Minisforum has officially announced the release of the N5 Pro AI NAS, a new barebone network-attached storage (NAS) system designed for advanced storage, computing, and networking requirements. The new system targets professionals, content creators, and small enterprises looking for flexible storage solutions with powerful processing capabilities.
The N5 Pro AI NAS is built with five hot-swappable 3.5-inch drive bays, each connected via SATA 6 Gbps backplanes, and supports up to three M.2-2280 NVMe SSDs for high-speed solid-state storage. This combination offers a balance between large-capacity HDD storage and ultra-fast SSD performance.
For expansion, the unit features a PCI Express 4.0 x16 slot (electrical x8), enabling the installation of dedicated graphics cards, data processing units (DPUs), or high-performance network interface cards (NICs). This flexibility makes it suitable for tasks beyond traditional NAS use, such as video rendering or AI model deployment in localized environments.
In terms of networking, the N5 Pro AI NAS offers two high-speed options: a 10 Gigabit Ethernet port and a secondary 5 Gigabit Ethernet port, providing versatile connectivity for different workloads and network setups.
The system is powered by the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX Pro 370 processor, which includes 12 CPU cores and 24 threads, an integrated GPU with 16 compute units, and a neural processing unit capable of delivering 50 TOPS. Memory is supported via two DDR5 SO-DIMM slots, with configurations available up to 96 GB of ECC DDR5. While the barebone variant ships without pre-installed RAM, it includes a 128 GB NVMe SSD with MinisCloud OS preloaded.
Minisforum is also offering a more cost-effective option, the N5 AI NAS. This version features an AMD Ryzen 7 255 processor, 16 GB of DDR5 memory, and retains many of the same connectivity features, making it suitable for users with less demanding performance needs.
Both models support OCUlink for direct high-speed device connections, USB4 with up to 40 Gbps transfer speeds, and a single-key installation process for Docker containers, streamlining setup for various applications.
Pricing for the N5 Pro AI NAS starts at USD $1,019, while the N5 AI NAS starts at $645. Availability is expected through Minisforum’s official store and authorized resellers.
