WEBVTT 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:06.040 now it's pretty common for a product to come into our studio that is so 00:00:03.640 --> 00:00:12.519 spectacularly pointless that we can't imagine why anyone would buy it but 00:00:09.320 --> 00:00:16.400 what's far less common is for one of 00:00:12.519 --> 00:00:19.880 those seemingly pointless products to be 00:00:16.400 --> 00:00:23.119 such an incredible piece of engineering 00:00:19.880 --> 00:00:25.640 that I simply cannot help but make a 00:00:23.119 --> 00:00:36.600 video about it well that's what happened today this is the ASRock rack EPC 621 D4 00:00:30.599 --> 00:00:39.079 i-2 m a mini ITX motherboard with a CPU 00:00:36.600 --> 00:00:45.079 socket that's almost the size of the board that's right my friends I today am 00:00:43.120 --> 00:00:50.800 going to be using this motherboard to build a 00:00:46.120 --> 00:00:53.960 28 core computer in a small form factor 00:00:50.800 --> 00:00:56.359 chassis with a gaming graphics card 00:00:53.960 --> 00:01:00.239 because at this point it just can't get much Dumber can it 00:01:06.439 --> 00:01:11.600 okay before we go any further I feel like I owe you guys an explanation for 00:01:09.960 --> 00:01:16.000 what makes this dumb because there's nothing inherently dumb about a 00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:20.360 motherboard it's as good as the components that you can plug into it and 00:01:17.640 --> 00:01:25.560 this one well you can plug some pretty amazing components into it it's got four 00:01:23.119 --> 00:01:30.640 memory slots here so these support sodm memory as well as ECC memory if you're 00:01:28.320 --> 00:01:37.360 into that maximum stability it's got an LGA 3647 socket with support for up to 00:01:33.799 --> 00:01:40.079 an 8180 Platinum 28 cor zon processor 00:01:37.360 --> 00:01:43.680 it's got a PCI Express 16x slot here it's got one of those handy dandy 00:01:41.479 --> 00:01:48.840 powered SATA ports for those little tiny drives as well as a breakout to four 00:01:46.479 --> 00:01:54.360 additional SATA ports right here and finally it's got a pair of m.2 NVMe SSD 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:58.520 slots on the back which on a different version of this board you can actually 00:01:55.960 --> 00:02:04.079 see the connector pads here can actually be equipped with memory 00:02:00.399 --> 00:02:05.520 instead of NVMe SSD modules but it's not 00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:09.959 any of the stuff that we can connect to it that makes it dumb it's more the fact 00:02:07.719 --> 00:02:15.120 that it ends up being kind of a solution looking for a problem so if we're after 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:20.480 an ITX board presumably we're trying to build something compact so if we wanted 00:02:18.599 --> 00:02:27.280 like not a crazy core count but let's say 10 cores or 12 or or 18 we could go 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:32.920 with Intel's LGA 2066 socket which has both core I 9 processors and even there 00:02:30.440 --> 00:02:38.640 zon WS with support for ECC memory if we're after that stability it's a much 00:02:35.760 --> 00:02:43.800 smaller socket and has all the features that we could possibly use on a board of 00:02:40.760 --> 00:02:46.959 this form factor then let's say that we 00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:50.000 did want some kind of you know Madness 00:02:46.959 --> 00:02:52.080 28 core system or something like that 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:58.159 well the thing is that in the server space there are far better solutions 00:02:55.560 --> 00:03:02.200 that allow you to build a more compact overall system even if if the 00:03:00.040 --> 00:03:05.720 motherboards are in some cases a little bit bigger so typically what you would 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:10.879 do is you would use what's called blade servers where you have like this larger 00:03:08.120 --> 00:03:15.840 rack that has multiple modules Each of which might have a couple CPU sockets 00:03:13.480 --> 00:03:20.040 like this with this kind of inline airflow cooling solution with the power 00:03:17.799 --> 00:03:24.680 supply at the back and everything tightly integrated if you're using a 00:03:22.239 --> 00:03:28.560 standard miniitx motherboard with like your standard ATX power connectors 00:03:27.040 --> 00:03:32.640 you're probably using a commodity off-the-shelf server C in which case 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:37.760 you're going to end up with kind of a big server considering how small your motherboard is the final thing that 00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:43.280 makes it kind of dumb is that some of the key capabilities of this processor 00:03:39.920 --> 00:03:46.200 including its 48 PCI Express Lanes and 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:51.040 its support for up to six Channel memory are physically not capable of being 00:03:48.920 --> 00:03:55.519 utilized here because the board is physically too small to put a whole 00:03:52.799 --> 00:04:00.400 