News ASRock show-off Micro-STX system with MXM & TB3 @CES 2017

Hi All

ASRock are happy to display our new model - Deskmini RX/GTX @CES 2017.
You can get more picture in :https://www.cool3c.com/article/116315/CES-2017-華擎展出具可擴充-MXM-獨立顯示卡的-micro-STX-主機板原型主機

This is prototype of Deskmini RX/GTX
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Considering there are so many SFF enthusiasts still need more powerful 3D graphics performance, why don't we extend Mini-STX to larger board: based on 5x5 screw holes but implement MXM, more video outputs, m.2 connectors, even Thunderbolt 3!

And that is world's firsts' MICRO-STX system:

• Support up to Intel® Core i7 7700K CPU
• Support Intel box cooler
• Intel Z270 (B250) Chipset
• Support MXM Type B, up to 120W
  • RX = AMD RX480/470/460
  • GTX = NVIDIA GTX1060
• Intel® Thunderbolt 3 with Type-C
• 3 x M.2 2260/2280 slots
• 1 x M.2 2230 Wi-Fi slot
• AURA RGB LED connector!
• Support Intel® Optane™ Technology
• 2.x Liter!
• 19V/220W adapter

ASRock planned sell barebones (include motherboard, MXM card, MXM cooler, chassis and adapter) and open mind corporate with system builder to develop new mini PC in micro STX motherboard. It should be launched on 2017 Q2.

 

[chx]

Gosh, if this was available with the 1050 or the 1050 Ti. By the time it releases surely those modules are on the market? Can you imagine this with one of the new HyperThreading Pentiums and a GTX 1050 Ti? Would be cheap and yet quite great at older games or lower res.

 

[CarbonVirus]

Holy Moly this is AMAZING!!
I have dreamt of the day a manufacturer would add an MXM slot to a mini-ITX or micro-STX board and this brought a tear to my eye!
The simple fact ASRock will be selling everything OEM as well is akin to learning a huge closed-source product from a company is going open-source; this gives me hope for the future of computers and SOLIDIFIES ASRock as my defacto parts manufacturer!
I cannot wait to see the wonderful creations people come up with using the OEM parts! Bring on the SFF insanity!!

 

[Kmpkt]

Another tidbit of news is that they're in the process of refining the board for release and are trying to add support for the GTX 1070 and/or 1080

 

[Josh | NFC]

I have 2x 14' walnut beams that predate the Civil War that are waiting to be planed and milled for a limited 10x batch of these...

 

[thewizzard1]

Oh boy, this does excite me.

 

[chx]

What surprises me is they didn't put the MXM on the back of the board and then have a ~30mm high heatsink for CPU and ~80mm high heatsink for GPU (since the GPU eats much more watts these days), and have two 120mm fans providing push pull for a ~2.5L cube like shape. The STX board is 5" wide, 5" long, and say we were to use 120x12mm thin fans then two of those are 1" thick so the cube would be 5" wide, 6" high and 4.72" wide (you want the fans to be bottom and top), that's 2.32L plus of course you need a power board so it'd be a bit bigger.

Something like this arrangement http://avadirect-freedomusainc1.netdna-ssl.com/pictures/500/7865458_1.jpg except the fan serves two of these heatsinks and there are two fans.

 

[Kmpkt]

Yeah that was actually what I was expecting when I found out about the development of this board a few months ago. MXM on the back, 1 M.2 on the front and roughly the same layout as the present Mini STX would have been a very welcome variant of this configuration (not that I am complaining, since Micro STX is pretty awesome).

 

[BirdofPrey]

My own personal opinion is that STX should have been laid out like most barebones mini PCs from the start: CPU and maybe chipset on the top, memory and M.2/mPCIe , etc. on the bottom.

 

[jeshikat]

I will say that it makes case design and assembly easier to have both heatsinks on the same side of the board.

 

[Phuncz]

Also it allows to keep it a more flat design. While both orientations have merit, one or the other needs to be choosen and production-wise the current setup might make more sense.

 

[nix]

I'm all for anything that makes this less complicated to produce. The more complicated it is the less chance it'll ever see the light of day.

 

[Arboreal]

I have 2x 14' walnut beams that predate the Civil War that are waiting to be planed and milled for a limited 10x batch of these...

I know that many of us have 'got wood' for the STX / MXM set up, but this is taking things too far!!!!

 

[Boil]

Another tidbit of news is that they're in the process of refining the board for release and are trying to add support for the GTX 1070 and/or 1080

I have 2x 14' walnut beams that predate the Civil War that are waiting to be planed and milled for a limited 10x batch of these...

1070/1080 support would be awesome, and the Civil War walnut chassis is intriguing…!

 

[thewizzard1]

I already dug out my MXM waterblocks from my old, expired Voodoo2. I'm salivating at this.... Even though I already own and am quite happy with my Zotac SN960.

 

[thewizzard1]

Not sure if this was linked, yet : More pics.
https://smallformfactor.net/news/asrock-z270m-stx-mxm-pictured

 

[Kmpkt]

That's from our own coverage by Drew @ CES.

 

[alinescoo]

This whole MXM is unclear to me. Can anyone please detail me how exactly does it work? Will AsRock also provide in the barebone the actual graphic card or just a placeholder+cooler and we need to buy separate GPUs?

 

[Kmpkt]

MXM is a traditionally laptop based form factor for GPUs. In the current generation, these will house up to a full fat desktop 1080, although they do tend to be slightly under clocked/volted to reduce thermal overhead. As far as availability goes, AsRock plans to sell the units including the MXM card of choice. Right now these include (I believe) the 1060, RX480 and RX 470. I would like to think they will also include aftermarket versions of their cards into the future so that people who adopt this form factor have a reliable upgrade path.

 

[alinescoo]

Thank you @Kmpkt, so from what I understand from you, if I purchase a Deskmini GTX I'll only need to purchase, as in the case of Deskmini 110 the CPU, RAM and SSD, everything case, gpu, psu, motherboard are included. Well... I guess I'll hold on purchasing anything...

 

[Phuncz]

We expect that will be the case, although they might just as well sell complete builds. I would sure love to see them release a barebones kit with the case, motherboard, GPU and PSU, maybe also the CPU cooler.