than USB 3.2 Gen 2, even though the platform has plenty of unused PCIe lanes. There are at least five USB ports with this specification plus a single USB 2.0, but not a single
USB4 or USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 port. I understand the resistance to putting USB4 controllers on older platform technology, but the market has outgrown USB 3.2 already.

Overall, as Ive come to expect from Geekom, this is a well-made mini-PC which delivers a decent user experience for those who arent excessively ambitious from a performance perspective. It isnt a massive evolution from earlier, but it seems decent value for money in these difficult times. Design: 4 / 5
Geekom A5 2027 Edition: Features AMD Ryzen 7 7730U New Barcelo-R silicon with a lower power ceiling IceBlast 3.0 cooling The headline change in the A5 2027 Edition is its processor. The AMD Ryzen 7 7730U carries a similar die and Zen 3 cores as the 5800H in the original A5, with the same 8 cores, 16 threads
and 16MB of L3 cache. Where the 5800H was a Cezanne design, the 7730U is one of four Barcelo-R chips that AMD made before moving on to the Rembrandt-R architecture.

The biggest change between these chips is the power envelope, cut from 45 watts to 15 watts.

That is a significant reduction, and it shows up directly in sustained clock speed. Our CPU-Z capture shows the new chip running at 3470.7MHz under its default profile, down from the 4364.5MHz we saw on the outgoing 5800H with
the same tool.

The smaller 65W power brick that ships with the 2027 Edition, down from the original's 120W unit, reflects how much less power headroom this design now needs. Geekom backs the lower TDP with its IceBlast 3.0 cooling system, said to improve cooling efficiency by around 42 per cent over the previous generation and to keep core temperatures under 72 degrees Celsius after an hour of sustained heavy load in a 30-degree room.

Geekom quotes noise levels as low as 28dB at idle and around 32dB under heavy load, figures that make the A5 2027 Edition a genuinely quiet machine for a desk or reception area.

The trade made here is performance for silence, which, depending on the working environment, could be the right or wrong choice.

Storage and memory remain DDR4 rather than the faster DDR5 found in newer Ryzen designs, and the M.2 slot is still limited to PCIe 3.0, so NVMe throughput is capped in the same way it was on the original A5. Port-wise,
the story is also unchanged: still no USB4 or Thunderbolt, with USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A and Type-C as the fastest connections on offer.

That this system comes with dual HDMI 2.0 outputs and an easily accessible SD card slot on the side offers genuine potential for marketing displays, especially considering how cool it all runs. (Image credit: Mark Pickavance) What needs to be said is that this isnt especially new technology. The processor was first launched in Q1 of 2023, which will shortly make it four years old. Fabricated on the older TSMC 7nm FinFET technology, it cant hope
to offer the same levels of efficiency as the latest Ryzen parts, which use TSMC N4P FinFET.

To be clear, there is little wrong with the older chips, and AMD evidently still holds a significant stock of them, but better, more efficient
technology is available for those willing to invest in it.

These devices offer significant performance increases in CPU-, GPU-, and NPU-related tasks, have better technologies (USB4, etc.) and larger caches.

But they dont have upgradable memory, as they use LPDDR5X-8533
surface-mounted memory, or similar, and their default power consumption is greater, leading to fan noise.

The computing platform in the A5 2027 Edition might not be full of youthful enthusiasm, but it's more than adequate for many office tasks. Features: 3.5
/ 5 Geekom A5 2027 Edition: Performance (Image credit: Mark Pickavance) Swipe to scroll horizontally

Mini PC Row 0 - Cell 1

Geekom A5 2027 Edition

Geekom A5

CPU Row 1 - Cell 1

AMD Ryzen 7 7730U

AMD Ryzen 5 7430U

Cores/Threads Row 2 - Cell 1

8C 16T

6C 12T

RAM Row 3 - Cell 1

16GB DDR4 (2x8GB)

16GB DDR4 (2x8GB)

SSD Row 4 - Cell 1

512GB SSD

512GB SSD

Graphics Row 5 - Cell 1

Radeon Vega 8

Radeon Vega 7

3DMark

WildLife

7346

6796 Row 7 - Cell 0

FireStrike

3504

3259 Row 8 - Cell 0

TimeSpy

1390

1288 Row 9 - Cell 0

S.Nomad

1111

1086

Cine24

Single

86

71 Row 11 - Cell 0

Multi

479

421 Row 12 - Cell 0

Ratio

5.58

5.96

GeekBench 6

Single

1993

1910 Row 14 - Cell 0

Multi

7712

6503 Row 15 - Cell 0

OpenCL

16050

14325 Row 16 - Cell 0

Vulkan

14539

13895

CrystalDisk

Read MB/s

3736

3208 Row 18 - Cell 0

Write MB/s

3186

2290

PCMark 10

Office

6709

5296

WEI

Score

8.1

8.1 It was originally my intention to compare this A5 with the 5800U-powered one, but when I looked at the data, that prior model came during a transition where I was switching from Cinebench 23 to GeekBench 5. And I no longer have that hardware to retest.

