ASRock DeskMini A300 Mini PC Barebone for Socket AM4

The ASRock DeskMini A300 is just a fantastic little machine. The DeskMini takes away three fairly significant costs of building a new mini office or light gaming machine, the motherboard, power supply, and case. All of which come at a premium when trying to build a very small machine as ITX motherboards, ITX cases, and STX power supplies come at a cost premium. It also comes with a CPU cooler which is capable of cooling the compatible APUs that can make use of the AM4 socket. Another saving!To get a tiny motherboard with decent I/O, the AM4 socket, a power supply and a tiny 15.5cm by 15.5cm case for £130 is just fantastic. You just need a CPU, some SO-DIMM RAM (laptop DDR4 memory) and an SSD.I've paired mine with a 2400G for 4 cores and 8 threads clocked at 3.6GHz with integrated Vega 11 graphics. This is capable of playing eSports titles such as CS:GO, Overwatch, League of Legends, Dota II and Rocket League while also been more than enough power for all office tasks. I've utilised 8GB of 2400Mhz RAM and a simple 256GB m.2 NVME SSD that I got used (like the CPU).Some things to make note of:* You need to add a M.2 Wi-Fi module for Wi-Fi capabilities (I use ethernet)* It comes with 1 USB Type C port, 2 USB 3.0 Type A ports, and 1 USB 2.0 Type A port.* It has Displayport, HDMI, and VGA output, and one ethernet jack.* It can have two 2.5" SATA SSDs but the two M.2 slots are only compatible with M.2 NVME SSDs* My power brick came with a non-UK PlugHere are some builds you can do with this machine:Basic Office Build* The DeskMini at £130* AMD Athlon 200GE at £39* Cheapest 2 x 4GB kit of 260-pin SODIMM DDR 4 Ram at £39* Cheapest 240GB SSD at £30Total cost of components: (excl. monitor and peripherals): £238The eSports gaming machine (or a good HTPC)* The DeskMini at £130* AMD Ryzen 2400G or 3400G (get the cheapest) at £130 new or £70 used* 2 x 8GB of 260 pin SO-DIMM DDR 4 RAM (2666Mhz to 3000Mhz) at £82.50* 1TB M.2 NVME SSD at £100* Noctua NH-L9a AM4 low-profile cooler at £37Total cost of components: (excl. monitor and peripherals): £480

Great little PC but...The CPU heatsink fan produces an irritating noise and...I needed to purchase two other proprietary cable assemblies, a panel mount dual USB connector and a rear panel mount audio connector, both of which should have been included by default (IMO). But all in all a good purchase.

Built this for a colleague to work from home as he didn't want to spend a fortune but still get decent spec (ruling out most laptops under £500).I stuck a Ryzen 5 3400G APU in this with 16Gb of Hynix 3000MHz SO-DIMM RAM and a 500Gb WD Blue NVMe drive and it is bloody fast for such a small footprint.I didn't entertain the supplied cooler, it looks too unsubstantial for what little space there is so I opted for the Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 ultra low profile cooler and the temps never spike above 70C even running Cinebench R15.Yes, it cost a bit more (£35 at the time of buying) but for the piece of mind that having a quality cooler gives, it was worth it.I think the total cost was about £490 with a wireless keyboard and mouse for a system that you'd have to spend more than double on a laptop to match performance.Key think for him is that it's small enough that it hides on a wall bracket being the TV and out of sight anyway.

Box came smashed to pieces so Amazon gave a generous 20% discount. After installing components a few days later I found that parts listed as compatible didn't fit / work and it came with an EU plug so I couldn't turn it on, returned the item back. Don't try and use the Wraith Stealth it doesn't fit and the included cooler can't keep a 2400g / 3400g on turbo speeds as it gets too hot.

I bought one of these barebones and paired it with PC3000 SODIMM memory,Added a 2400G and it really does a fantastic job for its size and can handle somelow end gaming aswell. fantastic that you can add 4x SSDs in such a small case.If anything i would have liked more USB, standard 4x is a bit little but i added theextra side USB cable so now i got 6x.Standard wraith stealth fan fitted just nicely after removing the fan shroud.I use a Intel wifi M2 module with a built in laptop antenna and it really shines as astandalone that way.Edit: Some persons usually wonder if its overclockable, CPU aint memory is.

Paired with fast ram and a 2400g quite decent performance, and tiny.

This was a nightmare to install. I usually only use Gigabyte, MSI or ASUS for motherboards and I remember why now. UEFI was seemingly thorough but didn't really do anything I asked it to do. Took 6 hours in total! Longest I've ever spent on a build.Firstly, the power supply was duff, and it came with a Euro plug. Luckily I had a similar one which powered it up ok.Secondly, didn't recognise my SSD. Enclosed cable was duff. Stuck with one SSD which is fine as I keep the bulk of my data on a separate server.Third, motherboard sits awkwardly against the rear of the case, had to get my jewellers screwdriver set out to get it close to being in shape.Fourth, the drivers. Oh god. The rigmorol. BUT it DOES support Ryzen 3k out of the box.Once built, not a problem with it - beautiful little machine. Running 8gb of RAM, Ryzen 3200G and it's chugging along nicely at 30-40 degrees. Total build cost £251. Can't fault that!Amazon delivery superb as always.Ryzen 3200G fits in fine, you just need to remove the lip from the wraithEDIT: After a number of problems with the motherboard after speaking to Asrock customer services it was determined faulty. The replacement has been fantastic so far, very happy with this little beast! May even upgrade to a 3400g once the new Ryzen is out