GMKtec EVO T1 “Intel Core Ultra 9 285H” Mini PC Review: Strongest Arrow Lake Mini PC We’ve Tested With Triple M.2 Slots, OCULink & Dual Lan

GMKtec has been making Mini PCs for years now. They are based out of the technology hub of Shenzen, China, and have maintained strategic partnerships with AMD, Intel & Microsoft, and currently offer a wide array of solutions, all the way from entry-level to enthusiast-grade designs based on mobility chips from AMD & Intel.

With the arrival of Intel's Arrow Lake, GMKtec launched its brand new EVO T1 series, a productivity powerhouse with up to 16 cores and strong IO capabilities. This solution packs Intel's top Arrow Lake-H mobility CPU, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H, and today is our first taste of this high-end laptop chip within a Mini PC platform. We've already found the 285H to be a strong CPU offering for laptops in our MSI Prestige AI EVO 16 review here, so it's going to be interesting to see how much performance the chip maintains in a Mini PC form factor.

GMKtec EVO T1 Mini PC - Specifications At A Glance

In terms of specifications, the GMKtec EVO T1 Mini PC is equipped with the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H CPU. This is the flagship processor within the Arrow Lake-H mobile lineup and has a lot to talk about, so let's get started.

The Intel Core Ultra 9 285H CPU features 16 cores in total with 16 threads. These are a combination of 6 P-Cores, 8 E-Cores, and 2 LPE cores. The CPU has a base frequency of 2.9 GHz and boosts up to 5.4 GHz on the P-Cores, while the E-Cores have a base frequency of 2.7 GHz and a boost frequency of 4.5 GHz. The LPE cores clock in at 1 GHz base and 2.5 GHz boost clocks. The chip features a total of 24 MB cache and has a TDP rating of 45W at the base and 115W MTP (Maximum Turbo Power). The chip can also be configured down to 35W as its minimum assured power rating (shouldn't be mistaken with idle power).

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For the iGPU, Intel is using an upgraded version of its Alchemist architecture known as Alchemist+. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285H is configured with the Arc 140T GPU, which offers 8 Xe cores that clock up to 2.35 GHz and feature a maximum TOPS (INT8) rating of up to 77. The iGPU supports all the latest APIs and AI Frameworks, and since this is an upgraded Alchemist design, you will get newer Ray Tracing Units and even support for XMX, which is far better than the DP4a model on the older Alchemist-based iGPUs. This allows games with RT to run a bit faster, while XMX enables better support for AI-based upscaling methods such as XeSS and also supports XeSS2 Frame-Generation.

On the NPU side, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H is equipped with an updated NPU2.7, which offers a peak TOPS (INT8) of 13 and supports all the latest AI frameworks such as OpenVINO, WindowsML, DirectML, ONNX RT & WebNN. Compared to Meteor Lake, which offers 11 TOPS, the 13 TOPS NPU comes in at a slight upgrade, but Intel has stated in the past that offering the highest number of TOPS isn't that important; what's more important is to fully utilize the capabilities of the NPU and its available capabilities through software-centric optimizations.

Intel Core Ultra 200 "Arrow Lake" Laptop Lineup:

CPU Name	Family	Cores / Threads	Boost Clock	Cache	TDP (Base/MTP)
Core Ultra 9 285HX	Arrow Lake-HX	24/24	5.5 GHz	36 MB	55/160W
Core Ultra 9 275HX	Arrow Lake-HX	24/24	5.4 GHz	36 MB	55/160W
Core Ultra 7 265HX	Arrow Lake-HX	20/20	5.3 GHz	30 MB	55/160W
Core Ultra 7 255HX	Arrow Lake-HX	20/20	5.2 GHz	30 MB	55/160W
Core Ultra 5 245HX	Arrow Lake-HX	14/14	5.1 GHz	24 MB	55/160W
Core Ultra 5 235HX	Arrow Lake-HX	14/14	5.1 GHz	24 MB	55/160W
Core Ultra 9 285H	Arrow Lake-H	16/16	5.4 GHz	24 MB	28/115W
Core Ultra 7 265H	Arrow Lake-H	16/16	5.3 GHz	24 MB	45/115W
Core Ultra 7 255H	Arrow Lake-H	16/16	5.1 GHz	24 MB	28/115W
Core Ultra 5 235H	Arrow Lake-H	14/14	5.0 GHz	18 MB	28/115W
Core Ultra 5 225H	Arrow Lake-H	14/14	4.9 GHz	18 MB	28/115W
Core Ultra 7 265U	Arrow Lake-U	12/14	5.3 GHz	12 MB	15/57W
Core Ultra 7 255U	Arrow Lake-U	12/14	5.2 GHz	12 MB	15/57W
Core Ultra 5 235U	Arrow Lake-U	12/14	4.9 GHz	12 MB	15/57W
Core Ultra 5 225U	Arrow Lake-U	12/14	4.8 GHz	12 MB	15/57W

With the internals of the CPU covered, let's talk about the rest of the specifications. First, we have the memory, which comes in the form of 64 GB of DDR5 from ADATA. The DRAM modules that are rated at 5600 MT/s speeds can be upgraded up to 128 GB. GMKtec only offers 64 GB RAM configurations.

