[SOLVED] ASRock DeskMini A300 Review: STX Meets AM4

[Crashman]

The A300 adds AMD’s AM4 CPU socket support to ASRock’s DeskMini portfolio, complete with its enhanced onboard graphics and fast DDR4 support.

ASRock DeskMini A300 Review: STX Meets AM4 : Read more

 

[scjhonson]

I have been seriously considering buying one of these. I have a Ryzen 5 2400g that I delided and applied liquid metal to, and the temperature improvements have been impressive. I wasn't able to squeeze any additional performance out of it, but it runs very, very cool now under stress testing using AIDA64, averaging 33 degrees C over ambient on the bench, overclocked to 3.95 GHz (@1.35v) on the CPU and 1575 MHz (@1.2v) on the GPU with a Noctua NH-L12S air cooler. Obviously, this cooler won't fit in the Deskmini A300, but I specifically delided this processor for this intended use and I am expecting only slightly less stellar temps even with a lesser cooler. I am just irritated that I won't be able to use my full overclock, plus it would be using slower memory than what I have on my bench build, so that is holding me back. I am still trying to decide if I want to build one of these...

 

[neblogai]

Stock cooler (Wraith Stealth), which 2400G and 2200G come with, fits into the a300 once top shroud of the cooler is removed. It has better cooling capability (needed for full performance of the 2400G), and I think it is quieter too.

 

[asmotan]

With the cooling solution for Deskmini A300, the following are the available options acknowledged in JP DIY community.

Noctua NH-L9a-AM4
This cooler fits perfectly in A300 like it was designed to do so.
It is considered to be the best cooling solution for this rig but the price may sound little high.

ID Cooling IS-40X
This cooler also fits great in A300 but the performance is slightly below NH-L9a-AM4 and the fan noise may become bothersome when the system goes full load.
Though pricewise, it's cheaper than Noctua.

AMD Wraith Stealth
Just as neblogai said, the stock cooler that comes with 2400G/2200G does fit by removing the shroud.
However, it depends on which model you have.
There happens to be 2 models, one with 7-fin fan and another with 5-fin fan.
The 7-fin fan model does fit by removing the shroud but with 5-fin fan model, it does not even by removing the shroud.
Though if you replace the stock fan with 80mm PWM case fan, the height will be lower than 45mm, which is a maximum height on A300, and will fit fine.

 

[scjhonson]

I am in the middle of bench testing thermals on a delid 2400g right now using a NH-L9a overclocked to 3.95 GHz (@1.35v) on the CPU and 1575 MHz (@1.2v) on the GPU. It is averaging 38 degrees over ambient on the bench with the NH-L9a, or about 5 degrees hotter than NH-L12S over a 3.5 hour run. Just for grins, I also ran a quickie bench test on a BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 which managed to average 25 degrees over ambient during a 30 minute run. Testing has me expecting about a 10 degree jump when I place this bench motherboard into my smallest case. Now that I have an idea what to expect, lets see what things look like when I plug the delid 2400g with NH-L9a combo into the Deskmini A300W (once Newegg finally gets them back in stock)...

 

[TheTerk]

In case y'all are looking for fun projects for the A300, here's a link to my PS2 mod. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAdxDLBaYJoYlcX0w9KjIwOjifR1pHGji