Minisforum N5 vs Minisforum N5 Pro
Minisforum N5 Pro is the more capable pick; Minisforum N5 is the cheaper one - which wins comes down to the job below.
The verdict
- CPU
- Minisforum N5 Pro has 1.2x the CPU throughput (33,292 vs 28,854 PassMark).
- Idle power
- Minisforum N5 idles lower (28W vs 33W) - cheaper to run 24/7.
Which wins for each job
| Job | Minisforum N5 | Minisforum N5 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Plex / Jellyfin | ~5 streams | ~5 streams |
| Frigate NVR | add a detector | add a detector |
| Proxmox / VMs | 28,854 PassMark | 33,292 PassMark win |
| Firewall / router | 2 NICs | 2 NICs |
| Local AI / LLM | PCIe GPU slot | PCIe GPU slot |
Approximate - capacity estimates from curated specs, the same logic as the recommender. Verify against your exact setup. Prices move; check the retailer.
Full specs
| Spec | Minisforum N5 | Minisforum N5 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Price (list) | $510 | $899 |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 255 | AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 370 |
| Cores / threads | 8 | 12 |
| PassMark | 28,854 | 33,292 |
| iGPU | Radeon Graphics (RDNA2) | Radeon 890M (RDNA3.5) |
| NICs | 2 | 2 |
| NIC model | Marvell AQC113 10GbE plus Realtek 5GbE | Marvell AQC113 10GbE plus Realtek 5GbE |
| RAM max (GB) | 96 | 96 |
| M.2 free | 3 | 3 |
| PCIe slot | x16 | x16 |
| Idle (W) | 28 | 33 |
| TDP (W) | 65 | 54 |