ASRock DeskMini 110 mini-STX PC Review
by Ganesh T S on June 8, 2016 8:45 AM ESTConcluding Remarks
The ASRock DeskMini 110 gave us the opportunity to check out what is possible with the mini-STX form factor and a high-TDP Skylake CPU. It is quite clear that Intel's current marketing angle with the mini-STX form factor is affordability. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain why almost all vendors have gone in for a H110 chipset-based design for their mini-STX offerings. That said, ASRock has put in a couple of good differentiating aspects in the DeskMini 110: support for 65W TDP CPUs and a M.2 PCIe slot for SSDs directly connected to the CPU's PCIe lanes. This works around the issue of the H110 chipset having only PCIe 2.0 lanes
The pricing is very competitive - $130 for the all-metal chassis, 120W power adapter and cord, and the H110 motherboard. While the assembly is not as easy as that of a NUC, it is acceptable for the DIY market.
In terms of scope for improvement, a bundled WLAN adapter would be very welcome. Sourcing one that can fit in with the chassis design will be a challenge, as most M.2 PCIe WLAN modules are either meant for NUCs, or for notebooks. The DeskMini's all-metal chassis makes it difficult to get a suitable placement for the flat antennae that come with such WLAN adapters. I think it would be better for ASRock to bundle / pre-install a WLAN module and antennas for a slight increase in the price of the product. The DeskMini could also do with some additional I/O (say, a SD card reader).
It is great to see the mini-STX form factor getting broad vendor support. We would like it more if vendors were able to differentiate their offerings. ASRock has tried out a few things differently in the storage subsystem and chassis design with the DeskMini 110. We look forward to seeing what other differentiation aspects come out in the future iterations in this product line.
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Lolimaster - Saturday, June 11, 2016 - link
I would really love a review of the i7 6700T 35w.i7 6700K is only 17% faster on average without that nice tdp. Powerconsumption idle/load/typical use/temps. Would really appreciate it.
prisonerX - Tuesday, June 14, 2016 - link
A reasonably priced case with built-in passive CPU heatsink would be a nice complement in that review. With Skylake about the only real benefit is the practicality of silent PCs.prisonerX - Tuesday, June 14, 2016 - link
This ticks a lot of boxes:small size, 12V power, Skylake. But $130 for a motherboard, a generic power brick and a simple case? Seriously?8steve8 - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - link
I know right? It should be like $300 considering the skull canyon NUC is over $600 and can only handle a 45w CPU... With a terrible (loud) cooler.There is nothing that competes with this: Skylake 65 W with this size.
If only Intel would release a socketed Skylake 65w CPU/iGPU with eDRAM.
ES_Revenge - Friday, June 17, 2016 - link
Really don't understand the point to STX. Has zero slots, okay that makes it even smaller than ITX but is there really a need for it? The NUC/mini-PC type jobbies like the NUC, Cubi, Liva, etc. seem to have their market covered. If you really want there are some very small mini-ITX cases (some that even only hold thin mini-ITX) and don't end up using the slot so the space "wasted" because of it isn't that much.For example Antec's ISK 110 is very small, it's a bit bigger than this but it uses mini ITX boards (with no slot usability) which are available all over the place. It just doesn't seem like we need another form factor to be between mini ITX and the NUC-type machines, does it?
I'd rather mini DTX have taken off that this. I just don't think there's a need for mini-ITX minus like 5cm
8steve8 - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - link
Most NUCs have a 15W or less CPU meant for laptops... With a laptop style heatsink/fan.This takes a 65w CPU and a quieter heatsink/fan.
Imagine you want a very high performance desktop, but also want it as small as possible. I realize most commenters on this site are obsessed with game performance, but if you don't care about playing the latest game, then this pretty close to the perfect high performance small desktop workstation.
8steve8 - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - link
This is much smaller than even tiny itx PCs ... Also front ports without internal wires/connectors!jaydee - Thursday, June 30, 2016 - link
The power draw for the MSI Cubi 2 Plus vPro max load power draw (Prim95 + FurMark) really can't be right. It's a 35W TDP i5-6500T, and according to the chart is measuring 10W higher than the 65W i5-6500 PC in this review?The i5-6500T 35W PC almost has to be closer to half of the 102W shown here (which was taken from the MSI Cubi 2 Plus vPro main article).
butchooka - Friday, August 12, 2016 - link
Can please someone confirm tha it is possible to install 15mm high HDDs?Would be a nice to put 2*4TB 2,5 drives +m2-SSD in it.
Found nowhere information about possible high of drives in this case, or pics showing there is enogh space. All tests only use ssd drives with 6/9,5mm height. Asrock only provides that it has space for 2 drives
james.shallcross - Tuesday, September 20, 2016 - link
7mm - no problem9.5mm - will JUST fit
15mm - will not fit