Thanks! I searched the site to find the rest of the images--the one showing the back panel doesn't have an add-in card installed at all. It looks like the card in your image is probably something like a dual NIC based on the shape of the metal boxes connected to the card backplane. I certainly hope that's not a GPU considering if it is whoever put that together would've had to take off the heat sink and hope a regular 120MM fan would cool it!
I will upload some more images in a gallery in the 'Assembling the System' sub-section later tonight. Yes, that image is not one of a GPU. If a GPU is installed, it becomes impossible to install the extra fan in the system. Even a single-slot GPU's cooling solution would interfere with the fan placement.
With a single-slot GPU, two 2.5" drives can be installed in the place where the fan is seen. In the vertical orientation, the fan appears on top of the case.
With a dual-slot GPU, there is very little gap between the top of the case and the GPU's cooling solution. The GPU fan exhausts hot air directly out through the perforations on the top of the chassis.
Very thorough and informative. This review is a breadth of fresh air in a sea of toxic commercials masquerading as reviews (of wildly overpriced goods) Thank you.
"The CPU package itself doesn't go beyond 80C - a testament to the effectiveness of the Silverstone Hydrogon H90 ARGB cooler."
Well, it's also a direct result of running the CPU at a hard 65W PL1/PL2, judging by the flat lines in the adjacent power consumption chart.
Stock PL1 for the 12700F is 65W, with PL2 at 180W, so it looks like the CPU would have been running at base power (and clocks?) for the tests. This would explain lower than expected results in easy to compare tests, such as Cinebench R23 MT. Stock power limits should produce a score of ~19k, with 16k being in line with a 65W limit, as shown in a few reviews elsewhere (TechSpot's 12700+B660 article, for example).
Was this intentional? The test notes show a stated PL1 of 65W and PL2 of 126W, which is a specific power limitation of certain low end ASRock boards (such as the B660M-HDV and likely including this one as well), but it seems like the CPU is *immediately* dipping to 65W, rather than dropping down from 126W after a ~28 second Tau period. Heck, it doesn't even seem to have a one second Tau period.
It's not a massive game-changer, but being able to boost a bit higher with an actual 126W PL2 may give it a little bit more grunt in some MT tests. Might be worth double checking, even if it's just for one extra Cinebench R23 MT 10-minute test to get a more accurate power/frequency chart.
Great review, though! These are capable little cubes.
The BIOS options are left at default as intended by ASRock. It is likely that ASRock believes the case and motherboard power delivery design can only accommodate a PL2 of 126W. PL2 duration was similar to what I have observed in other systems.
The cooling situation in the system is a bit challenging. The CPU fan exhausts directly on to the PSU - so, the airflow is not entirely unobstructed. With a 8L chassis volume, and considering that ASRock has gone in for a standard ATX PSU to keep costs low, I am guessing this is the best they could do. The cooling solution in the NUC Extreme models is much more complicated and effective - but that comes with a significant price premium.
Seems like they tried to make this a bit too small where it has all of the negatives of the first NUC Extreme, but manages to be slightly larger. It certainly is cheaper, but it really needs to either be smaller and forego dGPU or longer and support more.
All things considered, the size is pretty good, actually. It's a bit over 8L in size, which is on the smaller size for mITX cases Adding room for a larger GPU would easily bring it over 12L. A similar case that is one size longer is the Silverstone SG13. It accepts longer 2-slot GPUs, but powerful GPUs these days are touting 3 slot designs.
I think the design choice of short 2-slot GPU is good, although I think they could have made the overall size smaller by using a SFX PSU.
Op, Is there a 8 pin PCIe power connector on the PSU? there is no info about which cand how many connectors the PSU has, i have 3060 that uses single 8 pin conenctor
I apologize for the error in the comment above. There is plenty of space available on the inside of the inner frame to mount 2x 2.5" disk drives adjacent to the front I/O.
Please check the first column in the picture here:
Yes, there is a 8-pin connector from the PSU. You can also check out the Graphics Card QVL on the ASRock website for the product. There are a few 3060 models in there.
still way too many trade offs, going smaller than mini-ITX just takes you out of the PC world in every meaningful way. GPU's that fit this thing are almost exclusively Nvidia and the fastest you can get is RTX3060... however with one fan on the card and that small space it's gonna die quickly, as well as the rest of these components.