Storage includes a 1 TB Crucial SSD, but there are three NVMe M.2 Gen4x4 slots which support up to 2 TB each or 8 TB in total on the EVO T1. The max configuration that GMKtec offers is 2 TB.

IO includes 3 USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A ports, 1 USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port (PD/DP/DATA), 1 3.5mm Combo Jack for audio, a Clear CMOS Button, and a power button at the front. The rear IO includes 1 HDMI 2.1, 1 DP 1.4, 1 OCULINK (Gen4x4), 2 USB 2.0 Type-A, dual 2.5GbE LAN ports, a 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack, & a 2.5mm charging port. The Mini PC comes with a 150W power adapter that boots it up.

Talking a little bit about the BIOS, GMKtec offers three main profiles: a Silent mode rated at 45W, a balanced mode rated at 54W, and a Performance mode rated at 80W. There are also nifty overclock options such as memory tuning, graphics tuning within the BIOS, as can be seen below:

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GMKtec EVO T1 Mini PC - Unboxing & A Closer Look

The GMKtec EVO T1 comes inside a large light blue colored box with the "GMKtec" logo in the front.

The back of the box has some basic specifications that list the specific configuration for this model. We got the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H variant with 64 GB of memory and 1 TB storage capacity.

Within the box, you can find the Mini PC in its old compartment, along with a guide/warranty booklet, and two smaller boxes that hold the accessories.

The accessories within these boxes include the power cable, power adapter, and an HDMI cable.

The Mini PC comes with a GVE "GT155-1900780-F" power adapter, which offers up to 148.2W of power and has a standard input of 100-240V at 50/60Hz (2.5A).

GMKtec's Mini PCs really do stand out from the rest of the market offerings, with a stylish dual-tone design. The front cover is all metallic with a gold hue, while the chassis is a mix of an outer plastic shell with an internal aluminum frame. The Mini PC is a bit on the chunky side, but for good reasons, as we will get to in a bit.

There are three exhaust vents/ports on the EVO T1. One at the top, one at the bottom, and one below the Rear IO. These ensure that the PC receives adequate airflow and remains cool with higher heat dissipation through the vents.

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The front I/O on the GMKtec EVO T1 Mini PC comes with three USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A ports, 1 USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port, a 3.5mm Combo audio jack, a Clear CMOS Button, and a Power On/Off button with LED.

The back I/O on the GMKtec EVO T1 features 1 HDMI 2.1, 1 DP 1.4, 1 OCULINK Gen4x4 port, 2 USB 2.0 Type-A ports, dual 2.5 GbE LAN ports, a 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack, and a 2.5mm charging port for the adapter. You can see the large vents on the back, too.

The PC can be placed both vertically and horizontally. That is why the sides also have rubber feet to ensure stability on surfaces. The top also comes with a small vent, which is used to pull air in for the memory and SSDs.

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To access the internals, you have to unscrew the four feet at the bottom of the chassis. These are easy to remove.

The first thing that you notice when removing the metal frame is the large 92mm fan that sits at the top.

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There are two fans within the EVO T1, one at the top which his a 92mm fan that has a maximum power of 0.15A and features RGB LEDs. This is one of the reasons the EVO T1 is a bit wider than the other PCs that we have tested.

Removing the fan cover exposes the bottom of the motherboard, which houses the three Gen4x4 M.2 slots. One of them is populated with a Crucial 1 TB SSD and has a pre-attached heatsink. There are two DDR5 SO-DIMM slots, each populated by a 32 GB DDR5-5600 memory stick from ADATA, operating at 1.1V.

The other side of the motherboard houses the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H CPU and the power delivery. All of this is located under a large heatsink with a blower-style fan. The heatsink adopts a vapor chamber and is composed of several aluminum fins to which heat is transferred and dissipated by blowing the hot air out of the chassis through the back vents.

GMKtec EVO T1 Mini PC - CPU Performance

We start by comparing the 3DMark CPU Profile tests, where the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 sits right below the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H, though you are looking at twice the power input of that part, as the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 here consumes only up to 30W power, making it a very strong result for the red team.

In Blender, we used the standard monster, junkshop, and classroom tests for evaluation.

In CPU-Z, we tested the single-thread and multi-thread performance.

For Cinebench 2024, we once again compared the single-core and multi-core performance.

In Geekbench 6, we used the full-suite benchmark to evaluate the performance.

In UL Procyon's office test, standard office use-cases were evaluated.

Lastly, we have the WinRAR benchmark test.

