CHF155.–
AsRock Deskmini X300
Product ratings
Pros
Cons
20 reviews
Tiny, silent but very powerfull hardware
I ordered two X300 Deskminis.
One to replace an old HTPC and one to replace a workstation.
The idea was to order one 3000G APU for the HTPC and a 5700G for the workstation.
I got 2 X300 Deskminis as ordered, but one came as "Defect on Arrival (DOA)" (board was dead, no lamps, no fan, nothing). It was replaced by Galaxus swift and without a problem (Thx!).
With the 3000G APU I would be able to flash the BIOS to 1.70 if needed.
For the HTPC the 3000G should be sufficient.
It was not needed to flash the BIOS, both Asrock X300 deskminis were delivered with BIOS 1.70.
I replaced the standard CPU cooler with a Noctua NH-L9a-AM4. In combination with the 5700G and 3000G it runs very silent under full load conditions (CPU-Z Benchmarking).
I installed 32GByte PC3200 G.Skill memory. Works like a charm.
I installed a WD Blue 1TByte NVME-SSD. Works like a charm (upto 2.5GByte/s read/write speeds)
Some power measurements at the wall socket:
-5700G idle 9Watts and under full load 110Watts
-3000G idle 9Watts and under full load 30Watts.
APU hardware monitoring temperatures:
-5700G: idle 30dgr and under full load 82dgr
-3000G: idle 30dgr and under full load 50dgr
I`m impressed by this little machine. It`s an easy hardware install . I`ve installed Windows 11 Pro on both machines. Both running stable. Still busy optimizing Windows 11, but did not have issues, most of the hardware run out of the box, the rest via Windows update. CPU Z benchmarking for the 5700G indicates a impressive 6200 multi-thread and 630 single-thread.
Disadvantages: There are only 4 USB ports (2 front ports and 2 back ports).
You could order a bracket with two extra USB2.0 ports, but I opted for an extra USB hub.
The latest generation APU`s are hard to get, only 5700G and 5600G are available. For the HTPS I would like to replace in a future for a 5300G, but not available for the moment.Pro
- Small but it can host upto an AMD 5750G APU
- CPU cooler can be upgraded
- 2x nvme slots and two SATA slots.
- Power consumption idle: 9Watts
- BIOS 1.70 are preinstalled on both units
- Silent with the Noctua CPU cooler.
Contra
- Only 4 USB ports
- Cooler in the delivered package
- AMD APU`s limited available
- You need BIOS version 1.60/1.70 to get the latest APU running
Downlevel BIOS 1.40, current is 1.70
My ASROCK X300 was delivered with a downlevel BIOS (1.40), so that the AMD 5700G which I also ordered does not run. I ordered an additional AMD 3000G - Item nr. 15835073 - Manufacturer no. YD3000C6M2OFH - merely to perform the BIOS update from 1.40 to 1.70. Due to AMD processor availability I am now awaiting the delivery of that CPU.
Contra
- Downlevel BIOS
Tip Top
it's my ideal pc.
with a ryzen 7 5700g, in office use and multimedia a temperature of 40° (at home it's 26°) in idle 36 a 38°.
in games I can play FIFA, CS GO and many others with a temperature of 65° to 77°.Pro
- the size
- already with a power supply
- with integrated motherboard
Contra
- no air filter
Perfect Mini PC
Pro
- Already with current Bios 1.70 for Ryzen Cezanne
- Clear Bios
- Easy assembly
- Perfect as office PC
- Together with the cooler Jonsbo HP 400 cool and quiet
- Relatively inexpensive
- Power saving
- Nice optics
Contra
- Slight coil whine
- Too few USB outputs in the back, USB hub recommended
- Speaker output in the back would be desirable
Well, came with BIOS 1.6 (Compatible with ZEN3).
I bought the DeskMini here as "used". on the sticker stand BIOS 1.3 (resp. simply the not compatible version with ZEN3). I already had the fear that the whole thing does not work with ZEN3.
But luckily BIOS 1.6 was already installed and so the 5700G works right away. Together with the NH-9La-AM4. In addition still existing 2x 16 SO-DIMM3200 and an old 240GB SATA3 SSD.
The supplied boxed cooler is usable up to 35W TPD, but is already very loud.
So if you build the system, listen to the recommendations: With the NH-9La-AM4 the system is very quiet up to 45W TDP, but without manual intervention the system gets quite warm.
The UEFI is very configurable. I recommend 45W TDP for the 5700G. Performance losses / differences in the office everyday I do not notice to my other setups with Ryzen 5800U, 5800H and 5800X. In the benchmarks (...) the 5700G is slightly slower than the 5800H, limited to 45W TDP.
It's a bit of a shame that WLAN/BT is not included by default. But you can choose freely. The number of USB ports could be better and a second USB-C should be easy nowadays. A USB-C with DP mode would be perfect, so that you can simply connect 2 monitors via multistream (but also via the DP port). The USB-PD option is unfortunately omitted, because with 90W to 100W simply USB 3.2 is still too weak (The AsRock power supply has 120W). With the latter option, you could take, for example, a monitor with USB-C and >90W PD and would have only 1 cable for everything. Would be just "fancy".
It's also a pity that AMD doesn't care about the low price segment anymore...no or hardly available APUs up to and with Ryzen 3400G....so you have to buy used or hope that ZEN3 APUs work right away...people buy from the competition.
The Athlon 3000G is again too slow for many things.Pro
- Small, compact
- Easy mounting
- 2x SATA, 2x m2
- With NH-L9a-AM4 pretty quiet
- Configurable UEFI
- AMD Power
- Fast assembly
Contra
- WLAN/BT should be included
- Boxed cooler only usable up to 35W TDP
- Availability of AMD processors
- Could have more USB (C) ports
- USB-C with DP mode is missing
- Not all x300 are compatible with ZEN3
- No BIOS update without CPU (MSI does this, for example)
Does what it should
Perfect for the office or on the TV. I use the Deskmini on the TV. Can also be used to emulate old consoles.
Pro
- Size
- Flexible
- with Noctua cooler absolutely noiseless
Contra
- w-lan connection a bit fiddly
6 out of 20 reviews
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