ASRock DeskMini 110 Mini STX with i7-7700 (TINY!)

Show off your quiet rig.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
jbw
Posts: 72
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2007 3:05 pm
Location: New York, NY

ASRock DeskMini 110 Mini STX with i7-7700 (TINY!)

Post by jbw » Fri Sep 29, 2017 7:41 pm

I don't play 3D games. Once you dispense with the need for a dedicated graphics card, there's a world of tiny form factors at your disposal. My last PC was an Intel Haswell i5 NUC. It was decently fast for desktop use (still is), but it has a small laptop-style fan which gets very loud under load. Even websites with lots of ads would cause it to spin up--I think that Intel got more aggressive with the cooling as they released BIOS updates. Definitely not a "silent PC."

For my new build I went ever so slightly larger than the NUC--the new "Mini STX" form factor (aka "5x5" since that's about the dimensions of the motherboard). The advantage of Mini STX is that while NUCs use soldered-down ultra-low-voltage processors, Mini STX can accept any standard desktop processor (other than the "K" variants which require too much power).

The DeskMini comes with the case, ASRock H110M-STX motherboard, a wifi/bluetooth M.2 card, and an external 120W 19V power brick. I added an i7-7700 processor, 16GB of HyperX DDR4 2400MHz RAM, and a Samsung 512GB 960 PRO M.2 SSD (which uses PCIe Gen 3 x4 instead of the slower SATA interface).* It's running Windows 10 Home. The monitor is an AOC 27" QHD (2560x1440).

There's only one fan--the CPU cooler. I swapped out the stock Intel fan for a Noctua NH-L9i cooler. I have the fan speed set through the BIOS to under under 50% when the processor is under 60 degrees. It normally runs at about 1400 RPM according to the BIOS and Speccy. It's within arm's reach on my desk and I still have to concentrate to hear it. There's no damping and hardly any clearance between the fan and the case side vent; the Noctua is just a very quiet fan.

Admittedly, running a prime95 stress test will raise the processor's temp to 85 degrees and the fan will spin at 100% and be quite loud. But absent circumstances like that, I'm very happy with the acoustics from this little guy.

* Oh yes, this is all overkill for desktop use but I want to future proof (ha!) as much as possible and also have a better chance at re-using components in the future.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: ASRock DeskMini 110 Mini STX with i7-7700 (TINY!)

Post by Abula » Fri Sep 29, 2017 9:32 pm

Ever since i saw the Deskmini110 i wanted to do a build on it, more a HTPC or something around that, but havent gotten around to do it, but will see on Coffee lake, maybe a pentium build.

Btw nice build, enjoy your mini.

Derek Semeraro
Posts: 124
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 6:49 am

Re: ASRock DeskMini 110 Mini STX with i7-7700 (TINY!)

Post by Derek Semeraro » Fri Oct 27, 2017 10:52 am

This build looks perfect honestly. The entire PC appears to be the size of just one ATX power supply. Perfect choice for processor, cooler, RAM, storage for a high-end non-graphical build. Those on a budget could go for 8GB RAM, a Pure Wings 2 fan, an i5-7400 and 250 GB storage to shave off ~$250 without losing too much performance.

The Desk Mini at over $100 is very pricy for a small box to store parts in, but it's tiny and looks well ventilated.

Post Reply