The 1.3-litre XPC slim DA320 mini PC from Shuttle is the company’s first AMD compact barebone and features most of the connectivity options we have seen with the Intel variants. The chassis is not the latest design as the DH470, meaning that we do not get USB Type-C ports, the new frontal panel or air filters on the top cover but all other aspects do match the previous barebone SKU. In terms of performance with a similarly priced Intel CPU (such as the i3-10100), the AMD Ryzen 5 2400G does fall a bit behind regarding CPU performance, but simply destroys the Intel platform when looking at the GPU scores.

Thanks to the Vega 11 integrated graphics, we can easily say that the DA320 can be transformed to an entry-level gaming machine, being able to run most games at 1680x1050 or even Full HD at medium to high settings (depending on the games, of course). Using higher-specced RAM such as 2933 SODIMM is recommended, because the integrated GPU will fully benefit from the extra bandwidth and as soon as you will power on the PC you will note that the iGPU will take up 2GB of RAM automatically; we would recommend getting this one with 16GB or more RAM, in order to fit your application needs.

The current BIOS we have tested is not the best and needs improvement on the flexibility side (such as manual configuration of the CPU voltage); because of this, the Ryzen 5 2400G will reach up to 1.450V with Boost activated, which is simply too much for the current cooling system and the temps will even touch 100 degrees Celsius. Despite this, we have learned from different forums that the 2400G/3400G APUs are used to running hot, but decreasing the voltage manually (if the future BIOS versions will allow that) will decrease the temperatures dramatically.

One negative point in case you are using the DA320 as a media center would be that the fan ramps up too high while the APU is at maximum load, reaching even 4600RPM, generating a noise of about 51.4 dBA. One workaround for this aspect would be to disable the Boost inside the BIOS, so the CPU speed will not jump over the base clock, while the voltages will not go as high as well. In IDLE, the system is almost inaudible at about 29.9 dBA.

In terms of power consumption, the system would take about 17.8W, which is decent, while the full load power reaches the maximum the supplied PSU can do, which is about 119W. Again, by offering the option to manually configure the SoC/APU voltage would be a life saver since it would decrease the noise and the overall power consumption as well.

Some people may ask: why haven't you tried to decrease the voltage via Ryzen Master? We have done this as well; after setting a custom voltage, Ryzen Master will require a restart and the voltages will go back to stock as soon as the system will boot up. The custom voltage would not apply at all!

In terms of pricing, the DA320 is really affordable at about 240 euros with taxes included; this could easy be a replacement for an entry-level gaming PC, at least now when the GPU prices have skyrocketed! In terms of accessories, the PS02 stand kit is available for about 22 Euros, while the WLN-M wireless kit can be had for about 38 Euros.

Shuttle XPC slim DA320 Robust 1.3-litre Mini PC for AMD is Recommended for:

We would like to thank again to Shuttle Europe for making this review possible!