ASRock 4X4 BOX-4800U Barebones Mini PC (Ryzen 4800U + RX Vega 8 IGP)

[crazyeyesreaper]

While the ASRock 4X4 BOX-4800U may be rather expensive for a mini-PC, it makes up for it by delivering an insane level of performance. In short, pound for pound, it utterly decimates the competition.

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[Crackong]

I think a more "realistic" config would be 2x8G ram, which would shave at least $200 off from the config price.....

 

[Caring1]

I'd have put the Vega 8 as a Con, it would have been much better if they had stuck with Vega 11.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I'd have put the Vega 8 as a Con, it would have been much better if they had stuck with Vega 11.

That's hardly ASRock's fault now though, is it? That's down to AMD and nothing that the OEMs can do anything about.

 

[bug]

I think a more "realistic" config would be 2x8G ram, which would shave at least $200 off from the config price.....

It says in the article the sticks are $110 a piece.
This is expensive, as usual, but what I really hate is neutered BIOSes.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

I wonder how this would perform as a "stream PC" - A second PC used for handling a twitch stream's upload leaving the streamer's main PC free to game.
Obviously, using NDI or an external capture card would be required.

 

[SL2]

I wonder how this would perform as a "stream PC" - A second PC used for handling a twitch stream's upload leaving the streamer's main PC free to game.

Obviously a more expensive solution than choosing a 5950X for a new system (if you can find one ) .

 

[bug]

I wonder how this would perform as a "stream PC" - A second PC used for handling a twitch stream's upload leaving the streamer's main PC free to game.
Obviously, using NDI or an external capture card would be required.

You can buy a full-fledged laptop, OS included (and probably for less money) to do that job.

 

[ShurikN]

You can buy a full-fledged laptop, OS included (and probably for less money) to do that job.

with a 4800u?

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

You can buy a full-fledged laptop, OS included (and probably for less money) to do that job.

I actually just found an acquaintance an Asus zenbook with a 4700u, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB pcie SSD on Newegg for $850 on sale, but it's usual price is $1100-$1300 and this sale is already over, so you definitely cannot find a 4800u system for $850 or under

 

[bug]

with a 4800u?

Not sure, but I could find this in under 5 minutes: https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/NX.HSEAA.003

 

[Dyatlov A]

For this money Apple’s mac mini with M1 chip faster and runs a much more beautiful operating system.

 

[Chrispy_]

Great little machine but it annoys me that such a rare chip as the 4800U is being wasted on something that gets mains power.

It's really hard to buy a 4800U laptop still, with many manufacturers either never having any stock of the 4800U models, or quietly cancelling their 4800U products altogether.

I've been waiting since March for a decent 15W, LPDDR4X 4800U laptop and it looks like 5800U models are already appearing on the review circuit before I can get my hands on a 4800U.

For this money Apple’s mac mini with M1 chip faster and runs a much more beautiful operating system.

If you like being a prisoner, sure.

There's so much you can do with a Windows10 PC that any Mac, let alone the more limited M1 Mac cannot do. At the moment the percentage of things an M1 Mac can do compared to a Windows 10 box is so small that you're better off listing just the few things that an M1 can do, rather than the other way around.

 

[dayne878]

with a 4800u?

I think bug's point is that you can find machines more suited to the purpose of streaming for less. https://help.twitch.tv/s/article/twitch-studio-faq?language=en_US lists the minimum requirements for Twitch Studio, for example.

Twitch Studio Minimum Requirements:

• OS: Windows 7 64-bit
• GPU: DirectX 11 compatible
• RAM: 4+ GB (2GB free)
• CPU: 4 core Intel or AMD

Twitch Studio Recommended Specifications:

• OS: Windows 10 64-bit
• GPU: NVIDIA GTX 10 series or newer
• RAM: 8GB+
• CPU: 8 thread Intel or AMD

They recommend a dedicated GPU, which this box does not have (nor do most laptops below a certain price range). So if you were going to stream on Twitch, for example, you'd be better off building a machine (maybe small form factor but with dGPU) if you don't want to use your gaming PC to also stream. This box technically meets the minimum requirements but you can do better for less if using it as a Twitch streaming machine is your goal.

