ASRock DeskMini Z370 GTX1060 Review: A Compact Coffee Lake Gaming PC

Concluding Remarks

Our evaluation shows that the ASRock DeskMini Z370 GTX1060 delivers great performance in a compact footprint. In fact, this is the smallest consumer PC that we have seen with support for a powerful hexa-core CPU. Despite the effects of various recent security patches, the CPU performance makes it come out on top in every CPU-centric benchmark. The GPU (GTX 1060) is more capable than the Radeon Vega M GH in the Hades Canyon NUC, but, it doesn't match up to the GTX 1080 in the Zotac MAGNUS units that we have evaluated before. That said, ASRock also has a GTX 1080 version of the DeskMini Z370, which will go head to head against the Coffee Lake ZBOX MAGNUS from Zotac when the latter comes to the market.

The Hades Canyon NUC is a technically more impressive product in terms of performance per watt and performance per unit volume. Moving to the slightly larger systems, we have the Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS units - some of the models come with equivalent desktop CPUs, and integrate even proper desktop discrete GPUs (not user-upgradable, though). The industrial design and noise profile are also much better compared to the DeskMini Z370. That said, the DeskMini Z370 has some features that are lacking in the ZBOX MAGNUS units. These include:

• A user-friendly BIOS with a lot more features
• Easier access to the CPU socket (essential, since the DeskMini Z370 is barebones except for the pre-installed MXM GPU)
• Support for enabling the integrated GPU, and being able to drive a display using the native IGP
• Two additional M.2 slots with PCIe 3.0 x4 capability each

The micro-STX form factor has its pros and cons. It is particularly attractive to consumers used to buying components piecemeal and assembling their own systems. Most other SFF PCs cater to the plug-and-play crowd, with only the SODIMMs and SSDs being the configurable components. The DeskMini Z370, on the other hand, also leaves the CPU choice and installation to the end-user.

A number of choices for the SFF Gaming PC Enthusiast - (from L to R: the Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK, the ASRock DeskMini Z370 GTX1060, and the Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN1080K).

ASRock understandably promotes the DeskMini Z370 GTX1060's performance per unit volume and configurability, and we have to agree that the system hits the sweet spot in those aspects. Given the presence of the Z370 PCH, there are some board-level aspects that could have made the system even more attractive:

• Addition of a Thunderbolt 3 controller to provide two Thunderbolt 3 ports for expansion capabilities, or, at the least, one or two USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports
• Addition of a LSPCon on the board for the native display output to be driven from the IGP's Display Port output (4Kp60 with HDCP 2.2 capabilities) instead of the current HDMI output (limited to 4Kp30)

The absence of Thunderbolt 3 in such a high-end PC is disappointing. The LSPCon / Display Port output from the native IGP could have enabled the system to play back UltraHD Blu-rays.

In fact the only real downside to the box right now isn't even its design, but rather its availability. While it has already hit the market in ASRock's native Taiwan, the box hasn't quite yet reached the shores of North America. So actually getting your hands on one is easier said than done, at least for the moment.

Overall, the ASRock DeskMini Z370 GTX1060 is a powerful product with a combination of flexibility, features, and performance not available in any other PC of its size. At its $800 barebones price, the product is very competitive when compared against other SFF gaming PCs in the market.