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.

 

[Kmpkt]

At this point I half hope that the public release of Micro STX is held back for Coffee Lake since there's little time left on the Z270 platform. Would certainly make sense and maybe (just maybe) Z370 will have a more favourable PCIe distribution on the Chipset so that high end M.2 drives won't be throttled in RAID.

 

[|||]

We already know that the next CPU socket will have 1151 pins on it, like the Kaby Lake chips. Therefore, assuming with very little doubt there is similar I/O, there will be no more pins available for additional PCI-e lanes through the DMI to the chipset. So, the bandwidth to and from the chipset will not change.

The best bet for additional bandwidth between the processor and chipset will be with PCI-e 4.0 and DMI 4.0, but that's not due out in products quite yet, as the PCI-e 4.0 standard was just recently approved. There is also PCI-e 5.0 coming soon, as well, which could quadruple the current bandwidth when implemented.

 

[Kmpkt]

Don't think we'll see PCIe 4.0 until 2020 at the earliest.

 

[BirdofPrey]

AMD at least has committed to not upgrading till PCIe 4.0 and DDR5 are both out, and expects 202 to be around when that happens.

 

[Phuncz]

Don't think we'll see PCIe 4.0 until 2020 at the earliest.

On the consumer level it's a reasonable assumption, but enterprise will probably have 2018 as a target. Maybe HEDT will be in between ?

 

[QuantumBraced]

It's funny because NVMe SSDs are pretty close to maxing out PCIe 3.0 x4 bandwidth with the 960 Pro 2TB having a 3.5GB/s sequential read. We may start seeing slotted SSDs in x16 slots until PCIe 4.0 comes out, and by that time PCIe 4.0 x4 won't be enough bandwidth for what will be available. SSDs are plowing right thru Moore's Law and the rest of the industry can't keep up. Meanwhile, a good SATA SSD is perfectly fine for 99% of people. Interesting times.

I was hoping Intel would keep the same socket, but I guess they don't go more than 2 generations on the same one (if you can call these generations). I don't see a practical reason why they'd need a new one, but it's fine. ASRock would do well to wait a few months, that will give them time to work out MXM availability and pricing.

 

[BirdofPrey]

At some point, SSDs in memory slots will be a common thing because of the bandwidth requirements. There are already some DIMM SSDs for enterprise use where capacity is of more value than speed, but it's rare, specialized, and expensive.

At some point in the future, I can see the difference between system storage and system memory going away. Not sure how long that might take, though.

 

[EdZ]

Chasing bandwidth is a bit like the megapixel wars for cameras: a nice Big Number for marketing to tout as a bigger number than the other guy's Big Number, but not the greatest measure of actual utility outside of a few specific cases (e.g. scrubbing through UHD/4K lossless video files during editing). The reason current NAND SSD are not suitable for use as memory replacements is access latency. As part of PCPerspective's Optane overview, they produced a really excellent chart showing the problem:

Even the fastest NVME SSD is an order of magnitude slower than DRAM, i.e. in the time it takes to perform 1000 operations in system memory, your NVME SSD has just manages to finish working on your first request.
3D Xpoint (and other phase-change memories, though nobody else is in production yet for large high-speed dies) sits nicely in-between DRAM and NAND, but are unlikely to replace either for quite some time: NAND has yet to replace HDDs even for most client applications, let alone for mass storage in general, and it may take even longer for phase-change to drop in price enough for it to be worth dropping NAND-based storage in a system.

 

[changguangyu]

When will this barebone be available?

 

[ultragtx]

Good news, I found this: http://www.coolpc.com.tw/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=242246
An unboxing of a "factory" version Deskmini GTX1060 by a reseller in Taiwan

 

[changguangyu]

Good news, I found this: http://www.coolpc.com.tw/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=242246
An unboxing of a "factory" version Deskmini GTX1060 by a reseller in Taiwan

It's a exciting news! It says the new deskmini will be avaible at next month.

 

[alinescoo]

I am quite interested to see the price for GTX1060... If translation was right on that link, then we can expect early September release?

 

[changguangyu]

I am quite interested to see the price for GTX1060... If translation was right on that link, then we can expect early September release?

yes. It seems that Deskmini 1060(B250 stx mxm) is at 25 thouthand taiwan yuan. ($826.69USD)

 

[alinescoo]

Oh I missed that. Thanks.

If we take some generic prices:
- mini ITX B250 ~90$
- mini ITX case ~50$
- SFX modular PSU ~100$
- 1060GTX mini~280$
We end up to around ~520$. However for a more fancy case the price could go up to 200$ and that would be ~670$.

I may be wrong with the prices... but 800$ doesn't look that bad for the Deskmini maybe?

I am also curious about support for Coffee lake CPUs...
Maybe the Asrock user can give us some hints.

 

[VegetableStu]

I am also curious about support for Coffee lake CPUs...

Don't bother. CFL and CNL requires a new chipset.

 

[sergiiua]

3 days ago - http://coolpc.com.tw/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=242246

 

[ultragtx]

Don't bother. CFL and CNL requires a new chipset.

Then maybe it's a really bad time for ASRock to release Deskmini with the old z270 chipset that does not support new coffee lake cpus.

 

[SFF Scrub]

Then maybe it's a really bad time for ASRock to release Deskmini with the old z270 chipset that does not support new coffee lake cpus.

You're not wrong, their timing is rather poor; but you could also argue the fact that you don't need the newest CPU. Not the end of the world, but they could have done themselves a favor and waited

 

[Kmpkt]

Really would make more sense for them to launch alongside Nvidia 20XX and Z370 at this point. If the jump from Pascal to Volta is anything like Maxwell to Pascal, we should see 1080ti performance at 2060/2070 levels no? Would make Micro STX that much more compelling.

 

[SFF Scrub]

Really would make more sense for them to launch alongside Nvidia 20XX and Z370 at this point. If the jump from Pascal to Volta is anything like Maxwell to Pascal, we should see 1080ti performance at 2060/2070 levels no? Would make Micro STX that much more compelling.

Tell me if i'm wrong but isn't volta on the tock cycle, therefore the big feature will be a die shrink? It'll still increase performance sure, but not as much as a tick cycle