What I can say is that in the data I do have that maps between the two, the 5800U was more powerful, but it used more power and fan noise was audible.

What I did find in my data pile was an older A5 that used the AMD Ryzen 5 7430U CPU, and those benchmarks mapped to what I used on the A5 2027 Edition and provided some interesting context between the two.

Its not exactly a revelation that a CPU with more cores and a better GPU is going to run faster, but thats the narrative running through these results. But it also hints in the Windows Experience Index that for a person running Office applications on these systems, the difference might not be
significant, or even noticeable.

In this respect, the A5 2027 Edition is a punchier option, but it's hardly leaving the older A5 with the Ryzen 5 platform in the dust. For those wanting to minimise the cost of these systems, there might be something useful to
take from these results for them.

As an aside, I recently reviewed the BOSGAME P4 Ultra, which uses the same
CPU as the A5 2027 Edition but performs worse than the old A5 with the Ryzen
5 CPU. How is that possible? It is when you deliver the 16GB of RAM in a single module, reducing the bandwidth of the system by 50%. As an example of the impact of doing this, the WildLife score on the P4 Ultra is only 4961.

The lesson from these scores is never run one of these systems in single-channel mode, unless you like your computers to run slowly for no good reason. Performance: 3.5 / 5 Geekom A5 2027 Edition: Final verdict (Image credit: Mark Pickavance) I would consider the Geekom A5 2027 Edition as a refresh rather than a generational leap. Geekom has kept everything that made the original A5 easy to recommend: the compact metal chassis, the simple internal access and the strong port selection, and layered on a genuinely useful third SATA storage option.

What it has not done is make the machine dramatically faster. The move from a 45-watt to a 15-watt processor trades outright performance for lower noise, lower heat and, Geekom claims, lower running costs over years of continuous use.

For buyers who want a quiet, always-on machine for general office work, that trade could be exactly right. For anyone chasing the best possible
performance per pound, the original A5, while now harder to find new, made a stronger case. Should you buy a Geekom A5 2027 Edition? Swipe to scroll horizontally

Value

Pricier than the original A5 at launch, but that's to be expected.

4 / 5

Design

An effective design that doesn't need to change

4 / 5

Features

Four-year old tech, but still useful

3.5 / 5

Performance

Slower than the 5800U A5s, but not terrible

3.5 / 5

Overall

A quieter, cooler machine aimed at 24/7 office duty rather than raw speed.

4 / 5 Buy it if...

You want a quiet, always-on office machine With its 15-watt chip and
IceBlast 3.0 cooling, the A5 2027 Edition is aimed squarely at desks, reception areas and back offices where a quiet machine matters more than outright speed.

You need some local storage flexibility With three storage slots that
include an NVMe drive, a 2.5-inch SATA bay and a second M.2 SATA slot, this machine gives you more expansion room than most mini PCs at this price. Don't buy it if...

You want the fastest machine for the money The lower 15-watt power limit means the 2027 Edition is likely to trail the outgoing A5 and rival machines that still use 45-watt silicon, once benchmark figures are confirmed.

You need Thunderbolt or USB4 As with the original A5, the fastest connection on offer is USB 3.2 Gen 2. Anyone relying on Thunderbolt peripherals or displays will need to look elsewhere. Also Consider

GMKtec NucBox K16 Another AMD NUC built around the Zen 3+ Ryzen 7 7735HS, offering a genuine generational step up in performance over either A5 model, in a similarly compact and upgrade-friendly case. It costs more, but comes with 32GB of RAM and 512GB or 1TB of storage.

Check out our GMKtec NucBox K16 review

Geekom A5 2025 Edition

Geekom's prior model uses the AMD Ryzen 5 7430U and is cheaper than the
newest model, while being a similar low-power and low-noise offering. Power consumption is even lower due to the lower clock speeds, but it uses the same chassis and has the same storage options.

Check out my Geekom A5 2025 Edition review For more professional hardware, we've reviewed the best business computers . Geekom A5 2027 Edition: Price Comparison 429 364.65 View 469 View We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices powered by



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