News AMD Ryzen 4000-Powered Asus Mini PC Challenges Intel's NUC

[Admin]

Asus' new PN50 mini PCs will leverage several of AMD's Ryzen 4000 (Renoir) U-series APUs.

AMD Ryzen 4000-Powered Asus Mini PC Challenges Intel's NUC : Read more

 

[ColoradoClyde]

I like it! I probably would have bought this if it were available a while ago. But if you're willing to go slightly bigger (6" x 6" x 3"), the Asrock A300W has an AM4 socket, 2 SODIMM slots, WiFi, 2 M.2 slots, and 2 SATA ports, which is what I went with. It's great for my home automation system. This PN50 is going to be a bit lower power since it uses a laptop CPU, but the AM4 socket on the A300 would allow for upgrades.

 

[chaz_music]

I looked to see if they have ECC but there is no information yet. If they do have ECC memory support, I have several uses for them, right away.

 

[dlee67]

Seems like this form factor would be nice to put a 4600G instead of only the U series. Is there any thought or plans in that direction?

 

[TCA_ChinChin]

A good step in the right direction from mini-PC makers in AMD adoption. Only thing I could see being a deal-breaker for some people is the lack of as many USB-C and thunderbolt 3 altogether. Hopefully OEMs keep up this trend and by next year we will have feature parity with Intel NUCs while having great AMD CPU performance.

 

[Rdslw]

This is like a dreambox 4 years ago. 8 core 16 threads, gaming enabled with 32GB of ram and nvme storage AND hopefully VESA mountable.
But that was 4 year ago, and not it seems like just ok box

 

[excalibur1814]

It looks... awful (When compared to the nuc range).

 

[RodroX]

Great news, specially considering the amount of power Ryzen 4xxx APUs are showing on the laptop segment (even with almost all OEMs <Mod Edit> about leaving AMD to only mid-lower tier products).

 

[heffeque]

Would seriously consider one of these.
It would be perfect if the maximum TDP could be configured through BIOS (10 to 25 Watt as far as I know).

That way the user can decide whether to have a completely silent (passive cooling) mode with 10 Watt, up to high performance with 25W with the fans revved up.

 

[spiff72]

I like it! I probably would have bought this if it were available a while ago. But if you're willing to go slightly bigger (6" x 6" x 3"), the Asrock A300W has an AM4 socket, 2 SODIMM slots, WiFi, 2 M.2 slots, and 2 SATA ports, which is what I went with. It's great for my home automation system. This PN50 is going to be a bit lower power since it uses a laptop CPU, but the AM4 socket on the A300 would allow for upgrades.

That is an intriguing setup - can you share your build specs with that A300? (What CPU, memory, storage, etc)? Can this use a Ryzen G-series CPU to get graphics support (or MUST you use a G-series - I can't tell whether this board has onboard graphics)...
Thanks!

 

[Flosster]

That is an intriguing setup - can you share your build specs with that A300? (What CPU, memory, storage, etc)? Can this use a Ryzen G-series CPU to get graphics support (or MUST you use a G-series - I can't tell whether this board has onboard graphics)...
Thanks!

The A300W is an STX form factor barebones motherboard and case. You MUST use a CPU that has graphics with it. It is based on the B320 chipset and made by Asrock which means it is very iffy if it will have an upgrade path. If you need an SFF machine now and don't care about CPU upgradability, this barebones kit may be a good choice. If you want the new 4000-series, wait until it's released before restarting the research process.

 

[spiff72]

The A300W is an STX form factor barebones motherboard and case. You MUST use a CPU that has graphics with it. It is based on the B320 chipset and made by Asrock which means it is very iffy if it will have an upgrade path. If you need an SFF machine now and don't care about CPU upgradability, this barebones kit may be a good choice. If you want the new 4000-series, wait until it's released before restarting the research process.

Got it. Thanks!

 

[heffeque]

I'm guessing that they'll make an A500 version with the A520.

 

[Spuwho]

Asus is having problems with their nucs and USFF's booting Linux. Buyer beware.

 

[dlee67]

Asus is having problems with their nucs and USFF's booting Linux. Buyer beware.

I had a lot of difficulty with usb booting (necessary for installation) on an ASUS computestick - took me more than six months to figure out that it had an undocumented requirement that only let one of the USB ports function for boot.