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

Nunuji

Caliper Novice
Jan 17, 2021
23
8
I need some advice from the experts. I have a DeskMini 110 that I have been using for several years as a HTPC/Plex server, 6600k, 20GB ram, 128GB M.2 and 2x2TB 2.5 HDDs. Works well but I have been wanting something with more graphic power and more than 4 cores. Just ordered a DeskMini x300w. I want to pair it with a 4650G which I realize is OEM and not readily available. I found it on AliExpress for $196.61. My question is if AliExpress is the best buying option for shipping to the US or are there better? Thanks for any input.
I'd treat AliExpress about the same as ebay, maybe a little bit more cautiously depending on what I'm buying...
So pay attention to sales, reviews, and if it's too good to be true, it probably is. ^^;
Also make sure you scroll down and read any additional details, as sometimes they sell used ones for cheaper but don't specify used in the title.

That said, I got my 4650g from them for like $220(+tax) and it shipped quickly and was as expected.
 

Valantar

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 20, 2018
2,201
2,225
@rubicoin So ultimately my plan is to put a 120^2x15mm fan in there, so I wanted as tall a heatsink as possible to reduce turbulence. I would put 120^2x25, but it won't clear the RAM, and if I use a 95^x25mm it won't cool both sticks of RAM.

I want the ram to get a little more cooling because I currently have it at 3600 CL16-19-19-19-38 and it's a little toastier than I'd like. ^^;

I might end up just getting an L9a like you suggested and seeing how it handles the 120mm fan.
Your main source of turbulence will be the fan being right up against the intake grill, not the distance from the fan to the motherboard. A taller heatsink will do very little to reduce turbulence. If you're planning to squeeze as tall a heatsink as possible in there, you should also cut out the top of the case and use a standard wire ring fan grill to avoid turbulence - otherwise you'll have a really noisy cooler on your hands. That way you could also mount the fan directly to the case and avoid any clearance hassles when inserting the motherboard.

That being said, I remember seeing several people around the forums sanding down heatsinks to make them fit in various builds. Shouldn't be a problem as long as you have sufficient clearance above the heatpipes to remove material. A belt sander is likely your best bet, or just taping down a large sheet/belt of sand paper to a flat surface if sanding by hand.
 
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fiftofar

Minimal Tinkerer
New User
Jan 17, 2021
4
7
jzelectronic has the X300 L1.46 bios listed in their blog "31.12.20 19:13 BIOSe für ASRock Serie AM4". L1.46 has PBO, XFR, CPB, TSME, Global C-State. AGESA ComboAM4v2PI 1.0.0.2 SMU 4.30.71.0

I know this is the A300 thread, can't see a X300 thread like this one.
I got the X300, 3400G, NH-L9a, 64GB BL2K32G32C16S4B. (also have 220W and 180W power bricks)
Had a super annoying time trying to get any kind of mem overclock stable. XMP all auto is fine.

If i manually set the SOC voltage or any of the GFX freq/volt it causes throttling to stop working (iGPU) and results in thermal shutdowns/resets under heavy load.
If i leave XMP disabled and set all ram settings manually, leave the SOC voltage auto the voltage is too low and its unstable. (SOC voltage is 1.000V or less)

I have to enable XMP, leave the SOC voltage on auto and then i can manually set the ram speed and timings and be fine. (SOC voltage is 1.100V and drops to around 1.038V under load)

Super annoying, ram is stable at 3466 C16-18-18-18 as long as the SOC voltage doesn't go below 1.050 (24hour stable with HCI Memtest and stressapptest)
BUT as i said, whenever i manually set voltages it prevents throttling and results in thermal shutdowns/resets.
I tried replacing the VRM thermal pad with the 17Wmk Fujipoly and it made no difference.

The heavy loads i am talking about, easiest way to trigger was to run Unigine Heaven and the CPUz stress test (Heaven + Memtest/stressapptest/prime95 also works).

