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

[Wolfsweater]

Hello all,

I purchased an A300W a while ago and have been enjoying it for the most part. Outside of a few issues with sound cutting out (Switching from Windows 10 to Linux (Pop_OS!) Fixed this. I currently have a 200GE along with a 16GB kit of 2666CL15 memory (bumped to 3000Mhz). After realizing how good Linux is these days as a HTPC, and the ability to game from the couch I'll be staying here for a while.

Couple questions.


I'm planning on upgrading from a 200GE to something more powerful. I did have a 2400G and 3200G at one point where (gaming) performance was very similar. I was wondering if anyone has had experience with the 3200G at stock in this A300W since overclocking is basically non-existent. Now that I realize I can game in Linux from my couch, I want to max out my performance as much as possible. Since overclocking isn't an option, does it make sense to you to buy the 3400G since it has higher default clocks over the 2400G? Will there be throttling issues (I have a NHL9A+120MM Noctua read to go on it) or do you think it's best to wait for Renoir?

Also, how do you get rid of the damn blinking light when the A300W goes into a sleep state?

Thanks in advance. Love the info so far in this thread (although I haven't been able to read through all of it yet).

 

[Incolumis]

Does anyone else encounter stuttering when they keep the PC on for a couple of days? The mouse cursor stutters a bit and things load a bit slower.
Only fix is to restart the PC.

 

[ShamedGod]

Hello all,

I purchased an A300W a while ago and have been enjoying it for the most part. Outside of a few issues with sound cutting out (Switching from Windows 10 to Linux (Pop_OS!) Fixed this. I currently have a 200GE along with a 16GB kit of 2666CL15 memory (bumped to 3000Mhz). After realizing how good Linux is these days as a HTPC, and the ability to game from the couch I'll be staying here for a while.

Couple questions.


I'm planning on upgrading from a 200GE to something more powerful. I did have a 2400G and 3200G at one point where (gaming) performance was very similar. I was wondering if anyone has had experience with the 3200G at stock in this A300W since overclocking is basically non-existent. Now that I realize I can game in Linux from my couch, I want to max out my performance as much as possible. Since overclocking isn't an option, does it make sense to you to buy the 3400G since it has higher default clocks over the 2400G? Will there be throttling issues (I have a NHL9A+120MM Noctua read to go on it) or do you think it's best to wait for Renoir?

Also, how do you get rid of the damn blinking light when the A300W goes into a sleep state?

Thanks in advance. Love the info so far in this thread (although I haven't been able to read through all of it yet).

I bought the 2400G and upgraded to the 3400G - selling my old CPU to a friend. There is no reason to run the 3400G over the 2400G in the A300. That may change with the next gen APU though, although you can find the 3400G for sale. Amazon and Newegg didn't seem to have the 2400G in stock.

If you're already up and running wait for the next gen APU coming out some time late 2020. I've not been happy with my decision to "upgrade" but... The Ram did overclock a little higher.

 

[D3NPA]

guys

do you want undervolting (some form of) on a300? >

 

[Wolfsweater]

I bought the 2400G and upgraded to the 3400G - selling my old CPU to a friend. There is no reason to run the 3400G over the 2400G in the A300. That may change with the next gen APU though, although you can find the 3400G for sale. Amazon and Newegg didn't seem to have the 2400G in stock.

If you're already up and running wait for the next gen APU coming out some time late 2020. I've not been happy with my decision to "upgrade" but... The Ram did overclock a little higher.

Thanks. Makes sense. Will hang on to the 200GE unless some crazy sale comes along.

 

[D3NPA]

about undervolting
OFC you can't just drop CPU VDD

BUT with some slight underclocking now my 3200G consume just 55W (AIDA64 CPU VDD sensor) @3280MHz(1.07V) instead of 85W@3600(1.27V)
and comfortly running with Wraith Stealth @1000-1100RPM

How?

At your own risk ?

1. Disable PBO (idk is it really neccessary with next steps, lol, but anyway it's useless under bad cooling)
2. Redo your current power plan to 99% min-max CPU clocks
3. Download RyzenTest (run InstWinRing0 if doesn't work OOTB)
4. Run RyzenTest0 and DON'T TOUCH anything under P0 State, select P1 (or say hello to black or flashing screen if you forgot to change it back and chose another power plan after this)
5. Adjust FID slider (to 197 in my case for 3280MHz) and click YES ?

Now you can run some stress tests and watch at much lower temps at the same fan speeds, YAY!

Sorry if my english isn't perfect, but i think it can be worse if i write this in russian and you'll use google translate)

 

[ConsolidatedResults]

about undervolting
OFC you can't just drop CPU VDD [...]

That is just P-State underclocking though. Not sure what your method brings above just doing this from BIOS, the how to of which has been discussed in this thread some time ago. I am not sure why I would want to modify power plans and install another tool when this is adjustable out of the box on A300M-STX, without any risk of black or flashing screens from my experience.

 

[D3NPA]

Not sure what your method brings above just doing this from BIOS

you can do it on the fly
actually you can finetune to desired freq/temps/ (no need to reboot for every single change) and then do last changes in bios

without any risk of black or flashing screens

there is no risk until you touch what you shouldn't
like in bios ?

