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

[rubicoin]

based on today's news it seems that amd changes renoir desktop apu naming completely and aligns it nicely to the upcoming zen3 4000 series. this is how it might change:

Ryzen 7 4700G -> Ryzen 7 PRO 4750G (aligns with 4700/X for Vermeer, 3700/X Matisse)
Ryzen 7 4400G -> Ryzen 7 PRO 4650G (aligns with 4600/X for Vermeer, 3600/X/XT Matisse)
Ryzen 7 4300G -> Ryzen 7 PRO 4350G (aligns with 4300/X for Vermeer, 3300X Matisse)

it makes much sense if you ask me, but prioritizing/pushing this apu line towards pro/oem/si segment is pure evil if true.

and the last paragraph from the article could be even more interesting to us:
As for compatibility, almost all motherboard manufacturers have the respective BIOS out in either official or BETA form (AGESA 1.0.0.1) which supports Ryzen 4000 APUs on AM4 motherboards with ease.

deskmini has a beta bios released with AGESA 1.0.0.4, does it mean that we could have renoir support already baked in?

 

[gustav]

I don't know, but from software developer standpoint they could use the 1.0.0.1 branch, but still put some effort into it to implement 4000 series

I think at least they have to put some updates to it to be able to recognize the CPUID, etc.

Edit2: regarding RAM I found SamsungB>MicronE>HynixC (based on https://www.computerbase.de/thema/ram/rangliste/)

 

[A300]

I hope this deskmini supports 4700G or at least 4400G, their benchmark are good.

 

[Valantar]

based on today's news it seems that amd changes renoir desktop apu naming completely and aligns it nicely to the upcoming zen3 4000 series. this is how it might change:

Ryzen 7 4700G -> Ryzen 7 PRO 4750G (aligns with 4700/X for Vermeer, 3700/X Matisse)
Ryzen 7 4400G -> Ryzen 7 PRO 4650G (aligns with 4600/X for Vermeer, 3600/X/XT Matisse)
Ryzen 7 4300G -> Ryzen 7 PRO 4350G (aligns with 4300/X for Vermeer, 3300X Matisse)

it makes much sense if you ask me, but prioritizing/pushing this apu line towards pro/oem/si segment is pure evil if true.

and the last paragraph from the article could be even more interesting to us:
As for compatibility, almost all motherboard manufacturers have the respective BIOS out in either official or BETA form (AGESA 1.0.0.1) which supports Ryzen 4000 APUs on AM4 motherboards with ease.

deskmini has a beta bios released with AGESA 1.0.0.4, does it mean that we could have renoir support already baked in?

Source? Those Pro SKU names align perfectly with the already announced Pro mobile APUs. It is expected that there will be both Pro and non-Pro variants, and the Pro ones alone end in xx50. I've thought from the start that a 4400G with 6 cores aligns very poorly with the rest of their lineup though.

 

[rubicoin]

renoir launches 21st july, so i guess we will know very soon..

source says otherwise regarding the pro moniker. hope this ends up being false information.

anyways, 3200g changes to 43x0g and 3400g changes to 46x0g for sure, which unifies naming quite a bit.

 

[GLSRacer]

Leakers seem to indicate that we should see both versions of the chips, so 4700G should be available alongside the Pro 4750G, etc. But I will be happy either way. The Pro will have extra security onboard which actually may have less OS flexibility and may create more avenues for exploits which will need to be patched. I'd prefer the regular 4700G unless the 4750G will have enough extra performance to make it worth the extra price and headache. If past Pro APUs are any indication, performance be be basically the same but the Pro versions will have a better warranty and more security features for business users. Kind of like Intel's vPro linup.

 

[Valantar]

source says otherwise regarding the pro moniker. hope this ends up being false information.

anyways, 3200g changes to 43x0g and 3400g changes to 46x0g for sure, which unifies naming quite a bit.