Ended up settling with 3333 C16-18-18-18, limited by the SOC auto voltage with XMP enabled.
 

rubicoin

Cable-Tie Ninja
Jan 12, 2020
164
104
jzelectronic has the X300 L1.46 bios listed in their blog "31.12.20 19:13 BIOSe für ASRock Serie AM4". L1.46 has PBO, XFR, CPB, TSME, Global C-State. AGESA ComboAM4v2PI 1.0.0.2 SMU 4.30.71.0

wow thx for the info, we missed it i guess. anyone ready to try it on a300?
 

rfarmer

Spatial Philosopher
Jul 7, 2017
2,588
2,702
The seller on aliexpress selling it for just under 200 bucks is a new store with no reputation so far. I'd be warry of that one in particular.

I'd treat AliExpress about the same as ebay, maybe a little bit more cautiously depending on what I'm buying...
So pay attention to sales, reviews, and if it's too good to be true, it probably is. ^^;
Also make sure you scroll down and read any additional details, as sometimes they sell used ones for cheaper but don't specify used in the title.

That said, I got my 4650g from them for like $220(+tax) and it shipped quickly and was as expected.
Thanks for the input and caution. I did check the seller with the low price and he is very new with only a couple reviews, so like you said be cautious. I did find a couple other sellers with much higher rating and more reviews but they want closer to $350. I did find some 4350g from those sellers around $175 so I might go that route. @Nunuji can you tell me which seller you bought yours from?
 

fiftofar

Minimal Tinkerer
New User
Jan 17, 2021
4
7
wow thx for the info, we missed it i guess. anyone ready to try it on a300?
I am pretty sure i looked at the exact blog post in the past and it was not there, I think it has been added recently.
I was able to read and write to my X300 with the modified flashrom build posted over in "AGESA FW stack patched bioses for 3rd gen" at overclock.net, I just use freedos in the latest Rufus which is not recommended.
(Updated the vbios, gop, microcodes etc with UBU). I don't recommend anyone try anything without a way to recover/external flasher.
I believe at some point Ryzen support will be added to the official flashrom.
 
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Valantar

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 20, 2018
2,201
2,225
Thanks for the input and caution. I did check the seller with the low price and he is very new with only a couple reviews, so like you said be cautious. I did find a couple other sellers with much higher rating and more reviews but they want closer to $350. I did find some 4350g from those sellers around $175 so I might go that route. @Nunuji can you tell me which seller you bought yours from?
I'm not the one you asked, but I bought mine from hardwarestore2000 (German store AFAIK) on Ebay. No idea if they ship to the US though, but shipping to Sweden was problem-free.
 

rfarmer

Spatial Philosopher
Jul 7, 2017
2,588
2,702
I'm not the one you asked, but I bought mine from hardwarestore2000 (German store AFAIK) on Ebay. No idea if they ship to the US though, but shipping to Sweden was problem-free.
Thanks @Valantar, I found a 4350G from a reputable US ebay seller so decided to go that route. For my use case the 4350G will be more than enough just figured I would get the 4750G if I could get one for a good price.
Edit: Unfortunately the German store doesn't ship to the US.
 
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Nunuji

Caliper Novice
Jan 17, 2021
23
8
@Nunuji can you tell me which seller you bought yours from?

Thanks @Valantar, I found a 4350G from a reputable US ebay seller so decided to go that route. For my use case the 4350G will be more than enough just figured I would get the 4750G if I could get one for a good price.
Edit: Unfortunately the German store doesn't ship to the US.
Glad you found something you trust a bit more on ebay and went with it! But for future reference, the name of the store was "TaiYuan Store." And sorry for the late reply, my schedule is wonky.
 
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MrJvr

Caliper Novice
Jan 18, 2021
27
11
can you undervolt on x300?
I've been running a 3000G overclocked to 3.7Ghz and undervolted to 1.15v all day. Not a spectacular feat but it's my work machine so trying to avoid any mid-meeting BSOD's for now!
Just done through the usual Ryzen master. I can check the bios as I'm sure it's equipped for both :)
 
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alles_alles

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Aug 11, 2020
107
28
jzelectronic has the X300 L1.46 bios listed in their blog "31.12.20 19:13 BIOSe für ASRock Serie AM4". L1.46 has PBO, XFR, CPB, TSME, Global C-State. AGESA ComboAM4v2PI 1.0.0.2 SMU 4.30.71.0

I know this is the A300 thread, can't see a X300 thread like this one.
I got the X300, 3400G, NH-L9a, 64GB BL2K32G32C16S4B. (also have 220W and 180W power bricks)
Had a super annoying time trying to get any kind of mem overclock stable. XMP all auto is fine.

