ASRock Barb DeskMeet X300/B/BB/BOX

Product Information

Rotating around to the audio section, here’s a basic configuration around a Realtek ALC897 chip. Nothing exciting, but more than enough for the business orientated focus of this system. There’s more than enough USB to have a dedicated USB DAC for audio. End-users have the flexibility to choose their own CPU, storage device, RAM, and optional discrete GPU. Space constraints impose some limitations on these, though. The 8L system can support liquid cooling if a PCIe add-on card is not used. CPU coolers up to 54mm in height can be used (anything higher would end up bumping into the underside of the PSU). Processors with a TDP of up to 65W can be safely used in air cooling. While select 125W TDP processors are supported, it requires the use of liquid cooling (ruling out the PCIe add-on card usability). F-series SKUs can be used, but it requires the compulsory installation of a video card, as the native display outputs of the B660-ITX require a CPU with an integrated GPU. On the other hand, w/o the care of damaging the case, user could cut or drill some holes on the front of the case and mount the 120mm fan, and that maybe the best way to cool the unit. But I would put extreme caution on doing this. Make sure you have the M/B out of the case first. And clean the case w/ extra caution after cutting or drilling hole on the metal plate. Files and sand the holes well after. Any small piece of loose metal shard flowing inside the cause could turn your PC into door stop or even even your house into ash. If your goal is to build a less expensive DeskMini or to build one with the best graphics for light gaming, the DeskMini X300 is going to be the more attractive system. Unfortunately, I didn't have a DeskMini H470 or either high-end processor on hand for testing; this is just to consider the system's best possible configuration. Without further ado, let's see how well the DeskMini X300 performs with the humbler Ryzen 5 3400G inside. Power! VRMs! Yeah, this is a pretty basic setup, a given considering the board is rated for 65w TDP chips and no K spec processors. Four more Vishay SIC654 integrated power stages make up the remainder of the VRM section, with a pair of ON Semiconductor FDPC5030SG chipsets playing support. We’ve already seen one of these helping power the chipset!

By contrast, mounting 2.5-inch SSDs and then trying to get the SATA and power connectors hooked up neatly takes much more fiddling. Yeah, I’m not a fan. My scars from the dark days of PC building tingled at the sight of these. However, in this instance, no new injuries were incurred.Righto – drive configuration. At the front of the chassis, you can mount a pair of 2.5″ drives (spinning rust in place of SSDs – all my 2.5″ SSDs are in use)… Up to four DDR4 DIMMs can be installed in the system. A M.2 2230 slot is available for a Wi-Fi / Bluetooth combo PCIe / USB card. The case has appropriate holes for the antennae. There are two M.2 2280 slots (one next to the PCIe slot, and another on the underside) for installation of NVMe SSDs. The slot next on the underside is PCIe-only, while the other can accommodate both NVMe and SATA SSDs. Unfortunately, the documentation is not clear on which of these slots is directly attached to the CPU. In other boards, the slot that multiplexes the SATA and PCIe lanes usually comes from the chipset (PCH), while the pure PCIe one is from the CPU. Based on this assumption, we reviewed the system with the SSD installed on the underside.

The DeskMeet isn’t really intended to be a high end gaming system, however the marketing appears to be more orientated at business, creative, or HTPC use. Smaller GPU support, but more storage and RAM for those big projects. 4k video editing in 8 litres? Here we are! The potential is very much there. You can certainly open it up and flip the fan to reverse the airflow once you get it. The best method to confirm airflow is to test it yourself.I’ve removed the singular retention screw, grabbed the integrated SECC steel handle and out slides the internal chassis. Pink foam! Whatever could this hold? The shell of the DeskMeet’s case includes no electronics. Just a SECC steel box with a plastic front panel. Modding potential? Well.. And 20.7mm more CPU cooler headroom. Again, the designed airflow in this chassis is for the power supply to be used as an intake fan – so this configuration may cause issues.

We have a 30-day return policy, which means you have 30 days after receiving your item to request a return. The results from our Cinebench CPU test were also predictable, but the DeskMini X300 slipped to third place here...The onboard audio and networking chips are fairly basic but not problematic. The front audio ports connect to a Realtek ALC223 codec, which is found more often in laptops. The board also has an integrated Realtek RTL8111H Gigabit LAN controller. Neither of these chips is noteworthy, but they worked without issue in my testing.