Zen 3+, RDNA2, and USB4 in a Potent Platform

ASRock Industrial is one of the few vendors with a lineup of Ultra Small Form Factor (UCFF) computing systems based on the latest Intel and AMD platforms.their lineup NUC clone – Intel’s NUC BOX series and AMD’s 4X4 BOX series have been very successful in the market, mainly due to their commitment to cutting-edge processors. The company announced his 4X4 BOX-7000 series UCFF PCs based on AMD’s Rembrandt-R SoC in early February and sent his flagship SKU, his 4X4 BOX-7735U/D5, through a rigorous evaluation routine. I was.

The 4X4 BOX-7735U/D5 is one of the first UCFF Mini PCs to rely on DDR5 SODIMM and the first AMD based Mini PC to include USB4 capability with PCIe tunneling in our lab. An improved Zen 3+ migration process and a redesigned integrated GPU (RDNA2) could theoretically perform better for a variety of workloads than last year’s company’s Cezanne-based flagship (4X4 BOX-5800U). should provide significantly better performance and power efficiency.

The Ryzen 7 7735U was actually only introduced in January 2023 despite being part of Zen 3+. With a TDP of 28W, this U-series SKU is primarily aimed at notebook platforms. But by deploying it in his UCFF chassis, which is actively cooled, ASRock Industrial gives end users a bit more flexibility in terms of power consumption, allowing them to offer performance as an extension.

ASRock Industrial ships the 4X4 BOX-7735U/D5 in “Normal Mode” with AMD’s recommended TDP of 28W. However, a toggle in the BIOS can push the system into “performance mode” with a boosted TDP of 42W. This review explores the PC’s performance profile in both modes and provides detailed insight into the differentiating aspects of AMD’s Rembrandt-R on the UCFF Mini PC platform.

Introduction and product impressions

Ultra Compact Form Factor (UCFF) systems have successfully replaced bulky tower desktops in many use cases over the past decade. This category continues to grow in both domestic and industrial environments. His B2B/industrial computing divisions at many motherboard vendors have also started to look at systems like this. ASRock Industrial (spun out from ASRock’s business unit in 2018) has been creating UCFF systems based on both AMD and Intel platforms since 2019. V1000M (based on AMD Ryzen Embedded V1605B Zen SoC) to NUCS BOX-1360P/D4 (based on Intel Core i7-1360P Raptor Lake-P processor).

In this review, we’ll take a closer look at the company’s flagship AMD UCFF product for 2023. 4X4 BOX-7735U/D5Based on AMD’s high-end Rembrandt-R 28W product (Ryzen 7 7735U), the new system is meant to be a follow-up to the Cezanne-based 4X4 BOX-5800U released last year. The Ryzen 7 7735U continues his 8C/16T configuration same as the Ryzen 7 5800U. However, the manufacturing process has moved from TSMC’s 7nm to 6nm FinFET, which has allowed the Zen 3 microarchitecture to be rebranded as Zen 3+. The process changes resulted in a better voltage vs frequency curve and finally higher clocks, better performance and more energy efficiency. More importantly, AMD has redesigned the integrated GPU. I went from Cezanne’s Vega-based one to Rembrandt-R’s RDNA2-based Radeon 680M. This allowed Intel to regain the position it lost when it introduced the new Xe architecture to its Tiger Lake and later processors.

ASRock Industrial’s UCFF system is a nondescript machine that doesn’t opt ​​for flashy industrial design. The functional casing used in his previous 4X4 BOX system is retained in the 4X4 BOX-7735U/D5. While his Intel-based NUC(S) BOX lineup made a welcome move to the matte polycarbonate of the chassis, the 4X4 BOX series still retains the glossy fingerprint magnet casing. The I/O port locations are exactly the same as the previous generation, but with the Rembrandt-R changes, the internal board has been significantly updated.

The company’s 4X4 BOX-7000 series only has two members, the Ryzen 7 7735U based member and the Ryzen 5 7535U based member. Some of the relevant key aspects are shown in his AMD introduction slides to the product family at 2023 CES.

Unlike other rebadged like Barcelo-R, Rembrandt-R only supports DDR5 and LPDDR5. For systems with user-replaceable memory like the 4X4 BOX-7000 series, DDR5 SODIMMs are the only option. The move to PCIe 4.0 means that M.2 SSD slots on boards will now be able to support Gen 4 SSDs. AMD is also promising his USB4 on the platform for high speed external devices. As we’ll see later in this review, ASRock Industrial has configured the board components appropriately to enable this on both of his Type-C ports on the front panel.

ASRock Industrial is the barebones version of the system and motherboard 1 person. The former is usually sold in retail outlets, the latter for his B2B channel. The barebones version package comes with a 120W DC power adapter (19V @ 6.32A), VESA mount (and associated screws), region-specific power cord, main unit, and product overview/user setup guide.

The barebones version requires a DDR5 SODIMM and M.2 2280 SSD to complete the build. Kingston supplied a DDR5-4800 FURY kit (2x8GB) for the build and complemented it with a Samsung PM9A1 512GB Gen 4 NVMe SSD (his OEM version of the 980 PRO).

Access to the SODIMM and M.2 slots is from the bottom. Remove the panel by removing the 4 screws on the bottom.

Although it is possible to install a 2.5 inch SATA drive in your system, ASRock Industrial strongly recommends not doing so in order to ensure proper airflow. The installation process is otherwise similar to the old 4X4 BOX system. Windows Online Update will resolve almost all unknown devices in Device Manager, but there are some devices that require ASRock Industrial’s AMD Chipset driver package. Product support page.

The full specifications of the review sample (tested) are listed in the table below. The BIOS can configure the system in one of two modes with different TDPs, as specified in the processor entry, as described in the next section.

In the next section, we’ll look at various BIOS options and follow up with a detailed platform analysis.