ASRock 4X4 BOX-7735U/D5 Barebones Mini-PC

[crazyeyesreaper]

Don't be deceived by its small form factor; the 4X4 BOX-7735U/D5 is one of the most potent Mini-PCs on the market. Its Ryzen 7 processor and Radeon 680M integrated graphics deliver an insane level of performance that leaves most competitors in a cloud of dust.

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[dragontamer5788]

Nifty box. I've always liked "Mini-PC" over "Rasp. Pi", though I get that more people are into Rasp. Pi these days. Mini-PC gets you more RAM, Storage and performance (RDNA2 graphics!), though its obviously more expensive than a Rasp. Pi 4. A proper PC with proper Steam / Windows makes a big difference. And its not like this box is much larger than a monitor, so as far as space is concerned, its not really much different than the Rasp. Pi4 once you factor in monitors.

That being said, is there a power review / wattage used somewhere that I missed? I'm sure this unit will use more power than a Rasp. Pi 4, but if its idle at under 20W is still probably a good value for most people. The power cord / PSU is rated at 120W, which is probably the peak that this box will ever get to... but it'd be nice to see a Kill-a-watt test on this box, if you still have it!

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

Nifty box. I've always liked "Mini-PC" over "Rasp. Pi", though I get that more people are into Rasp. Pi these days. Mini-PC gets you more RAM, Storage and performance (RDNA2 graphics!), though its obviously more expensive than a Rasp. Pi 4. A proper PC with proper Steam / Windows makes a big difference. And its not like this box is much larger than a monitor, so as far as space is concerned, its not really much different than the Rasp. Pi4 once you factor in monitors.

That being said, is there a power review / wattage used somewhere that I missed? I'm sure this unit will use more power than a Rasp. Pi 4, but if its idle at under 20W is still probably a good value for most people. The power cord / PSU is rated at 120W, which is probably the peak that this box will ever get to... but it'd be nice to see a Kill-a-watt test on this box, if you still have it!

The third paragraph of the conclusion.

"Furthermore, emulating PS2 games proved to be quite easy. Although Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater still had performance hiccups in cutscenes and a few other situations, I got the game itself to run quite well in the early levels. Overall, I am impressed by what this ultra-efficient system can do, especially in performance mode. With a maximum power draw of just 60 watts from the wall, the performance is truly astounding, delivering PS4-level performance. In normal mode, the system peaks at just 40 watts from the wall. Meanwhile, idle power draw was around 10 watts."

But ill move that info so its more likely to be noticed.

 

[dragontamer5788]

The third paragraph of the conclusion.

"Furthermore, emulating PS2 games proved to be quite easy. Although Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater still had performance hiccups in cutscenes and a few other situations, I got the game itself to run quite well in the early levels. Overall, I am impressed by what this ultra-efficient system can do, especially in performance mode. With a maximum power draw of just 60 watts from the wall, the performance is truly astounding, delivering PS4-level performance. In normal mode, the system peaks at just 40 watts from the wall. Meanwhile, idle power draw was around 10 watts."

But ill move that info so its more likely to be noticed.

My eyeballs were looking for it in the "thumbs up / thumbs down" section at the end, in case you're wondering where I was looking at first. I saw "Power-efficient under typical loads", but was looking for those details. Maybe "Draws 60W maximum, ~10W idle?" in that line?

Just a suggestion, lol. I see you did have the information now that I'm rereading that section, but my eyes did skip over it the first read-over.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

My eyeballs were looking for it in the "thumbs up / thumbs down" section at the end, in case you're wondering where I was looking at first. I saw "Power-efficient under typical loads", but was looking for those details. Maybe "Draws 60W maximum, ~10W idle?" in that line?

Just a suggestion, lol. I see you did have the information now that I'm rereading that section, but my eyes did skip over it the first read-over.

I keep the pros and cons simple unless they are self-evident and discuss them in detail in the conclusion. Mostly because the bullet points don't need to be paragraphs

Example:

• Power-efficient under typical loads
• Power-efficient design uses 10 watts at idle vs 40 watts peak in normal mode and 60 watts in performance mode.

The second line is likely to compact into 3-4 lines in the same bullet point.

Meaning it would look like the following.

Power-efficient design uses 10 watts at idle vs 40
watts peak in normal mode and 60 watts in
performance mode.

 

[dragontamer5788]

I see, there's layout concerns here.

In any case, thanks for showing me where your tested data was!

