ASRock DESKMINI X300W Barebone

Overview

A builder assembling a small desktop gets a ready chassis with the X300 chipset, an AM4 socket, a power adapter and a Wi-Fi kit. Partition plate cooling and air cooling move heat through the small case, and the processor supplies the graphics.

Choose it for a compact build with room for two memory modules, several storage connections and three video outputs. The limit is that it ships without a processor, memory or storage, and the description text is full of typing errors, so check exact processor support on the maker's site.

Who it's for

A tinkerer building a living room or desk PC, or someone reusing AM4 parts in a smaller case, will use the barebone format. Buyers who want an operating system installed or a complete system out of the box should choose a finished computer.

Pros and cons

Performance notes

Everything depends on the parts added. The processor sets speed and graphics power because graphics are integrated, and two memory modules share the work. Air cooling with a partition plate separates airflow paths in a small case, but a high-power processor under sustained load will raise heat and fan noise.

Where it stands among desktop barebones

• #9 most-searched brand and model of the 14 desktop barebones lines we track (by search demand, not sales).

From the specs of the 15 desktop barebones we list; not a test result.

Specifications