Prebuilt [SFFn] ASRock's DeskMini A300 - Finally!

[pappl]

Hi All, I wanted to share these links as the could be helpful.


I believe this one has been posted before but this is an alternative option for the extra usb header cable
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32928582883.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.281f3c00X95mBM&mp=1

I haven't tried it, but I was looking for the an alternative rear audio cable and found this which I believe will work.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32807241737.html

I was unable to find the screw size for both the rear audio cable and the extra usb port mounts? That's my only worry as these don't come with screws.
Does anyone know the size?

USB-Cable: No, bought this rebranded as Delock USB cable. The header pin connector is smaller in size, Asrock USB Kit has bigger header block size. Pin layout is the same, but don't fit.

Audio-Cable: Audio internal header plug is square. -> Won't fit.

 

[officeplant]

@officeplant, thank you very much for testing! I see, I guess the temperatures would be higher for a 3400G and will also depend a lot on whether the CPU gets warm enough to spin the fan up to full. I don't think a situation where a GPU-only load with a lenient fan curve would keep the fan running at low RPMs while the SOC VRMs cook themselves is out of question. I am not sure it was a great decision from ASRock to remove the CPUTIN sensor as an input for fan curve in A300 BIOS 3.40. If you could chose in BIOS which sensor to use, have the two fan headers independent, that would be nice.

Forgot to note it was a full cpu/gpu load for an hour. Wraith Stealth got up to around 2700rpm left on standard stock settings. Peaked at 82C but averages closer to 76C

EDIT// Ambient of 21.6C with it tucked behind a monitor.

 

[officeplant]

Weird thing with SOC Voltage. The 3000G will hit up to 1.319v according to HWinfo64. While the 3200G sticks from 0.8 to 1.1v This is with 2666mhz rated Hynix ram at stock settings.

 

[The Gunslingers]

USB-Cable: No, bought this rebranded as Delock USB cable. The header pin connector is smaller in size, Asrock USB Kit has bigger header block size. Pin layout is the same, but don't fit.

Audio-Cable: Audio internal header plug is square. -> Won't fit.

Ah thanks actually didn't have pictures on and was going based on the text. Made me realize though I could really solder any 4 pin header to a female 3.5mm jack and probably rig it up.

Thanks

 

[Quango]

My plan to build an A300 seems to be thoroughly cursed and I am utterly disappointed by Asrock STX mainboard quality.

After I got my replacement A300 (first was DOA) out of 16 days of DHL shipping hell I am facing a new Noctua L9a with defective fan bearing, the fan makes a noise even when only rotated by hand. OK this can be replaced, but I am not sure any more:

The Asrock's HDMI 2.0 port is having flickering issues - while the Display Port is fine. There are random short single or double bursts of screen flickering, half a second or a second short, always soon after bootup, sometimes during idle times, sometimes nothing for an hour but then suddenly back again. I tried it with different cables, with my 4K monitor and my 4K tv, installed the lates chipset and graphics drivers, reinstalled Windows 10 but the flickering remains.

Does anyone else have these HDMI problems? What can I do? I don't know yet if the seller will accept a second replacement.

I moved my 32 GB Kingston RAM, Samsung 960 EVO NVMe and 860 EVO SSD (both 250 GB) from my current Core i3-7100/Asus H110S1 STX setup to the Athlon 3000G/A300 setup. And to my disappointment the PCIe 3. Gen on the Asrock writes slower than the PCIe 2. Gen on my Asus board: SSD down from 500 to 400 MB/s write speed, NVMe write down from 1500 to 1400. All tested with the same Samsung Magician installation and the latest drivers.

Also the new 2C4T Athlon feels less performant than the old 2C4T Core i3, but that is not relevant, as I am waiting for a Renoir APU. Or maybe not any more.

Because I am disappointed by Asrock's product quality. This is my fourth faulty Asrock mini-STX board in a row.

