The verdict

Idle power
Minisforum MS-S1 Max idles lower (11W vs 15W) - cheaper to run 24/7.
Networking
Minisforum MS-S1 Max has more NICs (2 vs 1) - better for a firewall or VLAN trunk.

Which wins for each job

Job Framework Desktop Minisforum MS-S1 Max
Plex / Jellyfin ~5 streams ~5 streams
Frigate NVR add a detector add a detector
Proxmox / VMs 54,895 PassMark 54,895 PassMark
Firewall / router 1 NICs 2 NICs win
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 Framework Desktop Minisforum MS-S1 Max
Price (list) $1,999 $1,999
CPU AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395
Cores / threads 16 16
PassMark 54,895 54,895
iGPU Radeon 8060S (RDNA3.5) Radeon 8060S (RDNA3.5)
NICs 1 2
NIC model Realtek 5GbE Dual 10GbE
RAM max (GB) 128 128
M.2 free 1 1
PCIe slot x4 x16
Idle (W) 15 11
TDP (W) 120 130