APU？ OK? For me, a user with many different hosts, APU is still very attractive. Everyone has called AMD YES for so many years! Not without reason. When it comes to APU solutions, I naturally thought of ASRock's A300, although it is not new, as early as the AMD 2200G/2400G when I paid attention to it, but at that time I still chose to try the B350i. Recently, when I focused on nuc/barebones, I found that I should still try the A300.
First of all, let's talk about what points aspiring A300 attract me, which may be mainly compared to NUC.
1, the volume of A300 will be larger than nuc, but in general, there is no problem with the portability of the A300;
2, cost-effective, optional APU is still a lot, and even if you choose the highest performance of 3400G together the price is cheaper than NUC;
3, performance, with 3400G/2400G two processor performance is still very strong, and in the performance of the release of A300 is stronger than the general NUC. Maybe the CPU performance of 3400G is not as good as the 45W Intel i7-10710U, but the price difference is also 1K, and the graphics card RX Vega 11 Graphics play LOL or CS: GO are OK, this point is still AMD YES!
4, scalability, A300 provides to meet the expansion needs of most users, and the highest support for 4-bay hard disk design, compared to NUC half of it, Raiden 3 in my case for NUC plus points;
Let's talk about my configuration choices this time:
CPU: AMD R5 3400G
Barebones: ASRock A300
Memory: Kingston Hacker Strip 8Gx2 DDR4 2666
SSD: Kingston KC2000 500G
Heat dissipation: Josper HP-400
So which users are hosts like the A300 suitable for?
1. For users with compact desktop space, A300 or NUC are good choices;
2. For enthusiasts who do not have the ultimate pursuit of performance, as well as users who are disconnected from digital products, the A300 with AMD's APU processor is sufficient for daily office and light games;
3. For users who pursue multi-screen office, an A300 can also realize the video signal output of two high-definition displays, and users with stock speculation needs are also OK;
4. For users who have the need to carry out the computer, the A300 is portable enough and the performance is enough;
5. For users with private cloud storage needs and home theater playback needs, the A300 can achieve up to 4 disk expansion (dual M.2 + 2.5 inch hard disk) to meet the needs of home video playback and cloud storage.
Comparing the size of the Note10, the front of the A300 is the same size as a mobile phone. Everyday camera bags and the like can be loaded. But also pay attention to the size of the power adapter that comes with the A300 itself and the game book's equivalent, 120W power supply design.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the barebones system is easy to install? </h1>
In terms of configuration, the latest AMD R5 3400G, Kingston Hacker Shentiao 8G*2 DDR4 2666MHz, with 500G KC2000 daily enough to use, if there is a demand for later can also expand 2.5-inch mechanical hard disk or solid state to increase storage space. Considering the heat dissipation also into Josper's HP-400. Many users with A300 are also choosing this heat dissipation, 36mm height with A300 is just right, and the price is less than 100, pressing 3400G is enough.
The best partner in terms of processor must be the ZEN+ version of the APU R5 3400G, with the A300 as a whole may be less than 3K can be done. This price choice NUC may only be low voltage i5-10510U bar. The R5 3400G is a 4-core, 8-thread processor with the RX Vega 11 Graphics core display, which is a little stronger than the R3 3200G's RX Vega 8 Graphics.
The processor side is still designed with an open window, and the processor model can be seen directly. In terms of heat dissipation, as an entry-level AMD processor, with the "ghost" Spire I am familiar with, the original heat dissipation height is about 67mm, which is unable to meet the installation height requirements of the A300.
R5 3400G has also been released for a while, as one of the few APUs, 3400G performance is undoubtedly the highest APU at present. And the included RX Vega 11 Graphics core graphics performance is comparable to the average entry-level graphics card performance. Nuclear display performance has always been a plus for APU.
The long-awaited ASRock Desktop Mini A300 is really a cost-effective barebones system solution, although it is an old product. However, at present, manufacturers have supported the latest generation of ZEN+ processors, and the currently purchased A300 can no longer be used by brushing their own bios. So there's no need to worry when choosing.
As a barebones system, less than 1K price, this pile of stuff. Compared with the self-organized ITX host, the cost performance is still quite high. The accessories that come with it are also enough to install the machine, and you only need to match your own memory and SSD. However, it should also be noted that the A300 cannot be installed with a unique display, even if it is a knife card, there is no chance.