 

[mechtech]

Cute little brick, but as others have said one can get a laptop ready to go for that cash

 

[kapone32]

Where are the Mini ITX boards that we need for Am4 to rival a build (not in size) in ease of transport for 2/3 the price?

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

I'd have put the Vega 8 as a Con, it would have been much better if they had stuck with Vega 11.

Yeah well seems it didn't matter all that much since the Vega 11 in the 2400G used in the ASRock Deskmini A300 was typically on the losing end while being allowed to draw more power.

 

[Makaveli]

DDR4 3200 32GB x2 (64 GB) Patriot DDR4 SODIMMs rated at CL22

Those latency numbers are terrible if I were to buy this that would be the first change other than that i like the form factor and the performance.

And after a quick search I don't see any sodimms rated at 3200 speeds under CL22....Meh.

Even 3200 CL16 would be preferred.

 

[bug]

DDR4 3200 32GB x2 (64 GB) Patriot DDR4 SODIMMs rated at CL22

Those latency numbers are terrible if I were to buy this that would be the first change other than that i like the form factor and the performance.

And after a quick search I don't see any sodimms rated at 3200 speeds under CL22....Meh.

Even 3200 CL16 would be preferred.

I think laptop memory uses less voltage, thus latency is generally worse.

 

[Caring1]

Yeah well seems it didn't matter all that much since the Vega 11 in the 2400G used in the ASRock Deskmini A300 was typically on the losing end while being allowed to draw more power.

True, but I blame AMD's balancing act of a weak CPU with a decent integrated GPU back then, compared to a much stronger CPU now, paired with a lesser iGPU.
IMO the 4800U would have been even better with a Vega11.

 

[Forza.Milan]

Phenomenal cosmic powers ... itty bitty living space

 

[Nephilim666]

For this money Apple’s mac mini with M1 chip faster and runs a much more beautiful operating system.

If all you do is sit there and run Geekbench.

 

[Easy Rhino]

Who is this system for exactly?

 

[Chrispy_]

Who is this system for exactly?

The only situation I've ever found NUC and NUC-a-likes useful for is bolting to the back of a monitor or TV where there is simply not enough space for even a very tiny footprint. Given that something miniscule like a DAN A4 or much cheaper Inwin A1 can house a full desktop system in a tiny footprint, you'd only turn to this NUC-like form factor if the footprint had to be even smaller, or literally zero.

I use them on CAD/CAM workstations and 3D laser cutting beds where a touchscreen monitor just about fits somewhere on top of the unit and the PC has to attach to that. I've also built a few for people as a way to dissuade them from wasting money on an AIO that will force them to throw away a perfectly good screen when the integrated PC gets too old or dies. If you have only a tiny desk and nowhere else to put a PC, something that can rest on top of the monitor's stand or behind the monitor is a niche but viable market demographic that buys these things. We also have some mobile displays on trolleys that use a wireless air mouse and having the most powerful system that could be bolted to the back of the TV was a good thing, these days it's just so much easier to stream content to them from a dedicated graphics workstation with significantly higher specs.

Now, the real question is 'what's the venn-diagram intersection between someone who has those space constraints and someone who needs an expensive top-tier Renoir chip instead of something far cheaper?' The performance of this is great for its size - but AIO buyers and industrial use, PoS, or thin-client customers aren't going to need that performance. Also, if you have $900 to burn, surely you also have the funding to solve your space-constraint issues too?

I'm sure someone will find a valid use-case for this but I'd be willing to bet that most people buying this are just buying it because they find the idea of performance density awesome, and have plenty of disposable income to burn on something like this just to satisfy that particular itch.

 

[bmacsys]

I think a more "realistic" config would be 2x8G ram, which would shave at least $200 off from the config price.....

Yeah, the configuration with 64 Gigabytes of ram is just ridiculous. That is Threadripper/ workstation territory.

For this money Apple’s mac mini with M1 chip faster and runs a much more beautiful operating system.

For this money I would build a mini itx system in a InWin Chopin and put a Linux distro on it and pocket a few bucks.