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According to the latest update, the CPU, graphics unit, and memory work well together, and even platform releases run smoothly at reduced settings. It’s probably too pricey for the average user. But for those looking to run local AI models or seeking a compact workstation with plenty of headroom, this is a future-proof device. The GMKtec EVO-T2S demonstrates what Intel’s fresh Panther Lake ecosystem is capable of.
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In a fresh development, the GMKtec EVO-T2S changes that: It functions Intel’s Core Ultra X7 358H from the Panther Lake family, complemented by the powerful Arc B390 iGPU. This positions the compact device well above standard office mini PCs. We’ll examine whether the combination of performance and price makes sense for users. By the way: GMKtec lists the model with the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H as the EVO-T2. However, it is currently out of stock. High-performance mini PCs with integrated graphics suitable for tech industry have been rare until now.
The report highlights that with a volume of around 1.7 liters and dimensions of 6.0 × 5.9 × 2.8 inches (W × D × H), it is one of the more compact mini PCs, yet offers enough space for effective cooling. The lid is made of brushed aluminum in a bronze-colored finish and functions the GMKtec logo. The EVO-T2S comes in a case that is barely any larger than a thick paperback.
Industry observers note that the second, comparatively large fan is situated directly beneath the metal cover on the top and functions switchable RGB lighting. The button next to it, labelled ‘Fan Mode,’ therefore does not control the fan speed, but only the lighting. Such a dual-fan design is unusual for a mini PC of this size. For cooling, GMKtec relies on a vapor chamber solution with two enthusiasts.
As part of the ongoing story, on the front panel, you’ll find the illuminated power button, a USB 2.0 port, two USB 3.2 Type-A ports, a USB4 Type-C port, and a headphone jack. The port layout follows a clear logic: The ports that users frequently plug devices into and out of are at the front, while the permanent connections are at the rear.
In a fresh development, the rear panel is significantly more generously equipped: Alongside the round plug for the external power supply, there is an HDMI and a DisplayPort output, an OCuLink port for external graphics cards, two further USB 2.0 ports, and two network sockets offering 2.5- and 10-gigabits per second, respectively.
The report highlights that both USB4 ports support data rates of up to 40Gbit/s, DisplayPort, and Power Delivery for charging compatible devices at up to 100 watts, making them suitable for fast external SSDs or docking stations.
According to the latest update, a Kensington lock slot rounds off the well-designed port layout. Up to four monitors can be operated simultaneously via HDMI, DisplayPort, and the two USB4 ports — according to the manufacturer, even at resolutions of up to 8K.
The report highlights that on the EVO-T2S, the connection operates at PCIe 4.0 x4, offering a theoretical bandwidth of just under 8GB/s. This is particularly useful if the integrated Arc B390 iGPU no longer proves sufficient or if the mini PC is to be upgraded for GPU-accelerated applications. However, the port does not support hot-plugging; eGPU enclosures should therefore only be connected or disconnected while the system is switched off. OCuLink is an external PCIe interface that allows, for example, a desktop graphics card in a separate eGPU enclosure to be connected with significantly lower signal loss than via USB4.
The report highlights that the build quality appears high, the gaps are uniform, and the weight also gives a solid feel without making the computer unwieldy.
In a fresh development, the processor combines four performance cores with eight efficiency cores and four particularly energy-efficient low-power E-cores. In total, it offers 16 cores and 16 threads, as well as 18MB of Intel Smart Cache. The performance cores run at a base clock speed of 1.9GHz and a turbo clock speed of up to 4.8GHz. The eight efficiency cores reach up to 3.5GHz, while the four low-power E-cores reach up to 3.3GHz. At the heart of the EVO-T2S is Intel’s Core Ultra X7 358H from the Panther Lake generation, manufactured using the Intel 18A process.
In a fresh development, our test unit ran in the middle Balanced profile. GMKtec offers three power profiles: 35 watts in Silent mode, 45 watts in Balanced mode, and 54 watts in Performance mode; short-term peaks of up to 60 watts are possible.
