AMD's mobile X3D chips come to desktops — Minisforum's $599 MoDT debuts with Ryzen 9 7945HX3D

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This tiny motherboard could pack a punch.

Minisforum BD790i X3D motherboard
(Image credit: Minisforum)

Mini-PC maker Minisforum just launched a gaming motherboard dubbed the BD790i X3D, and it sports a mobile X3D chip. The motherboard comes in an ITX form factor and is powered by a Dragon Range AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D; it will also have two SODIMM slots that accept DDR5-5200 RAM up to 96GB and two M.2 2280 PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe SSD that can give it a total capacity of 4TB. More importantly, it seems that the motherboard also comes equipped with a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, similar to what you find on the Minisforum BD770i, although the Minisforum website does not specifically say that. This opens the door to using powerful desktop graphics cards.

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Motherboard

BD790i X3D

Form Factor

ITX

CPU

AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D, 16C/32T

TDP

100W

GPU

Integrated AMD Radeon 610M

Memory

DDR5-5200 Dual Channel 2x SODIMM up to 96GB

Storage

2x M.2 2280 PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe SSD up to 4TB

Wireless Connectivity

Wi-Fi 6E + Bluetooth 5.3

Headers and Connectors

1x 24-pin main power connector, 1x 8-pin +12V CPU power connector, 1x 4-pin CPU fan header, 2x 4-pin SYS fan header, 1x system panel header, 1x front panel audio header (F_AUDIO), 1x USB 3.2 Gen1 header

Video Output

1x HDMI 2.1 FRL x1 (Up to 8K@60/4K@120), 1x DP1.4 (Up to 8K@60/4K@120)

Audio Output

1x HDMI, 1x Line Out

Audio Input

1x Line In, 1x Mic In

I/O Ports

1x RJ45 2.5 Gigabit LAN, 2x USB 2.0 Type-A, 2x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A, 1x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C (Alt DP), 1x CLR COMS

Recommended Power Supply

ATX Power (>200W)

OS Support

Windows 11

Another interesting thing we found with the BD790i X3D is the massive heatsink that comes with it, which covers nearly 80% of the motherboard surface. The heatsink is topped a single 12cm fan, which should provide better, quieter cooling than in laptops specced with this processor. It also has a smaller active SSD cooler, ensuring your system can maintain PCIe 5.0 transfer speeds even after hours of using it. This cooling configuration could help the entire motherboard run at a lower temperature even while under heavy load, and even help reduce fan noise.

If you choose to skip putting a discrete GPU on the motherboard, the 7945HX3D CPU has an integrated Radeon 610M GPU. While this is no powerhouse, it should be more than enough for you to run older retro titles and competitive games that focus on system performance over image quality. It’s also equipped with DP 1.4, HDMI 2.1, and USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (Alt DP) ports, allowing you to have a triple-monitor setup for the ultimate in productivity even if you don’t have dedicated graphics yet.

Minisforum BD790i X3D ITX motherboard

(Image credit: Minisforum)

Although you’re not getting the latest Fire Range 9955HX3D CPU with the BD790i X3D, the 7945HX3D is still a respectably fast processor. It might feel a bit expensive, though, at $599, especially as you could get an AM5 motherboard for about $150 and the 7800X3D for around $450. Still, the smaller profile of Minisforum’s custom-designed heatsink and the lower TDP of the mobile X3D chip should be enough to entice users who prefer a more compact system over raw horsepower and the desktop footprint that usually means.

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Jowi Morales
Jowi Morales
Contributing Writer

Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.

23 Comments Comment from the forums
  • usertests
    It might feel a bit expensive, though, at $599, especially as you could get an AM5 motherboard for about $150 and the 7800X3D for around $450.
    You're getting a 16-core with similar gaming performance (when the correct cores are used).
    Reply
  • evdjj3j
    usertests said:
    You're getting a 16-core with similar gaming performance (when the correct cores are used).
    I thought what the author said was weird too because it seems like a good deal to me.
    Reply
  • KyaraM
    Using the non-X3D version of this board (well, the SE version without fan and "only" PCIe 4.0 for the SSDs; GPU slot is still 5.0) in a media PC, has cost me me 140€ less. Works really well.
    Reply
  • Notton
    The only downside is the 5200 SODIMM, which might not OC to 6000. The ideal speed for Ryzen. From what I've seen the other variants of this mobo can do 5600.
    Reply
  • Moores_Ghost
    They launched this chip in 2023. Where were you?
    My current laptop runs an R9 7940HX, the non 3D version. It's from last year, pre 9000 series and guess what!? The 9955HX3D was launched LAST year.
    Why is this article an article? The sponsor paid for it is NOT a good answer.
    Please, get back to the cutting edge.
    Reply
  • kerberos_20
    Moores_Ghost said:
    They launched this chip in 2023. Where were you?
    My current laptop runs an R9 7940HX, the non 3D version. It's from last year, pre 9000 series and guess what!? The 9955HX3D was launched LAST year.
    Why is this article an article? The sponsor paid for it is NOT a good answer.
    Please, get back to the cutting edge.
    but this is desktop mainboard
    Reply
  • abufrejoval
    Darn, perhaps I should have waited for this, but actually I was more afraid they'd stop selling the non-3D variant, which is what I got for €500 including taxes. That's the slightly better non-SE version with fans, fully PCIe v5 and 2.5Gbit networking, which I don't use, I use 2x 10Gbit instead.

