A Core i9 in This Tiny Thing?? - AsRock DeskMini Review
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2019-05-06
·
1,425 words · ~7 min read
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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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Speaking of things I would do,
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You pay only for what you use,
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If you're stuck in a contract and switch to Ting,
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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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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.