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
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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

 

[SpaceTofu]

If you reset bios, single dimm, and still no boot, check that the socket pins aren't bent as it is a possibility.

You mean CPU socket? I seem to remember you had the same issue, is this motherboard quite delicate in that sense then?

Do you reckon that the RAM I've chosen should be compatible albeit not listed in the official page of compatible RAM?

But yeah, I've reset BIOS ( by removing battery as I don't have a jumper lying round), removed one dimm and still no luck.
Will try to lift the CPU tomorrow with a clear head

 

[SpaceTofu]

maybe try with a single stick of RAM

Alas it still doesn't work

 

[SpaceTofu]

Hello again guys

Small mistake

I actually purchased a raptor lake CPU, i5 13500 ( and not the 12500) previously stated.

I'm aware it's supported, however only from BIOS 12.02.

Do you think there's a chance that the PC I have been shipped didnt come preloaded with the latest BIOS?

if that were to be the case, what can I do, besides purchasing an older CPU which feels silly?

Can the BIOS be upgraded "blindfolded"? According to the official instructions you need to get into the BIOS to flash the latest version?

 

[rfarmer]

I would say it is absolutely possible that the BIOS has not been updated, when you described your symptoms first thing I checked is if the 12500 was supported with the original BIOS. Many newer motherboards have a BIOS flashback feature where you can update the BIOS without a CPU installed, unfortunately the DeskMini doesn't have this feature. Your only option for BIOS update would be a 12th gen CPU.

 

[msystems]

It looks like the lowest end supported CPU would be a Celeron gold G6900

 

[SpaceTofu]

It looks like the lowest end supported CPU would be a Celeron gold G6900

Yeah I've ordered it a couple hours ago, hopefully will be with me tomorrow.

A bit of a shame having to buy two CPUs though

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

BIOS flash back should be a standard feature on every single motherboard

 

[SpaceTofu]

It should.
But it isn't in the case of this board, or am I missing something out?
Cannot see it mentioned in the manual and cannot see a button on the board either?

 

[SpaceTofu]

Just to put an end to this. Indeed the BIOS wasn't up to date to the latest release.
The motherboard started just fine with the celeron, was able to flash the BIOS and it is now happily accepting raptor lake CPUs!

 

[rfarmer]

Just to put an end to this. Indeed the BIOS wasn't up to date to the latest release.
The motherboard started just fine with the celeron, was able to flash the BIOS and it is now happily accepting raptor lake CPUs!

Glad you got it to post. I had the same issue when the 3000 series Ryzen released, had to buy a cheap Athlon in order to update a B450 motherboard.

 

[msystems]

After doing some research on getting 13600k to work properly on Asus b660i chipset, it helped me understand why the Asrock b660 deskmini won't undervolt, and exactly why the microcode must be replaced to get this feature to work. This was demonstrated on the German computerbase forum but it was not explained why the microcode had to be switched. ( Hint: Its because Intel killed it- on every b660 )


So I will try this mod with confidence once I can get a bit of practice in with a hardware bios flasher kit (in case I mess it up) and report back with the results to see if the 12600 can be tamed a bit to play nice with the small vrm on this Deskmini.

Of course, Intel also recently put out a press release saying it's up to the manufacturer to allow the UV protection to be disabled, so there is a small chance Asrock might put it back in as well.

 

[msystems]

So I did test this with the oldest ASRock microcode from original 3.02 bios for ADL, on 12600 and 13600k as well (but with the 8xx bios ui).

The first issue seems to be whether the vendor will display voltage control for Locked chip, and in this case it appears that ASrock decided not to continue to do this on subsequent bios after 3.02, but they do display it for unlocked chip. This is either because locked chip doesn't support it, or some policy related reason (of steering the user to be on zX90 chipset in order to get voltage control) as a bit of research appears to show that vendors tend to leave these features out on purpose on the lower end chipset. If this is correct then you would need to buy a "K" chip to get this voltage adjustment functionality in the first place (and then.. disable cores or do a lot of tweaking).