GMKtec EVO T1 - AI Synthetic Performance

Next up, we have our first AI benchmarks for the latest Intel and AMD CPUs. First up, we have the Geekbench AI benchmark numbers, which are as follows:

For UL Procyon, we again see Intel's latest CPUs and its various AI accelerators, such as the NPU and the GPU, offering better performance capabilities than the Ryzen AI offerings.

GMKtec EVO T1 Mini PC - GPU Synthetic Performance

Now we are going to look at the GPU performance, and before we present to you the gaming numbers, we first have to see how the performance fares in synthetic benchmarks. For this purpose, we first want to outline the single-precision FLOPs each iGPU offers. Intel's Arc and AMD's Radeon series are based on entirely different architectures, and despite the FLOPS of the Radeon iGPU being higher, it doesn't necessarily mean that the Radeon iGPU will be faster. But with that said, the following is how the two chips compare:

In 3DMark Speed Way, we see the Radeon iGPU narrowly beating the Alchemist+ iGPU. Speed Way is a very intensive benchmark that uses ray tracing, so Intel at least needs to work on some GPU-centric optimizations here.

For 3DMark Steel Nomad, we get to see our first non-RT performance of the Intel iGPU, and here the blue team leads by a massive 46.4%.

In 3DMark Port Royal, Intel's Arc 140T iGPU offers a 10.4% lead over the fastest Radeon iGPU. This is a ray tracing-heavy benchmark and goes off to show that the results we saw in the Speed Way test are an anomaly, something that you will also notice in the gaming tests.

In 3DMark Time Spy, the Intel Arc 140T iGPU is 28.4% faster than the Radeon 890M.

For Fire Strike, Intel offers great performance even on DX11 APIs, which is a good showcase, as many games still run DX11.

Lastly, we have 3DMark Night Raid, where Intel scores another comfortable lead with its new Arc 140T GPU.

GMKtec EVO T1 Mini PC - HD Gaming Performance

With the synthetic performance out of the way, we can start taking a look at pure gaming numbers, and we start off our testing spree with Cyberpunk 2077 running at Medium Preset at 1080p with Balanced XeSS/FSR upscaling.

In Forza Horizon 5, we only ran the game using Quality Upscaling at the Medium Preset at 1080p.

In F1 24, we used the High Preset at 1080p.

In Horizon Zero Dawn at the "Favor Quality" preset, we used the FSR 2 upscaling set to Balanced.

Metro Exodus also runs great on the Arc 140T, offering the bare minimum 40-30 FPS with RT enabled at 1080P at the high preset.

Lastly, we have The Callisto Protocol, where both iGPUs are very similar in performance but offer FPS in the mid-50s range even with FSR 2 enabled. It would be better to lower the resolution to get a better playing experience, but still, over 50 FPS is decent for these iGPUs.

GMKtec EVO T1 Mini PC - Power & Thermals

Next, we can see the power consumption of the latest Mini PCs.

Following thermals, we have temperatures:

Conclusion - Fastest Arrow Lake-H Mini PC Tested Yet

GMKtec has made a strong offering with its EVO T1 Mini PC. It offers outstanding multi-threading and productivity capabilities, while the integrated Arc 140T delivers great gaming performance at 1080p in a range of games. The Arrow Lake-H NPU, coupled with the Arc 140T GPU, also makes it a potent solution for AI tasks, with up to 32B LLM support. GMKtec also packs the Mini PC with its own local AI suite, which is definitely handy for users who are looking to accelerate their workloads using AI.

The memory and storage capacities offered are also good. With 64 GB memory as the base option, it does provide a great incentive where the extra memory can be allocated to the GPU for large LLMs. 3 NVMe M.2 slots are also great, offering support for up to 8 TB capacities.

GMKtec also does a fine job in terms of design for the EVO T1, which packs a stylish RGB-Lit design, even though the RGB factor is very minute. The dual-fan offer dedicated cooling to the M.2 SSDs and the CPU. Despite running hot around 100 °C, the Mini PC remained silent enough that it didn't bother my usage.

IO is also decent enough, and the key standouts are the Dual 2.5GbE LAN ports, the quad USB 3.2 Gen2 ports on the front, and the OCULINK port on the back, which can expand the graphics capabilities of this Mini PC.

GMKTec has the EVO T1 currently listed for $999 US for the configuration we tested. That's a solid price given the hardware you are getting, with 16 cores, Arc 140T GPU, a neat array of IO, and internal specs. Also, for those who are deep into AI, the company is also prepping a flagship EVO X model, which packs AMD's Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 APU, and that is something that we are looking forward to testing in the coming months.

For those interested in the EVO T1, you can purchase the Mini PC at the following links:

(GMKtec EVO T1 Product Page) Amazon US:

• 64+1TB: Purchase Link
• 64+2TB: Purchase Link
• 96+2TB: Purchase Link

Amazon UK:

• 64+1TB: Purchase Link

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