I love Mini-ITX PC builds. Period. There’s something about them that just gets me every time … and I lose all sense of sanity!
In today’s build, we’ll be using an AMD Ryzen 5 3400G with built-in Radeon Vega 11 graphics, an ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming ITX-TB3 motherboard, 16GB of DDR4-3200 ram, 256GB SSD.
My cousin wanted me to build him a budget gaming system that has plenty of room for him to upgrade later. His budget was around USD $650. So I did the math and here’s what I came up with …
Motherboard | ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming ITX-TB3 | $229 |
CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 3400G Processor | $143 |
Cooling | Included AMD Wraith CPU cooler | $0 |
Ram | Patriot Viper Steel Series 16GB (2x8GB) | $69 |
HDD | Adata SX 7000 512GB PCIE M.2 SSD | $52 |
PSU | Thermaltake Smart 80+ Plus 850W | $67 |
Chassis | Cooler Master Q300P | $90 |
VGA card | Onboard Radeon Vega 11 Graphics | $0 |
TOTAL |
~$650 |
The list does not include keyboard/mouse or monitor … I assume he has those already. Notice I didn’t include a dedicated graphics card. That’s because the Ryzen 5 3400G processor already has built-in graphics in the form of a Radeon Vega 11. It may not be the best, but I think it will suffice. The idea is to get the system running with basic graphics for gaming … and then later when he’s saved enough cash, he can upgrade to a Geforce GTX 1660 SUPER or higher.
Now I know, you don’t really need to get a X570 motherboard for this CPU, but I’ve decided to go for the X570 motherboard anyway … that’s because it will give my cousin the option to upgrade his CPU, to a more powerful Ryzen 7 or Ryzen 9 at a later stage.
AMD Ryzen 5 3400G Processor (with Radeon Vega 11 Graphics)
For Mini-ITX PC build, we used the latest Ryzen 5 3400G processor and comes with Radeon Vega 11 Graphics built-in. It uses the 12nm FinFET Picasso die and features 4 cores/8 threads operating at base frequency of 3.7 GHz with boost speed of 4.2 GHz.
More information on AMD’s website.
Key features of the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming TB3/ITX
You can check out the full review here.
- Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen™ 2000 and 3000 Series processors
- Intel® Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax (2.4Gbps) + BT 5.0
- Intel® Gigabit LAN
- Supports DDR4 4533+ (OC)
- 1 PCIe 4.0 x16
- 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec)
- Supports Creative Sound Blaster Cinema 5
- 4 SATA3, 1 Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4 x4)
- 3 USB 3.2 Gen2 (2 Rear Type A), 4 USB 3.2 Gen1 (2 Front, 2 Rear)
- 1 Thunderbolt™ 3 Type-C
- ASRock Polychrome SYNC
It’s fast, looks fantastic and has many gamer-oriented features. It’s another exceptional motherboard from ASRock that offers great performance at a reasonable price. ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming TB3/ITX will, for sure satisfy all gamers, especially those who are looking for a small factor gaming PC. Review by Bart Walluk – European Editor
Specifications
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Gaming ArmorPower
– Hi-Density Power Connectors (24 pin and 8 pin)
Memory
– 15μ Gold Contact in DIMM Slots
VGA Card
– 15μ Gold Contact in VGA PCIe Slot (PCIE1)
Internet
– Intel® LAN
Cooling
– 2oz Copper PCB
Audio
– Creative Sound Blaster™ Cinema 5 -
Unique FeatureASRock USB 3.2 Gen2
– ASRock USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A Port (10 Gb/s)
– ASRock Thunderbolt™ 3 Type C USB 3.2 Gen2 Port (40Gb/s for Thunderbolt™ protocol; 10 Gb/s for USB3.2 protocol)
ASRock Super Alloy
– Premium 60A Power Choke
– 60A Dr.MOS
– Nichicon 12K Black Caps (100% Japan made high quality conductive polymer capacitors)
– I/O Armor
– Matte Black PCB
– High Density Glass Fabric PCB
– 2oz Copper PCB
Intel® 802.11ax WiFi
ASRock Steel Slot Gen4
ASRock Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4x4)
ASRock Full Spike Protection (for all USB, Audio, LAN Ports)
ASRock Live Update & APP Shop -
CPU– Supports AMD AM4 socket Ryzen™ 2000 and 3000 series processors
– Supports Intel® LGA 115x mounting hole and Cooler
– Digi Power design
– 10 Power Phase design -
Chipset– AMD X570
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Memory– Dual Channel DDR4 Memory Technology
– 2 x DDR4 DIMM Slots
– AMD Ryzen series CPUs (Matisse) support DDR4 4533+(OC) / 4400(OC) / 4300(OC) / 4266(OC) / 4200(OC) / 4133(OC) / 3466(OC) / 3200/2933/2667/2400/2133 ECC & non-ECC, un-buffered memory*
– AMD Ryzen series CPUs (Pinnacle Ridge) support DDR4 3600+(OC) / 3466(OC) / 3200(OC) / 2933/2667/2400/2133 ECC & non-ECC, un-buffered memory*
– AMD Ryzen series CPUs (Picasso) support DDR4 3466+(OC) / 3200(OC) / 2933/2667/2400/2133 non-ECC, un-buffered memory*
– Max. capacity of system memory: 64GB**
– 15μ Gold Contact in DIMM Slots*For Ryzen Series CPUs (Picasso), ECC is only supported with PRO CPUs.
