Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN980 SFF PC Review - An Innovative VR-Ready Gaming Powerhouse
by Ganesh T S on August 25, 2016 8:00 AM ESTPower Consumption and Thermal Performance
The power consumption at the wall was measured with a 1080p display being driven through the HDMI port. In the graphs below, we compare the idle and load power of the Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN980 with other low power PCs evaluated before. For load power consumption, we ran the AIDA64 System Stability Test with various stress components, as well as our custom Prime95 + Furmark script, and noted the maximum sustained power consumption at the wall.
The presence of a 65W TDP CPU and a high-end discrete GPU with a TDP of around 180W, as well as the default BIOS configuration of 'Performance Boost' make the above idle and load power numbers plausible. The MAGNUS EN980 simply leaves other mini-PCs behing when it comes to gaming benchmarks. In terms of power consumption, it is the same scenario, but, it is to the detriment of the end user.
Our thermal stress routine starts with the system at idle, followed by four stages of different system loading profiles using the AIDA64 System Stability Test (each of 30 minutes duration). In the first stage, we stress the CPU, caches and RAM. In the second stage, we add the GPU to the above list. In the third stage, we stress the GPU standalone. In the final stage, we stress all the system components (including the disks). Beyond this, we leave the unit idle in order to determine how quickly the various temperatures in the system can come back to normal idling range. The various clocks, temperatures and power consumption numbers for the system during the above routine are presented in the graphs below.
We repeated the same observations with our legacy stress test using Prime95 and Furmark.
We can see from the frequency and temperature graphs that there is no thermal throttling at play. The fan speed also maxes out around 1800 RPM. The large fan diameter ensures that the noise profile remains acceptable.
Another interesting aspect to keep note of while evaluating mini-PCs is the chassis temperature. Using the Android version of the FLIR One thermal imager, we observed the chassis temperature after the CPU package temperature reached the steady state value in the above graph.
We have additional thermal images in the gallery below.
The chassis and internal temperatures do not show any reason for alarm.
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Karthik Subramani - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
I agree. We are still a little behind viable consumer high end VR experiences for such a claim.Shadowmaster625 - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
$1600. Hahahhahahah. Put down the crack pipe man.lament - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
Seriously.. barebones was earlier reported to be $800 or $900.xenol - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
Now that NVIDIA is making their mobile and desktop chips the same, maybe it's time for the MXM module to enter the DIY market in full swing. Hopefully MXM has standardized chip layouts so cooling components can be standardized to a degree. The only thing I hope is that if MXM does enter the DIY market, they won't cost an arm and a leg more (mobile versions of high end GPUs tend to run $800+ on eBay).I would certainly like to go even smaller than my current <15L case.
Tchamber - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
This is a nice little system. It would be more compelling if it were configurable, though.The_Assimilator - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
Zotac should get a round of applause for bringing this to market. Then a kick in the 'nads for only supplying 4 rear USB ports. What a waste of all the HSIO lanes."We purposefully didn't disassemble it fully to ensure that its thermal design was not compromised."
Seriously? The most interesting part about this machine is how Zotac managed to shoehorn in a GTX 980 and keep everything cool, and you don't bother to show that?
Also, if you consider 70dB quiet, I don't want to know what you consider loud.
ganeshts - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
After 6+ years of reviewing equipment, I invariably find either readers or manufacturers wanting me to rerun one benchmark or the other. For straightforward systems, it is fine after reassembly, but, this one was quite different since I didn't have the time bandwidth to do a full teardown. In any case, Zotac has a nice graphic indicating how the CPU and GPU are placed on the board and how the watercooler / pump are arranged in this location:https://www.zotac.com/download/files/overview/en98...
This has been linked in the text too.
As for 70 dB - note that it is at maximum stress, and with the microphone placed right on top of the unit. It is unlikely that the unit will be subject to that much load, and even if it is, it is probably some intensive game or the other - the audio from those titles will easily drown out the fan / pump noise.
It is also important to stress that it is a rough estimate - the readings were not carried out in a soundproof room and no special care was taken during the recording of the graph. I can say subjectively that is is much more silent compared to any other non-watercooled desktop PC I have seen or built. I encourage you to check it out in person if you can (or, you can pitch this to the SPCR guys and they will provide you a more reliable verdict that can be the final word - after all, that is their speciality).
fanofanand - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
This response gets the Family Feud seal of approval. "Good answer! Good answer!"Morawka - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
Your link is bad. Access denied is what i get when i click on it.The_Assimilator - Friday, August 26, 2016 - link
An exploded block diagram of a system, provided by the hardware manufacturer, is hardly the same as an actual look at the hardware. It tells us nothing about the quality of components used and whether they're sufficient. Thankfully Linus has done a complete teardown of the system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qu7qckqulY