WEBVTT

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Typically, if you wanted a PC rocking a Core i9 9900K

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and a DTX 1080, you would need something like this.

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But here's the problem.

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If you have a desktop on top of your desk

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and there isn't a whole lot of desk left on the top,

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which is why you need one of these.

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The ASRock Mini comes in at just 2.7 liters

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while packing nearly the maximum amount of power

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that you can expect in any PC.

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So if you're a content creator

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and looking for a new system

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that fits your minimal aesthetic,

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should you go for the reigning champ, the Mac Mini,

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or the new kid on the block, the Desk Mini?

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The first big difference between the Mac Mini

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and the Desk Mini can be seen before even powering it on.

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With the Mac, you just have this nice cord

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that goes from the back of the machine to the wall.

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Whereas ASRock has included this,

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massive 330 watt external power brick

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that you'll need to put somewhere.

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Next, pressing the power button on the Mac Mini

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causes it to power on,

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which surprisingly isn't the case with the Desk Mini.

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You can press its power button all you want,

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but out of the box, it will do literally nothing

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because it comes as a bare bones kit.

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So you'll have to install the RAM and storage yourself,

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which fortunately is quite easy.

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Just remove the four screws in the back, pop the top,

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and you'll have access to two DDR4 SODIMM slots

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that allow you to smack up to 32 gigabytes of RAM in there.

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Well, we're gonna stick to 16.

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We're humble.

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Next, remove two more screws near the front of the machine,

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and you should be able to take out the whole inner assembly,

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revealing the bottom of the board

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and all its storage goodness.

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We're talking three M.2 drive slots,

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where we're gonna be adding a one terabyte 970 Pro,

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plus an additional M.2 for Wi-Fi,

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as well as two, two and a half inch bays

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for additional solid or spinning storage.

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Flipping the Desk Mini back over,

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let's take a look at the hardware we actually care about.

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This almost unassuming PCB and heat sink over here

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is actually a full-blown GTX 1080.

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Nice.

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But the interesting thing is that

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under this 65 watt rated Noctua cooler

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is a 95 watt Intel Core i9-9900K.

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Sounds kind of toasty,

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so let's see how it fares starting with Blender.

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I imagine that the majority of people

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looking for either the Desk Mini or the Mac Mini

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are planning on using them for creative power.

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And initial results are looking very good for the Desk Mini,

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with the i9 not only able to mince the i7

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found in the Mac Mini,

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it also maintained very respectable boost clocks

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that allowed it to tangle with much larger PCs as well.

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Now, it did get a bit sweaty.

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They're around 85 degrees Celsius,

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so definitely no overclocking.

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But this is still damn impressive performance

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from a system this small,

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especially given it does so while remaining nice and quiet.

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Where the Desk Mini absolutely humiliates the Mac

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is in gaming.

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Since number one, it just wins by default

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since lots of games don't even run on macOS.

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And number two, because the little GTX 1080 in here

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puts in work, son.

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And it sounds like it too.

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Without the gentle Noctua touch,

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the GPU is uncomfortably loud.

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You'll definitely want some noise-canceling headphones

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for gaming sessions.

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And really, if you're gonna be gaming a whole bunch,

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it's conceivable that you may want an RTX 2080 at some point.

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So why is it that this only comes with a GTX 1080?

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Well, the Desk Mini uses an MXM card,

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a standard that NVIDIA might've killed off.

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Or maybe not, if some rumors are to be believed.

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But either way, at this point in time,

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20 series MXM cards are not available.

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And until officially confirmed, they might stay that way,

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completely killing upgradability.

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So if you plan on gaming,

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then just get an MSI Trident X, right?

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Maybe, if you like having obnoxious rainbow barf

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on your desk.

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But I, for one, actually love how,

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despite its gaming-grade hardware,

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the Desk Mini has an understated premium styling.

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But ASRock did include an RGB port,

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if you're into that sort of thing.

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Compared to the Mac Mini, though,

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it's definitely not as stealth.

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But hey, this venting is here for a reason.

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If you have wireless peripherals and never use USB drives,

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the Mac Mini is a pretty good time.

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But I do really appreciate that ASRock has kept USB A and C,

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along with a headphone jack,

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on the front of the machine for easy access.

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As for I.O. in general,

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the four Thunderbolt ports on the Mac

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do offer amazing versatility if you've got the dongles.

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But like, the first thing I wanted to do

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is connect it to a display with a DisplayPort cable,

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and that just wasn't an option without a dongle.

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The Desk Mini, though, doesn't have any Thunderbolt 3 ports,

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but other than that, the I.O. is pretty solid.

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where the Mac mini really whoops the desk mini

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is in networking.

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Given that these systems are aimed

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at creative professionals,

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the option of 10 gig Ethernet on the Mac mini is massive

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for anyone that's working on files that live on a server,

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like in our office.

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We actually bought a second Mac mini for this video

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because the first one was already in use

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at our video ingest station.

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And it's working so well that we wanted to get another one.

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So if your primary use case is dealing with AK footage,

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the Mac mini is great.

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But for everyone else,

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it might just be freaking expensive.

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With a semi-reasonably spec'd Mac mini

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coming in at an eye-watering $2,200,

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surely the desk mini must be...

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It's a lot.

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A what?

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It's $2,500.

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It's $2,500 with the i9.

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Okay.

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So yeah, for that same price,

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you could have the MSI Trident X

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with the considerably more powerful RTX 2080,

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or you could get even more bang for your buck

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by building your own PC altogether.

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So this leaves the desk mini

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in a bit of an awkward situation,

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since it's a lot of money to be spending

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for last-gen graphics

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that sound like a TIE fighter storming your office,

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which is why I don't think you should buy

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the desk mini with the GTX 1080.

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You should look into the desk mini with the GTX 1060.

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That way you can get the small form factor,

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more CPU performance,

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plus discrete graphics,

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all for about $400 less than the Mac mini,

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which is what I would do.

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So thanks for watching, guys.

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If this video sucked, you can hit that button.

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But if you liked it, like it, get subscribed,

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and check out the links to blow, to blow, whoa.

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Check out the links below for where to buy

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some of the stuff we featured in this video.

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Also down there is our merch store

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and our link to our forum, which you should totally join.