Geekom Mini IT11 SFF PC Review

Introduction and Pricing

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We were first introduced to Geekom via their Mini Air 11, a platform we reviewed a few months back. A step up from the Mini Air 11 is their latest release featuring Intel 11th Gen CPUs once again, named the IT11. This second-generation platform from Geekom is a bit better with the 28w Core i7-1195G7 as the base for our sample, though configurable with the entire range of "G7" CPUs.

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The full build-out for the unit sent to us for review includes the 1195G7, as mentioned above, 16GB of DDR4, and a 512GB NVMe solution. The platform itself offers multiple display outputs that include Mini DP and HDMI. You will also find wired ethernet supporting 1Gbe speeds and Wi-Fi 6 via the AX201. USB 3.2 has been deployed in both 10Gbps and 20GBps flavors, both of the higher performance ports using USB-C and offering DisplayPort connectivity.

As configured, the MSRP for the Geekom Mini IT11 comes in at $649 with a one-year warranty.

Packaging and BIOS

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The IT11 offers rather attractive packaging and Geekom branding across the top.

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We have reading materials, VESA mounting plate, and a power adapter.

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Digging right into the SFF machine, the IT11 offers 20Gbps USB-C and 10GBps USB-A on the front of the unit. We also have the 3.5mm jack and power button to the right.

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The side of the unit is open for increased airflow and includes a Kensington lock slot.

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We start with a 19v barrel connection for power on the back side, followed up with MiniDP, gigabit ethernet, and two USB-A ports operating at 10GBps. On the far right, we finish with a 20Gbps USB-C and HDMI output.

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Internally, the IT11 was outfitted with two 8GB sticks of Crucial DDR4 SO-DIMM. Up top, we have an Intel 660p NVMe solution.

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Moving over to the unit's lid, you will find thermal pads for the NVMe and a cage and cable for installing an additional 2.5" drive.

BIOS

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BIOS for the Mini IT11 is basic with an old-school Aptio menu.

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The largest items to change are boot order alongside fast boot and quiet boot for those wanting a noiseless PC.

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Last, you can override the boot order and save settings within the final menu.

Cinebench, Crossmark and AIDA64

Cinebench R23

Cinebench is a long-standing render benchmark that has been heavily relied upon by both Intel and AMD to showcase their newest platforms during unveils. The benchmark has two tests, a single-core workload that will utilize one thread or 1T. There is also a multi-threaded test that uses all threads or nT of a tested CPU.

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Evaluating the IT11, we start with Cinebench. 1T scoring 1367 and nT dialing up 4658.

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Switching to the chart, comparisons are pretty slim for SFF PCs, and both are the latest 12th Gen platforms. This leaves the IT11 behind as the architecture change between the 11th and 12th was large. That said, the IT11 does land at the bottom because of this.

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We see the same scenario above for the nT chart, the IT11 lands at the bottom.

Crossmark

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CrossMark gave us a score of 1381, and sliding to the chart below, we see where it lands against our comparisons.

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Looking at the comparison, the IT11 is again at the bottom with its 1381 score.

AIDA64

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Above, we have the memory bench results for the IT11. Throughput is rather good across the board, but even better is the latency at 67ns.

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Throwing those results into our charts, the IT11 matches up quite well against 12th Gen platforms.

UL Benchmarks

UL Procyon Suite

The UL Procyon Office Productivity Benchmark uses Microsoft Office apps to measure PC performance for office productivity work.

The Photo Editing benchmark uses Adobe® Lightroom® to import, process, and modify a selection of images. In the second part of the test, multiple edits and layer effects are applied to a photograph in Adobe® Photoshop®.

The Video editing benchmark uses Adobe® Premiere® Pro to export video project files to common formats. Each video project includes various edits, adjustments, and effects. The benchmark score is based on the time taken to export the videos.

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Getting into the Procyon workloads, the IT11 did well, scoring 4362 in Photo, 1931 in Video, and 4985 in Office.

3DMark

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CPU Profile gave us a single-thread score of 807 from the 1195G7 and a 16-thread score of 2552.

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Looking at the charts, the IT11 does not fall far behind in single-thread performance, but the increased core count of the 12th gen does offer more on the end.

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Evaluating the storage, we picked up a score of 1919 from 3DMark at a bandwidth of 337 MB/s.

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Back to the charts, the IT11 once again is not far behind the NUC 12 or ASRock solutions.

Value and Final Thoughts

Value

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Price v Performance landed the Geekom at 92%, just a few points off the NUC 12 Pro.

Final Thoughts

While the IT11 is past its prime as the platform has aged, it could still serve quite easily as a daily machine for browsing or as a media PC mounted to the back of a monitor or TV. For those interested in a small form factor photo editing machine, throw a solid 32GB or 64GB of DDR4 SO-DIMM at it, and you will likely be ready to go. Adding to that scenario, the IT11 is ready for any NVMe solution you want to throw at it, with chassis-mounted cooling that can easily manage Gen 4 solutions.

On the outside, the IT11 is a solid machine; quality is just as good as factory Intel NUC platforms, and connectivity, while not the best in every aspect, does include both USB 3.2 and USB4 support. HDMI 2.0 is included for higher resolutions and refresh rates, while our only real gripe was the lack of 2.5Gbe for the wired ethernet.

Assessing the performance of the IT11, with its age, it does leave more to be desired, though, if compared against other 28w 11th Gen platforms like our ThinkPad X1 Yoga. That said, Geekom does say outside of daily browsing or photo editing, the IT11 can manage gaming at 1080p across titles like Rocket League, Dota, CS GO, and League of Legends, all with frames well over 100 FPS. In testing, I only had Rocket League available to test this, but I did come away with 99 FPS at 1080p.

Closing this out, pricing on the Mini IT11 currently has it at $629, which does lend a good amount of value to the unit. You can also take advantage of GEEKOM's 19th-anniversary sale and grab another $30 off, though we are not sure how long they are running the promotion.