Computex 2013: ASRock's M8 mini-ITX Gaming PC
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 10, 2013 2:57 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
- ASRock
- desktops
- Trade Shows
- Computex 2013
After thoroughly enjoying Falcon NW's Tiki system, I was pleased to see ASRock showcase a mini-ITX tower/desktop of its own at Computex: the M8. Inside is an ASRock mini-ITX 8-series motherboard and Haswell CPU. ASRock will sell the chassis as a barebones PC including motherboard and PSU. The chassis itself was designed in cooperation with BMW design (hence the name M8, M for BMW M Series and 8 for 8-series chipset).
Large discrete GPUs are supported via a riser card on the motherboard (ASRock claims the M8 will accept a Titan). To install a discrete GPU you actually have to remove the top of the tower, giving you access to the PCIe riser card inside.
Around the front of the M8 chassis is an iDrive-like knob that functions as a power button as well as a quick way to cycle through all of the case's menu features. The side panel is screwless and is held on by magnets.
ASRock expects the M8 barebones system to etail for $499.
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Flunk - Monday, June 10, 2013 - link
It's pricey because it's a limited run item. They're not going to be selling thousands of these. It's also high end and they have little competition. $499 of motherboard, PSU and case at this form factor isn't too bad.This thing is really begging to be water cooled.
rhx123 - Monday, June 10, 2013 - link
Shame it's kinda gaudy because I've been looking for a tiny mini itx chassis for a while.EVGA Mini-Box is looking most hopeful so far.
Kevin G - Monday, June 10, 2013 - link
The case itself reminds me of Apple's old G4 towers, just smaller. More industrialized with the bits of metal instead of plastics.Internally it seems a bit odd. The AC cable seems to run around a lot judging by the pictures. The PSU could have been made larger. I've been under the impression that PSU's for mini-ITX systems can be a bit proprietary depending on the case so why not make this one fit a bit better?
Death666Angel - Monday, June 10, 2013 - link
"Apple's old G4 towers" -> All the pics Google's picture search shows me are nothing like this thing. They are all covered fully with no mesh anywhere, the curves at the corners are exactly opposite etc.I also don't think the AC cable looks funny.
And of course you can make PSUs are proprietary as you want, this might be proprietary for all we know, but it might also just use a standard TFX/SFX PSU. Which should be the first priority, in order to cut down on cost.
Computer Bottleneck - Monday, June 10, 2013 - link
I've read elsewhere that is a 450 watt SFX PSU.DanNeely - Monday, June 10, 2013 - link
I didn't see any pictures showing how the AC cable was routed around the GPU, but placing it somewhere other than along the back panel and routing an internal AC cable itself isn't unheard of in SFF designs.If I was going to comment on any part of the cabling shown it would be that despite the PSU being placed right next to the edge of the mobo where the 24pin connector is located it still appears to have a full length 24pin cable. The layout seems ideal for a short (4-6") cable; and an optional extension if you need to install a board with a weird layout. It also made me wonder if the other power cables are equally oversized for the form factor but just routed to hide where they're bunched up.
tviceman - Monday, June 10, 2013 - link
I hope this trend continues and major case manufacturers like silverstone, Antec, coolermaster, etc. start making cases this small. This case in particular sounds pretty awesome and if I were in the market to upgrade I'd have no qualms paying the premium to get a case just like this.The only real downside is that Nvidia cards are best suited for this kind of case because their blower coolers are vastly superior to AMD when it comes to noise while under high load.
littlebitstrouds - Monday, June 17, 2013 - link
Can you guys seriously take your pictures in RAW. Boost shadows and blacks and crush whites so we can actually see something here. There's 0 excuse for these quality of pictures when my RX100 pocket camera can take pictures more usable then this.hat1324 - Friday, August 9, 2013 - link
I think Ill wait for Azzatek's new MITX offering coming out soon.