GEEKOM A6 Review – Part 3: Ubuntu 24.04 tested on an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H mini PC

We’ve already checked out the hardware of the GEEKOM A6 mini PC with an unboxing and teardown in the first part of the review, and thoroughly tested the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H mini PC in Windows 11 Pro in the second part, so it’s now time to report our experience with Ubuntu 24.04 Linux on the mid-range mini PC.

We’ve gone through features testing, system benchmarks, storage (SSD and USB) performance tests, 2.5GbE and WiFi 6 network evaluation, 4K and 8K YouTube video playback, a stress test to check out the cooling ability of the mini PC, and finally fan noise and power consumption measurements.

Ubuntu 24.04 installation and system information

Since we wanted to install Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS alongside Windows 11 Pro, we resized the partition by roughly half.

But since the C: drive was “BitLocker Encrypted”, we knew Ubuntu installation wouldn’t be successful that way, so we went to the Settings to disable BitLocker Driver Encryption.

Once done, we prepared a USB flash drive with the Ubuntu 24.04.1 ISO (since Ubuntu 24.04.2 was not released yet and even delayed), and could install the OS without issues.

Going to Settings -> About confirms we have a GEEKOM A6 computer running Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS on a 16-thread AMD Ryzen 7 6800H with Radeon Graphics coupled wth 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD.

We can get a few more details in the terminal:

And even more with inxi utility:

Everything looks good, except the Bluetooth MAC Address (00:00:00:00:00), but as usual, we can fix Bluetooth on the MT7922 chip by upgrading the Linux kernel. More on that later. The AMD Ryzen 7 6800H processor’s CPU clock ranges between 400 MHz and 4785 MHz, and the idle CPU temperature is fairly low at 43.5°C.

GEEKOM A6 benchmarks on Ubuntu 24.04

We’ll start the benchmarks on Linux with sbc-bench.sh:

GEEKOM A6 mini PC averaged 58,999 points in the 7-zip benchmark starting at 59,599 on the first run, then 59,095 points, and finally 58,266 points pointing to some light thermal or power throttling. The maximum temperature was 95.1°C in 7-zip and the limit is 95°C, so thermal limits were likely involved here.

We can also check the power limits with ryzenadj:

The power limits reported by the utility are as follows:

• Sustained Power Limit (STAPM LIMIT) – 35 Watts
• Actual Power Limit (PPT LIMIT FAST) – 60 Watts
• Average Power Limit (PPT LIMIT SLOW) – 45 Watts

For reference, the PL1 and PL2 power limits were set to 45W (PBP) and 60W (MTP)  in Windows 11.

We can check single-core and multi-core CPU performance with CPU Geekbench 6.4.0.

The AMD Ryzen 7 6800H mini PC achieved 2,111 points in the single-core benchmark, and 10,753 in the multi-core test.

Let’s start testing GPU performance with Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0.

The GEEKOM A6 could render the benchmark at 67.4 FPS with a score of 1,698 points at the standard 1920×1080 resolution.

We also tested YouTube playback with 4K and 8K videos.

A 4K 30FPS video played smoothly with only 3 frames dropped after almost 8 minutes.

4K 60FPS also played fine but with a bit more dropped frames: 153 out of 20,789 after playing the video for over 5 minutes.

8K 30 FPS was a similar story with 127 frames dropped out of 14,366.

However, 8K 60 FPS was unwatchable albeit not quite as bad as in Windows with 4,193 frames dropped out of 19,351.

So in summary, the GEEKOM A6 mini PC can play videos smoothly up to 4K 60 FPS or 8K 30 FPS, but 8K 60 FPS is too big a ask. That’s similar to the experience we had in Windows 11 Pro.

We also ran Speedometer 2.0 in Chrome to evaluate web browsing performance, and the mini PC managed 333 runs per minutes.

We repeated the test in Firefox, and the results was lower at 262 runs per minutes.

Since Speedometer 2.0 is now deprecated, we also ran Speedometer 3.0 to get data for future reviews. That would be 21.6 points in Chrome…

… and 17.8 points in Firefox.