bunch of PCI Express expansion on and even six memory slots to fully take 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:06.599 advantage of that I mean not to mention that the space constraints also give us 00:04:01.959 --> 00:04:08.560 a total of five ports VGA output 2 GB 00:04:06.599 --> 00:04:13.680 Ethernet one of which is shared with the management interface and two usb3 ports 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:18.959 that's it naturally I don't give a hoot about any of that though and my goal is 00:04:16.359 --> 00:04:24.880 to use this thing to build the bang inist small form factor quiet 00:04:22.759 --> 00:04:29.400 workstation gaming I don't know what it is but it's a super powerful system and 00:04:27.720 --> 00:04:36.320 it starts with getting our cooler installed so this is one of noa's nhu12s 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:38.080 coolers with a pretty spectacular 00:04:36.320 --> 00:04:44.800 mounting mechanism on it so this is designed specifically for the LGA 00:04:40.840 --> 00:04:47.880 3647 socket and this should be we hope 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:49.919 enough to tame our 28 core Beast this is 00:04:47.880 --> 00:04:54.560 actually the CPU that I dropped so what I'm kind of hoping is that um the dead 00:04:53.039 --> 00:04:59.280 memory channel on it is one of the ones we're not using and then maybe it has a 00:04:56.520 --> 00:05:04.639 permanent home maybe azck built this board just for me now we put on some 00:05:02.520 --> 00:05:07.479 thermal interface material and the usual rules about a grain of rice yeah those 00:05:06.320 --> 00:05:12.639 get thrown out the window with these guys you want a lot of thermal goop on 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:19.199 here that may not even be enough it is a big chip we can actually do a quick 00:05:15.320 --> 00:05:21.800 sanity check here once it's on a little 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:26.080 bit the CPU is so stuck to the bottom of the heyn that I cannot get it off 00:05:24.400 --> 00:05:28.720 without applying a little bit more Force than I'm happy to apply right now so 00:05:27.840 --> 00:05:31.639 we're going to assume there's enough thermal goop on it 00:05:32.120 --> 00:05:37.680 look at that the cooler is bigger than the 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:45.960 motherboard now it's time to load the rest of this thing up so we're going 00:05:39.720 --> 00:05:47.759 with four of these 16 gig ECC ddr4 2133 00:05:45.960 --> 00:05:55.400 modules these aren't the fastest thing around but uh they were all that was 00:05:51.280 --> 00:05:55.400 sitting in the warehouse and 00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:05.120 um man I got to say there is something to be said for working with miniature 00:06:01.240 --> 00:06:07.440 sized Hardware cuz like handling this 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:12.800 thing is super easy want to throw some some drives on the bottom or whatever 00:06:09.440 --> 00:06:16.199 like swiy swaity there they go pretty 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:19.599 much no hassle at all so now that our 00:06:16.199 --> 00:06:21.280 engine so to speak is complete let's 00:06:19.599 --> 00:06:27.720 have a look at what we're using for the chassis this is the 00:06:24.520 --> 00:06:30.039 ld3 from Silverstone and this is one of 00:06:27.720 --> 00:06:34.759 those cases where they asked us if we wanted to review it and we said no we 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:38.520 don't really review cases anymore but wow that looks really cool uh I'm sure I 00:06:36.919 --> 00:06:44.800 can find something to do with it at some point so it's got these um these smoked 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:48.960 glass tempered glass panels here it's got a really unique form factor should 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:53.800 be great for cooling especially with that heat sink that we've got on there 00:06:51.240 --> 00:06:59.039 and it gives us a real good look at our graphics card once we get that installed 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:02.280 let's go ahead and strip it down here whoop 00:07:00.400 --> 00:07:08.520 should even be pretty easy to build in now one compromise is apparent 00:07:05.240 --> 00:07:13.160 already while the case has support for 00:07:08.520 --> 00:07:17.280 USB 3 on the front panel uh the 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:20.919 motherboard does not in fact I don't 00:07:17.280 --> 00:07:23.400 even know if it has front USB 00:07:20.919 --> 00:07:30.720 2 what the Jazz nope it has a couple things that 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:33.639 look like USB 2 like this one 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:39.080 which is a Comm Port it's a Serial port and this one which is the front panel 00:07:36.400 --> 00:07:43.000 connectors for uh Power and reset and all that 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:46.120 stuff that's fairly disappointing all right so I'm going to 00:07:44.680 --> 00:07:51.400 do the power supply first this is another piece of Silverstone small form 00:07:48.159 --> 00:07:51.400 factor fun this is their 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:58.400 sfxlg to be power supply limited no matter what kind of CPU and graphics 00:07:56.599 --> 00:08:01.919 card we throw in here so it's screwed in now but you guys can see this is one of 00:07:59.960 --> 00:08:05.879 those cases where the power supply is actually mounted on the inside of the 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:09.720 case with no direct external access so we got to make sure that we've actually 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:15.479 got it switched on and then we run this uh extender here up to here you go up at 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:20.919 the top of the case and that's where we're actually going to plug it into the wall all right so our next challenge is 00:08:18.840 --> 00:08:23.400 our front panel connectors Now power and reset and all that stuff we're going to 00:08:22.080 --> 00:08:28.199 have to check the manual find out how that goes in uh but these ones are 00:08:25.879 --> 00:08:34.320 really interesting so not not only do we not have front USB 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:38.719 3 we don't even have front audio on this thing so we're going to be relying on 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:43.080 our graphics cards built-in audio if we want to get any sound output from this 00:08:40.640 --> 00:08:49.000 system whatsoever I mean alternately we could use a USB sound card but uh USB 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:53.360 ports are kind of in short supply too okay this is hilarious guys I was 00:08:51.560 --> 00:08:58.760 looking up the pin out for the front panel connectors and I found out there 00:08:55.480 --> 00:09:00.079 is in fact a USB 2 header on this thing 00:08:58.760 --> 00:09:06.120 unfortunately I didn't recognize it and I can't use it 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:13.839 because it's a miniature one so here's a normal USB front panel plug and that's 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:13.839 the size of the header 00:09:14.279 --> 00:09:19.519 so that that doesn't I don't know I've 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:28.279 never seen this before it's like mini USB 2 so this is kind of a magic moment 00:09:24.079 --> 00:09:28.279 where we install our motherboard 00:09:30.560 --> 00:09:38.120 this case is too small 00:09:34.760 --> 00:09:41.000 um well there's only one way to find out 00:09:38.120 --> 00:09:44.000 so this panel comes off ooh 00:09:45.160 --> 00:09:50.160 hey well played silver 00:09:48.279 --> 00:09:56.680 Stone okay so I'm in there getting the motherboard screws and like this is kind 00:09:52.959 --> 00:09:58.839 of a mature highbrow Channel 00:09:56.680 --> 00:10:04.839 but okay this is in the case mounting hardware does this remind you of 00:10:02.079 --> 00:10:12.640 anything really Silverstone grow up okay well this isn't perfect but it's 00:10:08.880 --> 00:10:15.120 also not nearly as bad as it looks right 00:10:12.640 --> 00:10:19.120 now see we've got enough room for our vrm heat sink to breathe in there and 00:10:17.720 --> 00:10:26.720 most of that cable mess is going to be 00:10:22.560 --> 00:10:31.600 covered by our secret ingredient our RTX 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:34.399 280 ETI complete with uh hydro dipping 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:37.560 cooler power connectors in 00:10:35.920 --> 00:10:44.079 not bad okay wow that actually went a lot 00:10:41.680 --> 00:10:49.519 faster than I could have possibly hoped so we are pretty much ready to see if 00:10:46.279 --> 00:10:53.639 this monster boots 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:57.279 up that's it super compact air cooled 00:10:53.639 --> 00:11:00.839 and theoretically super quiet 00:10:57.279 --> 00:11:04.240 too well I've got enough update for you 00:11:00.839 --> 00:11:07.040 try as I might I can't get two of these 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:13.880 memory channels to recognize which is new before it was 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:18.839 one so CPU's got to come out and our 00:11:13.880 --> 00:11:21.920 known good Platinum 8180 is going in 00:11:18.839 --> 00:11:23.600 glued together CPU is out known good CPU 00:11:21.920 --> 00:11:28.480 is in let's find out if it's the board or the processor the fact that there 00:11:25.480 --> 00:11:29.760 were two dead channels makes me think 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:38.000 that there might be something wrong with the board 00:11:33.760 --> 00:11:40.760 hey not bad so there it is 64 gigs of 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:45.360 RAM okay now another thing I couldn't figure out was how on Earth to configure 00:11:42.839 --> 00:11:49.200 my NVMe drives in raid I set everything in here that I could possibly find to 00:11:46.880 --> 00:11:53.040 raid the manual says you just press control I when