ASRock Industrial 4X4 box -7840U Mini-PC performance

ASRock Industrial has become a leading ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF) PC supplier in recent years. After their announcements, processor vendors shipped 4″x4″ systems on the latest AMD and Intel platforms a few weeks later. Regarding AMD, the company introduced the 4X4 BOX-7735U, which is based on the Rembrandt Refresh, earlier this year. A few quarters later, the 4X4 BOX-7040 series, which is based on the Phoenix architecture, was released.

AMD’s most recent Zen 4 CPU cores and an RDNA3-based iGPU are added to the 4X4 BOX-7040 series, which expands upon the I/O and iGPU enhancements found in the 4X4 BOX-7735U. Theoretically, the switch from a 6nm TSMC process to a 4nm one, along with improvements in CPU and iGPU technology, should result in significantly improved performance and power efficiency across a variety of workloads.

The Ryzen 7 7840U, a 28W TDP component, is very similar to the Ryzen 7 7840HS, which was previously tested in Beelink’s GTR7 in a 65W mode. The base clock is lowered due to the lower power limit. I/Os, other operating parameters, and the configuration of the iGPU stay the same. Although ASRock Industrial (and other mini-PC vendors) have been utilizing the U-series in actively-cooled UCFF cases, notebook platforms are the primary purpose of the series. Vendors have some flexibility in determining the power limits and, consequently, performance when a fan is present.

The 4X4 BOX-7840U is shipped by ASRock Industrial in “Normal Mode,” with AMD’s recommended TDP of 28W. Nonetheless, the system can be forced into a “Performance Mode” with an increased TDP of about 40W by flipping a toggle in the BIOS.

Over the past ten years, UCFF systems have gradually supplanted large tower desktops for a variety of use cases. Both home consumer and industrial settings have seen growth in this category, with the latter driving the B2B / industrial computing arms of many motherboard vendors to give such systems more attention. Since 2019, ASRock Industrial, which was separated from ASRock’s business unit in 2018, has been developing UCFF systems that utilize both AMD and Intel platforms.

This goes into great detail about the company’s flagship UCFF product, the 4X4 BOX-7840U, which is based on AMD Phoenix. With its foundation in AMD’s top-tier Phoenix 28W product (Ryzen 7 7840U), the new system is aimed as a successor to the Rembrandt-R-powered 4X4 BOX-7735U that was introduced earlier this year. The Ryzen 7 7735U’s 8C/16T configuration is carried over to the Ryzen 7 7840U. The CPU cores are now based on Zen 4, and the fabrication process has switched from TSMC’s 6nm FinFET to a 4nm FinFET. The integrated GPU in Rembrandt-R was redesigned to use the RDNA3-based 780M in Phoenix instead of the RDNA2-based Radeon 680M.

The UCFF systems from ASRock Industrial are unremarkable devices without an elaborate casing design. The 4X4 BOX-7840U also uses the same operational chassis as the 4X4 BOX systems from earlier. The glossy polycarbonate fingerprint magnet casing’s lifespan has been extended as a result, but that will change in 2024. The I/O port locations from the prior generation are exactly the same. The internal board is also essentially the same because DDR5 support and USB4 ports were already included in the 4X4 BOX-7735U’s design.

There are just two models in the 4X4 BOX-7040 series from the company: one is based on the Ryzen 5 7640U and the other on the Ryzen 7 7840U.

It’s important to take note of ASRock Industrial’s I/O port selection for the AMD and Intel systems in the same generation. The back USB ports on AMD models are limited to USB 2.0, but on Intel versions, they support USB 3.2 Gen 2. Nonetheless, in AMD systems, the two Type-C ports on the front panel support all USB4 features, including PCIe tunneling. The Intel boards are lacking in features; only one Type-C port supports Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4 in its entirety, while the other port only supports USB 3.2 Gen 2 with Alt DP.

The company sells the motherboard alone in addition to a stripped-down version of the system. The motherboard is intended for the B2B channel, whereas the former is usually sold in retail stores. The basic version package includes the main unit, a geo-specific power cord, a 120W DC power adapter (19V @ 6.32A), a VESA mount (along with the necessary screws).To finish the build, the barebones version requires an M.2 2280 SSD and two DDR5 SODIMMs. A Samsung 990 PRO 2TB Gen 4 NVMe SSD was used in conjunction with Crucial’s DDR5-5600 SODIMM kit (2x16GB) for this purpose.

As with earlier generation systems, the underside provides access to the SODIMM and M.2 slots. The panel can be removed by popping out the four screws located at the bottom.

Although the system supports a 2.5″ SATA drive, ASRock Industrial strongly advises against using it to help ensure adequate airflow. Other than that, the installation procedure is the same as with the previous 4X4 BOX systems, and we quickly had a freshly installed OS up and running (after installing the chipset drivers from the product support page). The XDNA engine, which is now known as Ryzen AI in Phoenix Refresh, is part of the Ryzen 7 7840U, but Windows Update does not currently have the drivers for it, which Device Manager recognizes as an IPU.

ASRock Industrial 4X4 box -7840U Mini-PC Specifications

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