ORIGIMAGIC N5

The ORIGIMAGIC N5 is a small desktop for office work, video calls, and light home-server or router duty. It pairs a four-core AMD Ryzen 3 5400U with two 2.5GbE ports, two M.2 slots that both run at PCIe 3.0 x4, and two memory slots. The chip is a 2021 laptop part, so its networking and upgrade room are the main reasons to buy it. Within the ORIGIMAGIC range it sits above the C4 SE, which has an older Ryzen 5 3500U and two Gigabit ports.

Pros and Cons

ORIGIMAGIC N5 Comparison Chart

	ORIGIMAGIC N5	ORIGIMAGIC N5
Price	List Price: $300.00 Amazon Prices: Loading prices...	List Price: $390.00 Amazon Prices: Loading prices...
Version	8GB/256GB/Ryzen 3 5400U	16GB/512GB/Ryzen 3 5400U
Performance Rating	3.2	3.6
Operating System	Windows 11 Pro	Windows 11 Pro
Processor	Quad-core 2.60 Ghz (max 4.00 Ghz) AMD Ryzen 3 5400U	Quad-core 2.60 Ghz (max 4.00 Ghz) AMD Ryzen 3 5400U
GPU	Integrated AMD Radeon Graphics	Integrated AMD Radeon Graphics
RAM	8 GB DDR4 SO-DIMM (DDR4-3200)	16 GB DDR4 SO-DIMM, 2-channel (2x 8GB DDR4-3200)
Internal Storage	256 GB NVMe SSD	512 GB NVMe SSD
Dimensions width x length x thickness	---	---
Weight	unknown	unknown
WiFi	Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac)	Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac)
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 5.0	Bluetooth 5.0
Ethernet	2 Ethernet ports at 2.5 Gbps	2 Ethernet ports at 2.5 Gbps
HDMI	1 Full-Size HDMI Port	1 Full-Size HDMI Port
DisplayPort	1 DisplayPort (HDMI, DP, and USB-C each 4K 60Hz)	1 DisplayPort (HDMI, DP, and USB-C each 4K 60Hz)
VGA	No VGA Ports	No VGA Ports
USB Ports	2 USB 2.0, 2 USB 3, 1 USB-C Front: 2x USB-A 10Gbps, USB-C. Rear: 2x USB 2.0	2 USB 2.0, 2 USB 3, 1 USB-C Front: 2x USB-A 10Gbps, USB-C. Rear: 2x USB 2.0
Thunderbolt Ports	No	No
OCuLink	No	No
Internal SATA Ports	No SATA ports	No SATA ports
Card Reader	No Card Reader	No Card Reader
Headphone Jack	combo	combo
Fanless	No	No
VESA Mount	Yes	Yes
In the Box	Mini PC, power adapter, HDMI cable, VESA mount with screws, manual	Mini PC, power adapter, HDMI cable, VESA mount with screws, manual
Expandability	Two DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM slots. Second M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 x4 slot free.	Two DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM slots. Second M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 x4 slot free.

Ports, networking, and upgrades

The front panel holds a status light, the power button, a combo headphone and microphone jack, one USB-C port, and two USB-A 3.2 ports at 10Gbps. The back has two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort, two RJ45 jacks, a Kensington lock slot, and the barrel power input. HDMI, DisplayPort, and the USB-C port each carry video at up to 4K 60Hz, and all three can run at once. ORIGIMAGIC does not give a data speed for the USB-C port.

Both RJ45 jacks run at 2.5Gbps. Two network ports let the N5 work as a software router or firewall, or keep a NAS or lab network apart from the home LAN, without a USB adapter. Wake-on-LAN, RTC wake, and automatic power-on after an outage are supported, which suits a box that runs unattended. Wireless is Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) with Bluetooth 5.0, and there is no SD card reader.

The 16GB model fills both DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM slots with 8GB sticks, so it runs in dual-channel mode. The Radeon graphics share system memory, so a matched pair of sticks helps both the processor and the graphics. The second M.2 2280 slot ships empty and takes a full-speed NVMe drive, unlike the C4 SE, whose spare slot runs at PCIe 3.0 x1.

An older four-core Ryzen 3 chip

The AMD Ryzen 3 5400U has four Zen 3 cores and eight threads, a 2.6GHz base clock, and a 4.0GHz boost, and the N5 runs it at a 15W power level. It scores about 10,744 in PassMark’s multi-thread CPU test, against about 6,831 for the Ryzen 5 3500U in the C4 SE. That is enough for office suites, many browser tabs, streaming, and video calls, with little headroom for heavy multitasking, large compile jobs, or several virtual machines. A CPU fan and a heat sink cool the chip.

The integrated AMD Radeon Graphics run at up to 1600MHz. They handle 4K video playback, three desktop displays, older games, and retro emulation, but current 3D games need low settings and a low resolution. The same chip ships in the GMKtec NucBox M5S, which adds Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, and the BOSGAME E5 Plus, which uses a SATA boot drive.

Choosing between the 8GB and 16GB models

The 16GB/512GB model is ready to use as shipped; the 8GB/256GB model costs less but is worth a second memory stick. Buyers who want more cores in a small box should look past the 5400U to a newer six- or eight-core Ryzen. To line the N5 up against other models, use the Mini PC Comparison Chart.

Frequently Asked Questions