If you already have a 2400G and don't care about the extra 10-12% increase in graphic performance, then I don't believe it's really worth the $150.00 upgrading the APU. I don't use CB R15. Memory is set to DDR4-3333. This whole thread is full of useful data to help you decided what's best for you and your needs.
-
Save 15% on ALL SFF Network merch, until Dec 31st! Use code SFF2024 at checkout. Click here!
Prebuilt [SFFn] ASRock's DeskMini A300 - Finally!
- Thread starter confusis
- Start date
If you already have a 2400G and don't care about the extra 10-12% increase in graphic performance, then I don't believe it's really worth the $150.00 upgrading the APU. I don't use CB R15. Memory is set to DDR4-3333. This whole thread is full of useful data to help you decided what's best for you and your needs.
Anyone want to go halfsies on this kit? https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-32gb-260-pin-ddr4-so-dimm/p/N82E16820232673
I agree. I waiting for mine to arrive in a day or so. But what I do have a old DC input 19V 520w PSU from an HP tower server. I pick it from an old chipet tech company I used to work for. Im curious to try it but will be cautious too. Wouldnt want start a fire.
That tells me you probably set your fan speed to FULL in the BIOS. Those temperatures are completely normal.
I am planning to build deskmini a300 with
ryzen 3400g ,
g.skill (2x8gb) 2666mhz c19 ram,
ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 512gb
Noctua l9a
I have several questions about the components,
1. it is worth to use 3400g over 2400g? as 3400g is 20% more expensive in my area. and i found that 3400g only perform 10-15% better than 2400g in some reviews. Also, some users stated that 3400g could not even touch the max boost clock (4.2ghz) with a300, it is mean that a300 could not fully use the potential of 3400g? or it is stlil better than using 2400g with a300.
2. Does ram frequency make any significant difference on the performance of 3400g? I notice some users can oc a 3200mhz c16 ram to 3600mhz , while majority of users just oc the 2666mhz c19 ram to 3000mhz . Which frequency and CL of ram is the best for for money?e.g 2666mhz c19/ 2400mhz c16? / 3200mhz c18 / 3200mhz c16?? or it just doesn't really matter for 3400g?
3.Is Noctua l9a the best value for money cooler? i notice that the noise level of l9a is relatively low comparing to other low profile cooler like id-cooling is-40x. But, is l9a have the best cooling power?
4. Is it needed to go to 2x16gb of ram, as the igpu will consume 2gb of ram. Does larger capacity of ram affect the performance of 3400g?
ryzen 3400g ,
g.skill (2x8gb) 2666mhz c19 ram,
ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 512gb
Noctua l9a
I have several questions about the components,
1. it is worth to use 3400g over 2400g? as 3400g is 20% more expensive in my area. and i found that 3400g only perform 10-15% better than 2400g in some reviews. Also, some users stated that 3400g could not even touch the max boost clock (4.2ghz) with a300, it is mean that a300 could not fully use the potential of 3400g? or it is stlil better than using 2400g with a300.
2. Does ram frequency make any significant difference on the performance of 3400g? I notice some users can oc a 3200mhz c16 ram to 3600mhz , while majority of users just oc the 2666mhz c19 ram to 3000mhz . Which frequency and CL of ram is the best for for money?e.g 2666mhz c19/ 2400mhz c16? / 3200mhz c18 / 3200mhz c16?? or it just doesn't really matter for 3400g?
3.Is Noctua l9a the best value for money cooler? i notice that the noise level of l9a is relatively low comparing to other low profile cooler like id-cooling is-40x. But, is l9a have the best cooling power?
4. Is it needed to go to 2x16gb of ram, as the igpu will consume 2gb of ram. Does larger capacity of ram affect the performance of 3400g?
1) You can purchase the 2400G for $99 and the 3400G for $149. The benefit of the 3400G is about 10-12% graphic performance increase. That's up to you if it's worth the money. 3400G requires BIOS 3.50.
2) Ram frequency makes a massive difference. Read the thread, the information there. Best performance seems to be repeatable with the ddr4-3333 16-18-18-18-38 with a sample size of two so far.
3) The stock cooler that comes with the 3400G will not fit. The Noctua is the best cooler. The best value is using the stock cooler that comes with the 2400G if you decided to go that route.
4) Your use case will very. It was better for me to spend more for a ddr4-3200 kit then on a 2x16 kit. Considering RAM is the one part of the system you can overclock you may get lucky.
What Are PWM Fans? A Basic Definition
What is the meaning of PWM fans, and what do they do? Pulse width modulation explained.
NH-L9a-AM4
The NH-L9a-AM4 is the latest, AM4-specific revision of Noctua’s award-winning NH-L9a low-profile CPU cooler for AMD Ryzen-based HTPCs and Small Form Factor (SFF) systems. At a height of only 37mm, the NH-L9a is ideal for extremely slim cases and, due to its small footprint, it provides 100% RAM...
noctua.at
Max rotational speed 2500 RPM
So your not using the Low Noise Adapter which is max rotational speed of 1800 RPM.
You should be fine. if it bothers you set the BIOS to Silent mode. I had my 2400G set to silent in the bios and under load it stayed in the 80's.
if you ARE using the low noise adapter then you could try re-pasting and mounting the heat sink but 37C - 38C, idle and 78C under load is normal. .
Just read yout detail plan.
I suggest that you DO NOT USE ADATA XPG SX8200 pro. This product is a crap. Take a look on technical support on ADATA web, there no support for this product, you can't enter serial # on their support page!