Sorry, but that "source" is the notoriously untrustworthy and inaccurate WCCFTech. Unless this is corroborated elsewhere with separate sourcing I don't believe this to be the case. While there is no doubt that there will be a Pro APU series which will mainly be for SIs, and that the product names of this series might indeed be xx50, this being the only desktop APU series is a drastic deviation from previous generations and as such is much harder to believe. Given WCCFT's history, I would be inclined to believe that a) they are misinterpreting information from a source with only limited access to information as generally applicable (such as someone working for an OEM/SI-oriented distributor), b) they are working from incomplete information yet making bold and assertive statements based on this (as they have done many times previously), or c) that it's all entirely made up (whether by them or by their sources). The previous Igor's Lab leak listed part IDs for multiple SKUs at each core count, including ones with roughly matching clock speeds, making it highly likely that there will still be the trifecta we've seen with RR and Picasso: a G, a Pro G, and a Pro GE for each tier. It would be quite odd for AMD to create part IDs for parts that are never going to make it to market. As for their assertion that SIs are prioritized for the desktop APU launch, this is not really new or surprising - previous APU launches were exactly the same. APU sales to SIs outnumber DIY sales by huge margins (I would guess a couple of orders of magnitude, at least for the previous generations), so prioritizing SIs is not surprising whatsoever. Still, I sincerely hope this doesn't mean we'll have to wait for ages for APUs to hit retail. That would be really frustrating.

 

[ShamedGod]

I actually have all the parts aquired for my next PC build and was hoping for the APU to be available mid-July or early August. Will be really bummed out if I have to wait for the new Zen3 4000 CPUs to release :/

 

[rubicoin]

switching topic from ram to ssd a bit: i'd like to have your opinions/experiences about sata ssd raid in deskmini.

i have an adata s8200pro 256gb nvme ssd installed in the main slot as boot drive, which is a speedy little thing for a very little money. i thought it will be more than enough for me (at least initially, i planned a highly cost effective build and expand it with a new apu and bigger cheap storage later when available).

but now, i got 2 pieces of 5-6 year old but still 100/100 condition kingston 240gb sv300 sata3 ssds for virtually no money:

they seem to be the perfect fit for my budget deskmini, i can almost hear the empty double ssd tray on the bottom of the case screaming for them!

the only question is what storage configuration should i use? my goal is to mount them as drive d:, and move my humble steam libary on it completely. no big titles (like my fallout collection, 1 to 76). i have all my sensitive data stored on a nas, so raid 0 seems to be the only real option, specially for steam storage.

these are sandforce mlc drives, but i don't know what performance should i expect using sata raid with deskmini. i don't want to have much higher loading times or any kind of stability issues.

ok, i know performance wise it's not a real question, i should just try it and see for myself. but because of my chromax 25mm fan mod it is a bit challenging to open my case, so i have to wait a bit for doing it till my cheap aliexpress ram heatspreaders arrive. or should i even wait for renoir? it could be released out of the blue this month with a300 support

ok, finally had time to set up sata raid0. it was quite a pain in the a$$.


short version:
installing ssds in deskmini sucks, setting up amd raid under win10 sucks. but works as intended.

raw speeds of ssd1 & ssd2:

speeds in raid0:

so sequential r/w performance roughly doubled just as expected.


tldr version:
installing ssds in deskmini sucks = to access all screws on the back side of the 2x2.5" tray, you have to remove the motherboard.

sata connectors also better to handle with the motherboard unmounted.

setting up raid under win10 sucks = it is relatively easy to create your raid array in bios (set sata to raid and use raidxpert config). but if you want working windows drivers, forget AMD RAIDXpert2 utility ver:9.2.0.105 (sign in to web ui simply did not work) and just download SATA Floppy Image ver:9.2.0.105 from asrock product page download section. unzip and open device manager, update missing raid drivers in storage section by browsing downloaded driver folder. after that, open disk management in windows (choose initialize the disk as GPT when asked), create partition, choose drive letter and that's it. raid is working as intended. until it dies ?


now, with cooling and storage beefed up, only renoir is missing from my config ?

 

[ssouthall6]

Hey, thanks for answering. Dang, you did not get hit by THE virus, I hope

Well, that XMP behavior is weird. Why the heck? Haha Idk.
The second thing was, I meant the SOC voltage since regarding RAM there are not plenty options to choose..
Mine G.Skill are also 1.2V@3200. Now, regarding OC (which is not relevant to that system) but do I get it right:

Samsung B-die are the best (but not manufactured anymore?)
Then Hynix - the one G.Skill also uses - good for OC?
And then Micron being ok?

Thanks folks

Yeah it was THE virus mate, I'm starting to get back to normal now. Had a little of all the symptoms but fatigue being the worst, most importantly I didn't infect anyone else.

So I've had to throw myself into work really and haven't been playing around with my a300 much, but I checked the VID on CoreTemp and it's high. I'm pretty sure I set it to auto and it is anywhere between 0.98 and 1.5v...and mostly towards the top end regardless of load.

Temperatures are much lower, I replaced the Wraith with a Noctua NHL-9i and added a BX500 for quick access stuff and a Sandisk 1TB for my media.

