ASRock’s X600 DeskMini – Finally – Again

Years ago, the SFF community waited with bated breath for the ASRock DeskMini A300. With AMD APU support, it offered a better balance than Intel chips between the CPU and GPU. This SFF Gem was the ideal Deskmini, and the SFF Network community rallied around it by creating custom 3D printed cases, BIOS updates, and more.
Now, the times have changed and AMD’s AM5 platform has arrived. Again, the SFF community waited. It felt like ages but ASRocks X600 DeskMini is finally here.
Asrock was kind enough to send a sample unit to Small Form Factor Network for testing and review. No review guidance was...

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[SFFMunkee]

YASSSSSS

 

[Curiosity]

I still go back to the original a300- finally article from tone to time

 

[Solo]

Nice review and beige SSD. Those datasheets are insane. 117 pages for a PWM controller. It'd be cool to be smart.

 

[SFFMunkee]

Nice review and beige SSD. Those datasheets are insane. 117 pages for a PWM controller. It'd be cool to be smart.

IDK all the smart people I know say it's overrated. I'm happy being a bit dim

 

[Waffuls]

Wonder if a 7800X3D would work on it

 

[SFFMunkee]

Wonder if a 7800X3D would work on it

Extremely unlikely - they've only got <=65W CPUs listed and we're all familiar with how difficult it is to try to get non-supported CPUs running in a DeskMini

::EDIT:: Interestingly enough, it looks like they shipped with BIOS version 1.37, and they've just in the last 48 hours or so released a new BIOS 1.43? Though the release notes literally say "first released" - so maybe 1.37 was pre-release??

 

[shadowfreud]

Thanks for posting this in depth look! Does anyone know how to buy this from the US?? Can't find any online retailers who will ship. I'm so eager to get my hands on it

 

[JLatte64]

Fwiw, I've asked ASRock support in an email about 12V compatibility with this board and, unsurprisingly, they've said it will not work with 12V (though the X300 was rated for 19V and worked with 12V just fine... so we shall see!)

 

[protocolsix]

I'd love to know more about the Gen5 M.2 PCIe x4 performance with discrete GPUs. Any improvement over the Gen3 of the X300?

And also compatibility with 7800X3D CPU.

 

[SFFMunkee]

I'd love to know more about the Gen5 M.2 PCIe x4 performance with discrete GPUs. Any improvement over the Gen3 of the X300?

And also compatibility with 7800X3D CPU.

I will be testing this - although it'll be more like testing PCIe3.0 to PCIe4.0 because X300 is PCIe3 only, and my GPUs are PCIe4 only

It will NOT be compatible with 7800X3D, guaranteed - they're only supporting 65W CPUs and it's not listed in compatibility.
ASRock are very particular about which CPUs will work with their STX boards and only add specific CPU/APU models into the UEFI

 

[xerox445]

In the spirit of an "on going review and a living document", for the love of god can you please try to see if it will boot with a 12v power supply?

 

[msystems]

Nice review!! We've been hyped for a while for this.

I'd love to know more about the Gen5 M.2 PCIe x4 performance with discrete GPUs. Any improvement over the Gen3 of the X300?

And also compatibility with 7800X3D CPU.

Getting a gen 5 link will probably be nearly impossible due to the signal issues. "Gen 5" is technically true at the processor level though. Whether the traces on the board are up to it? HMM. And you need a very high quality shielded riser + redriver.

Optimistically it will be able to link @ gen 4.0, which is still a substantial improvement over 3.0, somewhere around up to a 5% performance increase (resolution dependent, 92-96٪ of gen4 x16)

 

[confusis]

In the spirit of an "on going review and a living document", for the love of god can you please try to see if it will boot with a 12v power supply?

On it! Just need to find a 12v brick in my stash with enough juice. Expect results in an hour or two

 

[confusis]

Answer to the 12V question is a resounding.... NO

Won't even show signs of life. Dang.

 

[xerox445]

Answer to the 12V question is a resounding.... NO

Won't even show signs of life. Dang.

Thank you for your service.
:taps:

 

[SFFMunkee]

Answer to the 12V question is a resounding.... NO

Won't even show signs of life. Dang.

Nooooo that's not what we want to hear!

I'll retest it when I have it anyway - for the sake of completeness

 

[hrh_ginsterbusch]

Wondering if this is gonna be compatible with the freshly announced 9000 CPUs. Because both 9600X and 9700X are supposed to be 65W CPUs. At least according to AMD.

cu, w0lf.

 

[SFFMunkee]

Wondering if this is gonna be compatible with the freshly announced 9000 CPUs. Because both 9600X and 9700X are supposed to be 65W CPUs. At least according to AMD.

cu, w0lf.

I suspect they will be but not yet. Will require a BIOS update for sure

 

[jcltm]

Did you measured idle power consumption with only OS booted and no load on the background? I am very intrested in it, because my Deskmini A300 consumes only around 10 W on 230 V side, which is perfect. I would like to buy another one, but X300 seems like grandfather of this X600... I am planning to use 8500G CPU.