Comparison of GEEKOM A6’s Ubuntu benchmark results against other mini PCs

Let’s now compare the GEEKOM A6 benchmark results on Ubuntu 24.04 against other mid-range mini PC such as GEEKOM A5 (AMD Ryzen 7 5800H), GEEKOM A7 (AMD Ryzen 9 7840HS), and  Maxtang T0-FP750 (AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS). Those are all AMD mini PCs, so we also added the Khadas Mind Premium with an Intel Core i7-1360P processor for reference although it sells for over $1,000.

Here are the benchmark results:

The GEEKOM A6 is faster than the GEEKOM A5 in benchmarks, but the CPU performance is not that much higher, and 3D graphics got quite a boost as we found out on Windows 11. The outlier here is the memset score, so something must have gone wrong in that specific test…

As noted in the Windows review, the A6 is quite up to the level of the GEEKOM A7 or Maxtang T0-FP750 but those cost several hundred dollars more. The GEEKOM A6 is better than the Khadas Mind Premium in benchmarks except for single-core performance (GeekBench/OpenSSL), and the Intel Mini PC costs over twice as much in the same memory/storage configuration. The Mind Premium does have a slick design, a built-in battery, and a Mind Link PCIe expansion connector which may (or may not) justify the higher price.

Storage and USB performance

Let’s now test the 1TB Kingston SSD that ships with the mini PC using iozone3:

That’s about 3,747MB/s read speed and 3,192MB/s write speed, which compared to 4064 MB/s sequential read speed and a 3202 MB/s sequential write speed with CrystalDiskMark on Windows.

We also tested the USB ports to double-check the advertised speed for each port using lsusb (USB 3.2) or boltctl (USB4/Thunderbolt) utility, plus iozone3 to measure the speed using an ORICO M234C3-U4 M.2 NVMe SSD enclosure for USB4 and USB 3.2 ports, and a USB 3.0 hard drive for the USB 2.0 port.

Here are some results for reference. Left USB 3.2 port on the front panel:

USB4 port:

USB 2.0 port:

Here’s the summary of the results for the USB ports on the  GEEKOM A6 (left to right):

• Front panel
  • USB-A #1 – USB 3.2 – 10 Gbps – Read speed: 875 MB/s; write speed: 936 MB/s
  • USB-A #2 – USB 3.2 – 10 Gbps – Read speed: 880 MB/s; write speed: 942 MB/s
• Rear panel
  • USB-C #1 – Thunderbolt/NVMe 8GT/s – Read speed: 2772 MB/s; write speed: 2628 MB/s
  • USB-A #1 (top) – USB 3.2 – USB 3.1 SuperSpeedPlus (10 Gbps) – Read speed: 875 MB/s; write speed: 884 MB/s
  • USB-A #2 (bottom) – USB 2.0 – 480 Mbps – Read speed: 36 MB/s; write speed: 35 MB/s
  • USB-C #2 – USB 3.2 – 10 Gbps – Read speed: 876 MB/s; write speed: 885 MB/s

All ports perform about as expected/advertised.

Network (2.5GbE and WiFi 6) testing

Wired and wireless networking was tested with iperf3 using UP Xtreme i11 Edge mini PC on the other end with a 2.5GbE port. We started with the 2.5Gbps Ethernet port:

• Download

• Upload

• Full duplex:

Perfect. Let’s now try 5GHz WiFi 6 using a Xiaomi Mi AX6000 router:

• Download

• Upload

The WiFi performance is very good with 1.65 Gbps downloads and 1.34 Gbps uploads. That’s similar to what we got in Windows

Sadly, Bluetooth does not work out of the box.

But that’s a known issue as Bluetooth in the Mediatek MT7922 chipset ist not supported by Ubuntu 24.04.01 using the default Linux 6.8 kernel:

So we installed Linux 6.10 manually:

After that, we could enable Bluetooth and transfer a file to the Khadas Mind mini PC over Bluetooth. Note that Ubuntu 24.04.2 to be released on February 20 should not have this issue since it will ship with Linux 6.11. The same is true with newer versions of the OS like Ubuntu 24.10.

