MINISFORUM presents Core Ultra 9 285HX powered MS-02 Ultra compact PC
It’s not the GPU that takes most of the space, but the built-in power supply.
MINISFORUM presented its latest compact workstation, the MS-02 Ultra, at Japan IT Week Autumn 2025. The company also showcased the previously announced MS-S1 MAX, featuring AMD’s Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor. The new Intel-based MS-02 Ultra, equipped with a Core Ultra 9 285HX, aims to double the performance of its predecessor and offer far greater expandability. The launch is expected as early as November, though pricing has not been confirmed.
The MS-02 Ultra succeeds the MS-01, released at the end of 2023. It adds four DDR5 SODIMM slots supporting up to 256 GB of ECC/non-ECC memory, and expands to three low-profile PCIe slots, one of which supports dual-slot cards such as the GeForce RTX 5060 Low Profile or NVIDIA RTX 4000 SFF Ada. An 8-pin PCIe power connector is included for GPUs up to roughly 140 W.
Source: PC Watch
Internal configuration now includes:
- PCIe 5.0 x16, PCIe 4.0 x4, and one PCIe 4.0 x4+x4+x4 (x16 shape, optional SFP28 25 GbE NIC pre-installed)
- Front-intake/rear-exhaust cooling, supporting a CPU TDP up to 140 W
- Built-in 350 W Flex PSU, eliminating the need for an external adapter
Source: PC Watch
Networking options are well above typical mini PCs. The MS-02 Ultra features two optional 25 Gb SFP28 ports, one 10 Gb Ethernet, and one 2.5 Gb Intel i226-LM port with vPro support. It also integrates Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and USB4 v2 (80 Gbps) connections, effectively offering Thunderbolt 5/4 compatibility and P2P networking via USB.
The system measures only 222 × 225 × 97 mm, closer to a slim desktop than a typical mini PC. Add a low-profile GPU, and you have a small gaming PC.
| Minisforum MS Series | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VideoCardz | MS-02 Ultra 🆕 | MS-S1 MAX 🆕 | MS-A2 | MS-A1 | MS-01 |
| Picture |  |  |  |  |  |
| Processor | Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX (Arrow Lake-HX) 24 cores (8P+16E) | AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 16 Zen5 cores | AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX (Zen 5) / Ryzen 9 7945HX (Zen 4) 16 cores | AMD Ryzen 7000 / 8000 / 9000 (BIOS update) up to 100 W dual-CCD SKUs | Intel Core i9-13900H / i9-12900H / i5-12600H |
| Graphics | Intel Arc iGPU + 3 PCIe slots for dGPU support AI up to 15 TOPS | Radeon 8060S iGPU + PCIe 5.0 x16 dGPU | AMD Radeon 610M or discrete (PCIe 4.0 x8) | Integrated or discrete (PCIe 4.0 x8) | Integrated or discrete (PCIe 4.0 x16 half-height) |
| RAM | 4 × DDR5 SODIMM slots (dual channel) Up to 256 GB DDR5-4800 ECC/non-ECC | LPDDR5x-256Bit Max frequency support: 8000MHz Max capacity support: 128GB | Up to 96 GB DDR5 SODIMM (2 slots) | Up to 96 GB DDR5 SODIMM (2 slots) | Up to 64 GB DDR5-5200 SODIMM (2 slots) |
| Storage | 4 × M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe (up to 16 TB) Front slide-out SSD tray | 1× M.2 2280 NVMe SSD slot (supports up to 8TB, PCIe 4.0 ×4) 1× M.2 2280 NVMe SSD slot (supports up to 8TB, PCIe 4.0 ×1) | 1 × M.2 2280 / 2 U.2 NVMe SSD (up to 15 TB) + 2 × M.2 2280/22110 NVMe/SATA | 4 × M.2 2280 + 1 × U.2 to M.2 adapter | 1 × PCIe 4.0 x4 (U.2) 1 × PCIe 3.0 x4 (M.2 2280/22110) 1 × PCIe 3.0 x2 (M.2 2280/22110) |
| Networking | 1 × 25 Gb SFP+ NIC card (default) 2 × 25 Gb SFP+ ports 1 × 10 Gb Ethernet 1 × 2.5 Gb Ethernet (Intel i226-LM) Wi-Fi 7 / Bluetooth 5.4 (M.2 E-key) | 2 × 10 Gb Wi-Fi 7 | Bluetooth® 5.4 | Wi-Fi 6E / Bluetooth 5.2 2 × 2.5 GbE + 2 × 10 Gb SFP+ | 2 × 2.5 GbE + Wi-Fi / Bluetooth | 2 × 10 GbE SFP+ / 2 × 2.5 GbE / Wi-Fi 6 / BT 5.2 |
| Ports | Front: • 3.5 mm Combo Jack (TRRS) • 2 × USB4 v2 (80 Gbps DP Alt Mode) • 1 × USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A (10 Gbps) Rear: • 1 × USB4 v2 (80 Gbps) • 3 × USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A (10 Gbps) • 2 × DisplayPort / 2 × HDMI 2.1 • 2 × 2.5 GbE LAN • DC Power Input / Kensington Lock | Front: 3.5 mm Combo Jack / 2 × USB4 V2 (80 Gbps) / 1 × USB 2.0 Rear: 1× 10GbE LAN (RJ45, Realtek RTL8127) 1× 10GbE LAN (RJ45, Realtek RTL8127) 2× USB 3.2 Gen2 (10Gbps) 2× USB 2.0 2× USB4 V2 (80Gbps, Alt DP2.0, PD out 15W) 1× HDMI 2.1 FRL (Up to 8K@60Hz/4K@120Hz) | Front: 3.5 mm Combo Jack 2 × USB 3.2 Gen1 1 × USB 2.0 Rear: 2 × USB-C Gen2 (Alt DP2.0) 1 × HDMI 2.1 2 × 2.5 GbE 2 × 10 Gb SFP+ 1 × USB 3.2 Gen2 1 × USB 3.2 Gen1 | 1 × OCuLink (63 Gbps) 1 × USB-C (40 Gbps) 1 × USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A (10 Gbps) 2 × USB 3.2 Gen1 (5 Gbps) 1 × USB 2.0 Type-A 1 × HDMI 2.1 1 × DP 2.0 1 × 3.5 mm audio 2 × 2.5 GbE | 2 × USB4 (full function) 2 × USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A (10 Gbps) 1 × USB 3.2 Gen1 (5 Gbps) 2 × USB 2.0 Type-A 1 × HDMI 1 × 3.5 mm audio |
| Dimensions | 222 × 225 × 97 mm | 222 × 206 × 77 mm | 196 × 189 × 48 mm | 196 × 189 × 48 mm | 196 × 189 × 48 mm |
Source: PC Watch