"Since the DeskMeet B660 is a consumer-focused system, the UEFI has all the bells and whistles including the ability to update firmware directly from the Internet and fine-grained control of the fan speeds in relation to the temperatures."
Is it possible to update bios via internet without the need for a 12th gen cpu, to accommodate 13th gen cpu's?
I have one and want to know actually. I still need CPU and haven't build it since Nov. But I think if you bought one recently past 2023, it may have the 13th gen Bios ready.
This makes a great little Proxmox server. I have installed an i5 12400, 128GB memory, dual Samsung 980 PRO 1TB, dual WD Red 2TD SATA SSD's and an Intel quad port PCIe card, When you are concerned about the M.2 SSD slot on the motherboard's underside, you can use a Be quiet! MC1 M2 SSD heatsink. It fits perfectly and reduces the operating temperature by ~15 degrees Celsius. (at least with my Samsung 980 Pro's).
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27 Comments
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1_rick - Monday, January 23, 2023 - link
No pictures of the system with the GPU installed?megadirk - Monday, January 23, 2023 - link
I found one on their newegg listing under user review pictures. https://c1.neweggimages.com/itemreivewimages/revie...1_rick - Monday, January 23, 2023 - link
Thanks! I searched the site to find the rest of the images--the one showing the back panel doesn't have an add-in card installed at all. It looks like the card in your image is probably something like a dual NIC based on the shape of the metal boxes connected to the card backplane. I certainly hope that's not a GPU considering if it is whoever put that together would've had to take off the heat sink and hope a regular 120MM fan would cool it!ganeshts - Monday, January 23, 2023 - link
I will upload some more images in a gallery in the 'Assembling the System' sub-section later tonight. Yes, that image is not one of a GPU. If a GPU is installed, it becomes impossible to install the extra fan in the system. Even a single-slot GPU's cooling solution would interfere with the fan placement.With a single-slot GPU, two 2.5" drives can be installed in the place where the fan is seen. In the vertical orientation, the fan appears on top of the case.
With a dual-slot GPU, there is very little gap between the top of the case and the GPU's cooling solution. The GPU fan exhausts hot air directly out through the perforations on the top of the chassis.
ganeshts - Tuesday, January 24, 2023 - link
A gallery with pictures from the assembly process has now been added in the relevant section.The GPU is in the picture starting from https://www.anandtech.com/Gallery/Album/8223#31
1_rick - Wednesday, January 25, 2023 - link
Thanks, Ganesh.ballsystemlord - Monday, January 23, 2023 - link
@Ganesh Nice to see a Navi product being benchmarked. It's been a long time.RaiderJ - Monday, January 23, 2023 - link
I'm surprised they didn't go with a smaller ITX PSU. Seems like a simple way to reduce the size with minimal impact to cost/noise/heat.meacupla - Monday, January 23, 2023 - link
yeah, the back panel shows a mounting point for SFX PSUs. Asrock must have used an ATX for cost reasons.thomasjkenney - Monday, January 23, 2023 - link
Thanks, this is a good read."Unfortunately, the documentation is not clear from the documentation..."
You don't say? :)
lopri - Monday, January 23, 2023 - link
Very thorough and informative. This review is a breadth of fresh air in a sea of toxic commercials masquerading as reviews (of wildly overpriced goods) Thank you.Slash3 - Monday, January 23, 2023 - link
"The CPU package itself doesn't go beyond 80C - a testament to the effectiveness of the Silverstone Hydrogon H90 ARGB cooler."Well, it's also a direct result of running the CPU at a hard 65W PL1/PL2, judging by the flat lines in the adjacent power consumption chart.
Stock PL1 for the 12700F is 65W, with PL2 at 180W, so it looks like the CPU would have been running at base power (and clocks?) for the tests. This would explain lower than expected results in easy to compare tests, such as Cinebench R23 MT. Stock power limits should produce a score of ~19k, with 16k being in line with a 65W limit, as shown in a few reviews elsewhere (TechSpot's 12700+B660 article, for example).
Was this intentional? The test notes show a stated PL1 of 65W and PL2 of 126W, which is a specific power limitation of certain low end ASRock boards (such as the B660M-HDV and likely including this one as well), but it seems like the CPU is *immediately* dipping to 65W, rather than dropping down from 126W after a ~28 second Tau period. Heck, it doesn't even seem to have a one second Tau period.
It's not a massive game-changer, but being able to boost a bit higher with an actual 126W PL2 may give it a little bit more grunt in some MT tests. Might be worth double checking, even if it's just for one extra Cinebench R23 MT 10-minute test to get a more accurate power/frequency chart.