    Anyhow, I'm still very happy with the board, which I use as a server, lack of ECC support my only complaint.

    Very quiet, low power requirements, superb performance, reliable and cool with an ancient 90mm I dug up somewhere.

    I've added a riser card that splits the x16 slot into two extra M.2 and an x8 slot above. One M.2 holds an Asix 6x SATA adapter for big helium HDDs, the other hosts an Intel x540 10Gbit NIC with a M.2 to PCIe cable. The x8 slot holds an ASUS branded Aquantia AQC107 10Gbase-T NIC, while the two motherboard M.2 connectors hold NVMe drives.

    I do have a 7950X3D on a normal X670E mainboard, too (with 96GB of ECC DDR5-5600), where it's paired with an RTX 4090 and thus able to fully flex its gaming muscles. The only thing that still disappoints there is FS2024 (also 2020) in VR mode: nothing can fix bad software!

    I really love what Minisforum is doing with this form factor, especially since bifurcation and M.2 adapters really add back perhaps even more flexibility than what full sized boards offer these days.

    And the price is hard to beat, too!
    Reply
  • abufrejoval
    Notton said:
    The only downside is the 5200 SODIMM, which might not OC to 6000. The ideal speed for Ryzen. From what I've seen the other variants of this mobo can do 5600.
    I'm using 5600 on the Minisforum and on all of my AM5 Ryzens, mostly because 6000+ wasn't available as ECC (desktops) or in SO-DIMM (Minisforum). Don't see it slowing me down but didn't see a big improvement with faster memory speeds (my Kingston DDR5-5600 ECC DIMMs would run with up to 6400 speed) and prefer stability anyway.

    On the desktop my biggest gripe was lack of two DIMMs per channel support, which forced my to buy 96GB at the price of 128GB. I believe I've seen 48GB SO-DIMMs now, even 64GB for 128GB total capacity, which means more choices for current buyers, always a good thing.
    Reply
  • abufrejoval
    One thing worth mentioning I noticed during testing: the onboard iGPU my not be good for games, but is functionally quite capable and has a few tricks up its sleeve (it's also perfectly snappy for all 2D work):

    I was testing it with a GTX 980ti (among others), which natively isn't capable of driving my 42" 4k monitor at 144Hz and 10bits per pixel, while the iGPU can do the resolution, the refresh and the color depth.

    But by connecting the monitor to the iGPU, the dGPUs would operate in "laptop" or hybrid mode, where the dGPU frame buffer content is copied into the iGPU frame buffer for evey refresh. It then did 144Hz, 10 bit per pixel and 4k no problem, even if you'd need to stint on details at that resolution for a GTX 980ti today. Worked just as fine with an RTX 2080ti, which perhaps can't do 144Hz at 4k, either.

    Anyhow, hybrid mode actually allows getting resolutions and refresh out of older cards, which they can't do natively.

    That extra copy pass sounds like a lot of overhead, but it is actually the normal modus operandi on pretty near every laptop that includes a dGPU and benchmarking didn't show noticeable performance differences.

    In theory it's a bit more power during gaming, but on 2D desktop work the dGPU can actually power off.

    Mostly, I was impressed with just how seamless AMD and Nvidia drivers cooperated at least on Windows and that I could just move the monitor cable between iGPU and dGPU, didn't try that with Linux, which might work just as well.
    Reply
  • DS426
    Moores_Ghost said:
    They launched this chip in 2023. Where were you?
    My current laptop runs an R9 7940HX, the non 3D version. It's from last year, pre 9000 series and guess what!? The 9955HX3D was launched LAST year.
    Why is this article an article? The sponsor paid for it is NOT a good answer.
    Please, get back to the cutting edge.
    That doesn't say much when ignoring months, e.g. Q1 2023 is a lot different than Q4 2023.
    LAST year? Whoa. Wait, that was just over 60 days ago, lol.
    Not every new system will have only the latest CPU releases. Raw and relative performance of any model and how well it holds up over time are bigger factors than just pure age.
    Reply