Almost three years ago I ordered my first Deskmini H110. The mainboard was DOA. Back then, they sold the mainboard seperately and I quickly ordered one from Amazon.
It worked generally, made some chirping electric noise and had one fault from the beginning: occasional sudden freezes, which only could be solved by a restart. It was a known issue, as I found out. Within 19 months, the unused Realktek audio chip died a silent death. And after I bought my Philips 4k monitor the freezes happened several times a day. I found out they occured when there was load on graphics hardware acceleration.
Amazon refunded me fully within the 24 month period and I bought the Asus H110S1/CSM board, which is faultless. But I am stuck in the past with that. And there is no AMD STX board competition to Asrock. Bummer.
☹

 

[Hammerfest]

Wonder what the VS is on the Noctua (or Noctua Fan Swap+ )

No HDMI issues on the ones I setup for my 2 client's, as for my personal one using DP for one, and DVI/HDMI adapter for the other, no issue yet, but not using it for games.

Your luck seems epicly bad , i think i now have 5 of them (counting the clients), no such bad luck yet

 

[officeplant]

Using HDMI. No issues here in my experience yet other than some web videos causing the AMD drivers to freak out. (switching from chrome to firefox fixed that for some reason)

 

[Midiamp]

Hi all, anyone care to share some tweaking guide for the A300? Just bought one for the kids to tinker/learn how to use computers. I noticed the BIOS is quite difficult to use, with increasing shared VRAM option buried deeper than I'm accustomed to. I don't even know where the fan curve setting at. So far the only tinkering I applied is changing the power scheme to power saver and it astounds me that watching videos (using 3200G) only sips a paltry 15 watts average off the wall.

I'm planning to undervolt the A300 if possible, seems like a fun project.

 

[ConsolidatedResults]

Hi all, anyone care to share some tweaking guide for the A300? Just bought one for the kids to tinker/learn how to use computers. I noticed the BIOS is quite difficult to use, with increasing shared VRAM option buried deeper than I'm accustomed to. I don't even know where the fan curve setting at. So far the only tinkering I applied is changing the power scheme to power saver and it astounds me that watching videos (using 3200G) only sips a paltry 15 watts average off the wall.

I'm planning to undervolt the A300 if possible, seems like a fun project.

Depending on your BIOS version, the UMA framebuffer size setting is either buried away in the Advanced / AMD CBS / NBIO Common Options menu or exposed in a more straightforward fashion in Advanced / Northbridge...

Fan curve settings are on the H/W Monitor tab. The curves for CPU Fan1 and CPU Fan2 appear to not be independent. i would suggest to set both the same way

Straight undervolting, as in setting a vcore offset didn't work for me. One can disable Core Performance Boost, set cTDP and underclock Processor Power State P0 to save on power / heat / noise. The former is quite often sensible to do on A300, the latter two are typically more situational.

cTDP and CBP:
https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/sffn-asrocks-deskmini-a300-finally.10553/post-147407

P-State underclocking:
https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/sffn-asrocks-deskmini-a300-finally.10553/post-147902

Apart from that there is not much tweaking that can be done or yields anything meaningful, unless you want to manually set RAM frequency and timings.

 

[d3w]

Noctua introduces NH-L9a-AM4 chromax.black CPU cooler

 

[m4758406]

@Midiamp
Hello friend, i am from Austria.
I think before you tweak you maybe should increase the cooling solution to maximum.

#482 my own made copper sheet metal duct
#483 my Fan settings, ...
#486 my A300 parts
#489 Jonsbo-HP400
#490 ssd-cooler
#491 did some housing holes calulation (after the warranty period i maybe drill the 361 holes up to 5mm holes)

So that the fan does not fly away, it was meanwhile weighted down with the 4 screws, later I will screw on the fan.
I had also built an A300 for my father 1 week ago, which also gets this cooling solution.
Bought 2 another noctuas very cheap from privat person. One is reserve

Spoiler: 2 another noctuas

Here is my drawing ...
You can see how my copper parts were cut.
The two parts then bent and riveted together.
You don't have to do this with copper sheet, cardboard would work too.
The dimensions are in millimeters.
My cut is not perfect.
It was a little too small.
For my second A300 i will change the drawing a bit.

Spoiler: Drawing

 

[Incolumis]

The Asrock's HDMI 2.0 port is having flickering issues - while the Display Port is fine. There are random short single or double bursts of screen flickering, half a second or a second short, always soon after bootup, sometimes during idle times, sometimes nothing for an hour but then suddenly back again. I tried it with different cables, with my 4K monitor and my 4K tv, installed the lates chipset and graphics drivers, reinstalled Windows 10 but the flickering remains.

