Asrock M8 Mini Itx Barebones Review

Looks interesting, but the case is quite large for a mini-itx setup, also £480 is bit on the pricy side
 
So.. that is not the Z87E-itx mobo. Apparently they have a version just for the M8. I saw the tiny memory modules and was like whaaaaaaat, laptop sized memory? Not cool. Why would they do that?
 
rued said:
So.. that is not the Z87E-itx mobo. Apparently they have a version just for the M8. I saw the tiny memory modules and was like whaaaaaaat, laptop sized memory? Not cool. Why would they do that?
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I think the exact opposite!
Ever since I saw it in the computex (I think?) coverage I thought why didn't more companies do that?
I mean we are talking about SFF things are bound to get smaller (look at mSATA or NGFF for example), besides how many people do you know use ram faster than 1600mhz in mitx? and even with that how much of a difference can you truly feel?
 
Hm, yeah I guess I didn't really think about it like that, it's been a while since I've looked at laptop memory, there's just more variety for desktop memory and I believe it's cheaper, but again, haven't looked in a while. But I like your thinking, I do want things to get smaller.
 
I was very interested in this until I saw the price and actual dimensions. It doesn't look too big in photos but upon checking the dimensions on their website, I found that it was around 18L (372mm (W) x 123mm (H) x 400mm (L)) That really is on the big side - the X51 is around 10L in size.

I guess overall this is a stronger and more upgradeable system though due to more space for CPU cooler, stronger PSU as well as longer graphics card support but I'm not a hardcore gamer so the X51 would suit me more.
 
Black5Lion said:
I think the exact opposite!
Ever since I saw it in the computex (I think?) coverage I thought why didn't more companies do that?
I mean we are talking about SFF things are bound to get smaller (look at mSATA or NGFF for example), besides how many people do you know use ram faster than 1600mhz in mitx? and even with that how much of a difference can you truly feel?
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My opinion is that if they aren't getting us more memory slots then its a pretty useless choice. It restricts top speed and obviously Asus thinks there is performance and OC markets in ITX or they would have made the RoG ITX board. Not interested in a regular ITX board with the only difference being SO-Dimms over regular Dimms. But I would jump all over a 4 SO-Dimm slot Z87 board.
 
Topweasel said:
My opinion is that if they aren't getting us more memory slots then its a pretty useless choice. It restricts top speed and obviously Asus thinks there is performance and OC markets in ITX or they would have made the RoG ITX board. Not interested in a regular ITX board with the only difference being SO-Dimms over regular Dimms. But I would jump all over a 4 SO-Dimm slot Z87 board.
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I think that would be perfect, especially if they can get the slots to be horizontal like in laptops. That way you can have 32gb of ram and still use big air coolers.
 
Wow, that's for the case, MB and PSU? It looks like the non-modular Silverstone, which is around $50, so that's $500 for the MB and case...
 
$550 Total
$70 PSU
$180 Motherboard (Using Asrock's Z87E price without "Soundcore 3d")
$50 Slim slot loading dvd burner

$250 is not too bad for a "premium" case with an OLED screen. If you wait a year Z87 will be outdated and it should be cheaper.

Honestly I would have taken the case for $200 alone.
 
liangr said:
$550 Total
$70 PSU
$180 Motherboard (Using Asrock's Z87E price without "Soundcore 3d")
$50 Slim slot loading dvd burner

$250 is not too bad for a "premium" case with an OLED screen. If you wait a year Z87 will be outdated and it should be cheaper.

Honestly I would have taken the case for $200 alone.
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$150 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157374
$65 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256063
$32 http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-TS-T6...ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1382375931&sr=1-5

That makes the case a little over $300, and those are the consumer prices, not production or bulk purchases, which would make the price of the case even more.
 
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Sorry I'm in Canada so the prices are different forgot to switch back to US prices.

That slot loading has no bezel and you are likely to need an adapter :)

This case also has a card reader which are not too common on mitx too. There are a lot of little things like software development for the OLED, the riser card. It's just up to the end user to see if it's worth it.

Even if you consider this being "bulk" this will not be a general consumer barebones.
 
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The dvd drive does not need a bezel as it sits inside the case and the front panel of the computer becomes the bezel. The price is just hard to swallow as the NCASE is $205 plus shipping and is produced by Lian Li with great build quality as opposed to this. This would need to be priced at $400 for people to consider.
 
usually something that ugly doesn't survive the development process. somehow this one is being manufactured. very strange
 
PeterDLai said:
The X51 looks way nicer too. Who designs these things? :p
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The structure is like the X51, especially the graphics card placement. I do prefer X51' shape, too bad you can't upgrade motherboard of X51 because of the fixed I/O Shield, or I will buy a used x51 then replace with my z77n-wifi, that could be awesome.
 
mihawk said:
The structure is like the X51, especially the graphics card placement. I do prefer X51' shape, too bad you can't upgrade motherboard of X51 because of the fixed I/O Shield, or I will buy a used x51 then replace with my z77n-wifi, that could be awesome.
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Nothing a dremel can't fix :)
 
I kinda like the design but the inability to keep hot components cool when running stress tests is one of the major turn offs for this case (the others being price and the mobo).
 
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