For my personal experience, I have the same product with 256GB. At first, its performance match the description, but after a month, performance drops to 30-60%.
Also, you can search in the web for the product. I read in Tom's Hardware forums (forgot the address), people complaining drop performance after a while.
I have emailed ADATA support, no reply! Product is cheap, so is the quality.
Looks like Steve is getting better performance on his 3400G then I'm able to achieve in the A300. Which is also what Ryzen Master is showing, while running cinebench R20, with the power draw climbing to 98-108% TSP and over 90% TDC but dropping in the middle of the test to the 70s for both. Really hoping for a BIOS update soon...
Maybe the Zen 2 / Navi APU will have lower power draw and be a better performer in the system.
For the cpu cooler part, comparing to the stock cooler of 2400g, could the L9a help to extend the longevity of the apu and the a300 motherboard, also help increase the performance of apu , or it just depend on luck?
For choosing the ram, as i know the price of a 8gb 3200mhz c16 ram could be a double of the price of a 8gb 2666mhz cl19/ 2400mhz cl16 ram, or even higher, and i am on a budget to build this pc for programming , entertaining and some casually gaming
how to determine a ram that have a large overclock headroom? is it better to stick to a low CL ram , something like 2400mhz cl16 , and try to overclock it to 3200 cl16?
Also, any suggestions on the nvme drive for installing os and other programs?
I'm not much help on ram, but as for an nvme drive, I have a Crucial P1 500gb, Its not the fastest drive but its faster than a sata ssd and they're only $60 and $90 USD for 500gb and 1000gb respectively. At the that price its kinda hard to beat.
I just posted Hardware unboxed review of the 3400G. Steve was able to get over 1900 in Cinebench R20. I am getting 1865 consistently. Trying to tweak settings in the BIOS keeps dropping the score. If you're going for an absolute budget build the 2400G for $99 is a great value and comes with a cooler that will fit (after the outer shroud is removed) and is under promo ATM with 3 months of XBox game pass.
The Noctua cooler will not improve performance. The A300 only allows RAM over clocking and multiple tests of my own and comments from other users suggests that power delivery may be an issue with sustaining boost clocks or achieving higher stable ram frequency and performance above DDR4-3333 @ 1.35v. The Noctua will make the A300 quieter and easier to take apart as the stock cooler barley fits in the case. The cooler that comes with the A300 is awful in comparison and I wish ASRock wouldn't have included it.
Between going with the 2400G and not buying the Noctua that would be a savings of almost $100.
Another thing to note is you've decided on the ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro. I really wanted that myself when putting together my A300, It just didn't make sense with this build. You can save a few more dollars and sacrifice little performance, with an intel 660P. The 1TB version can be found for $85 which would double your storage capacity or the 512GB can be found for $60.
I would have a hard time believing people would be able to tell the difference unless they where continually moving large files around.
RAM, however, makes a BIG difference and is the one area of the build I wouldn't compromise on. A friend of mine didn't want to spend the money on the lower latency DDR4-3200 GSkill CL18 (2x8) ram kit or worry about Over Clocking so he went with much cheaper crucial CL22 chip. His performance is still excellent.
That said it's completely possible that you could get lower speed ddr4-2666 1.20v kit, bump it to 1.35v in BIOS, and it will clock to 3200 or 3333 with out any issue with decent timings. For me, it was worth getting a kit with an advertised speed of least 3200 mhz as the speed affects every aspect of the systems performance and does double duty as 2GB of memory are automatically reserved for the iGPU. If your on an absolute low budget newegg has the GSkill ddr4-2666 CL19 kit on sale for $80 but the ddr4-3000 CL16 kit is $100 while the ddr4-3200 CL18 kit is still $150. It might not be worth an extra $70 but at the moment is it worth an extra $20 to insure a guaranteed floor and the potential to get the same performance as people are seeing with the 3200 kit in the A300?
In the end you have to do what's right for you and your build, based on your use case. I bought the A300 because it was an ultra small, easy to work on, portable machine. Otherwise, for not a whole lot more, I could have gotten a system like this that would be way more powerful then the APU for only a few bucks more:
System Builder
pcpartpicker.com
Maybe...
I took off the Noctua, cleaned the cooler and CPU with rubbing alcohol, applied NT-H1 thermal paste, connected a second fan to the A300 and left the case open to maximize air flow, and rest windows. I was able to get a CBr20 score of 1910. Boost clocks where still power deliver limited. Part way through the benchmark it still throttle but it did so later in the run and stayed a few MHZ higher after throttling. Power delivery was the same, throttling just happened later in the run.
So it's an improvement. With the 2400G my score was constantly in the 1860's - 1880's and I couldn't get anything higher. Was bothering me I couldn't get over 1900 with the 3400G. I did several runs in a row and it was 1895 (first run), 1910, 1910, 1910, 1910...
3D Marks Night raid - 13293
3D Marks Sky Diver - 12741
Not much of a change which makes sense since the iGPU was pegged at 1400 MHZ
so... yeah... really hoping for a BIOS update. The 2400G with BIOS 3.40 would stay in the 80's and maintain it's OC boost as long as the temps held there. The 3400G with BIOS 3.50 will start throttling at 75C and keep running at stock and 65C :/
What is really bugging me is the lack of any competition at STX level. You cannot go to Asus any more if the Asrock fails or disappoints you, like it was possible for me with my failed Deskmini H110 board. Then I had the choice of STXs between H110 and Q170 chipsets from Asus, but they abandoned the STX market since then. ?
Similar threads
