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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Lukart - Wednesday, June 8, 2016 - link
That pricing looks really good! Now I want to see this thing listed..JoeyJoJo123 - Wednesday, June 8, 2016 - link
Might have been interesting and possibly worth a buy if it included 2 Intel Ethernet ports, to act as a pfSense box. I guess I'll pass.A5 - Wednesday, June 8, 2016 - link
You don't need a 65W CPU to do pfSense.Shadowmaster625 - Wednesday, June 8, 2016 - link
$739? For that money you can buy a i5-6300HQ notebook that comes with a 960M. Even if you dont use the screen, you still get to make use of the built-in UPS of the notebook.ganeshts - Wednesday, June 8, 2016 - link
The $739 is due to our choice of components - the Core i5 is $204, the SSD is $317, the RAM is $57 and so on.. people can budget for these components differently (using a SATA 2.5" drive could bring down that price by $250).t.s - Wednesday, June 8, 2016 - link
And where is the sata port?nightbringer57 - Wednesday, June 8, 2016 - link
Looks like there are two mounting slots under the mainboard.There doesn't seem to be a standard SATA connector, but there is a connector marked "SATA 3" (on the edge of the board, between the back USB connectors and the "chipset"). I'm assuming this is some form of non-conventional SATA port that combines data and power lines as there is no traditional PSU, but the converters must be on the motherboard, and enables to use a proprietary cable to connect the drivers.
nightbringer57 - Wednesday, June 8, 2016 - link
(addendum)If you look at the bundle photo, you can see the weird-SATAoid-thingy-to-standard-SATA-adapter in the small plastic bag.
The_Assimilator - Wednesday, June 8, 2016 - link
Well spotted, for a while I thought ASRock had given us a pair of 2.5" mounts with no way to use them...zodiacfml - Wednesday, June 8, 2016 - link
Right. I did a quick math and the price of this mini is reasonable. In my opinion, this is the only mini that I found with a decent price as most small PCs reviewed here are not cost competitive to a laptop.The price also reflects the simple quality of the case but who cares. The niche of this product is the decent price.