Small Form Factor PC (SFF) has gain interest to pc builder year by year. Today technologies can make superb computer with minimal size. Starting from Intel, their NUC pc are one of example of successful mini pc that people love to buy because of its form factor, flexible and easy-to-carry especially for people who likes to working remote and who looking for laptop alternatives.
Intel NUC might not offer best price for performance and for some people, they feel like a little bit pricey especially for the top spec such as Intel i7 and i5. Asrock comes with other cheap option with their Deskmini A300 which using well known affordable AMD Ryzen platform.
This is barebone pc and you need to buy separated cpu, ram, drives and wifi card. The good things is buyer have more pc part option from 3rd party to choose before setting up the Deskmini. For example you may put $50 AMD Athlon 3000g. Keep in mind there are no graphic card slot so you need to use AMD APU's such as Athlon & Ryzen with G series.
1. UNBOXING ASROCK DESKMINI A300
Inside the box there are several parts that need to assemble by the buyer. but don't afraid because Asrock already included detailed manual sheet and it is easy to do by your self.
As you can see in the picture below, this just a barebone pc. which means buyer need to buy other parts which is :
* AMD processor : Athlon & Ryzen APU ( with vega graphic )
* Ram : DDR4 SO-DIMM (same as laptop)
* Storage : M.2 SSD / 2.5 sata SSD or 2.5 sata HDD
* Wifi card : M.2 PCI-E
It is nice to see Asrock include standard AMD cpu cooler. Because not all cooler are fit in this case. For your information, Deskmini A300 only support low profile cooler that are maximum 4.5cm height ( 5cm will touch the metal cover).
AC adapter also included. No need to worry about power supply. It will directly power up the board.
Standard AMD cpu cooler. 7cm fan with aluminium heatsink. The best alternative low profile cooler we found is ID COOLING IS-40X.
2 pieces SATA cable to connect 2x 2.5 SSD or HDD Drive for your storage.
Screws and Rubber feed.
At the back there are enough I/O to operate the PC.
* 1x AC jack
* 1x HDMI slot
* 1x Display Port Slot
* 1x VGA Slot
* 1x Ethernet slot
* 2x USB slot (2.0 & 3.0)
Front I/O :
* 1x Power Button
* 1x Mic Jack
* 1x 3.5 Headphone Jack
* 1x USB 3.0
* 1x USB 3.0 type-C
Asrock also make sure the air flow enough to cool the board.
Optional vesa mount for whom want to attach to the back of monitor. need to buy separately.
2. INSIDE THE DESKMINI A300
To open the barebone, we need to remove 4 screws at the back of the case. Using philips screwdriver make the job done in 10 second.
Slide out the back metal cover and the board will show up. Easy!
The board are using AMD 300 series and it is mini-STX size (5x5 inch). Dual SO-DIMM Ram and AM4 socket need to fill up. Yeah a laptop ram pair with Desktop CPU. As you can see its dual slot ram so a nice dual channel ram setup is a must to release full potential of integrated graphics APU in Ryzen.
There are 1x M.2 slot for wifi card and 2X M.2 slot for SSD.
* 1x M.2 Wifi : Front
* 2x M.2 SSD : Front & Back
3. RECOMENDED PARTS
Supported Socket is AM4 and no graphic card. So APU is mandatory here. We list the supported cpu below from budget friendly to high performance.
Budgets friendly APU :
* Athlon 200GE
* Athlon 3000G (Recommended)
For Good Multitasking :
* Ryzen 3200G
* Ryzen 2200G
For Gaming :
* Ryzen 3400G (Recommended)
* Ryzen 2400G
Pair with 2x DDR4 SO DIMM stick RAM for Dual Channel :
* 2666mhz DDR4 any brand
* 2400mhz OC to max supported 2933mhz Kingston HyperX Impact (Recommended)
4. FULL SPECIFICATION
CPU
- Supports AMD AM4 Socket CPUs (Picasso, Raven Ridge, Bristol Ridge, up to 65W)
Cooler
- Supports AMD AM4 CPU Cooler (Max. Height ≦ 46mm)
Memory
- Supports 2 x SO-DIMM DDR4, Max. 64GB (non-ECC)
- Ryzen APU - DDR4-2933MHz
- A-series APU - DDR4-2400MHz
Chipset
- AMD A300
Graphics
- Integrated AMD Radeon™ Vega Series Graphics in Ryzen Series APU
- Integrated AMD Radeon™ R-Series Graphics in A-series APU
Graphics Output
- 1 x HDMI (4K@60Hz)
- 1 x DisplayPort (4K@60Hz)
- 1 x D-Sub
Audio
- 1 x Head Phone with Mic Jack
- 1 x Mic-In
- Realtek ALC233
Front USB
- 1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-C
- 1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A
Rear USB
- 1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A
- 1 x USB 2.0 Type-A
Storage
- M.2_1: Type 2280 PCIe Gen3 x4
- M.2_2: Type 2280 PCIe Gen3 x4*
- 2 x SATA 6Gb 2.5-inch 7mm/9.5mm Hard Drive (RAID 0/1)
*Athlon 2xxGE series APU - PCIe Gen3 x2
LAN
- 1 x RJ45 Gigabit LAN
- Realtek RTL8111H
WLAN
- 1 x M.2 (key E 2230) Slot for Wi-Fi + BT Module
Connectors
- 1 x USB 2.0 Header
- 1 x Front Panel Header
- 2 x 4-Pin Fan Connectors
- 1 x DC-In Jack (Supports 19V Power Adapters)
- 1 x 4-Pin Audio Header
- 1 x 2-Pin Chassis Intrusion Header
Power Unit
- 120W/19V Adapter
Accessory
- 2 x SATA Data with Power Cable
- 1 x Screws Pack
Dimension
- Motherboard: 5.8" x 5.4" (Mini-STX)
- Barebones: 155 x 155 x 80 mm (1.92L)
Security
- Kensington Lock
- Key Lock
OS
- Microsoft® Windows® 10 64-bit compliant
Certification
- CE, FCC
- TPM Software