you're booting and you 00:11:50.839 --> 00:11:57.639 can configure raid but that doesn't come up 00:11:54.519 --> 00:12:00.760 so nothing in here 00:11:57.639 --> 00:12:02.800 about any raid option ROM something 00:12:00.760 --> 00:12:09.160 something so I'm just kind of at a bit of a loss we're going to settle for just 00:12:05.399 --> 00:12:12.000 one mbme drive I guess all right ladies 00:12:09.160 --> 00:12:19.320 and gentlemen we are super close now I went and got a USB hub so this is 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:23.000 a super elegant solution to not having 00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:25.519 any USB ports but hey it's working the 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:31.880 one thing I'm having trouble with though is the fan speed this is supposed to be 00:12:27.480 --> 00:12:31.880 a quiet build but check this out 00:12:33.760 --> 00:12:42.760 guys it's one of the fans on the graphics card now I've got my drivers 00:12:40.079 --> 00:12:47.000 installed but even then like that shouldn't be doing that um so now I'm 00:12:45.639 --> 00:12:53.360 installing After Burner and I'm just going to see if maybe it's something that I can fix by adjusting the fan 00:12:51.079 --> 00:13:00.800 speed manually or something what the crap see the 00:12:56.360 --> 00:13:04.399 tachometer is at 4700 RP M you can see 00:13:00.800 --> 00:13:04.399 the dip where I put my finger on 00:13:05.399 --> 00:13:14.160 it so right now there's two possibilities really one is that this 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:15.600 PCI Express lot was not really designed 00:13:14.160 --> 00:13:23.079 to have a graphics card in it and therefore never really tested with a graphics card in it and is bugged in 00:13:19.639 --> 00:13:26.240 some way that is interfering with the 00:13:23.079 --> 00:13:28.360 GPU's ability to regulate its fan speed 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:32.880 that's a possibility possibility number two is that this was the hydro dipped 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:38.199 one maybe we didn't put it together quite right there is uh a little PCB in 00:13:36.440 --> 00:13:43.399 here that I think has something to do with fan control that maybe wasn't 00:13:39.839 --> 00:13:43.399 hooked up correctly 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:54.279 so I got my hands on another RTX 2080 TI 00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:56.360 and we're going to try this one and 00:13:54.279 --> 00:14:00.600 hopefully this works oh boy 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:07.680 looks like this needs some 00:14:04.920 --> 00:14:10.000 fixing so it's probably something to do with 00:14:10.880 --> 00:14:17.399 this now that is more like what we were 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:19.600 expecting so all 64 gigs of memory are 00:14:17.399 --> 00:14:24.680 detected here CPU 00:14:21.399 --> 00:14:27.639 LOL 28 cores 56 threads let's fire up 00:14:24.680 --> 00:14:33.480 some cinon shall we now first let's grab a reference score so we know what we're 00:14:29.920 --> 00:14:35.800 expecting score over 9,300 all 00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:42.399 right that's what we're expecting wish us luck what are we 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:47.120 turboing to right now ooh 3 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:50.160 gz wait 4158 that's it ah he was running 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:52.759 two of them so actually that's exactly 00:14:50.160 --> 00:14:58.800 right huh so in spite of the fact that we're running an ITX motherboard we were 00:14:56.560 --> 00:15:02.839 still able to pull off about what we'd expect effect on cinebench now the next 00:15:01.399 --> 00:15:07.480 thing we want to see is if we can maintain those kinds of Turbo speeds 00:15:05.399 --> 00:15:12.040 even under a sustained load so this is blender classroom and what I want to see 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:18.920 is if after a couple of minutes it starts to Throttle Down we're sitting at 00:15:15.160 --> 00:15:21.639 around 55 to 60° across all of our cores 00:15:18.920 --> 00:15:26.759 here not too shabby considering that we've got it pegged at 100% usage and 00:15:23.680 --> 00:15:29.120 we're just shy of 3 GHz on 28 00:15:26.759 --> 00:15:33.040 cores now people might ask what anyone could possibly need 28 cores for and 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:39.000 that's a fair question but check this out this system with the CPU pegged at 00:15:36.199 --> 00:15:44.519 100% is still responsive enough that you can be just like using your computer and 00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:48.079 opening other applications and it it just works it just works fine that's 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:53.639 going to affect our Benchmark score but remember guys that's not what we're after I just wanted to see if the turbo 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:55.720 was going to drop damn it okay well