MSI Cubi AI 3MG: Over 60 % Faster Than Its Predecessor, but Still Some Gaps

When MSI rolled out the refreshed Cubi AI 3MG, the buzz was loud: a compact PC that finally catches up with the performance of its bigger siblings. The headline claim – “over 60 % faster than before” – sounded almost too good to be true, so we put the little box through a battery of real‑world tests.

First impressions matter, and the Cubi AI 3MG doesn’t disappoint on the visual front. The chassis is the same sleek, matte black that has become MSI’s signature for these tiny workhorses. It sits comfortably on a desk, in a bookshelf, even on a cramped kitchen counter, and the build feels solid despite its modest dimensions.

Under the hood, MSI swapped the aging Intel Core i5‑1135G7 for the newer i5‑1335U, paired with 16 GB of DDR5‑5600 RAM and a 512 GB NVMe SSD. In isolation, each component looks respectable, but the real question is how they play together. Our benchmark suite – ranging from PCMark 10 to Blender’s CPU test – consistently showed gains of roughly 62 % compared to the previous Cubi AI model.

Take the everyday workload: opening a browser with a dozen tabs, running a Word document, and streaming music. The system feels snappier, with virtually no stutter. Even when we threw a demanding AI‑enhanced video transcoding task at it, the Cubi AI 3MG finished about two‑thirds faster than its predecessor.

That said, the performance jump isn’t a magic bullet. While the raw numbers are impressive, the thermal solution feels a bit conservative. During sustained stress tests the CPU clock throttled after a few minutes, shaving off a few extra percent of speed that could have been retained with a more aggressive cooling design.

Another nuance worth mentioning is the connectivity suite. MSI kept the Wi‑Fi 6E module, which works flawlessly, but the number of USB‑C ports stayed at one, limiting flexibility for power‑delivery and external displays. Users who need multiple high‑speed peripherals might find themselves reaching for a hub.

On the software side, MSI’s own AI Suite 2 is fairly lightweight, offering quick toggles for power modes and a simple dashboard for system health. There’s a slight learning curve, but nothing that feels overly cluttered.

Bottom line? The Cubi AI 3MG delivers a clear, noticeable boost – over 60 % faster in our tests – and it does so in a tiny, well‑built package. However, a more aggressive cooling strategy and a bit more port variety would have turned a good upgrade into a great one.