Gigabyte quietly posted a new Panther Lake Brix on its website. The GB-BRU9-386H is a compact desktop built around Intel’s Core Ultra 9 386H, a 16-core processor from the company’s latest chip family. What makes this one different is that you can swap the RAM yourself.
The best mini PCs solder memory to save space inside the chassis. This one gives you two SO-DIMM DDR5 slots instead. You can pop them open and install up to 128GB down the road when your needs change. The listing also confirms Wi-Fi 7 support and dual M.2 storage slots, with one of them running at PCIe Gen5 speeds. Gigabyte hasn’t said when it ships or what it might cost yet. But the product page is already live, which usually means an announcement isn’t far off.
Ports and storage keep pace with the processor
The back and front of this Brix pack a surprising number of connections. You get two USB4 ports with DisplayPort v2.1 support, so a single cable can drive a high-resolution monitor. Two HDMI 2.1 ports sit nearby, meaning multi-screen setups don’t need adapters or dongles to work.
For older gear, there’s a USB 2.0 Type-A port alongside three USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports and one USB-C with power delivery. Wired networking runs through a 2.5GbE LAN jack, and the built-in Wi-Fi 7 handles everything else wirelessly.
Storage flexibility stands out here. Two M.2 2280 slots live inside the slim case. One connects at PCIe Gen5 x4 speeds, which is still rare in this form factor. The other runs at Gen4 x4 speeds. That setup lets you pair a screaming fast boot drive with a larger secondary drive and not lose performance on either one.
What the specs leave out
The Core Ultra 9 386H inside this box runs at 28 watts. That 16-core setup includes four performance cores, eight efficient cores, and four low-power efficient cores. It sips power but should handle productivity work without breaking a sweat.
Graphics come from Intel’s integrated Xe3 silicon rather than the Arc B390 GPU found in some other Panther Lake systems. Clock speed tops out at 2.5GHz. You still get dual USB4 and dual HDMI 2.1 for 8K displays, plus up to 50 total platform TOPS for local AI tasks.
Gigabyte lists Windows 11 and Ubuntu 25.10 as supported operating systems. That matters for anyone who wants a tiny test rig or development machine.
When you can buy one
There’s no release date or price yet. Gigabyte tends to launch products quietly, and the live product page suggests the GB-BRU9-386H could pop up for sale any week now.
Expect to pay more than current Brix models given the newer processor and PCIe Gen5 support. If you want a tiny PC that lets you choose your own RAM and storage later, keep checking Gigabyte’s site. The official launch should hit soon.
