Welcome to our ASUS PN50 benchmark post! Where we test this ASUS Mini PC with the Ryzen 5 4500U and Ryzen 7 4700U processors in a series of benchmarks to see their performance.
If you did not catch our first article covering the unboxing and overview of the mini PC from ASUS, you can read and watch the video here. In short you have a choice of two models with Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 processors, and a choice of 16GB or 32GB DDR4 3200Mhz RAM, and storage options from 256GB, 512GB up to 1TB NVMe. With space inside the Mini PC to install a 2.5″ HDD or SSD..
Full Mini PC Benchmark Video
You can watch our video covering the benchmarks below, or if you prefer there is a detailed text version after to read.
ASUS PN50 Mini PC Technical Specifications
In this ASUS PN50 mini PC comparison we are putting the Ryzen 5 and 7 models against each other. Let’s take a look at the technical specs for both models.
| MODEL | AMD Ryzen 5 | AMD Ryzen 7 |
| CPU: | 4500U | 4700U |
| CORES: | 6 | 8 |
| THREADS: | 6 | 8 |
| MAX SPEED: | 4.0Ghz | 4.1Ghz |
| GPU: | AMD Radeon Graphics | AMD Radeon Graphics |
| CORES: | 6 | 7 |
| MAX SPEED: | 1,500Mhz | 1,600Mhz |
We have installed the same type of 32GB DDR4 3200Mhz RAM and 1 TB NVMe SSD installed on both models.
With the extra cores and slightly faster clock speed on the AMD Ryzen 7 we will definitely see an increase in performance over the Ryzen 5, but by how much for these NUC killers?
ASUS PN50 Benchmark
We are using a few different benchmarks which test artificial and real world scenarios to ensure we get a good performance overview.
PassMark
We start the benchmarks with PassMark which performs an overall benchmark of components including the processor, graphics, memory and disk speeds. This will give us a general indication of the difference of performance between the two models.
First we have the scores for the Ryzen 5, it scores a respectable 4,460, with good scores across the tests. The Ryzen 7 scores an impressive 4,830, with higher scores across the tests than the Ryzen 5. There’s around a 7.9% increase in performance between the two.
Looking closer at the scores we can see the main differences in the CPU and Graphics tests, and marginal differences in the RAM and Disk speeds as they both use the same specification.
PCMark
Next we use PCMark to perform benchmarks to see the general performance of day to day tasks including web browsing, media playing, video conferencing, working with large office documents and much more. This gives us a more real life usage performance test than simply seeing how fast a processor, for example runs.
The Ryzen 5 scores 4,644 which is around the expected range for this specification of Mini PC. The Ryzen 7 scores a higher 5,132, again with higher scores across the individual tests. There’s around a 9.9% difference between the two models.
In real life tasks this is especially important. It means everything from booting to Windows, opening software, loading and saving large documents will be fast on both models, but almost 10% faster on the Ryzen 7.
3DMark
We next tested the CPU and graphics performance on 3DMark. This is not just for gaming performance, but gives us an indication of how well it performs with graphics rendering which is also used in media viewing, photo and video editing for example.
The Ryzen 5 scores 1,034 which is around the average for a Ryzen mini PC of this specification. The Ryzen 7 scores 1,194, that’s around 14.3% higher than the Ryzen 5.
The gap in the scores is more noticeable here, and we can see that the extra cores and clock speed in the Ryzen 7 give that extra boost in performance.
AMD Mini PC Gaming Performance
It’s not just for work related tasks, but it’s also very capable at gaming. In the following ASUS PN50 benchmarks we will be changing the settings to maximum to really stress test both models in order to see the difference. In normal circumstances, you would of course have the graphics on the system recommended settings, which is generally in the Medium to High range, for a good 60 FPS average on these devices.
Forza Horizon 4
For Forza Horizon 4 we have changed the settings to the default Ultra settings with a target of 60 FPS. Forza Horizon 4 is a good game to benchmark, as it takes advantage of multiple cores on both processor and integrated graphics on the ASUS PN50 mini PC.
The Ryzen 5 scores a respectable 18 frames per second with a low of 15 and high of 29 FPS. The Ryzen 7 scores a very respectable 24 frames per second with a low of 23 and high of 35 FPS.
This gives us a frames per second difference of around 28%, which again is quite a gap. With the Ryzen 7 especially, you could drop a few settings from Ultra, to High and Medium, and enjoy some 60 FPS gaming quite easily.
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker
Next we ran the Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker benchmark software. The game is not released until later this year, so we can get a look at how the Ryzen mini PC’s will perform with future released games.
For this test we have changed the graphics settings to maximum and the benchmark is running full screen instead of a borderless Window.
The Ryzen 5 scores a very reasonable 2,191, with the Ryzen 7 scoring 2,783. This provides a performance difference of around 23.8% and is around the expected percentage difference going by the previous tests.
Especially with the Ryzen 7, you could tweak a few graphics settings to improve the performance and bump the scores up to reach the recommended minimum Standard Performance settings. For a gaming mini PC this is very impressive!
ASUS PN50 Benchmark Summary
Time to see the scores on the doors! Below we have a summary of the individual test results with their percentage difference.
| BENCHMARK | RYZEN 5 4500U | RYZEN 7 4700U | % DIFFERENCE |
| PassMark | 4,460 | 4,830 | 7.9% |
| PCMark | 4,644 | 5,132 | 9.9% |
| 3DMark | 1,034 | 1,194 | 14.2% |
| Forza Horizon 4 | 18 FPS | 24 FPS | 28% |
| Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker | 2,191 | 2,783 | 23.8% |
| AVERAGE | 16.7% |
This gives an average of around 16.7% performance increase on the Ryzen 7 over the Ryzen 5 which is a considerable amount! Both models are equally capable for use in day to day tasks which can include anything from web browsing to working with large office documents. With the Ryzen 7, you will however see an increase in performance with tasks that are more processor and graphics intensive, such as large spreadsheets and databases or image and video editing.
As a gaming mini PC, it’s where the biggest increases in performance are seen. The extra 25% speed gives a noticeable amount of additional frames per second. While our tests were running at maximum settings for benchmarking, you can change these to a reasonable level such as Medium and High and enjoy a very good balance of visual quality versus performance.
Whichever model of ASUS mini PC you do decide on, you can be sure that you will have a high quality build with great performance and reliability!
Where to buy the ASUS Mini PC
You can learn more and buy the ASUS Mini PC, and do check out our range of Windows Mini PC which includes both Intel and AMD processors.
