ASRock DeskMini 310 is here!

[VirtualLarry]

It's an update to the venerable H110W DeskMini model, except this time, it's got a 310 chipset, which is 300-series, which supports... 8th-Gen Coffee Lake CPUs!

Notably, MORE CORES! Limit to 65W TDP still, but can take an i3-8100 ($120 quad-core, 3.6Ghz), or an i5-8400 (2.8Ghz Hex Core).

Can also take DDR4-2667 SO-DIMMs.

Also, the M.2 socket is now PCI-E 3.0 x4, AND SATA6G. (In H110W, was only PCI-E, no SATA M.2 support).

Sounds like a really great improvement.

Price is, currently, a bit more than what the H110W sold for. Whether this represents an increase in MSRP, or just price-gouging from Newegg (the only source that I can see that carries it), I can't say.

https://www.asrock.com/nettop/Intel/DeskMini 310 Series/index.asp

Chassis / board layout appears to be virtually identical to original H110W DeskMini kit, although there was some claim that the H310 model has a micro-SD slot added, though I didn't see it in pictures.

 

[ao_ika_red]

Will ASRock make DeskMini for Ryzen as well? With 2200GE, it will be an awesome power-sipping HTPC.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Will ASRock make DeskMini for Ryzen as well? With 2200GE, it will be an awesome power-sipping HTPC.

We can hope! In the meantime, I'm going to pick up a DM310.

 

[DaveSimmons]

From the pictures on the ASRock site it looks like the SD card slot is internal on the motherboard, for someone who wants to use it as permanent storage rather than as removable.

I'm most curious about the noise level on this.

I'll probably go with something fanless like a Zbox Nano for my next music jukebox, but this would allow using a much more powerful 35 watt TDP i3 or i5.

Heatsink note: A YouTube review of the 310 mentions that like the 110 the motherboard is too thin to support heavier third-party heatsinks unless they come with their own backplane. One commenter suggested an ID Cooling model, but it's $49 and dead last in this review (aside from the intel stock cooler):

https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7432/id-cooling-vc45-sff-cpu-cooler-review/index.html

 

[you2]

Yea it wasn't clear to me if the sd slot was only accessible from the motherboard or if the slit on the bottom of the case slid up to make it accessible. The system is not quite as small as a nuc (well the old 4x4 style). This thing cost $157 at newegg while the 7th generation i5 nuc I picked up a few weeks ago was $300. Hum. trade offs. btw that nucc has an sd (or is it micro sd) slot.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

We can hope! In the meantime, I'm going to pick up a DM310.

Why?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Why?

So I can say I have a 6C/6T mini-PC using a desktop CPU? Why not?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

So I can say I have a 6C/6T mini-PC using a desktop CPU? Why not?

Does that bring you joy? I mean, you have like a dozen computers already.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Does that bring you joy? I mean, you have like a dozen computers already.

If I have six kids already, would not a seventh bring me just as much joy as the first six? C'mon. I don't have a wife and kids, so building PCs is like giving birth to me. (Edit: Only, kids don't become obsolete. And giving PCs to friends, is not quite as painful as giving up your kid(s) for adoption. At least, I imagine so.)

Edit: Forgot, this is a pre-built barebones, not quite the same as building a PC "from scratch" (well, "from individual parts").

 

[you2]

What do you do with all these pcs you build ? Do you give them to the needy or friends or stuff them in a closest for a rainy day ?

 

[VirtualLarry]

What do you do with all these pcs you build ? Do you give them to the needy or friends or stuff them in a closest for a rainy day ?

All of the above. Been trying to build a friend of mine with an Athlon II a new PC. I've built several for him, but he's really not seemingly interested in upgrading. His PC does still run fairly fine for browsing and video watchiing, he's not a PC Gamer, per se, so it doesn't have to be "PCMR spec" for him. I did semi-successfully sell him an entry level Gaming PC (Z170 board, G4560, 16GB DDR4-2400, 240GB SSD, GTX 950 2GB, Windows 10), but he couldn't keep making payments halfway through, so at that point, I took the PC back, and gave him a refund, minus about 20% restocking fee, more or less. (Well, it was a year after he bought it.)

Edit: I was donating a few to a small sub-org of a non-profit near me, that places PCs with people in group homes, etc. Unfortunately, my PCs are custom-built, probably TOO powerful for what they need them for (unless a few lucky people get gaming rigs), and last but not least, I build the hardware, but then they needed to spring for Windows license for the PCs I donated (*), so I figured, it's still cheaper for them to get refurbed office PCs that come with a COA, in the long run, so I haven't donated any more.

Plus, it's kind of a drive out there to donate them.

(*) I tried to convince the person in charge of that sub-org, to start using Linux on donated PCs, but he had little experience, and felt that if they started to do that, users calling in for support would take up too much of their time, since everybody already knows how to use Windows.

 

[XavierMace]

Relevant:

 

[Batboy88]

Built and Bought seems like Forever...anymore though it's been booting the stuff on the Bench and or Desk.

 

[you2]

Hum. About the only thing I accomplished in the home bulit department is get my parents off windows and onto linux.