CPU Deskmini VRM specs and thermal pad thickness
- Thread starter Maxkmk
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Hi, I replaced the thermal pad (which is a solid pad with low thermal transfer, I would say about 3W/m.k at most) having made measurements beforehand and I obtained a measurement of about 1.5mm thick, so I replaced the original thermal pad with a thermal pad cut to the same size from Thermalright Valor Odin which has a heat transfer capacity of 15W/m.k, which is significantly more important but I use still the original VRM heatsink so the gains are not crazy either, according to the probe plated on the VRM heatsink the temperature would have dropped by about 10°C, after that I now use an IDCooling IS-50X(v2) which allows a large airflow to be blown on the VRM heatsink, which in my opinion helps a lot in this 10°C drop.
Regarding the specifications of the VRMs, all I can tell you for sure (but sorry I no longer have the links reporting all the information, but it should be possible to find it by searching carefully via Google) is that it There are 5 VRM phases of 50A and these phases are configured in 4+1, i.e. 4 phases dedicated to the CPU cores and 1 phase dedicated to the APU's InfinityFabric therefore dedicated to the iGPU part, memory controller, PCIexpress lines, the management of SATAs and USBs, etc. Sorry for not being able to tell you more, but hope this helps.
Regarding the specifications of the VRMs, all I can tell you for sure (but sorry I no longer have the links reporting all the information, but it should be possible to find it by searching carefully via Google) is that it There are 5 VRM phases of 50A and these phases are configured in 4+1, i.e. 4 phases dedicated to the CPU cores and 1 phase dedicated to the APU's InfinityFabric therefore dedicated to the iGPU part, memory controller, PCIexpress lines, the management of SATAs and USBs, etc. Sorry for not being able to tell you more, but hope this helps.
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I ordered myself an Alphacool Apex 18W/mk for my VRM.
www.alphacool.com
Now I am thinking about getting a VRM Fan since the X300 seems to have 2 headers, for the best possible VRM cooling.
Alphacool Apex Wärmeleitpad Soft 18W/mk 120x20x1,5mm
Alphacool bietet eine breite Palette an Wärmeleitpads für eine effektive Wärmeableitung von elektrischen Komponenten an. Unter diesen ist das Apex Wärmeleitpad die leistungsstärkste Option. Es kann Abwärme zuverlässig ableiten und ist...
www.alphacool.com
Now I am thinking about getting a VRM Fan since the X300 seems to have 2 headers, for the best possible VRM cooling.
You can fit some 40mm in the case in some places. But you can also look at modding the case for 120 fan. Because it will really help the vrm.
As I said in my previous post, the original ASRock pad is a plastic/solid type pad (with flexibility anyway) while the pad you ordered (Alphacool Apex 18W/mk) is not not of this type and is like traditional thermal pads so with much more flexibility and as I also told you I use a piece of Thermalright Valor Odin 1.5mm thick thermal pad cut to the size you indicated earlier and I do not encountered no contact problems (or forcing when replacing the VRM heatsink) so no you don't need to order a 1mm version, the one you have will do the job perfectly.
Thank you for the answer 
. Now I can use the 1,5mm pad without worring. After Asrock wrote me about the 1mm thickness i was a little unsure that the 1,5mm one could have worse thermal results than a 1mm one. I knew that it would still be better than stock, I just wanted to be sure to get the best possible results after buying a pad which costs 30% of the price of the deskmini.
. Now I can use the 1,5mm pad without worring. After Asrock wrote me about the 1mm thickness i was a little unsure that the 1,5mm one could have worse thermal results than a 1mm one. I knew that it would still be better than stock, I just wanted to be sure to get the best possible results after buying a pad which costs 30% of the price of the deskmini.Its me again, sorry for disturbing you again. I read on some places that than thinner the Thermalinterface is than better the thermal performance will be. I got it that I can use the 1,5 mm pad and it will do the job better than the stock one. Though could the results be even better with the same pad in 1 mm thickness. Sorry for bothering again with the question I just want to be very sure, since at the moment I could still switch the 1,5mm pad for the 1mm pad, and i got a little worried after reading that the thickness can affect thermal performance.
No, don't worry with 1.5mm as I told you the original ASRock one is much stiffer than traditional thermal pads (like the model I have and the one you ordered) so the comparison n is not valid in this specific case and I know at least 2 other people who have used 1.5mm like me and have no problems and have on the contrary recorded good gains, after a good ventilation of the heatsink VRM helps a lot too , but of course you should not expect a drop of 30°C or more, since you are using the original VRM heatsink like me, the only case where I saw a very significant gain (30~40 °C less) it was someone who had a water-cooled heatsink custom machined to replace the original heatsink.
Hi, I had finally time to replace the thermalpad on my deskmini. The original thermalpad on my deskmini was a soft rubber like one in my case, when I replaced it with the 1,5mm thermalpad it bend the mainboard. I got a 1mm heatpad instead, with the 1mm one the mainboard isn´t bending. I cut 2 identical pieces and used one of them to test the contact (the "test" pad was pressed perfectly on the metal and had took the shape of the vrm smd on the other side). Maybe Asrock has different revisions of the boards with stiff and also with soft thermal pads.
Hi, sorry to hear this, but for me the piece of Thermalright Valor Odin 1.5mm thermal pad which I cut to the size of the original ASRock thermal rubber pad and reapplied to the VRM heatsink, when I screwed the whole there was no problem of bending of the motherboard and also for two other people that I know either and this with other models and brands of thermal pads in 1.5mm.
Then there are two things I think: did you overtighten the screws of the VRM heatsink? Or maybe your heat pad model (Alphacool Apex) is denser and therefore spreads less well than the models we used? This last possibility would explain why your motherboard is bending but I highly doubt you have a different revision than ours explaining this because I bought myself 3 ASRock DeskiMini X300 since it was released in 2020 (one for me and two other than I assembled for friends) and I saw 2 more that work colleagues bought and assembled for themselves, plus all the ones I could see in photos posted on this forum (and others) and I can say with near certainty that we all have "REV. 1.02".
Then there are two things I think: did you overtighten the screws of the VRM heatsink? Or maybe your heat pad model (Alphacool Apex) is denser and therefore spreads less well than the models we used? This last possibility would explain why your motherboard is bending but I highly doubt you have a different revision than ours explaining this because I bought myself 3 ASRock DeskiMini X300 since it was released in 2020 (one for me and two other than I assembled for friends) and I saw 2 more that work colleagues bought and assembled for themselves, plus all the ones I could see in photos posted on this forum (and others) and I can say with near certainty that we all have "REV. 1.02".
Hi, board rev. seems to be 1.02 with 1.70 Bios. I made a few pictures of the VRM heatsink. There is a very little crack on the left side of the pad, but Alphacool support told me it should be no problem as long as it is small.
I tryed to insert the pictures, sadly I get the message that the image cannot be loaded.
Here is the link:
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I tryed to insert the pictures, sadly I get the message that the image cannot be loaded.
Here is the link:
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