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

[Quango]

maybe you are too pessimistic. Huawei booked as many foundry resources as possible until their Sept. 15 deadline. Now that has expired and the foundries can realocate to other customer's demands.

Anyway, we are talking for months now about the X300. Where is it? it and the deskmini H470 were presented at the same time, and the Deskmini H470 is available.

 

[ratundtat]

i took a300 because the high energy cost. how much is energy at you? i am living in BRD-Zion.Germoney. Here it costs ~30ct/kWh. I see in switerland ~21ct/kWh (TOP 2). If i had hardware with ~200W, i would next year. Ok, it is politicial or hardcore depressiv, but truth. i do not need X300 or ryzen 5000+ultra. i am glad, if the new BIOS of A300 will be sensational fine and do not make hardware-incompatible crashes though some OS in CMOS! make first a300 workaround and fit and f*** off x300, if problem #1 is not soluted.

 

[gambra]

My 4650G from hardwarestore2000 arrived over the weekend and currently posting from it. Bios update was a breeze and so was the updates etc. This is my current passmark results:

 

[gambra]

Link didn't seem to post: https://www.passmark.com/baselines/V10/display.php?id=130676517316

Running the 4650g with 32gb of 2600 RAM (I will be running VM's on this so top speed isn't an issue) and a 1TB M2 SSD. Hoping I can figure out a way to get more storage to the device other than a 1 or 2 TB laptop drive but that's for another day.

 

[yosoywilson78]

Link didn't seem to post: https://www.passmark.com/baselines/V10/display.php?id=130676517316

Running the 4650g with 32gb of 2600 RAM (I will be running VM's on this so top speed isn't an issue) and a 1TB M2 SSD. Hoping I can figure out a way to get more storage to the device other than a 1 or 2 TB laptop drive but that's for another day.

I have an 8TB external HDD drive hooked up to mine. Can do the same if the 2x2.5 drives arent enough.

 

[gambra]

Yeah I have a 10TB external I can run as a mounted drive, was just hoping I could do something with the SATA rather than USB.

 

[A300]

I think this 4000 series APU is a bit low on CPU performance compare to 4000 series mobile CPU.

On CB 15, 4800U on a notebook, with a limited cooling, is on par with 4650G, but it is a 15W TDP compare to 65W on 4650G.

My guest is, AMD limit this CPU performance on 4000 series APU and they will gradually increase its performance under new series.

 

[Valantar]

I think this 4000 series APU is a bit low on CPU performance compare to 4000 series mobile CPU.

On CB 15, 4800U on a notebook, with a limited cooling, is on par with 4650G, but it is a 15W TDP compare to 65W on 4650G.

My guest is, AMD limit this CPU performance on 4000 series APU and they will gradually increase its performance under new series.

Cinebench isn't a long enough test for thermal limitations to really matter. On something like a 4800U most of the test (if not all of it) will run inside of the boost window, where the CPU likely pulls more like 40W than 15. Also, which notebooks have you seen tested that actually limit the 4800U to 15W? I don't think I've seen a single one with that APU that doesn't allow for 25W operation.

Link didn't seem to post: https://www.passmark.com/baselines/V10/display.php?id=130676517316

Running the 4650g with 32gb of 2600 RAM (I will be running VM's on this so top speed isn't an issue) and a 1TB M2 SSD. Hoping I can figure out a way to get more storage to the device other than a 1 or 2 TB laptop drive but that's for another day.

Heh, I've got the same chip on the way from the same store, so at least now I know they aren't a scam It won't be going in an A300, but if you want I can post my score from the same benchmark for anyone interested in seeing the difference between A300 + DDR4-2600 vs. Asrock B550 + DDR4-3200 (or 3600 if I can get it there).

 

[A300]

Cinebench isn't a long enough test for thermal limitations to really matter. On something like a 4800U most of the test (if not all of it) will run inside of the boost window, where the CPU likely pulls more like 40W than 15. Also, which notebooks have you seen tested that actually limit the 4800U to 15W? I don't think I've seen a single one with that APU that doesn't allow for 25W operation.

On Lenovo Ideapad Slim 7 with Intelligent Cooling, 4800U pull about 25W, the Cinebench 15 score is about more or less the same with 4650G that pull about 88W.

On long time running, all cores in 4800U runs about 2.5 GHz, don't know, about 4650G, I guess the performance won't different a lot, maybe 4650G faster about 10%-20%.

 

[Valantar]

On Lenovo Ideapad Slim 7 with Intelligent Cooling, 4800U pull about 25W, the Cinebench 15 score is about more or less the same with 4650G that pull about 88W.

On long time running, all cores in 4800U runs about 2.5 GHz, don't know, about 4650G, I guess the performance won't different a lot, maybe 4650G faster about 10%-20%.

25W is the long term power draw, not the boost power draw (that can reach into the 40W range) - and as I said, Cinebench mostly finishes within the boost window. Just look at how dramatically performance drops off after the first few CB runs in NotebookCheck's review, starting at ~1620 but then dropping to ~1210. The 4650G has a base clock of 3.7GHz, so in workloads that aren't limited by anything but clock speed it should be ~25% faster. Of course the IdeaPad/Yoga Slim 7 also IIRC runs LPDDR4x-4233, which is significantly faster than any DDR4 you're likely to run on a 4650G. So if the workload responds well to memory bandwidth, that is definitely an advantage for the mobile chip.

 

[rubicoin]

sorry folks but i have to return to my egpu topic a bit. in the Project Ionic NFC video there is an option shown in bios regarding special display features:

he mentions that this motherboard has two options for switchable graphics. my question is: have you ever seen this in bios? for me on 3.60S no such thing is present, only AMD smartshift. no Advanced\AMD PBS menu at all. which could be the last bios version to have this? it could be an important question for me when running 4650g with egpu i guess.

