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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Oxford Guy - Saturday, August 27, 2016 - link
"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)."
So you're saying the load noise reading that we need to see, the usual one, just isn't in the article. Instead, we were given an academic reading that doesn't really tell us anything useful?
mr_tawan - Friday, August 26, 2016 - link
I think I saw some youtuber (Linus, if I'm not mistaken) dissemble this system.The_Assimilator - Friday, August 26, 2016 - link
Thanks, it's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qu7qckqulY - much more informative.fanofanand - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
$1845 for last year's tech. *Yawn*milkod2001 - Friday, August 26, 2016 - link
Zotac caters for IT noobs with zero clue what is inside. Plenty out there so it might sell quite well. The rest can build 4K ready PC monster for that price.Wineohe - Friday, August 26, 2016 - link
Yes the effort put forward for this review should have been saved for a Pascal variant.kyuu - Friday, August 26, 2016 - link
Way too expensive given the components and it's barely smaller than a mITX case. But I guess someone must be buying these overpriced boutique systems since they keep making them.AnnonymousCoward - Saturday, August 27, 2016 - link
My mid-tower is significantly quieter, cooler, faster, cheaper, and has 1TB SSD. (well duh, but it's worth saying)Btw Page 1 could have used a picture with a known object like a soccer ball to show relative size.
Calista - Sunday, August 28, 2016 - link
What's the point in creating a tiny box if it demands a huge external power brick?Namisecond - Monday, August 29, 2016 - link
Would LOVE to see Anandtech review and compare these machines with the most recent iteration of the Alienware Alpha.