ASRock Industrial AI Box-A395 Portability
Because ASRock Industrial shipped the AI Box-A395 with an internal power supply, it takes full advantage of the system’s tower form factor and the modular nature of mini-ITX, sacrificing some compactness for portability. While that alone gives ASRock Industrial an edge, the company has taken it a step further by making it possible to equip a handle (included) on the mini-PC.
The aluminum handle is not installed by default, but it screws securely into the top of the system. There is no getting around the fact that this handle enhances the mini-PC’s broad cheese grater aesthetics, but it is certainly handy. Especially if you do not mind the added height that the installed handle brings to the system.
A fixed handle is a simple addition overall. It makes the AI Box-A395 the most portable Ryzen AI Max+ 395 mini-PC that we have reviewed yet. It is not quite grab-and-go because of the cables, especially the internal power supply, but it is the next best thing.
ASRock Industrial AI Box-A395 Power and Acoustics
Finally, here is a look at the power and acoustics of the system. Since the PSU is integrated here, we will go ahead and jump right into the results.
Under load, the system’s Strix Halo SoC reported itself topping out in the 130 to 140 Watt range. This is at the upper end of the TDP range we see for Strix Halo systems, and indicates that ASRock has indeed dialed up the TDP of the A395 in order to get the most performance possible out of the system.
Thankfully, with a large heatsink and equally large fan cooling the SoC, the acoustics for the system are quite good even with the higher TDP. At idle, we measured the system producing around 35dBA in our roughly 34dBA studio.
Meanwhile, load noise topped out at 42dBA, which is competitive in this space. To be sure, the A395 is not a silent system (none of the Strix Halo mini-PCs have been), but it is quiet enough that most of the time we did not even realize it was running when it was undergoing testing in our labs. The other big takeaway is that the system just sat under CPU load in the 4.6-4.7GHz range and could hold that for hours. The cooling in this style of system is quite good.
Key Lessons Learned
When ASRock Industrial’s AI Box-A395 first landed in our labs, we were not expecting it to be much more than the other Strix Halo boxes we received. We originally were not even planning to produce a video to go with it. After testing the system, we have warmed up quite a bit to it for a few major reasons.
First, the A395 has a great selection of I/O ports. This is a tough balancing act for Strix Halo because the SoC starts with only 16 PCIe lanes, and in almost every case half of those lanes go to M.2 SSD slots, leaving 8 lanes for everything else. Like every other vendor, ASRock Industrial had to compromise here to fit so many useful ports into the system. If you can look past the lack of USB 3 ports on the top of the system, the end result is a great set of ports on the rear, including the three USB-C ports as well as another pair of 10Gbps USB-A ports. And do not forget both a 10Gbps and 2.5Gbps Ethernet jack, as 10Gbps Ethernet is still rarer than it should be on these premium PCs. Every time we see a system with only 2.5GbE or 5GbE, we mention how much we would prefer 10GbE. It feels like ASRock Industrial just decided to do both.
With all of those ports, ASRock Industrial has also done a great job labeling them. This has been a nitpick of ours for years, as it can quickly get confusing which port does what (especially when you look at so many systems as we do), and ASRock Industrial has been one of the companies we have poked at in the past. Since then, ASRock Industrial seems to have taken those complaints to heart and cleaned up their labeling, benefiting everyone.
Finally, the extra industrial PC features here open up some cool options that few (if any) other Strix Halo systems can do. Dual BIOSes and a system watchdog timer are relatively small stakes compared to everything else the system can do, but if you need a headless industrial PC or server, they can be a major boon.
It is not a system beyond criticism. If ASRock Industrial ever designs a similar system in the future (Medusa Halo, anyone?), the placement of the M.2 SSD slots is an obvious area for improvement. ASRock Industrial already put one on the back side of the motherboard. Next time they should put both of them there and maybe the WiFi card as well. That way, there is no reason to be digging through the cramped front side of the system to install a second SSD. The system has two accessible sides, so it would be great to use both.
Final Words
As I write this, this might be the last of the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (Strix Halo) PCs in STH’s current testing queue. With AMD’s updated Gorgon Halo silicon launching in a matter of days, this may be the last Strix Halo mini-PC we look at. We have reviewed nearly a dozen Strix Halo mini-PCs by now, and I thought I had seen everything.
Credit to ASRock Industrial here, as they have kept things interesting to the end with their AI BOX-A395. In terms of industrial design, the spartan aluminum box is already distinctive, but ASRock Industrial has saved the best for last with system performance. This is the fastest Ryzen AI Max+ 395 system we have reviewed, as multiple CPU benchmarks show. ASRock Industrial seems to have taken full advantage of the tower form factor and integrated power supply to build a 395 box that pushes harder and faster than any other under heavy workloads, and not by just a couple of percentage points either.
The trade-off is that this system is best used as an industrial PC. While it can absolutely be used as a desktop workstation (a use case the company even promotes), the system’s design is not ideal for that workload. In particular, the lack of high-speed USB ports anywhere except the rear is a clear drawback for desktop use. It makes more sense as a portable industrial computer, and one ASRock Industrial doubles down on that with an optional handle on top of the system.
The result is that the AI Box-A395 is a niche system. It is not a wide-market desktop system like AMD’s Ryzen AI Halo box or other similar mini-PCs. But within ASRock Industrial’s niche of spartan systems, the A395 fills that role well. And it certainly makes this a remarkable entry into the Strix Halo mini-PC field.
Where To Buy
If you want to find the ASRock Industrial AI Box-A395 online, here is a Newegg affiliate link.