Industry observers note that it represents a significant improvement over previous Intel iGPUs. The GPU has 12 Xe3 cores, clocks at up to 2.5GHz, and supports ray tracing as well as Intel’s XeSS upscaling technology. The processor functions Intel’s large Arc B390 iGPU with 12 Xe3 cores.
According to the latest update, its high memory bandwidth benefits both the CPU and the integrated graphics, which share the same memory pool. The system comes with a generous 64GB of soldered LPDDR5X-8533 memory.
Industry observers note that the storage configuration comprises a 768GB system drive for Windows and applications, as well as a separate 85GB AI storage area. Together, these make up the stated total capacity of 853GB. The additional storage area is intended for Phison’s AI functions and is not available as a regular data drive. A Phison PASCARI A3102K0F853GE101T020H is used for mass storage, which GMKtec refers to as the Phison aiDAPTIV AI SSD.
As part of the ongoing story, a Claw Assistant can process tasks independently and control multiple agents in parallel, while an associated model hub provides dozens of open-source language models such as Qwen, Gemma, or GPT-OSS for local download. For those who prefer not to use cloud services, this provides a useful tool. Speaking of AI: GMKtec supplies the computer with its own local programs environment.
As part of the ongoing story, this makes the EVO-T2 particularly well-suited for local AI applications, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), or running larger language models directly on your own computer. However, the pre-installed programs does not yet seem fully mature in some areas. The integrated NPU achieves up to 50 TOPS; according to Intel and GMKtec, the CPU, GPU, and NPU combined deliver AI computing power of up to 180 TOPS.
In a fresh development, the 10Gbit port is particularly useful for use with a suitably fast NAS, such as a Ugreen model with a 10-gigabit connection. In terms of connectivity, the mini PC impresses with Wi-Fi 7 and network ports offering speeds of 2.5- and 10-gigabits per second.
In a fresh development, this also makes it more practical to edit large photo, video, or AI data sets directly on the network storage. The additional 2.5Gbit port can be used in parallel for a standard home or office network. Large files, backups, media archives, or project folders can be transferred much faster than via conventional Gigabit LAN.
In a fresh development, compared to the Home edition, Windows 11 Pro offers, among other things, BitLocker encryption, Hyper-V virtualization, Remote Desktop, and domain connectivity. All drivers were already correctly configured on our test unit, so no manual reinstallation was required. Windows 11 Pro (Build 10.0.26200) comes pre-installed, and the mini PC is ready for use immediately after initial setup.
The report highlights that although there is another M.2 slot available next to the system drive for an additional NVMe SSD, access to it is unnecessarily fiddly: To reach it, you have to remove four screws on the underside, which are hidden beneath the adhesive rubber feet. The EVO-T2S’s expansion options leave a mixed impression.
As part of the ongoing story, once the base plate is removed, however, the expansion slot is exposed and can be easily fitted with a second SSD. The 64GB LPDDR5X RAM, on the other hand, is fully soldered in place and cannot be upgraded. However, as GMKtec offers the EVO-T2S exclusively with this memory configuration, this drawback is hardly noticeable in practice. GMKtec could have handled this more elegantly.
According to the latest update, these figures place the mini PC well ahead of traditional office mini PCs with Core i5 or Ryzen U processors and on a par with compact workstations that rely on HX or H processors with a higher core count. In PCMark 10, the EVO-T2S scores 9,864 points, broken down into 11,472 for everyday tasks, 17,317 for productivity, and 13,110 for content creation.
In a fresh development, even in the single-core test, the score of 1,103 points is on a par with that achieved by high-end laptop processors. The combination of four powerful and 12 efficient cores therefore pays off in both multi-core and single-core workloads. In 3DMark’s CPU Profile, the processor scores 8,585 points in the Max Threads test and 8,681 points in the 16-thread test.
As part of the ongoing story, in the Solar Bay ray-tracing benchmark, the mini PC scored 28,224 points at over 107 frames per second, a result that is significantly higher than that of pure Intel Iris Xe or AMD Radeon 780M solutions, such as those found in many office mini- PCs. Even in the more demanding Time Spy benchmark, it scores 7,600 points, and 3,533 points in the Extreme variant — figures that place the EVO-T2S on a par with older entry-level graphics cards for desktop PCs. In terms of graphics performance, the Arc B390 proves itself to be exactly what it’s meant to be: one of the fastest integrated graphics solutions currently available.