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

Can't wait for those Pheonix APUs with the 780m iGPU to make in into these mini PCs

 

[lemonadesoda]

Nice to see twin RJ45 on a mini. And what a great performer! Can drive 4x4K displays or 1x8K. NowI know where the 4x4 name comes from.

Couldnt find the product on Asrock, turns out, despite the specifications, this is classed as industrial and therefore a product of the independent company AsRock Industrial Computer.

https://www.asrockind.com/en-gb/faned-embedded-box-pc

 

[Space Lynx]

this should only have the 7740 or above in it imo

Can't wait for those Pheonix APUs with the 780m iGPU to make in into these mini PCs

exactly this.

m2 mac mini is only $499. and its the m2 with more gpu cores in it.

Asus will charge more for this than that I bet, wait and see. a damn shame.

 

[dragontamer5788]

m2 mac mini is only $499. and its the m2 with more gpu cores in it.

Mac Mini can't play my steam games though, like Age of Empires 2. And vice versa, if you're in the market for Bandcamp or whatever Apple-based software you're using, you'd never consider a box like this either.

I'm also fairly certain that RDNA 2 + Ryzen are both faster, but probably use a bit more energy. But I guess we can check GPU benches to see which GPU is better?

 

[ymdhis]

This looks almost perfect, it just needs better BIOS and use a standard 12cm fan. But then for a 28W cpu it might not need one.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

This looks almost perfect, it just needs better BIOS and use a standard 12cm fan. But then for a 28W cpu it might not need one.

If their was a bit more venting for the fan to grab more fresh air, and a proper PWM curve rather than a level system and target temp I would consider it near perfect for what it is. But it is close enough where I have replaced my 5600H mini-pc with this one and won't be looking back (used the 4X4 Box 4800U for awhile then swapped to the 5600H due to better IGP performance but this unit is pretty much perfect for my usage case. PS2 / Gamecube / Wii etc Emulation and older with upscaled graphics along with the ability for the GF to play Stardew Valley / Hearthstone / Minecraft etc. Plus I really enjoy the Total War series and its perfect for that as well as I mostly stick to the older titles and play Rome and Rome 2 the most. While 1080p on a 4K screen isn't ideal when I'm tired and just want to game for a bit without sitting in my god awful chair this system lets me sink into the comfy couch and just game without really thinking about it.

 

[playerlorenzo]

seems like a nice machine, but imagine that with a Phoenix Zen 4 CPU with a 780M...

 

[mechtech]

For $300 I’m thinking this

EliteMini X500

ElitiMini X500 EliteMini X500 mini pc is equipped with AMD Ryzen™ 7 5700G processor. Palm-sized, easy to upgrade. X500 is an ideal helper for home theater, office work, conferences, education, projector monitoring, host computers, printers, media equipment, routers, etc.

store.minisforum.com

 

[QUANTUMPHYSICS]

2GB RAM on WINDOWS 11???

 

[T1beriu]

2GB RAM on WINDOWS 11???

You must be confused.

 

[Haile Selassie]

When will you switch to normal charts with descending order? We are not savages.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

When will you switch to normal charts with descending order? We are not savages.

I am not going to switch the charts. Charts are ordered by when the system was reviewed. Obviously older systems on bottom and newer systems at the top so they match the Test System Page which details the specifications for each system in the charts.

 

[Haile Selassie]

So why don't W1zzard's reviews have this type of charts?
'Obviously older cards on bottom'. Not really true when you're reviewing units from different price points, right?

It's a nightmare to read and it's super hard to gauge progress in certain workloads when these charts are all over the place.

 

[Aevum]

Im annoyed at AMD a bit, the 7000 are confusing at best and fraudulent at worst,

All 7000 series procesors that have a 3 in the 3rd figure (7X3X) are actually Zen3+ cores, meaning its a 6000, not a 7000, Zen 3+ cores and RDNA 680M graphics.

While those with 4 in the 3rd figure are Zen 4 with 780M graphics and are true gen 7 ryzen.

Theres also the issue of a lot of U and H series 6 and 7 Ryzen boxes coming with PC4800 ram which dosnt affect cpu performance much but cripples the GPU.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

2GB RAM on WINDOWS 11???

2GB for the integrated graphics, by default it sets to 512MB you would think since its shared memory it wouldn't big deal but it is performance suffers heavily unless you manually set the IGP to have maximum VRAM which is limited to 2 GB.