ECS LIVA Z Fanless Dual-LAN Apollo Lake UCFF PC Review
by Ganesh T S on March 30, 2017 8:00 AM ESTFinal Words
The ECS LIVA Z provided us with the opportunity to take a first look at the performance of a passively-cooled
mini-PC based on the Intel Apollo Lake platform. Compared to the previous LIVA units, the Z family (they also have a Kaby Lake-based LIVA Z Plus in the pipeline) has moved on from providing systems with extremely small footprints. The boards are slightly larger than the traditional NUCs (115 x 111mm, as compared to 101.6 x 101.6mm). Fortunately, the larger footprint has enabled ECS to put in dual LAN ports in all the models. Dual LAN ports usually lend themselves to network appliances (x86 routers, firewalls, and the like). However, both ports in the LIVA Z are backed by Realtek controllers. Intel controllers deliver better performance and are more widely supported in the x86-based networking appliance OS market. Therefore, we wouldn't advise the usage of the LIVA Z solely as a network appliance (where performance might be important). That said, the availability of three high-performance network interfaces (2x GbE LAN and 1x 1x1 802.11ac WLAN) can lend itself to some specific use-cases.
The fanless nature makes the system suitable for certain HTPC workloads. The LIVA Z fulfills all the basic necessities - 4K output (with 4Kp60 supported on the mini-DP port) and full hardware decode for 4Kp60 content in a variety of codecs. That said, it is not a 4K OTT box because it lacks the necessary DRM capabilities as well as a HDCP 2.2-capable HDMI 2.0 port necessary for Netflix 4K (currently available only on select Kaby Lake systems).
On the price front, the ECS LIVA Z is a winner. $180 delivers a system ready for OS installation, while $220 fetches a ready-to-go system with Windows 10 Home x64 pre-installed. The overall performance benefits are a step up from similarly priced Bay Trail and Braswell systems.
The I/O and industrial design are pleasing to the eye. On the motherboard front, we would like to have support for the installation of a M.2 2280 SSD (currently, the choices for M.2 2242 SSDs supported by the LIVA Z are limited). Based on our market research, the ADATA SP600 presents the best balance of cost (128GB at $70) and flash quality (2D MLC). The JMicron controller is not going to create benchmark records, but, the performance is a good match for the typical LIVA Z use-cases.
A 6W TDP SoC doesn't stress the thermal design aspect too much. Therefore, the usage of an all-plastic chassis is excusable in this fanless PC. However, we believe the chassis design could be altered for better airflow and convective cooling. In terms of storage, I have always been critical of 32GB drives as primary OS drives. The unit also ships with only a single DDR3L SODIMM slot occupied. It would be an interesting exercise to determine if operation in dual-channel mode delivers any tangible performance benefits. Thankfully, ECS has provided the option to use a SSD for the boot drive. Users can also install a second SODIMM - however, it is recommended that sticks from a dual SODIMM kit be used for this purpose.
One of the issues I encountered while performing the OS installation was that the UEFI BIOS would not allow for booting from a USB installation drive with a MBR partition. Setting the BIOS to legacy mode allowed MBR keys to boot, but, wouldn't allow installation to the eMMC partition. We resolved the issue by using a Windows installation USB key formatted with the GPT option.
Coming to the business end of the review, we can say that, taken standalone, the ECS LIVA ZN33 more than delivers $180 worth of computing performance. It also manages to keep thermals under limit for consumer workloads. Features such as the Type-C USB 3.0 port and 802.11ac Wi-Fi are welcome changes compared to the first-generation Bay Trail-based LIVA units. The idle and load power consumption profiles of the LIVA Z are excellent and continue the tradition of the LIVA PCs being one of the most power-efficient lineups in the market. The LIVA Z has no show-stopping drawbacks. Based on the workloads, it is definitely an option to consider.
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Smudgeous - Thursday, March 30, 2017 - link
I concur. This beats the Fitlet in terms of price by around 50% (especially when you factor in the extended fin heatsink/cover) and the power draw in the 3450 would still be better for comparable performance. This little guy looks like a real gem.Namisecond - Monday, April 3, 2017 - link
What you save, you lose in capability. The Fitlet models offer up to 4 additional PCIe ethernet ports, Intel i211 IIRC. The Fitlet also seems more purpose-built as a hobbyist network appliance. The Liva Z are more like thin clients where they made an error and stuck on another ethernet port. There are plenty of Bay Trail based network appliance boxes you can pick up on amazon and ebay that come in under the Liva Z's price point, many of them even offer 4 Intel ethernet ports.jaydee - Thursday, March 30, 2017 - link
Because obviously we all know you were commenting a different model than the one reviewed here, without mentioning it...nathanddrews - Friday, March 31, 2017 - link
IKR?Holliday75 - Friday, March 31, 2017 - link
Lets just start leaving random review comments in other articles and then berating people who not knowing what product we are talking about.JoeyJoJo123 - Friday, March 31, 2017 - link
>The LIVA Z comes in three variants,corresponding to the three members of the Apollo Lake mobile SoC family (6W TDP) - the Pentium N4200, or the _Celeron N3450_, or the Celeron N3350. Our review sample, the LIVA-ZN33 is based on the Intel Celeron N3350.If I were state that "it's great that this phone can be equipped with 128GB of storage" in a review about a Samsung Galaxy phone, where in particular the 64GB model was reviewed, my comment would still be
1) Relevant.
2) Obvious given that all electronics products get launched with different configurations.
Responding back that "Hey, this phone has 64GB of storage" is neither enlightening nor relevant to someone commenting that a product can be equipped with 128GB of storage if one chooses to purchase that particular SKU.
The proper way to respond back if you didn't realize that would be "Oh, gotcha!" or "Yeah, that's an interesting point!" rather than pushing the blame back to me, as if I'm somehow at any fault of you not understanding that there are different SKUs of this particular model available.
extide - Tuesday, April 11, 2017 - link
And it even supports AES-NI -- which I rely on because I make very heavy use of OpenVPN. I have been able to saturate my 300Mbit connection on a reasonably slow processor (albeit faster than this) with AES-NI -- I doubt I would even get close without it -- especially on an Atom.mckirkus - Friday, March 31, 2017 - link
Torn between this and an Asrock dual Intel LAN mini-itx build with a low power i3. The i3 will get you hardware encryption but it's probably ridiculous overkill for most.huhn - Thursday, March 30, 2017 - link
what's the point of the refresh rate test?i know intel was using the wrong math for 23p years ago but that doesn't mean a perfect 24 hz for 24p is any good.
the display refreshrate in madVR is calculated from the system clock and the GPU clock (pretty obvious that it is using the same clock generator for both) but that not important for perfect playback.
for perfect playback a GPU clock that is close to the audio clock is needed without frame drops or repeats and this look pretty bad on this system. 16 mins is not good at all.
the clock deviation is relative high and the drop/repeat every X mins is pretty low on the screen screen.
for better judgment a video should be played for 10 min+ and the audio volume should be changed at the start of playback a couple of times to see the real drop/repeat frame every X sec/mins/hours/days.
the used audio device can play a huge roll in this too.
but what so ever i don't see any gain from the reported refresh rate it a very unimportant number.
SquarePeg - Thursday, March 30, 2017 - link
Everything about the $180 model just screams "Chromebox".