As part of the ongoing story, in ray-tracing-heavy tests such as Speed Way and Steel Nomad, the frame rate drops, as expected, to single-digit or low double-digit figures, which is understandable given the compact design and the shared memory interface.
The report highlights that for many current platform releases, the performance is sufficient in Full HD with reduced detail and XeSS, as suggested by the frame rate of over 70 frames per second in Battlefield V, as extrapolated by 3DMark.
As part of the ongoing story, if you also enable Intel’s XeSS upscaling technology in the ‘Balanced’ profile, the frame rate climbs to an extremely smooth 64 FPS — for an integrated graphics solution in a mini PC format, this is a remarkably good result for a mini PC without a dedicated graphics card. In actual gameplay, the fresh Xe3 architecture performs surprisingly well: A demanding title such as Cyberpunk 2077 runs at an average of 48 FPS in Full HD resolution (1080p) with medium detail settings.
As part of the ongoing story, this puts the storage performance on a par with current high-end SSDs and, together with the 64GB of LPDDR5X RAM, ensures short loading times for applications, platform releases and AI models. The 768GB system drive achieves sequential transfer rates of up to 9,167MB/s for reading and 8,399MB/s for writing in CrystalDiskMark, complemented by high random access figures.
According to the latest update, together, this results in the total capacity of 853GB specified by the manufacturer. A notable capability is the storage design: CrystalDiskInfo also identifies a separate 85GB AI storage drive as a standalone NVMe 2.0 drive with a PCIe 5.0 x4 connection.
Industry observers note that this puts the EVO-T2S well ahead of older mini PCs featuring Intel Meteor Lake or AMD Ryzen 8000 processors. The processor also delivers solid performance in AI tasks: In Geekbench AI’s CPU test, the Core Ultra X7 358H scored 4,186 points for single-precision and 7,943 points for quantized precision.
Industry observers note that in practice, the mini PC runs smoothly, without stuttering and without any noticeable drops in performance under sustained load.
According to the latest update, only under sustained CPU and GPU load do the fan speeds and noise levels increase noticeably, though they remain within acceptable limits for a mini-PC in this performance class. In everyday use, the two enthusiasts usually operate at low speeds and are barely audible from a normal seating distance.
According to the latest update, this is in line with the manufacturer’s specifications, which state that the dual-fan cooling system is designed to deliver consistently high performance even in 54-watt performance mode. The included 148-watt power supply is generously rated for the maximum possible power consumption and offers sufficient headroom. In our tests, the cooling system kept clock speeds stable even under prolonged sustained load; we did not observe any significant thermal throttling.
In a fresh development, the purchase price of nearly $2,000 puts off casual users, and standard Windows tasks can be handled just as well by a significantly cheaper mini-PC. The GMKtec EVO-T2S is not a computer for the masses.
Industry observers note that however, for those who wish to run local AI models, perform compact rendering tasks, or occasionally enjoy a recent system update at reduced detail settings, the combination of a Panther Lake processor, a powerful Arc B390 iGPU, and 64GB of RAM delivers a device that is ahead of its time.
The report highlights that anyone prepared to dig deep into their pockets for this technology will currently get one of the most powerful mini-PCs based on Intel’s Panther Lake ecosystem. The wide range of connectivity options and the well-designed cooling system round off the positive impression.
In a fresh development, this article originally appeared on our sister publication PC-WELT and was translated and localized from German.
As part of the ongoing story, as a Windows user from the very beginning, he is still interested in all the most recent news about the operating system from Redmond. And he has also taken the iPhone to his heart since its first edition. Many other gadgets from Apple have now been added. Christoph is also open to anything that can be controlled via an app – lawn mowers, robot mops and fitness equipment. Christoph Hoffmann has been writing as an IT specialist journalist for print and online for more than 25 years.