Does anyone else have these HDMI problems? What can I do? I don't know yet if the seller will accept a second replacement.

Hi there. I created an account on this forum just for this post from you. I too have the flickering issue, after i bought a 4K monitor. Before that i was still rocking a Samsung 226BW, which is not even FHD. With that monitor i had no problem with flickering. At first i thought it was because of my new monitor, so i decided to swap the HDMI cable for a Displayport cable, and the problem has not occurred anymore. So i hope your monitor has Displayport.

A small introduction:
I bought the A300 a half year ago, with the following parts:

• AMD Ryzen 5 3400G processor
• G.Skill DDR4 SODIMM Ripjaws 2x8GB 3200MHz - [F4-3200C18D-16GRS]
• Noctua NH-L9a-AM4
• Intel 660p 512GB M.2 SSD
• Intel 660p 2TB M.2 SSD
• Intel AX200NGW AC wifi and bluetooth 5.0 M.2 card
• Philips 276E8VJSB Monitor
• Samsung 840 EVO 120GB
• Samsung 860 EVO 500GB
• 3,5mm connector for the backside
• USB 2.0 ports for topside

As you can see, it's completely tricked out, and i love it!

 

[m4758406]

Old monitors in use, no flickering problem. HDMI 1920x1080.
This flickering is only 4k Problem ?
I can not test it with 4k actually, maybe soon.

This bought ~2 weeks ago for me --> https://geizhals.at/?cat=WL-1364784
This bought some months ago for my father --> https://geizhals.at/?cat=WL-1141921
Both using Jonsbo-HP400 cooler.

 

[Gotagafan]

Hi there. I created an account on this forum just for this post from you. I too have the flickering issue, after i bought a 4K monitor. Before that i was still rocking a Samsung 226BW, which is not even FHD. With that monitor i had no problem with flickering. At first i thought it was because of my new monitor, so i decided to swap the HDMI cable for a Displayport cable, and the problem has not occurred anymore. So i hope your monitor has Displayport.

A small introduction:
I bought the A300 a half year ago, with the following parts:

• AMD Ryzen 5 3400G processor
• G.Skill DDR4 SODIMM Ripjaws 2x8GB 3200MHz - [F4-3200C18D-16GRS]
• Noctua NH-L9a-AM4
• Intel 660p 512GB M.2 SSD
• Intel 660p 2TB M.2 SSD
• Intel AX200NGW AC wifi and bluetooth 5.0 M.2 card
• Philips 276E8VJSB Monitor
• Samsung 840 EVO 120GB
• Samsung 860 EVO 500GB
• 3,5mm connector for the backside
• USB 2.0 ports for topside

As you can see, it's completely tricked out, and i love it!

Is your bluetooth strong with this card? My bluetooth is extremely weak but my card is probably faulty I don't know I'm tired for now will come back to it later... Only issue I have left.

By the way just finished my set-up. Similar to a lot of the recents builds : 3400g and 660p. Replacing a Nuc6i3, it's really nice especially with the Noctua fan. My deskmini is hooked to two 4k monitors (second hand LG 24ud58-b) and no flickering so far even in hdmi.

 

[Quango]

Hi there. I created an account on this forum just for this post from you. I too have the flickering issue, after i bought a 4K monitor. Before that i was still rocking a Samsung 226BW, which is not even FHD. With that monitor i had no problem with flickering. At first i thought it was because of my new monitor, so i decided to swap the HDMI cable for a Displayport cable, and the problem has not occurred anymore. So i hope your monitor has Displayport.
...

Yes, my Philips 4K-Monitor (same as yours) has Displayport and that is fine, but Displayport offers no 4K HDR and HDCP 2.2 support, like the HDMI 2.0 port does (HDCP 2.2 only with the latest drivers, the 3xxx-series APU and a compatible HDMI cable). That HDMI 2.0 was one of the reasons to get an A300. My current Core i3-7100/Asus H110S1/CSM miniSTX machine has a Displayport for standard 4K already.

I found that my Philips 276E8VJSB monitor does not support HDR and HDCP 2.2 (Philips was never clear about that), but my Philips 50PUS7334 tv does. When I connected the Athlon 3000G/A300-combo with the tv the tv immediatly showed HDR, and the Cyberlink Advisor software confirmed HDCP 2.2. Windows had all HDR settings enabled.
But it flickered, too.

