AMD-based ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF) programs are slowly gaining market acceptance, with the Zen structure slowly catching up with Intel on each the efficiency in addition to energy consumption entrance. AMD’s newest and best has been reserved for the high-end desktop market, with the components meant for low-power / compact programs showing just a few quarters later. Zen 3-based desktop CPUs have been launched just lately. However, Zen 2-based components with 12-25W TDP (Renoir APUs) have began showing in compact desktop programs solely just lately. ASRock Industrial launched the Ryzen 4000U-based 4X4 BOX-4000 sequence in September. The overview under appears on the flagship mannequin – the 4X4 BOX-4800U – and the way it compares towards the equal Comet Lake-U-based Frost Canyon NUC from Intel.
Introduction
The PC market has grown in the previous couple of years, thanks in no small half to ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF) and gaming programs. Intel’s NUC line-up has been ruling the roost within the former class. Given AMD’s deal with multi-threaded efficiency and core counts with the first-generation Zen microarchitecture, Zen and Zen+-based Ryzen APUs didn’t have adequate energy effectivity and efficiency per watt to make a dent in Intel’s success within the NUC area. ASRock Industrial did launch UCFF programs primarily based on the AMD Ryzen Embedded Processors lineup (we reviewed one such system – the 4X4 BOX-V1000M). While the GPU prowess and multi-threaded efficiency turned out to be considerable facets, the single-threaded efficiency, energy effectivity, and driver points made it a troublesome promote towards competing Intel-based NUCs. The introduction of Zen 2-based APUs (Renoir) fabricated in TSMC’s 7nm course of modified the equation by addressing all of the aforementioned weak factors.
AMD prioritized the supply of Renoir APUs to the pocket book market, with mini-PCs following quickly after. ASRock Industrial was once more on the forefront. Along with Asus’s PN50, they have been one of many first to launch programs primarily based on these components. The 4X4 BOX-4000 sequence has three completely different SKUs with CPU core counts of 4 (Ryzen 3 4300U), 6 (Ryzen 5 4500U), and eight (Ryzen 7 4800U) every. The final one is the flagship, and that’s the one we’re taking a look at at this time.
The 4X4 BOX-4800U has a 104mm x 102mm main-board housed in a 110mm x 117.5mm x 47.85mm plastic chassis. The system matches the Intel NUCs within the footprint division. The board comes with a soldered processor – the Ryzen 7 4800U belonging to the AMD Renoir APU sequence. It is an octa-core processor with SMT enabled (8C/16T). It can function with a TDP configurable between 12W and 25W.
ASRock Industrial sampled us a barebones model of the system. In partnership with Patriot Memory, in addition they supplied us with their really useful storage (Patriot P300 PCIe 3.Zero x4 NVMe SSD) and reminiscence (Patriot Signature Line 2x32GB DDR4-3200 SODIMM) for utilization with the PC.
The specs of our ASRock 4X4 BOX-4800U overview configuration are summarized within the desk under.
| ASRock 4X4 BOX-4800U Specifications | |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 4800U Zen 2 (Renoir) 8C/16T, 1.8 – 4.2 GHz TSMC 7nm, 8MB L3, 10 – 25 W (15W) |
| Memory | Patriot Memory PSD432G32002S DDR4 SODIMM 22-22-22-52 @ 3200 MHz 2×32 GB |
| Graphics | AMD Radeon Graphics (Renoir) – Integrated GPU with Eight CUs |
| Disk Drive(s) | Patriot P300 (512 GB; M.2 2280 PCIe 3.Zero x4; Kioxia 96L 3D TLC) (Silicon Motion SM2263XT Controller) |
| Networking | Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2×2 802.11ax – 2400 Mbps) 1x Realtek RTL8111G Gigabit Ethernet Controller 1x Realtek RTL8125 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet Controller |
| Audio | 3.5mm Headphone Jack Capable of 5.1/7.1 digital output with HD audio bitstreaming (HDMI) |
| Miscellaneous I/O Ports | 2x USB 2.0 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2… |