Please refer to below table for AMD non-XMP memory frequency support. For more details, please refer to the QVL on ASRock’s website.Ryzen Series CPUs (Matisse):
Ryzen Series CPUs (Pinnacle Ridge):
Ryzen Series CPUs (Picasso):
SR: Single rank DIMM, 1Rx4 or 1Rx8 on DIMM module label x=1 or 2
DR: Dual rank DIMM, 2Rx4 or 2Rx8 on DIMM module label**Due to the operating system limitation, the actual memory size may be less than 4GB for the reservation for system usage under Windows® 32-bit OS. For Windows® 64-bit OS with 64-bit CPU, there is no such limitation. -
BIOS– 256Mb AMI UEFI Legal BIOS with GUI support
– Supports “Plug and Play”
– ACPI 5.1 compliance wake up events
– Supports jumperfree
– SMBIOS 2.3 support
– CPU, CPU VDDCR_SOC, DRAM, VPPM, PREM VDD_CLDO, PERM VDDCR_SOC, +1.8V, VDDP Voltage Multi-adjustment -
Graphics– Integrated AMD Radeon™ Vega Series Graphics in Ryzen Series APU*
– DirectX 12, Pixel Shader 5.0
– Shared memory default 2GB. Max Shared memory supports up to 16GB.**
– Supports HDMI 2.0 with max. resolution up to 4K x 2K (4096×2160) @ 60Hz
– Supports DisplayPort 1.4 Input with max. resolution up to 4K x 2K (4096×2160) @ 60Hz***
– Supports Auto Lip Sync, Deep Color (12bpc), xvYCC and HBR (High Bit Rate Audio) with HDMI 2.0 Port (Compliant HDMI monitor is required)
– Supports HDR (High Dynamic Range) with HDMI 2.0
– Supports HDCP 2.2 with HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4 Ports
– Supports 4K Ultra HD (UHD) playback with HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4 Ports*Actual support may vary by CPU
