The bet of ASRock within the world of miniPC comes as the first solution with 4 × 4 form factor with AMD processor in the world. It is a team that arrives to meet the needs of users and companies that need a contained power and a lot of available RAM.
In addition, the team integrates a number of features that make it perfect for a NAS control system at home or even for demanding virtualization environments.
The approach of both ASRock and AMD will focus on offering more for less, being a philosophy very much in line with those of Lisa Su.
Therefore, the company has decided to include an AMD Ryzen Embedded R1505G CPU, which includes two cores manufactured by GlobalFoundries at 14 nm and will integrate SMT for a total of 4 wires. This processor is integrated into the R1000 series and obtains a frequency of 2.4 GHz in base and 3.3 GHz in Boost, which gives it a TDP of 15 watts, a cTDP-D of 12 watts and a cTDP-U 25 watts.
Your L3 cache will be 4 MB and will have capacity and support for DDR4-2400 via dual channel and up to 32 GB in total.
Its graphics card is a Radeon Vega 3 with a maximum frequency of 1 GHz, so we have a very complete chip that arrives to compete with the low range of the Intel NUC.
In addition to this chip, two Realtek RTL8111G Gigabit LAN chipsets are integrated, so the connectivity options will be greater than their rivals as a rule and saving counted models.
M.2 SSD support is restricted to 2242 and 2260 formats, both using PCIe Gen 3 X4, while for 2.5-inch SSDs everything goes through SATA3. At this point ASRock offers something interesting, since it includes with the purchase of this miniPC a heatsink for M.2 up to 2260, which is a guarantee that our SSD will remain cool.
Its WLAN is an Intel Wireless-AC 3168, its storage is completed with the option of installing an HDD or SSD in a 2.5-inch bay, while its connectivity will be three USB 3.1, two USB 2.0 and a front audio.
The image options are included in an HDMI 2.0 and two DisplayPorts 1.2 (with support for 4K @ 60 Hz), another unusual option that will allow us to have several screens with a single device.
Its size is really compact, since it only measures 110 x 118.5 x 67.3 mm, weighs only 0.7 Kg and is compatible with a VESA mount. Unfortunately, neither ASRock nor AMD have made public the final price of this 4X4 BOX-R1000V, nor its availability, which should not be too late.