News ASRock DeskMini B660: A LGA1700 barebone with PCIe 5.0 SSD, USB 3.2 Gen2×2 and DDR4

LINK: https://www.asrock.com/news/index.asp?iD=4807
Other sources: LINK LINK

ASRock DeskMini B660

• Intel12th Gen Core processors up to 65 watts TDP
• 2× SO-DIMM DDR4 3200Mhz
• 2 x 2280 M.2 slots (1 PCIe 5.0 and 1 PCIe 4.0)
• 1x USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type C , 1x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type A and 3.5mm audio jack in front
• 1× USB 3.2 Gen-2x1 Type-C with ALT mode in back offering DP and PD (60w) connectivity in rear I/O
• Supports 3 monitors USB-C, Displayport 1.4a and HDMI? (assuming, not stated)
• Intel Gigabit lan and M.2 2230 Wi-Fi/BT slot
• 155 × 155 × 80 mm (L×H×W)
• External power adapter

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

Asrock also announced the DeskMeet, an 8L barebone with internal PSU, 4x DIMM and dual slot PCIe-16X: https://www.asrock.com/news/index.asp?iD=4802

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Don't know why place an ATX size power supply on their DeskMeet while SFX and FLEX standards exists...
Maybe I'll buy the DeskMeet just for their MB (supporting 128Gb).

 

[confusis]

I want that X300 board... looks intriguing

 

[robbee]

Wonder if they are ever going to release this, or at least announce when it'll be released. It's been 3 months since the press release now...

 

[W4RR10R]

Wonder if they are ever going to release this, or at least announce when it'll be released. It's been 3 months since the press release now...

It took like a year between the Deskmini A300 announcement and launch.

 

[fadsarmy]

It has been released in Asia so hopefully here soon.

 

[msystems]

It just showed up in the Asrock store

299.99US $ 25% OFF|Asrock Deskmini B660w Series New Intel B660 Ddr4 Pcie 4.0 X16, Usb 3.2 Gen 64g Support 12 Gen Lga 1700 Cpu Motherboard - Motherboards - AliExpress

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The price is kinda high considering its just another DeskMini again with the same case design. The rear I/O is pretty good though compared to the x300.

 

[Valantar]

Gotta say I really like that form factor. I'd love to see a slightly higher effort board that tried to get some extra m.2 slots into that extra space, that would be pretty neat.

 

[msystems]

The bios supports changing the cpu multiplier apparently and a few other things (looking at the manual). But the processor support list is only for non-K and non-F cpu.

https://download.asrock.com/Manual/DeskMini%20B660%20Series.pdf

CPU Configuration
CPU Turbo Ratio Information
This item allows users to browse the CPU Turbo Ratio information.
CPU Configuration
CPU P-Core Ratio
The CPU speed is determined by the CPU P-Core Ratio multiplied with the BCLK.
Increasing the CPU P-Core Ratio will increase the internal CPU clock speed
without affecting the clock speed of other components.
AVX2 Ratio Offset
AVX2 Ratio Offset specifies a negative offset from the CPU Ratio for AVX
workloads. AVX is a more stressful workload that lower the AVX ratio to ensure
maximum possible ratio for SSE workloads.

So im confused. Can the multiplier even be changed on non-K intel? And if intel K processors have iGpu, why doesn't Asrock support them (other than tdp reasons). Would the bios recognize a 12600k and boot even though its not supported?

 

[Valantar]

The bios supports changing the cpu multiplier apparently and a few other things (looking at the manual). But the processor support list is only for non-K and non-F cpu.

https://download.asrock.com/Manual/DeskMini%20B660%20Series.pdf

So im confused. Can the multiplier even be changed on non-K intel? And if intel K processors have iGpu, why doesn't Asrock support them (other than tdp reasons). Would the bios recognize a 12600k and boot even though its not supported?