The adapter supports 19V 6.32A 120W output, which is comparable to the adapter size of a typical game book. Later tests also found that the A300 does not support PD trickering way of power supply, after all, the PD charger is only 100W maximum, may not be able to meet the power supply needs of the A300.
In terms of interface, the A300 is also quite advanced. You can see that in addition to the standard USB3.0 interface that we generally use, the front interface is also configured with a Type-C interface, as well as an audio interface.
In terms of the interface on the back, the A300 is also meticulous, and the VGA interface has been retained. In addition, in terms of display output, DP/HDMI is available to meet the user's high-definition output needs. In addition, a USB2.0 and a USB3.0 interface are also designed behind it, as well as a Gigabit Ethernet port. Overall, I still look forward to asrock's next update of the A300, I hope to add USB 3.0 interface and rear Type-C multi-function interface.
Open to see the full interior of the A300, the specifications of 15 *15CM, compared to the traditional 17 *17CM ITX motherboard is a circle smaller. So the memory can only choose the notebook memory, fortunately, now the notebook memory also has a high frequency version to choose from, and you can be smaller than the memory.
On the back of the motherboard are two 2.5-inch hard disk locations, and it is ok to take the A300 for private cloud storage. And remove the backplane to see that there is also an M.2 connector on the back of the motherboard.
Open it to see the M.2 interface behind it, as well as two 2.5-inch hard disk interfaces, which are still very convenient to install through the two wires that come with it. SSD part of my side of the choice of Kingston's cost-effective model KC2000, is the current speed of good cost-effective NVMe SSD model, read and write speed are good. The official comes with a TT SSD radiator to help dissipate heat, and the temperature of KC2000 itself is still not low. If you are worried about the heat dissipation problem of KC2000, in fact, it is safe to change to A2000. The difference between the two models themselves is not much, and the price is also the same.
If your own needs are not high, then the two M.2 interfaces on the front are actually enough. One M.2 WiFi interface And one M.2 SSD interface. The M.2 interface supports the 2280 specification SSD, which is very convenient for daily use. It should be noted that the A300 random does not come with an antenna of the M.2 interface wireless network card, if there is a wireless demand, you can choose to buy a wireless antenna together when purchasing a wireless network card.
After the KC2000 is installed, the wireless card will be pressed under the SSD by default.
In terms of memory, the choice is Kingston's Hacker God Strip 8G DDR4 2666MHz sleeve, which currently costs 400+ at 618. Support for lifetime warranty also allows this set of strips to really use for a long time, with 3400G small super also has a good performance improvement.
Of course, for the A300, only supporting notebook memory is the biggest pain point, and there are still very few optional high-frequency memory. There are also 3200MHz options in these two years, but the later test part can also see that these two hacker bars are also overclocked to 3400MHz on 3400G. For the improvement of the nuclear display is still good.
There is nothing to say about dealing with it, 3400G is currently 618 at a good price. There are also A300+3400G packages to choose from, in fact, compared to buying separately, I recently studied the price of 618 and found that the suit is more suitable.
With three heat sinks installed at a time, the heat sink included with the A300 is relatively small. With the motherboard original fastener can be used directly, the 3400G standard ghost heat dissipation and HP-400 must be removed from the motherboard fastener. The original heat dissipation of the A300 itself can also suppress the 3400G, but it looks a bit simple.
The A300 needs to pay attention to the height and volume of the heat sink in the heat dissipation choice, which is itself a cost-effective solution. With less than 100 yuan, the Josper HP-400 is still very cost-effective, and the heat dissipation performance is enough. The HP-400 is only 36mm high, and there is still a lot of space in the A300.
The heat dissipation size is 103*90*36mm, and the blue fan is still supported by 4PIN PWN. Daily noise 14 to 33dBA.
Installation effect, pay attention to the height size, the length and width of the radiator also need to be paid attention to. The memory on both sides and the black power supply heat dissipation height will limit the heat dissipation options.
Generally speaking, after plugging in the memory, SSD and heat dissipation, it can be installed in the chassis. It can be seen that after installing the HP-400, there is still some space from the positioning position of the chassis.
How does < H1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > APU perform? </h1>
You can simply look at the configuration through the entertainment master, the performance score can also reach close to 30W, and the Radeon™ RX Vega 11 Graphics graphics card performance will be further improved after the late memory overclocking. Therefore, it is necessary to match a set of high-frequency memory or memory that can be overclocked. The Entertainment Master score is also close to 30W.