**The Max shared memory 16GB requires 32GB system memory installed.
***DisplayPort 1.4 Input is used to connect a Type-C Monitor.
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Audio– 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec)
– Premium Blu-ray Audio support
– Supports Surge Protection
– Nichicon Fine Gold Series Audio Caps
– Pure Power-In
– Direct Drive Technology
– PCB Isolate Shielding
– Impedance Sensing on Rear Out port
– Individual PCB Layers for R/L Audio Channel
– Gold Audio Jacks
– 15μ Gold Audio Connector
– Supports Creative Sound Blaster™ Cinema 5 -
LAN– Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
– GigaLAN Intel® I211AT
– Supports Wake-On-LAN
– Supports Lightning/ESD Protection
– Supports Energy Efficient Ethernet 802.3az
– Supports PXE -
Wireless LAN– Intel® 802.11ax WiFi Module
– Supports IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ax
– Supports Dual-Band (2.4/5 GHz)
– Supports WiFi6 802.11ax (2.4Gbps)
– 2 antennas to support 2 (Transmit) x 2 (Receive) diversity technology
– Supports Bluetooth 5.0 + High speed class II
– Supports MU-MIMO -
SlotsAMD Ryzen series CPUs (Matisse)
– 1 x PCI Express 4.0 x16 Slot (PCIE1: x16 mode)*
AMD Ryzen series CPUs (Pinnacle Ridge)
– 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slot (PCIE1: x16 mode)*
AMD Ryzen series CPUs (Picasso)
– 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slot (PCIE1: x8 mode)*- 1 x Vertical M.2 Socket (Key E) with the bundled WiFi-802.11ax module (on the rear I/O)
– 15μ Gold Contact in VGA PCIe Slot (PCIE1)*Supports PCIe riser cards to extend one x16 slot to two x8 slots if you install AMD Ryzen series CPUs
Supports NVMe SSD as boot disks -
Storage– 4 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug
– 1 x Hyper M.2 Socket, supports M Key type 2280 M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen4x4 (64 Gb/s) (with Matisse) or Gen3x4 (32 Gb/s) (with Pinnacle Ridge and Picasso)**Supports NVMe SSD as boot disks -
Connector– 1 x SPI TPM Header
– 1 x RGB LED Header*
– 1 x Addressable LED Header**
– 1 x CPU Fan Connector (4-pin)***
– 1 x CPU/Water Pump Fan Connector (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)****
– 1 x Chassis/Water Pump Fan Connector (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)*****
– 1 x 24 pin ATX Power Connector (Hi-Density Power Connector)
– 1 x 8 pin 12V Power Connector (Hi-Density Power Connector)
– 1 x Front Panel Audio Connector (15μ Gold Audio Connector)
– 1 x USB 2.0 Header (Supports 2 USB 2.0 ports) (Supports ESD Protection)
– 1 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Header (Supports 2 USB 3.2 Gen1 ports) (Supports ESD Protection)*Supports in total up to 12V/3A, 36W LED Strip
**Supports in total up to 5V/3A, 15W LED Strip
***The CPU Fan Connector supports the CPU fan of maximum 1A (12W) fan power.
****The CPU/Water Pump Fan supports the water cooler fan of maximum 2A (24W) fan power.
*****The Chassis/Water Pump Fan supports the water cooler fan of maximum 2A (24W) fan power.
CPU_FAN1/WP, CPU_FAN2/WP and CHA_FAN1/WP can auto detect if 3-pin or 4-pin fan is in use. -
Rear Panel I/O– 2 x Antenna Ports (on I/O Panel Shield)
– 1 x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port
– 1 x HDMI Port
– 1 x DisplayPort 1.4 Input
– 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port
– 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Thunderbolt™ 3 Type-C Port (40Gb/s for Thunderbolt™ protocol; 10 Gb/s for USB3.2 protocol) (Supports ESD Protection)
– 2 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A Ports (Supports ESD Protection)
– 2 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Ports (Supports ESD Protection)
– 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)
– 1 x Clear CMOS Button
– HD Audio Jacks: Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone (Gold Audio Jacks) -
Software and UEFISoftware
– ASRock Phantom Gaming Tuning
– ASRock Polychrome SYNC
– ASRock Key Master
– ASRock XFast LAN
UEFI
– ASRock Full HD UEFI
– ASRock Instant Flash*These utilities can be downloaded from ASRock Live Update & APP Shop. -
Support CD– Drivers, Utilities, AntiVirus Software (Trial Version), Google Chrome Browser and Toolbar
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Accessories– Quick Installation Guide, Support CD
– 2 x SATA Data Cables
– 1 x ASRock WiFi 2.4/5 GHz Antenna
– 1 x Screw for M.2 Socket -
Hardware Monitor– Temperature Sensing: CPU/Water Pump, Chassis/Water Pump Fans
– Fan Tachometer: CPU/Water Pump, Chassis/Water Pump Fans
– Quiet Fan (Auto adjust chassis fan speed by CPU temperature): CPU/Water Pump, Chassis/Water Pump Fans
– Fan Multi-Speed Control: CPU/Water Pump, Chassis/Water Pump Fans
– Voltage monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, CPU Vcore, CPU VDDCR_SOC, DRAM, VPPM, PREM VDDCR_SOC, +1.8V, VDDP -
Form Factor– Mini-ITX Form Factor: 6.7-in x 6.7-in, 17.0 cm x 17.0 cm
– 2oz Copper PCB
More information on ASRock’s website.