On the reverse side of the board is a second M.2 Key-M slot and two ports that work as both power and data lines for SATA drives. The case is also able to house two 2.5-inch drives, so between these two drive mounting points and the two M.2 solid-state drive mounts, you can outfit this little box with a really substantial amount of storage. Both of the M.2 SSD slots support PCI Express drives only, up to 80mm long. You'll get four PCIe Gen 3 lanes on each drive, unless you install an Athlon 200GE series CPU, which will limit one of the slots to two lanes. For testing purposes, I put the DeskMini X300 up against several similarly sized mini PCs with a fairly wide range of hardware. The toughest competition for the system as configured is likely to come from the Dell OptiPlex 7080 Micro, which has a more powerful graphics chip (a Radeon RX640, the only discrete GPU in this bunch) in addition to an Intel Core i3 processor and 16GB of RAM. Comparisons with the Intel NUC "Bean Canyon" system should also prove interesting as it employs Intel's Iris Plus graphics in addition to having a relatively fast mobile processor. Productivity and Media Tests It’s a little tight after the power supply is installed, I’d suggest installing the EPS 8 pin connector prior – Although I did manage to squeeze it in when setting up for this photo. The ATX 24 pin connector is also a tight squeeze, but more accessible. Dell's OptiPlex 7080 Micro held a sizable lead, but the DeskMini X300 came in second, just slightly ahead of the Intel NUC.

A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.Hotjar sets this cookie to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether it was the first time Hotjar saw this user. PCIe 3.0-riding Ryzen 7 5700G is powerful enough for everyday tasks. We look for at least 1,000 marks in the single-core Cinebench test and 10,000 for multi-core. The eight-core, 16-thread chip makes easy work of those baseline standards, and more than decent performance is underscored by solid results in PCMark 10 and Geekbench 5. If your goal is to build a less expensive DeskMini or to build one with the best graphics for light gaming, the DeskMini X300 is going to be the more attractive system. Unfortunately, I didn't have a DeskMini H470 or either high-end processor on hand for testing; this is just to consider the system's best possible configuration. Without further ado, let's see how well the DeskMini X300 performs with the humbler Ryzen 5 3400G inside. The space inside the chassis allows for multiple configurations - with or without a discrete GPU, ability to mount multiple 3.5" drives etc. The DeskMeet aims to provide as many features and flexibilities as possible within the constraints dictated by the chipsets.

Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. Squeezed into the rear IO is the super small M.2 slot for WiFi adapters. The chip marked 2.02 is the CMOS/BIOS chip, with v2.02 on board, the latest at time of review. The small chip nearest the screw standoff is a G9661M (PDF Link), a voltage regulator. The traces disappear into the multiple layer PCB, so I can’t be sure as to what it powers. Continuing round, behind the rear IO, is the CPU VRM section. From the right, the three larger chips are an unknown chip marked “3532 GABB 120”, a Richtek RT3628AE Intel IMVP9.1 compatible PWM controller, and an ITE IT6516BFN Displayport to VGA converter.

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This cookie is set by the provider Akamai Bot Manager. This cookie is used to manage the interaction with the online bots. It also helps in fraud preventions The memory kit I have used is comprised of 2 pairs of G-Skill F4-3600C18-8GVK, making up 32gb total. A not inexpensive configuration, but definitely affordable. As the score shows, this is a good configuration for this system. However, it does seem like users may not be using the correct speed for this model of memory, with a few benchmark results for this kit running at 2133mHz. End-users have the flexibility to choose their own CPU, storage device, RAM, and optional discrete GPU. Space constraints impose some limitations on these, though. The 8L system can support liquid cooling if a PCIe add-on card is not used. CPU coolers up to 54mm in height can be used (anything higher would end up bumping into the underside of the PSU). Processors with a TDP of up to 65W can be safely used in air cooling. While select 125W TDP processors are supported, it requires the use of liquid cooling (ruling out the PCIe add-on card usability). F-series SKUs can be used, but it requires the compulsory installation of a video card, as the native display outputs of the B660-ITX require a CPU with an integrated GPU. Out come the digital calipers – ahh, it’s been a while. 31.4mm between the board and chassis in this location.

Power! VRMs! Yeah, this is a pretty basic setup, a given considering the board is rated for 65w TDP chips and no K spec processors. Four more Vishay SIC654 integrated power stages make up the remainder of the VRM section, with a pair of ON Semiconductor FDPC5030SG chipsets playing support. We’ve already seen one of these helping power the chipset! You install the two shouldered screws on the left side (in this image) of the power supply, slide the power supply in using the slotted holes, and then retain the unit with the remaining two screws. A nifty way to aid installation, and to avoid accidentally dropping your PSU on to the CPU cooler during installation. I’ve done that a few times in other cases!Aesthetics aren't big on the agenda, granted, since this isn't a windowed case, but all the cable bulk does affect airflow, dust build-up, and ease of building.

The two 2.5-inch drive mounts sit below the motherboard on the other side of a steel tray. Screwing drives into place here is as simple as adding 2.5-inch drives anywhere, but it is easiest to attach the cables to the drives prior to mounting. You can attach them after you mount the drives, but doing it beforehand is a little easier. For as long as I can remember, I've had love of all things tech, spurred on, in part, by a love of gaming. I began working on computers owned by immediate family members and relatives when I was around 10 years old. I've always sought to learn as much as possible about anything PC, leading to a well-rounded grasp on all things tech today. In my role at PCMag, I greatly enjoy the opportunity to share what I know. Warranty: "3 Years (1st year parts - collect and return (UK mainland only), 2nd & 3rd years labour only)" Ryzen 5700G uses GCN 5th Gen GPU technology that’s now been superseded by RDNA 2 in mobile-only Ryzen 6000 Series. If you’re sensible and play older games, the baked-in IGP delivers acceptable results at a FHD resolution. In fact, newer games such as Forza Horizon 5 are just about playable at high-quality settings, though an entry-level discrete card can double framerate with ease. I'm probably one of the first group of buyers for this, and I see there are some missed in the review, and not just here but elsewhere too. And I start getting question on reddit about this. So I figure I posted here also.

Is eight litres enough PC capacity for gaming performance?

Triple SATA3 6.0Gb/s (a 13 year old standard at this point! – I really guess NVMe drives have become the future of system storage), a standard FP_Header for front panel buttons and LEDs, a USB2.0 header for even more connectivity and a UART header. It’s not mentioned in the manual, so I figure this is a factory use only header. Another gaming simulator, Unigine's Superposition, also showed mixed results, but illustrated the higher graphics performance of AMD's iGPUs... None of the Intel-based competition came close to matching the X300 except the OptiPlex, which features the "Polaris"-based AMD Radeon RX640 GPU. The Dell's CPU power gave it the gold medal at 720p resolution with low image quality, but the DeskMini showed a less precipitous drop when switching to the more demanding 1080p preset. Indeed, the X300 was almost as fast at 1080p as some of the other systems were at 720p. Have a chat about this article in the forum here, or join our Discord here (requires forum membership).