Asrock: Desktop PC mainboards with fanless cooled Intel N100 CPU

Asrock announces the Micro-ATX mainboard N100M and the Mini-ITX board N100DC-ITX, each equipped with an Intel processor N100. This CPU from the Alder Lake-N series has four E-cores with Gracemont microarchitecture, like those found in the Core i-12000 and Core i-13000. But while the Core i types also have P cores, the N100 only has E cores. However, they are so strong that they can keep up with the dual cores from AMD and Intel that were introduced six years ago.

The processors are soldered, so they cannot be replaced. Coolers are included in the scope of delivery – because the thermal design power (TDP) is only 6 watts, a simple aluminum heat sink without a fan is sufficient.

New technology, old ports

Unlike older systems, the GPU in the N100 also has video decoders for VP9 and AV1. With one M.2 slot each for an NVMe SSD (PCI Express 3.0 x2) as well as two SATA ports and Gigabit Ethernet, the boards are also suitable for small (home) servers and self-made NAS.

The N100DC-ITX also has an RS-232 port (COM port) and a pin header for a parallel port (LPT). RS-232 is still used for serial receipt printers and cash drawers of computer cash registers (Point of Sales, PoS). Both boards also have VGA sockets for old displays.

When testing the Morefine N9 N100 mini PC with fan cooling, the Intel N100 delivered 919 points in the Cinebench R23 benchmark for single threading (ST/single core) and 2921 points for multithreading (MT/all cores). The Intel Core i3-7100 from 2017 has 1039/2638 points, the AMD Ryzen 3 1200, which was introduced a little later, delivers 860/3059 points.

With this computing power, the Intel N100 is an attractive upgrade for some older computers whose processors Microsoft no longer supports with Windows 11. However, mini-PCs with N100 like the Morefine N9 N100 are not yet available in local retailers, but only on Chinese trading platforms. However, MSI is planning the Cubi N ADL, Asus the ExpertCenter PN42.

processor	Kerne/ Threads	Cinebench R23
		Singlethr.	Multithread.
Intel N100	4 / 4	919	2921
AMD Ryzen 3 1200	4 / 4	860	3059
Intel Core i3-7100	2 / 4	1039	2638
AMD Athlon 3000G	2 / 4	810	2270
Intel Celeron N5105	4 / 4	626	2229
Intel Core i5-4570	4 / 4	788	1770

Economy assembly

Asrock grants the N100 only one memory channel on both boards, which accommodates a DDR4 DIMM with a maximum of 32 GB. In addition to an HDMI 2.0 socket, the N100M also has one for DisplayPort 1.4 (N100DC-ITX: only HDMI 2.0), so it controls two 4K displays with a frame rate of at least 60 Hertz.

Like the PCIe x4 slot of the N100DC-ITX, the PCIe x16 slot on the Asrock N100M is only connected to two PCIe 3.0 lanes each. The latter also applies to the M.2 sockets because the N100 does not have enough PCIe 3.0 lanes.

The USB-C socket of the N100M transmits up to 10 Gbit/s (USB 3.2 Gen 2), but does not deliver any DisplayPort signals and does not accept any power either.

The probably more expensive N100DC-ITX is designed for operation with a single DC voltage of 19 volts (hence the letters “DC” in the name), it has – unlike the N100M – no connection for an ATX power supply.

Unfortunately, Asrock hasn’t announced any prices yet and the boards aren’t listed at retailers. A predecessor of the N100M, the Asrock J4125M with Celeron J4125 (from €95.84) (Gemini Lake Refresh), currently costs just under €100.

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