If i manually set the SOC voltage or any of the GFX freq/volt it causes throttling to stop working (iGPU) and results in thermal shutdowns/resets under heavy load.
If i leave XMP disabled and set all ram settings manually, leave the SOC voltage auto the voltage is too low and its unstable. (SOC voltage is 1.000V or less)

I have to enable XMP, leave the SOC voltage on auto and then i can manually set the ram speed and timings and be fine. (SOC voltage is 1.100V and drops to around 1.038V under load)

Super annoying, ram is stable at 3466 C16-18-18-18 as long as the SOC voltage doesn't go below 1.050 (24hour stable with HCI Memtest and stressapptest)
BUT as i said, whenever i manually set voltages it prevents throttling and results in thermal shutdowns/resets.
I tried replacing the VRM thermal pad with the 17Wmk Fujipoly and it made no difference.

The heavy loads i am talking about, easiest way to trigger was to run Unigine Heaven and the CPUz stress test (Heaven + Memtest/stressapptest/prime95 also works).

Ended up settling with 3333 C16-18-18-18, limited by the SOC auto voltage with XMP enabled.
maybe you can test it on a300. I have had test it too with 1.40. Maybe some things work more on 1.46 bios with a300 . But its on your own risk
 

rfarmer

Spatial Philosopher
Jul 7, 2017
2,588
2,702
Glad you found something you trust a bit more on ebay and went with it! But for future reference, the name of the store was "TaiYuan Store." And sorry for the late reply, my schedule is wonky.
Thanks for the response. I checked the store and neither the 4650g or the 4350g are in stock.
 

D3NPA

Average Stuffer
Mar 8, 2020
58
41
Was bored and flashed L1.46 to A300
as expected
no OC
no UV
XMP works fine
My F4-3000C16-8GRS still can't do 3200, even with 19-19-19 at 1.35V =(
Tried SOC 1.15V
 
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Nunuji

Caliper Novice
Jan 17, 2021
23
8
@D3NPA I know it's a bit high, but have you tried setting SOC to 1.1750?
Personally I find it easier on the A300 to start with a higher SOC voltage and work my way down since other options are limited.

Also are you still using a 3200g?
And finally, what is L1.46? I assume a bios revision of some kind (maybe from the X300?) but I don't recognize it. ^^;
 
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denywinarto

Chassis Packer
Jul 5, 2018
19
0
More quiet and much better thermals:
In BIOS:
-Underclock: Set Pstate0 MHz manual to a lower max. clock speed. E.g. 3300 MHz
-Disable Core Performance Boost! This is generating insane heat.
- Save and reboot into bios and now:
-Undervolting CPU in BIOS to 1.1V or even 1.05V maximum.

This lowers temps a lot on my passive cooled Deskmini with 3400G (Bios 3.60K)
I get 105°C CPU core temp on max load stress test with NO fan running for hours. Works since years no problem. Prior the Deskmini was shutting down because too much heat.

Hi @pappl, are you using cirrus incus a300 for this?
If i'm not wrong, on other thread you said you bought incus a300.
I was gonna buy it for 4750g, but if it cant even handle 3400g maybe i'll look into monsterlabo
 
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rubicoin

Cable-Tie Ninja
Jan 12, 2020
164
104
Was bored and flashed L1.46 to A300
as expected
no OC
no UV
XMP works fine
My F4-3000C16-8GRS still can't do 3200, even with 19-19-19 at 1.35V =(
Tried SOC 1.15V

finally someone. please provide us with a little more details or even screenshots!

- how did u flash it exactly?
- no OC/UV means what? not existing menu items or just not working?
- can you save all other settings and does bios work without problems? is it ok for daily use?

thx in advance
 

MrJvr

Caliper Novice
Jan 18, 2021
27
11
Was bored and flashed L1.46 to A300
as expected
no OC
no UV
XMP works fine
My F4-3000C16-8GRS still can't do 3200, even with 19-19-19 at 1.35V =(
Tried SOC 1.15V
Where did you find the 1.46 bios?
Could you provide a link?