Edit: just to add a comparison: I tried a NUC7PJYH with Intel Pentium J5005 and 2x HDMI 2.0 ports with my Philips 4K monitor and it did not flicker. It had power management (no wake up from display standby) and cable issues instead (no picture with some cables). I sent that NUC back.

I am going send back my second A300 and will see if the seller will send me a second replacement or refund me.

Edit: btw, I bought an Intel AX200NGW type card too, but one of the plugs broke off ...

 

[prerunnerwannabe]

Yes, my Philips 4K-Monitor (same as yours) has Displayport and that is fine, but Displayport offers no 4K HDR and HDCP 2.2 support, like the HDMI 2.0 port does (HDCP 2.2 only with the latest drivers, the 3xxx-series APU and a compatible HDMI cable). That HDMI 2.0 was one of the reasons to get an A300. My current Core i3-7100/Asus H110S1/CSM miniSTX machine has a Displayport for standard 4K already.

I found that my Philips 276E8VJSB monitor does not support HDR and HDCP 2.2 (Philips was never clear about that), but my Philips 50PUS7334 tv does. When I connected the Athlon 3000G/A300-combo with the tv the tv immediatly showed HDR, and the Cyberlink Advisor software confirmed HDCP 2.2. Windows had all HDR settings enabled.
But it flickered, too.

Edit: just to add a comparison: I tried a NUC7PJYH with Intel Pentium J5005 and 2x HDMI 2.0 ports with my Philips 4K monitor and it did not flicker. It had power management (no wake up from display standby) and cable issues instead (no picture with some cables). I sent that NUC back.

I am going send back my second A300 and will see if the seller will send me a second replacement or refund me.

Edit: btw, I bought an Intel AX200NGW type card too, but one of the plugs broke off ...

This may be a silly suggestion, but have you tried different HDMI cables, and ones that are rated for HDMI 2.0? To me, that's the logical next step for troubleshooting. I have had no issues with my A300 and really enjoy it, so I hope you can get yours figured out!

 

[teenyweeny]

Is your bluetooth strong with this card? My bluetooth is extremely weak but my card is probably faulty I don't know I'm tired for now will come back to it later... Only issue I have left.

By the way just finished my set-up. Similar to a lot of the recents builds : 3400g and 660p. Replacing a Nuc6i3, it's really nice especially with the Noctua fan. My deskmini is hooked to two 4k monitors (second hand LG 24ud58-b) and no flickering so far even in hdmi.

There are Intel 9260 M.2 Wifi cards on amazon for about $15. One of those will improve your bluetooth performance.

 

[Quango]

This may be a silly suggestion, but have you tried different HDMI cables, and ones that are rated for HDMI 2.0? To me, that's the logical next step for troubleshooting. I have had no issues with my A300 and really enjoy it, so I hope you can get yours figured out!

Yes, for the A300 I had already bought a 4K@60Hz and HDCP 2.2 rated HDMI 2.0 cable. Of course I tried other HDMI cables in my possession, too, but all flickered. For a brand new device, that flicker was not very promising given my experience with Asrock and 4K video stability.

 

[Wesley88]

Just finished my build!

Motherboard: I disassembled the heat sink and replaced the original thermal pad with T-Global TG994 13W/mK thermal pad.

Cooling: I swapped out the 92x14mm fan included with the cooler for a 92x25mm version.

Case: I cut out the intake grill just above the cooler to increase airflow since I used a thicker fan.

 

[rubicoin]

Just finished my build!

Motherboard: I disassembled the heat sink and replaced the original thermal pad with T-Global TG994 13W/mK thermal pad.

Cooling: I swapped out the 92x14mm fan included with the cooler for a 92x25mm version.

Case: I cut out the intake grill just above the cooler to increase airflow since I used a thicker fan.

with this huge cutout, don't you worry about more dust getting into the case? i personally purchased a Silverstone Ultra SST-FF123B dust filter for my build (with no case cutting planned). i know it cuts the airflow by 35% or more, but for my 2200g this should be no big deal. will test it as my a300 finally arrives next week. anyone else here using dust filters?

nice build though, i like the beefed up vent on the noctua.