 

[Ardwin]

A short update here about DeskMini A300 and 3400G video stuttering problem in Chrome, Windows 10 and 32GB of memory. Previously video playback was working with the earlier Windows update 1909 but the Windows update 2004 brought the problem back. With update 2004 the stuttering was worse and in all players, not just in Chrome (also in Firefox, VLC etc.). The Radeon software version 20.7.1 seems to have fixed it again for Windows update 2004 (also working with version 20.7.2.).

 

[gustav]

@Ardwin hello how did You install the 2004 build, if I may ask?
From an external storage device?
The point is, I do not get the 2004 via Windows Update suggested. It's not available for me. Also on newest Radeon, since I thought there may be a problem. Still not updating. I'm not a Windows Insider, so everything pretty official.

 

[Trilby]

I've been trying out Death Stranding on the 3400G expecting it to be a slideshow, but it's actually impressively playable at 1080p on the default settings!

 

[Madapcket]

ok, finally had time to set up sata raid0. it was quite a pain in the a$$.


short version:
installing ssds in deskmini sucks, setting up amd raid under win10 sucks. but works as intended.

raw speeds of ssd1 & ssd2:

speeds in raid0:

so sequential r/w performance roughly doubled just as expected.


tldr version:
installing ssds in deskmini sucks = to access all screws on the back side of the 2x2.5" tray, you have to remove the motherboard.

sata connectors also better to handle with the motherboard unmounted.

setting up raid under win10 sucks = it is relatively easy to create your raid array in bios (set sata to raid and use raidxpert config). but if you want working windows drivers, forget AMD RAIDXpert2 utility ver:9.2.0.105 (sign in to web ui simply did not work) and just download SATA Floppy Image ver:9.2.0.105 from asrock product page download section. unzip and open device manager, update missing raid drivers in storage section by browsing downloaded driver folder. after that, open disk management in windows (choose initialize the disk as GPT when asked), create partition, choose drive letter and that's it. raid is working as intended. until it dies ?


now, with cooling and storage beefed up, only renoir is missing from my config ?

Nice job. Like the upgraded cooling. I also added two 250GB 2.5" Samsung 960 SSD's and attempted to mirror them (without success) in PopOS! (Linux). Works fine in the BIOS but Linux sees the drives separately. Perhaps I'll look into a software RAID solution as well. Nice to see you got it working under Windows. This wait for the 4700G is killing me. I already upgraded from a 200GE to a 3200G but really want more speed.

 

[GLSRacer]

Yeah we definitely need to see that 4700G. If the A300W supports it, AMD may get half of their initial orders from all of us upgrading. I know I'll be buying it ASAP if ASRock offers BIOS support.

 

[eadmaster]

hi, a few months ago i've assembled this deskmini A300 inside my old Aerocool Templarius Telum ATX case and it is working pretty well (except the power button, which i've replaced).

Now i am considering replacing the stock AMD cooler with a more silent one, and i'd like to get a cheap one like the Arctic Freezer 33 eSports One or the Scythe Tatsumi.

Btw, do you think is there any risk of damaging the motherboard PCB due to excessive weight on the CPU socket?

 

[rubicoin]

you use deskmini as a lowpower, undervolted ryzen storage server in an atx case big enough for several 3.5" disk drives? nice solution, but seems a bit overkill in size and in performance as well anyways, what do you plan to do with the empty deskmini case? keeping for future use or selling it?

a more silent cooler is always nice to have. if you want to be extra safe, go with the lower weight cooler: tatsumi = 360g (w/o vent?), freezer = 676g (incl. vent). amd wraith coolers weight around 320-350g so i guess you can't go wrong with anything below 400g.

 

[annak]

Hello, I just bought my deskmini with 3400g. In the default bios settings the memory is set as 2666 and I have Crucial Ballistix 3200. How to set it correctly just choose 3200 speed? The speed selection is supposed to be "Auto"

 

[SanityKlaus]

Hello, I just bought my deskmini with 3400g. In the default bios settings the memory is set as 2666 and I have Crucial Ballistix 3200. How to set it correctly just choose 3200 speed? The speed selection is supposed to be "Auto"

No, you need to apply an XMP profile to get 3200.

 

[leo1981]

I don't have a Deskmini and I'm waiting for the new one.
Do you think there is space inside for an Epp-120S-12?
Just above the the ssd?
Dimensions:
Length: 76.2 mm
Width: 50.8 mm
Height: 28 mm
Probably not, due the 46mm fan limit.
Just curious.
Anyone modded the case to a brickless solution?