you 00:15:53.639 --> 00:16:01.519 guys missed it but we finished the entire test and actually did not turbo 00:15:58.360 --> 00:16:04.399 down at all so that's pretty darn 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:10.680 impressive actually I I wasn't really expecting that I mean this board uh it 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:13.920 does have the Zeon Platinum 81 8028 core 00:16:10.680 --> 00:16:16.240 on its supported list but I I I don't 00:16:13.920 --> 00:16:20.079 know I just I didn't think ASRock even thought anyone was actually going to put 00:16:17.399 --> 00:16:26.040 it on there all right so now we've got some n 1800 going and what 00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:33.560 I get a kick out of here is that the game at Peak there was using about 7% of 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:36.720 the CPU it's running really smoothly considering the detail level that I'm 00:16:34.920 --> 00:16:43.120 running at here looking pretty darn good all right 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:45.680 here we go quick alt tab 7.4% 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:50.959 woo that's what happens when you got uh 56 threads right you can only use so 00:16:48.199 --> 00:16:56.759 many of them in a game so now I want to see if our system stays 00:16:52.959 --> 00:16:56.759 quiet when we stress the 00:16:56.920 --> 00:17:02.199 GPU it's running real smooth we're getting about 120 130 frames per second 00:17:01.319 --> 00:17:06.559 in Doom feels good yeah this is super 00:17:05.240 --> 00:17:11.919 smooth I could get used to playing on a $10,000 00:17:08.959 --> 00:17:15.480 processor the glass actually helps to mask a lot of the noise that would 00:17:13.400 --> 00:17:19.600 otherwise come out toward the user and most of the ventilation is actually down 00:17:17.400 --> 00:17:24.319 here up from the bottom and then out the top so when you're sitting where you 00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:26.480 normally would be it's really impressive 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:31.360 considering there's you know realtime Ray tracing power in there and 28 CP U 00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:35.720 course so just checking in this is about a worst case scenario for our graphics 00:17:33.120 --> 00:17:39.679 card we're sitting at around 95% usage 84° which is where it'll start to 00:17:37.760 --> 00:17:46.120 Throttle Down and it's hovering right around the 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:49.559 1620 yeah about 1620 mahz not too bad at 00:17:46.120 --> 00:17:51.400 all for an RTX 2080 TI Founders Edition 00:17:49.559 --> 00:17:56.360 not being held back by the case at that point oh that's funny you know how I was 00:17:53.760 --> 00:18:01.440 saying was like super responsive Brandon I accidentally had ano open in the 00:17:58.200 --> 00:18:03.880 background sucking up 2% of the CPU so 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:09.360 that's it guys this may not be the most conventional system that I've ever built 00:18:06.679 --> 00:18:18.559 and this motherboard may be super stupid but man is that ever a lot of 00:18:13.799 --> 00:18:22.120 performance in a very very small space 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:23.720 and still running reasonably quietly so 00:18:22.120 --> 00:18:26.559 shout out to ASRock for building a pretty freaking cool board and I hope 00:18:25.120 --> 00:18:31.120 you guys enjoyed our little Adventure building with it the Mast drop X Porta 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:38.120 Pro X headphones are based on the original 1984 cost onar portable design 00:18:35.640 --> 00:18:41.520 but updated to make them more modern and durable they can be folded up in 00:18:39.960 --> 00:18:45.480 different configurations for Easy Storage they use oxygen-free copper 00:18:43.760 --> 00:18:51.000 voice coils that provide a wide frequency response and they feature warm 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:55.000 and smooth audio a single button control lets you skip tracks make calls and 00:18:53.000 --> 00:18:59.640 activate voice commands and they've got a lifetime warranty from cost along with 00:18:57.320 --> 00:19:04.000 a noise cancelling mic so join the drop today at the link in the video 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:06.320 description so thanks for watching guys if you dislike this video hit that 00:19:05.280 --> 00:19:09.320 button but if you liked it hit like get subscribed and maybe consider checking out where to buy the selfie featur to 00:19:08.280 --> 00:19:13.360 the link in the video description also down there's our merch store which has cool shirts like this one oh and more 00:19:11.880 --> 00:19:16.280 importantly this one this one's really cool and more importantly than that 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:21.080 underwear no I won't show you the underwear today but they're awesome trust me and we also have our community 00:19:19.880 --> 00:19:24.039 Forum linked down there make sure you check that out too