The second issue is while K chip does cause the voltage offset controls to re-appear (as was in original 3.02 bios) and allow setting negative offset, they still do not appear to do anything. The reason is probably a bit complex as Intel has done a bunch of things to discourage ADL and Raptor chips from running at lower voltage. So it's hard to say if it is a result of Intel's bullshit, or just some integration issue from ASRock. One thing I forgot to test is the 13600k with the latest 12xx bios, just to see if something changed and the adjustments were now magically supported. So of someone also has a Raptor chip, they might check to see if there are voltage controls on latest bios 12xx.

I emailed ASRock to encourge them to adopt the same measures that the other vendors are doing on b660 to cure Intel's bullshit: allow old microcode swap, disable CEP, disable UV protection, and put in Load Line control (basically the alternate/budget way of undervolting, which will work universally even on a locked chip). But of all the 5 e-mails I have sent to ASRock over the last year, maybe one got a response.

 

[A300]

Guys, please advise me, between b660 with i5 13500 or x300 with 5700g.

Doesn't need gpu performance, only cpu performance, power efficiency and durability.

 

[mknrls]

Guys, please advise me, between b660 with i5 13500 or x300 with 5700g.

Doesn't need gpu performance, only cpu performance, power efficiency and durability.

Performance wise the b660 with i5 13500 will be faster, single score will be close but multithread will be about 40% faster.
As for cooling the i5 13500 will run a little hotter by design using it with the stock cooler, a good replacement cooler would be the Thermalright AXP-90 X47.

 

[A300]

Performance wise the b660 with i5 13500 will be faster, single score will be close but multithread will be about 40% faster.
As for cooling the i5 13500 will run a little hotter by design using it with the stock cooler, a good replacement cooler would be the Thermalright AXP-90 X47.

Thanks for your replied.

Already have noctua lh9, how is this cooler compared to Thermalright?

 

[mknrls]

Thanks for your replied.

Already have noctua lh9, how is this cooler compared to Thermalright?

No problem.

Honestly they are both great cooler and temp differences will be minimal. It might have a slight edge for surface area and the copper variant might run a little bit cooler.

 

[pinuspinus]

Which cooler do you suggest for a B660 mounting a 13500 ?

Noctua NH-L9i-17xx Brown​

Noctua NH-L9i-17xx Black​

Thermalright AXP90-X47 Black Low Profile CPU Air Cooler with quite 90mm TL-9015B PWM Fan, 4 Heat Pipes, 47mm​

 

[mknrls]

Which cooler do you suggest for a B660 mounting a 13500 ?

Noctua NH-L9i-17xx Brown​

Noctua NH-L9i-17xx Black​

Thermalright AXP90-X47 Black Low Profile CPU Air Cooler with quite 90mm TL-9015B PWM Fan, 4 Heat Pipes, 47mm​

Honestly both should be amazing! If you're buying the AXP90-X47 make sure to buy 17xx bracket, not sure if they updated packaging to have it included

 

[shiris]

Honestly both should be amazing! If you're buying the AXP90-X47 make sure to buy 17xx bracket, not sure if they updated packaging to have it included

When I got mines back at the end of september it came included with the 17xx bracket

 

[alex3305]

Guys, please advise me, between b660 with i5 13500 or x300 with 5700g.

Doesn't need gpu performance, only cpu performance, power efficiency and durability.

I'm also looking at the B660 or X300 with the exact same processor combo's. Have you already decided and bought your system?

I want to upgrade my current J4105 NUC like unRAID server to something more powerful. Both ASRock machines look very interesting to me, especially because of their storage options. Having two M.2 slots and two SATA connectors would be ideal. And both are very similar in specs and price.

I'm still on the fence though. Any clue what I can expect for idle power usage? Because the system is running 24/7 that's pretty important to me. And I read that it's impossible to undervolt the B660.

So some additional insights would be terrific!