The ASRock firm has launched two new motherboards, one with a mini ITX format (170 x 170 mm) and another with a micro ATX format (226 x 178 mm). Both have a very tight size, and are aimed at those who want to build a small PC, but at the same time want to enjoy a more than acceptable level of performanceespecially in basic tasks.
Both boards include an Intel N100 processor, a chip that uses the gracemont architecturepresent in the low-power cores we’ve seen in the Alder Lake-S and Raptor Lake-S, and which is configured with a total of four core. It can handle four threads because it does not have HyperThreading technology, it has a TDP of 6 watts, it runs at a maximum of 3.4 GHz and it comes with an Intel UHD iGPU that adds 24 execution units and can reach 750 MHz.
The dissipation of the Intel N100 is carried out by a small size radiatorwhich means that we can passively dissipate it to get a functioning totally silent. However, both plates also have everything necessary for us to install an active cooling system.
At the performance level, these two boards that ASRock has launched have a very clear common base, since they have one slot for DDR4 memory (up to 32 GB)they have an M.2 PCIe Gen3 x2 slot, two SATA III connectors and have a good range of connections.
However, the micro ATX version offers superior value in this regardsince thanks to its larger size it can accommodate a greater number of connections, it has a PCIe Gen3 x16 slot (the mini ITX version is limited to x4) and it has another additional PCIe Gen3 x1 slot.
We do not have details on the sale price, but they should be pretty cheapsince in the end the Intel N100 is a low cost and low consumption processor.