 

[Valantar]

sorry folks but i have to return to my egpu topic a bit. in the Project Ionic NFC video there is an option shown in bios regarding special display features:

he mentions that this motherboard has two options for switchable graphics. my question is: have you ever seen this in bios? for me on 3.60S no such thing is present, only AMD smartshift. no Advanced\AMD PBS menu at all. which could be the last bios version to have this? it could be an important question for me when running 4650g with egpu i guess.

Do you have a GPU connected to your A300? It might be that this option only shows up if there are multiple GPUs installed.

 

[yuusou]

There's issues with the A300 and the 4750G and memory speed when the GPU drivers are installed, right? What about on Linux, are there issues? What about when using an external GPU through one of the m.2?

 

[rubicoin]

Do you have a GPU connected to your A300? It might be that this option only shows up if there are multiple GPUs installed.

it would make sense, but i'd like to know it for sure. here is my advanced tab with no external gpu connected:

anyone can confirm me, that no AMD PBS option is present running igpu only? (on official 3.50/3.60 bios for example)

update:
it seems that this PBS option was removed in beta bios 3.60K/L or even in official 3.60
see comments under this video (google translated to english below)

allesNorris
@CLP tutorials I looked up AMD pbs and cbs are available up to BIOS version 3.60k AgesaV1 1004b. From 3.60L AgesaV2 1.002 the AMD CBS / Pbs function is missing. Instead, you will find AMD firmware version from 3.60O and CPU SOC voltage

allesNorris
@CLP tutorials so with the 3.60 (AGESA 1001 was available. Then I had one version 3.53 (AGESA 1003). The other BIOS AGESA 3.60 H? I still had that.. I hadn't tested AGESA 3.60K. With AGESA 3.60 L up it disappeared. Would have to test the K Bios again. Well, I think it's a shame that it was taken out. I would have liked to test other switches in the R bios as soon as I have my 4000 apu whether you can get standby with AMD PBS / CBS with any switch. We'll wait and see if something else comes up

CLP tutorials
Hello allesNorris,
As far as I know, these functions were already removed in the normal 3.60 release. Or am I wrong?
As soon as the X300 is available, I will make a comparison with the latest BIOS versions.
Best regards
Christoph from CLP Tutorials

maybe it's time for me to check x300 bios? someone can confirm that AMD PBS option is present in 1.40? (X300 manual won't help, same section/screenshot as in A300 manual)

 

[Valantar]

it would make sense, but i'd like to know it for sure. here is my advanced tab with no external gpu connected:

anyone can confirm me, that no AMD PBS option is present running igpu only? (for example on official 3.40 bios)

It's shown in the A300 manual's BIOS section, so it might have been removed or renamed in later versions? Have you looked under the new headings that aren't in the list from the manual?

 

[rubicoin]

i'm sure it has been removed prior renoir beta, so i guess i have to flash x300 1.40 to have this option again.

three things i don't know for sure about it:
- do i have to rename and flash 1.40 bios file with msi uefi flash tool, or just try it with asrock instant flash in setup?
- does x300 bios reportedly work with a300, and is it ok for 4650g daily use?
- can x300 bios be reverted back to 3.60S just by reflashing it?

update:
based on this chinese forum thread translated by google i'll skip flashing x300 for now (no AMD PBS menu and risky comeback to a300 beta bios).

 

[gustav]

Well, unfortunately I experienced today more like 4 BSODs. Each one by itself also hung and did not recover. Error: THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER.

Did anyone else experience this?
BIOS: 3.60R, A300

It happens repeatedly with following apps opened up simultaneously; windows 10, x64, latest updates, latest chipset&apu drivers on stable branch, dual screen setup, both FHD, @60Hz and @144Hz:
-discord (mainly)
-whatsapp desktop
-vscode (even just opened up, no project loaded)
-chronium
-as well as sometimes with the built-in clipboard when making screenshots using "Print" key.

There is no madness on my system, even this discord thing is only one group with usual text and media. Nothing special. The setup is also rather common.

There is kinda no specific trigger for this. It may happen while typing in any of those apps or while moving them around and sometimes, but not that frequent while just sitting there idle.
Often is WhatsApp and non-work related in full screen on the left 60Hz side, and vscode or chrome is big in front on 144Hz.

Very unsatisfying and unpleasant experience.

I actually think it is still the driver. While it got overall better - there seem some issues to be present.

The driver may struggle relocating gpu-powered workload between two screens resulting in a timeout. But me no AMD developer.

Thanks in advance

 

[suta]

Hi Guys!... I'm planning on purchasing Asrock Minidesk x300.. I saw most of the SODIMM ram sold on the market were DDR4 8GB/16GB 3200mhz CL22. I'm getting a Ryzen 5 Pro 4650G. Should I be getting a CL 16 ram or CL22 instead? Can this motherboard read/support/tweaked to CL 16 if I purchased a ram indicating DDR4 3200mhz CL16? or should I stick to a CL22?

Also I'm Curious why most of the ram on the market for DDR4 3200mhz were mostly CL22.. you can hardly find a lower CL than that.

 

[gustav]

Particular on ryzen 4000G series there not much experience, as they are also hard to get. What A300 tends to is instability on SOC rail, this is what I think of.

The short answer is, got for the CL16 RAM, as it will further improve your latency.
But there is also a downside. The SOC stresses the rail more. It may result in instability.

But since you're speaking about X300 I would think it should be able to handle CL16 "Line Load".

I would go for CL16, but in the end you have to try it out

 

[SFF Watercooled]

The Asrock Deskmini X300 is now available on Newegg for more overclocking and support.