ASUS ProArt GR1X RTX Spark Mini PCs Promise Powerful, Efficient Gaming

Mini PCs have historically traded graphical horsepower for a smaller and more efficient footprint, but who says you can't have the best of both worlds? Not ASUS, which is looking to upend that compromise with its ProArt GR1X, a compact desktop system driven by NVIDIA's new RTX Spark platform. While local AI is obviously a major focus, ASUS claims its newest mini PC can achieve over 100 frames per second at 1440p in triple-A titles. More on that claim in a moment.

Measuring just 150×150×51mm (roughly a 1.1-liter footprint), the ProArt GR1X is powered by an RTX Spark chip with an ultra-efficient Grace CPU and a Blackwell-based RTX GPU linked via NVIDIA's NVLink-C2C interconnect technology. According to the spec sheet, the ProArt GR1X pulls a modest 140W TDP.

While ASUS is primarily positioning the ProArt GR1X as a localized workstation for AI developers and content creators running large language models and complex 3D rendering workloads, the company is leaning into NVIDIA's 'Game Ready' angle and various RTX amenities.

This is where the claim of 100+ FPS comes into play. ASUS doesn't go into too many details about gaming, but we presume that metric takes into account DLSS upscaling. Because the RTX Spark silicon is built on NVIDIA's Blackwell architecture, the system supports DLSS Multi-Frame Generation, as well as hardware-accelerated ray tracing and NVIDIA Reflex.

We have not tested the ProArt GR1X, but RTX Spark certainly brings the goods. The GPU port features 6,144 shader cores, which is the same as a desktop GeForce RTX 5070.

Beyond graphics and gaming, to handle heavy multi-threaded workloads and demanding AI frameworks at the same time, the ProArt GR1X can be configured with up to 128GB of LPDDR5X (with 64GB options also available). The CPU and GPU share the same memory pool, allowing the system to handle massive local datasets and 90GB 3D rendering scenes.

Connectivity is similarly modern, featuring Wi-Fi 7 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4. And as for the port selection, the rear houses 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C with power delivery, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 10Gbps LAN, and 1x Kensington Lock slot. There are not any ports on the front, which houses the power button and an LED.

ASUS has not announced pricing or availability of its ProArt GR1X mini PC, but you can sign up to be notified when it's available.