Great review, though! These are capable little cubes.
ganeshts - Monday, January 23, 2023 - link
The BIOS options are left at default as intended by ASRock. It is likely that ASRock believes the case and motherboard power delivery design can only accommodate a PL2 of 126W. PL2 duration was similar to what I have observed in other systems.The cooling situation in the system is a bit challenging. The CPU fan exhausts directly on to the PSU - so, the airflow is not entirely unobstructed. With a 8L chassis volume, and considering that ASRock has gone in for a standard ATX PSU to keep costs low, I am guessing this is the best they could do. The cooling solution in the NUC Extreme models is much more complicated and effective - but that comes with a significant price premium.
boozed - Monday, January 23, 2023 - link
I've always wanted some deskmeatthestryker - Monday, January 23, 2023 - link
Seems like they tried to make this a bit too small where it has all of the negatives of the first NUC Extreme, but manages to be slightly larger. It certainly is cheaper, but it really needs to either be smaller and forego dGPU or longer and support more.meacupla - Tuesday, January 24, 2023 - link
All things considered, the size is pretty good, actually. It's a bit over 8L in size, which is on the smaller size for mITX cases Adding room for a larger GPU would easily bring it over 12L. A similar case that is one size longer is the Silverstone SG13. It accepts longer 2-slot GPUs, but powerful GPUs these days are touting 3 slot designs.I think the design choice of short 2-slot GPU is good, although I think they could have made the overall size smaller by using a SFX PSU.
nandnandnand - Monday, January 23, 2023 - link
I would rather go smaller. Now we can have 96 GB of RAM with 2 DIMM slots.Mr.Vegas - Thursday, January 26, 2023 - link
Op, Is there a 8 pin PCIe power connector on the PSU? there is no info about which cand how many connectors the PSU has, i have 3060 that uses single 8 pin conenctorMr.Vegas - Thursday, January 26, 2023 - link
P.S. Is there any space to glue [double sided tape] a 2.5inch SSD if i use a Dual Slot GPU?Like on the side of the PSU maybe?
ganeshts - Friday, January 27, 2023 - link
I doubt it, and wouldn't recommend even if it were to be possible.ganeshts - Thursday, February 9, 2023 - link
I apologize for the error in the comment above. There is plenty of space available on the inside of the inner frame to mount 2x 2.5" disk drives adjacent to the front I/O.Please check the first column in the picture here:
https://www.asrock.com/nettop/sticker/MeetX300-Exp...
Note that the 3.5" drive installation could cause interference with cabling if a dual slot GPU is installed, but 2.5" drives should not be an issue.
ganeshts - Friday, January 27, 2023 - link
Yes, there is a 8-pin connector from the PSU. You can also check out the Graphics Card QVL on the ASRock website for the product. There are a few 3060 models in there.Hrel - Thursday, January 26, 2023 - link
still way too many trade offs, going smaller than mini-ITX just takes you out of the PC world in every meaningful way. GPU's that fit this thing are almost exclusively Nvidia and the fastest you can get is RTX3060... however with one fan on the card and that small space it's gonna die quickly, as well as the rest of these components.Mr.Vegas - Friday, January 27, 2023 - link
There is 3060ti made by asus that fits there, dual slot and less than 20cmshrimp_parm - Thursday, February 9, 2023 - link
"Since the DeskMeet B660 is a consumer-focused system, the UEFI has all the bells and whistles including the ability to update firmware directly from the Internet and fine-grained control of the fan speeds in relation to the temperatures."Is it possible to update bios via internet without the need for a 12th gen cpu, to accommodate 13th gen cpu's?
Thanks
LMao HAHA - Sunday, March 12, 2023 - link
I have one and want to know actually. I still need CPU and haven't build it since Nov. But I think if you bought one recently past 2023, it may have the 13th gen Bios ready.marcelop67 - Monday, February 13, 2023 - link
This makes a great little Proxmox server. I have installed an i5 12400, 128GB memory, dual Samsung 980 PRO 1TB, dual WD Red 2TD SATA SSD's and an Intel quad port PCIe card,When you are concerned about the M.2 SSD slot on the motherboard's underside, you can use a Be quiet! MC1 M2 SSD heatsink. It fits perfectly and reduces the operating temperature by ~15 degrees Celsius. (at least with my Samsung 980 Pro's).