ASRock M8 Barebones Review: My Steam Box
by Ian Cutress on January 2, 2014 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Barebones
- Intel
- ASRock
- Motherboards
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Z87
Due to the high end level of the systems that Dustin has benchmarked, our M8 configuration does not appear to fair too well on some of the synthetics – however frame rates in modern games are more than applicable and should systematically beat any console title if settings were equilibrated between the systems. For the price difference, one would hope so! Given that these are all tested against laptops, we see that while our low powered CPU may not be as fast as we had liked, the gaming frame rates are still at the high end.
PCMark 7
3DMark Fire Strike
Cinebench R11.5
x264 5.0 HD Benchmark
Bioshock Infinite
Grid 2
Sleeping Dogs
Tomb Raider
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Lonyo - Thursday, January 2, 2014 - link
Indeed.I have just had a clear out and found about 3 of those as spares in various boxes and with various other junk.
Sure, I have about 3x as many kettle leads, after throwing lots out, but they aren't that uncommon for people who tinker with their hardware/etc.
Death666Angel - Monday, January 6, 2014 - link
It's the Mickey Mouse plug! :)Bassrockerx - Thursday, January 2, 2014 - link
I am really interested in this chasis because i want my next rig to be a mobile mini itx system. Two things that anand did not mention about this chasis is that it holds two more ssds in a hidden compartment behind the psu. And the creative labs audio card has a built in headphone amp that is very powerful. This is a very valuable added extra in my book and makes this chassis great for a mobile gaming rig or potentially a portable recording studio. If i was to build this i would likely use either a i3 or a low power t series i5 for a processor. I would only load te internals with a 400gig intel ssd and i would take one of my Sli gtx 770s off my main rig and take it on the go. Hopefully by the time i would build this a 600w power suply in this form factor would be available. Although the 450w included would probably work fine. I suppose i could live with a 760 or a 7950 and just bear with the slightly lower detail because it would only be for traveling and going to friends houses and lans. Now if asrock. I wish asrock would make a carrying case for the m8 at 600 dollars one should be included!IanCutress - Thursday, January 2, 2014 - link
I'm the one that wrote the review, rather than Anand :) My name is up there at the top.I did mention that the chassis holds four 2.5" drives, as does the ASRock specifications, behind the GPU - right there on the first page. The ODD is behind the PSU, and users could put in more SSDs if they want to affix them with custom mods.
56tb - Thursday, January 2, 2014 - link
Kind of think the M8 thing will be lost on the US. Australia and the UK, mate means 'buddy' in the US i'm pretty sure its just someone you procreate with.DARBYOTHRULL - Thursday, January 2, 2014 - link
I think we'll get it.IanCutress - Thursday, January 2, 2014 - link
Well it's co-designed by BMW, so the M8 Series of cars with an M8 series of PCs as well, I think that was the main association.codylee - Thursday, January 2, 2014 - link
"Cheers Mate" translated into American means "80's dive bar sex partner"... I like it.Mugur - Thursday, January 2, 2014 - link
Is it me, or the case is almost ugly?hardwickj - Thursday, January 2, 2014 - link
They couldn't have used an uglier case. These guys need to start taking minimalist cues from Apple/Wasena/OriginAE! No self respecting person will let this sit next to their TV and invite their friends over.