CPU-Z can view the specific parameters of R5 3400G, and the running score can also reach 2530.4, and the overall score will not drop sharply because of heat dissipation problems like NUC. So the A300 is really a good choice, radeon™ RX Vega 11 Graphics graphics card can also play some games.
Through the Cinebench R15 and R20 tests, it can be seen that the R15 test R5 3400G multi-core score is 842cb, and its Radeon™ RX Vega 11 Graphics core score: 71.81fps; the R20 test CPU multi-core score is 1832pxs, which is also a lot better than the default.
In terms of graphics, the Radeon™ RX Vega 11 Graphics does have a unique performance for entry, which is also a slight improvement compared to the previous generation of 2400G. Maximum graphics frequency 1400MHz, 2G memory design. Paired with dual-channel high-frequency memory, it can also improve graphics performance.
PCMARK10 test score 4445, common basic functions 8244, productivity 6764, digital content production 4275.
The 3D MARK test results are shown in the figure, and it can also be seen from the test that the score itself is still OK. Compared with traditional NUC, the advantages of heat dissipation will make the performance release of the A300 much more stable.
In terms of BIOS, it can be seen that the UEFI version is P3.50, and the latest is the P3.60 version. Compared with the 2400G era, the current version does not have anything to overclock in CPU performance. However, the memory can be a little smaller.
Under the overclocking tool, you can choose to turn on the XMP mode of the memory, which can be run at 2666MHz after turning on, and of course, you can also receive overclocking yourself. It can be seen that up to 4000MHz is optional.
Try it step by step, and the hacker god set in your hand can reach up to 3400MHz. After overclocking to 3400MHz, the read and write speed is increased from 37G/38G/32G/latency of 98.2ns to 43G/35/40G/78.2ns. Although the memory timing is relatively general, the overall performance of the notebook bar is still good.
In terms of roast chicken, the test single roast test can be seen that in about 10 minutes of roast chicken, the CPU frequency is around 3.7GHz, and the CPU temperature is 58 ° C. Overall, the fever is not very large.
In terms of noise, after the roast chicken in the chassis is fully loaded, the noise control is also good, and the measured distance from the front of the chassis is about 10cm, and the measured noise is around 37 decibels. It will not be disturbed by noise during daily use.
In addition, the A300 is also tested in the disassembled state, and the hottest position is 54.2 °C, the memory position temperature is 40.1 °C, the SSD temperature is 40.7 °C, and the CPU power supply position is 42.7 °C.
what can < h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > palm-sized A300 do? </h1>
At present, if you still use a 1080P resolution monitor product, with the 3400G/2400G Radeon™ RX Vega 11 Graphics core display, you can still play in a higher quality game such as LOL and CS:GO. Of course, if you are already using a 2K resolution monitor, it will feel a bit difficult to do in high image quality. You can see that I tested the 2K resolution under the game "CS:GO", the special effects are high by default, and the average frame number of the measured game is around 50 frames. If you have a light gaming need, 3400G can still play it.
In terms of daily work, it is not stressful to open 50 web pages to switch back and forth at random. You can write a manuscript while looking up information. Overall operational noise also does not affect the way of thinking.
In addition, in terms of work, test 100 RAW pictures taken by 5D3, output resolution long side 1920, short side does not do limited. The export takes approximately 3 minutes and 14 seconds.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > summary</h1>
As one of the few APU options available at the moment, as well as the ASRock A300 left a good impression on me. Compared with the traditional ITX host construction, the motherboard selection should be considered, and whether the chassis and power supply match the same problem. If you choose ASRock A300, just consider what CPU, memory and SSD to choose. The installation may be better than NUC installation because the volume is still relatively large. In terms of performance, in the past two years, we can see that the low-voltage i7-10710U has been very strong, and I am curious to see if AMD has considered updating products such as 4800U?
Note about the A300:
1, if there is a high performance demand, choose 3400G or 2400G are good, generally speaking, 3200G/2200G is also enough for daily use, the difference is in the game performance, daily office is enough;
2, scalability can expand 4 hard disk bits, as a video player or private cloud is enough, but also pay attention to its own USB interface less, rear two front one, need to expand through the external;
3, the adapter itself is large, the daily impact is portable. In addition, there is no way to achieve power supply through PD tricking, and users who have out-of-home scenarios need to pay attention.