 

[D3NPA]

just did a simple graph for my CPU under CPU-Z stress load
that 3.2 to 3.6 Ghz jump looks so huge ?

(how to edit a message here? :'D)

 

[rokabeka]

so there is no chance of starting a ryzen 7 1700 in an a300 e.g. with a gpu attached to an m.2 to pcie adapter? is there something in the chipset preventing it?

 

[rokabeka]

'...is there something in the chipset preventing it?,

chipset mehehe. finally found the comments in this thread regarding a300 vs x300 and BIOS modding (I am a noob on mobile device, desktop is my field)

 

[ConsolidatedResults]

1. Renoir AM4 Desktop, iGPU about as good as 2400G Vega 11 at same RAM speed. Absolutely no suprise here (11x 1250 = 13750 ~ 14000 = 8x 1750).
2 ASRock X300M-STX. X, not A

 

[Quango]

...
2 ASRock X300M-STX. X, not A

Maybe I was "lucky" that my three A300 trials failed and I chose to abandon Asrocks poor effort in STX boards. I hope - though doubt - that the X300 will have less issues with quality. It says still AM4, so I might keep my Athlon 3000G for testing X300 before investing in a Renoir.

I was toying with the idea of going the NUC route with a fanless case since I have a pleasant experience with a Core i7 Comet-Lake-U Asus Zenbook, which is completely silent most of the time in Quiet Mode (no fan running - and no coil whine), but the quad-core NUC10i5 is essentially unavailabe, the hexacore NUC10i7 is thermally challenged and expensive, while the Panther Canyon NUCs with Tiger Lake will certainly be postponed into next year's release.

I am hoping that some other makers enter the STX market again with an AM4 Renoir board, so we won't be stuck with only whatever quality Asrock is going to offer.

 

[Nord1ing]

I am happy with my A300+R3400G.
Installed as well ADATA XPG F1 2x8GB 2666MHz memory and OC to 3200MHz@1.2V


Only one BIG issue, not much of linux distros support ryzen integrated graphic or even can boot out-of-box, for the majority of distro kernel upgrade is needed :/

 

[Quango]

1. Renoir AM4 Desktop ...
...

Wouldn't a notebook Renoir be better for a SFF PC with regards to energy draw and temps?

 

[rokabeka]

2 ASRock X300M-STX. X, not A

maybe its BIOS will help to unlock A300
never mind. it won't.

 

[Curiosity]

X300-m?
Hmmmm

 

[rubicoin]

1. Renoir AM4 Desktop, iGPU about as good as 2400G Vega 11 at same RAM speed. Absolutely no suprise here (11x 1250 = 13750 ~ 14000 = 8x 1750).
2 ASRock X300M-STX. X, not A

no surprise? a ryzen 5 desktop renoir 4000 class apu with 6/12 cores has ~10% lower igpu score than the previous gen 3400g (1362 points) and also gets beaten by the 2400g (1250 points)? that would be one step backward in graphics performance, even for the same $150 price.

(see details @ 2400g/3400g time spy results)

regarding ASRock X300M-STX: it's nice that they built a new stx board, but i doubt it will be powering the new ryzen deskmini. we still hope that A300 gets renoir support via bios update in a couple of months. if not, then we may even see a deskmini A400 released later this year

 

[ConsolidatedResults]

no surprise? a ryzen 5 desktop renoir 4000 class apu with 6/12 cores has ~10% lower igpu score than the previous gen 3400g (1362 points) and also gets beaten by the 2400g (1250 points)? that would be one step backward in graphics performance [...]

Yes, disappointing but no surprise since CES. That event basically did away with the notion of higher CU configurations. Also, very little focus on the GPU part in the CES presentations (only 3D Mark CPU scores back then) and all the talk about 59% or so higher GPU performance was very odd. Note how it was said the performance increase was _per CU_ and comparing 2nd gen to 3rd Gen mobile Ryzen. So that figure did include the increase in supported RAM speed from DDR4-2400 to DDR4-3200/LPDDR4-4266, the boost in nominal clockspeed of around 300-400MHz and the likely less need to throttle due to 7nm.

Translating to desktop, the higher RAM speed is not as relevant as we could run 3200 before, the power and thermal budget is a non issue on desktop, so that leaves the higher clock, which does not make up the lack of CUs.

Obviously, getting higher thread counts into mobile was AMDs top priority, they had the graphics lead there anyway. Looks like we won't get anything like the console APUs anytime soon.

regarding ASRock X300M-STX: it's nice that they built a new stx board, but i doubt it will be powering the new ryzen deskmini. we still hope that A300 gets renoir support via bios update in a couple of months. if not, then we may even see a deskmini A400 released later this year

If an X300 gets released and it literally is just an A300 with a bit better VRMs and OC support, that would not be compelling at all. If however it included e.g. 95w Matisse CPU support and a 12v header on mainboard and other features that made it easy to pair it with a dGPU i might bite...

More likely than a Deskmini A400 would be a Deskmini Pro 500, matching the AMD designation for a chipsetless corporate targeted product.

 

[Curiosity]

I'd just be happy with a bios update for the a300 to support 65w non apu processors.

X300 with beefed up vrms and baked in support for new APU's + 1600af/ 3600