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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[confusis]

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.

I'll get those numbers later this afternoon for ya

 

[confusis]

Idling at about 9?5W, with occasional spikes to 11.8 or so.

 

[SFFMunkee]

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.

I'll test this with 8600G and 8700G | and different RAM speeds

The reason X300/X600 systems are so efficient at idle is twofold - no external chipset (which typically draws anywhere from 5-15W by itself) and they're monolithic, so everything in one die at a modern lithography process.

 

[jcltm]

Idling at about 9?5W, with occasional spikes to 11.8 or so.

Perfect, that's the same like a300. Thank you very much, I will wait and buy x600.

 

[jcltm]

Idling at about 9?5W, with occasional spikes to 11.8 or so.

Where you measured it? On 230 V side, 12 V side or values reported by OS? Thank you.

 

[Waffuls]

I always think TDP as a recommendation/guideline. There's no reason why you can't limit processors to 65W, and people have done that for at least a decade.

Though, this will suck if it really doesn't support 12v, but, not like this should stop anyone.

 

[confusis]

Where you measured it? On 230 V side, 12 V side or values reported by OS? Thank you.

230V side, via a Kill-a-watt clone.

 

[jcltm]

230V side, via a Kill-a-watt clone.

Thank you very much

 

[Jorrit]

Did you try undervolting with curve optimizer?
Should give a lot better multi core score if indeed the cpu is limited by power draw.

 

[msystems]

Did you try undervolting with curve optimizer?
Should give a lot better multi core score if indeed the cpu is limited by power draw.

Hmm, I thought I remember it mentioned in discord that curve optimizer works? Would be nice to confirm since that feature was absent on the x300

 

[confusis]

Did you try undervolting with curve optimizer?
Should give a lot better multi core score if indeed the cpu is limited by power draw.

I had curve Optimiser working, didn't bench it though. I've got a job interview today (my employer went into liquidation a week ago) so will throw some quick benches in after that.

 

[rfarmer]

I had curve Optimiser working, didn't bench it though. I've got a job interview today (my employer went into liquidation a week ago) so will throw some quick benches in after that.

Good luck.

 

[SFFMunkee]

Hmm, I thought I remember it mentioned in discord that curve optimizer works? Would be nice to confirm since that feature was absent on the x300

I used it on X300 via Ryzen Master?

 

[msystems]

I used it on X300 via Ryzen Master?

Ah interesting. That's good to know it is supported in Ryzen master then because it was missing in the bios.

 

[Gingerbeer]

I know it's really niche, but I kinda wish they'd taken the same route as the Dell Precision 3240 Compact, as far as the form factor goes. Same volume but support for half height cards.

Yeah, there's a tiny price discrepancy*, but still...


*If it wasn't obvious, I was jesting

 

[akisu]

I know it's really niche, but I kinda wish they'd taken the same route as the Dell Precision 3240 Compact, as far as the form factor goes. Same volume but support for half height cards.

Yeah, there's a tiny price discrepancy*, but still...


*If it wasn't obvious, I was jesting

2,3L <> 1,9L, that are 21% more. Beside the price, you have Intel only and pay way more. But yes the GPU option can be nice. For none gaming activities the DeskMini is a nice budget computer. And with RDNA2 some light gaming should be fine too.

 

[Gingerbeer]

2,3L <> 1,9L

OK, similar volume.

 

[Dampfbox]

it offered a better balanced

That would be "balance", I assume?

 

[confusis]

That would be "balance", I assume?

Fixed, ta

 

[milesvw]

They definitely missed a few tricks:
At this thickness they could have found a low profile heat pipe cooler and made an optional mount for something like an RX6400 instead of 2x 2.5" drives. (Perhaps with a custom front and back panel this could work? I'm taking about moving the mid-plate higher up so there is room for a single slot GPU)

What I'd like to see:

• Option for a case roughly 15-30mm slimmer.
• PCIe x16 PIO slot (x8 electrical), or
• Oculink
• 2x NVMe on the bottom with optional PCB: x8 slot or x8 oculink.

The market for this is confusing, why charge more when the NUC style comes with processors for cheaper overall cost. I could understand the cost if it offered better expansion, but again it doesn't.

The lack of 12v is very depressing.

It shouldn't be impossible to add an x4 4.0 eGPU, or an internal adapter. And performance hit should be the same as running a 4.0 x8 card in a PCIe 3.0 slot.

Not sure why they don't want to make a PIO board and enable some sweet gaming. Seems funny. (I got an STX board and case back when they launched. H110 board. Never could get it to take a Coffee Lake mod, still waiting for a project to put it in, like make a tiny tower with a glass side panel. I've already got a 'mining' M.2 adaptor and a tiny GT730 that ends at x8 length so it looks all to scale .)