AFAIK the multiplier can always be lowered on non-K Intel CPUs, but you won't be able to raise it above stock - the BIOS won't let you. As for K SKUs, it's likely they would boot given that they're architecturally identical to other ADL chips, but they might be explicitly excluded for power delivery reasons, for example. AFAIK that would require extra BIOS work on ASRock's side though - leaving it off the QVL is one thing, explicitly removing support from the BIOS is another. YMMV, I guess.

 

[Arboreal]

Gotta say I really like that form factor. I'd love to see a slightly higher effort board that tried to get some extra m.2 slots into that extra space, that would be pretty neat.

Agreed, the Deskmeet (ITX+) form factor looks really appealing. you could make some great workstations and portable gaming rigs with them in custom cases.

IIRC they managed 3 M.2 slots on the RX/GTX micro STX boards, and there should be available lanes.

On another tack with M.2, although they are slower* than NVMe it would be great to have a a dedicated 2x SATA M.2 board to go in the lower drive bay of Deskminis in place of 2x 2.5" SSDs.
* I'm not sure how many applications really would show the speed difference in the real world, and would be fine for storage drives

 

[Valantar]

On another tack with M.2, although they are slower* than NVMe it would be great to have a a dedicated 2x SATA M.2 board to go in the lower drive bay of Deskminis in place of 2x 2.5" SSDs.
* I'm not sure how many applications really would show the speed difference in the real world, and would be fine for storage drives

You mean like this, just with two ports? Adapters like that are definitely useful for densifying storage, that's for sure. Depending on the use case the single-port ones are mostly fine even (as long as your SATA controller supports port multipliers, that is).

 

[Arboreal]

Simpler than that TBH, like this doubled - similar to what I use in my S610 for a 3rd M.2 drive.
More like exhibit B, in fact but with 2 SATA connectors.
Never dabbled with port multipliers...

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

There's a Desk Meet first look video :

 

[msystems]

Doing some more reading on b660 chipset it appears that there may be some ways to get more performance out of non-K parts... the first being raising the power limit.

But the more interesting and unconfirmed feature is changing the BLCK clock on non-k parts, making it possible to get ridiculous value out of the 12300 even. However that was just a rumor based on a bios feature on z690 boards and probably not a common feature on 660 ones.

Overclocked Intel Core i3-12300 destroys quad-core CPU world record

Alder Lake chip is fastest ever quad-core CPU going by one benchmark

www.techradar.com

 

[msystems]

So the b660 Deskmini ships with a 120w brick, but the power draw on Intel 12th gen (even Non-K) can demand up to 200 watts for a short period. I'm wondering how they dealt with that. I assume it's a setting in the bios but I wonder if there is a hard limit and what the limit is.

 

[Valantar]

So the b660 Deskmini ships with a 120w brick, but the power draw on Intel 12th gen (even Non-K) can demand up to 200 watts for a short period. I'm wondering how they dealt with that. I assume it's a setting in the bios but I wonder if there is a hard limit and what the limit is.

They've likely just hard limited boost power to something like 100W. This is easily done by adjusting... ugh, I can never remember if that is PL1 or PL2. The one that's short term boost power!

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

AsrockInd does that with their thin mini-ITX boards, limiting TDP to 80ish watts.

 

[AMv8-1day]

Doing some more reading on b660 chipset it appears that there may be some ways to get more performance out of non-K parts... the first being raising the power limit.

But the more interesting and unconfirmed feature is changing the BLCK clock on non-k parts, making it possible to get ridiculous value out of the 12300 even. However that was just a rumor based on a bios feature on z690 boards and probably not a common feature on 660 ones.

Overclocked Intel Core i3-12300 destroys quad-core CPU world record

Alder Lake chip is fastest ever quad-core CPU going by one benchmark

www.techradar.com

Hardware Unboxed recently elaborated on this little loophole that Der8auer found, allowing BLCK clock overclocking on non-k parts.
Unfortunately, it likely won't help you here as it's very motherboard dependant.