GEEKOM A6 stress test on Ubuntu 24.04

We’ve already seen the CPU temperature reach over 95°C in 7-zip, so thermal throttling does happen. But let’s try it again running a stress test on all sixteen threads of the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H processor while monitoring CPU temperature and frequency with Psensor and the sbc-bench.sh script.

The Psensor chart shows the system jumps quickly to 95°C and stabilizes there. We can zoom in by checking out the output of sbc-bench.sh at the beginning of the test.

sbc-bench.sh -m shows the CPU initially runs at 4043 MHz before dropping to around 3700MHz, and then 3500MHz. On longer tests (see first screenshot), the CPU frequency stabilizes at 3378-3419 MHz. That means better cooling would allow for better performance, at least at the 28°C room temperature. If your room is cooler, say 20°C, we’d expect the system to run closer to 3700 MHz under a similar load.

Fan noise

Since the GEEKOM A6 is actively cooled, we measured the fan noise with a sound level meter placed at around 5 centimeters from the top of the device:

• Idle – 39.5 – 40 dBA
• YouTube 8K 60FPS video in Firefox (volume) –  54.0 – 55.0 dBA
• Stress test on all 16 threads –  53.0 – 54.6 dBA

For reference, the meter measures around 37.0 dBA in a quiet room.

Power consumption on Ubuntu 24.04

We measured the power consumption with a wall power meter:

• Power off – 1.3 – 1.5 Watt
• Idle
  • Server mode – 4.0 – 4.3 Watts
  • Desktop mode – 4.8 – 5.5 Watts
• Video playback – 72.2 – 73.5 Watts (Youtube 8K 60FPS in Firefox)
• CPU stress test (stress -c 16)
  • First ~30 seconds – 70.7 – 76.7 Watts
  • Longer run – 56.4 – 59.0 Watts

Most measurements were made in “desktop mode” with the mini PC connected to WiFi 6, an HDMI monitor with its own power adapter, and a USB RF dongle for a wireless keyboard and mouse combo. The exception is the “Idle – server mode” test where we removed the HDMI cable and USB dongle for people who may decide to use the mini PC without a monitor or keyboard/mouse.

Conclusion

The GEEKOM A6 performs well in Linux with the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H mini PC relatively well supported in Ubuntu 24.04.1. Its 32GB of RAM, 1TB M.2 SSD, 2.5GbE and Wi-Fi 6E, and USB4, USB 3.2, and USB 2.0 ports will meet the needs of most users, and it’s also possible to connect up to four 4K displays through its HDMI 2.0 and USB Type-C ports.

Benchmark scores show the GEEKOM A6 provides some noticeable improvement over the GEEKOM A5, especially for 3D graphics, but it’s still way off of the more expensive GEEKOM A7. YouTube video playback worked well in Firefox up to 4K 60 FPS or 8K 30 FPS, but 8K 60 FPS won’t play well and it’s unwatchable like in Windows. Bluetooth 5.3 did not work out of the box in Ubuntu 24.04.1 because the MediaTek MT7922’s Bluetooth functionality requires at least Linux 6.10. After we upgraded the Linux kernel Bluetooth worked fine, and it should just work when using a more recent OS like Ubuntu 24.10 or the upcoming Ubuntu 24.04.2. Thermal throttling does occur under heavy loads, at least when operating the device in a room with an ambient temperature of 28°C, but the performance reduction is not too dramatic with the CPU frequency stabilizing at around 3400 MHz. The CPU temperature remained at 95°C under a stress test on all sixteen threads.

We would like to thank GEEKOM for sending us the A6 mini PC for review with 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD. The test configuration can be purchased for $427 on the GEEKOM US store or Amazon with the 5% discount code CNXA65OFF. You’ll also find the mini PC on GEEKOM UK for 499 GBP before using the same coupon code.

CNXSoft: This article is a translation – with some additional insights – of the original review on CNX Software Thailand by Suthinee Kerdkaew.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.

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