ASRock Brings Zen 2 NUC : 4X4 BOX-4800U Renoir Mini-PC Reviewed
by Ganesh T S on November 25, 2020 11:00 AM ESTPower Consumption and Thermal Performance
The power consumption at the wall was measured with a 4K display being driven through the HDMI port. In the graphs below, we compare the idle and load power of the ASRock 4X4 BOX-4800U with other low power PCs evaluated before. For load power consumption, we ran the AIDA64 System Stability Test with various stress components, and noted the maximum sustained power consumption at the wall.
The idle power of 10.45W is a tad too high compared to the Intel NUCs. The peak power consumption is also low, compared to other systems.
Our thermal stress routine starts with the system at idle, followed by four stages of different system loading profiles using the AIDA64 System Stability Test (each of 30 minutes duration). In the first stage, we stress the CPU, caches and RAM. In the second stage, we add the GPU to the above list. In the third stage, we stress the GPU standalone. In the final stage, we stress all the system components (including the disks). Beyond this, we leave the unit idle in order to determine how quickly the various temperatures in the system can come back to normal idling range. The various clocks, temperatures and power consumption numbers for the system during the above routine are presented in the graphs below.
| ASRock 4X4 BOX-4800U System Loading with the AIDA64 System Stability Test | |||
The frequencies stay above the base value (1.8 GHz) advertised. Being actively cooled, the temperature of the package doesn't exceed 95C. The key is the package power - for CPU alone, the steady state is around 15W. With the GPU in the mix, it goes up to around 20W (though instantaneous values go as high as 30W for very short bursts).
| ASRock 4X4 BOX-4800U System Loading with Prime95 and Furmark | |||
The artificial power virus test of both Prime95 and Furmark results in the package temperature going as high as 100C. According to the official specifications, the maximum permitted temperature of the Ryzen 7 4800U is 105C. The thermal solution is able to keep it below that number, allowing the processor to deliver its advertised performance in a sustained manner.
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damianrobertjones - Wednesday, November 25, 2020 - link
Dangerous. People are not often the brightest and help lines would probably be called when owners try to plug in a crappy usb c charger.1_rick - Thursday, November 26, 2020 - link
If your GPU can detect you didn't plug in the PCIe power plugs and refuse to let the computer boot there's no reason they can't do the same here.damianrobertjones - Monday, November 30, 2020 - link
People buy cheap chargers for phones. Nothing will change in this case.dontlistentome - Wednesday, November 25, 2020 - link
... Thunderbolt please. Can then power with it and have multiple 4K screens and peripherals hanging off 1 cable. Can then just swap the cable between this and my work PC when I work at home.timecop1818 - Wednesday, November 25, 2020 - link
Alt mode HDMI is dead, there are literally zero devices which support or implement it. It only exists as a specification. There's very little point anyway because dp alt mode is superior in every way, such as being able to reduce lane count to share usb3hs. But with hdmi alt mode, you are using all 4 lanes just to transmit 1080p.SeanFL - Wednesday, November 25, 2020 - link
Price is comparable to the Asus PN50 with the 4800U. Anyone have thoughts on which would be the one to buy?I've not been successful at finding the PN50 locally, Microcenter had a couple in stock then was sold out.
eastcoast_pete - Wednesday, November 25, 2020 - link
Thanks Ganesh! The overall performance is decent, the problems with HTPC use unfortunate. One other piece of information I might have missed: just how noisy does this unit get, and how annoying is the fan noise? I am asking as especially smaller fans can be a lot more annoying than the simple dB(A) numbers suggest. Having had a laptop with this "feature", I now always ask about that before even thinking of buying.smilingcrow - Wednesday, November 25, 2020 - link
It seems a major omission for a system that was reviewed for HTPC features and might end up in the lounge.spikebike - Wednesday, November 25, 2020 - link
Nice, been waiting for a decent NUC like product with an AMD CPU. This looks quite competitive, but seems like waiting until CES in January will be worth it. The Zen3 is a killer upgrade and might well mean it's worth keeping for another year or two.grant3 - Wednesday, November 25, 2020 - link
Most hardware refreshes are annual, and you're willing to wait 2 years? With that mindset you'll never, ever buy anything because you know a better version will eventually arrive in that timeframe. Maybe 2 better versions.