Logic Supply Core-ML320 Fanless Industrial NUC Review
by Ganesh T S on April 30, 2014 3:45 PM EST- Posted in
- NUC
- Industrial PC
- Passive Cooling
- Logic Supply
Concluding Remarks
Coming to the business end of the review, it is clear that Logic Supply has been able to deliver effectively on the promise of a fanless NUC. The chassis has been designed to adapt the default NUC configuration for the requirements of industrial PCs. The online ordering page provides lots of options for customization. Even though the capacity choice of the SSDs in the review unit wasn't great, consumers do have the option of going in for larger sized SSDs if desired. That said, the DRAM options are top of the line, with full 1600 MHz support (instead of the 1333 MHz that some vendors put in, in order to cut down power consumption / thermal load).
Our only points of complaint are related to the size of the primary drive and the possibility of a better thermal design. On the former point, 32 GB simply shouldn't be an option, particularly when Windows is being presented as a OS of choice. A bare install followed by a couple of major updates is enough to cause disk space problems. It is also recommended that SSDs keep a fair amount of space free in order to maintain performance. A 32 GB mSATA drive simply can't be recommended. On the latter point, we found that parts of the chassis reached temperatures of 170 F+ under sustained heavy loading. A larger surface area for heat dissipation could have made the unit maintain a lower temperature profile even under high load.
Despite these minor quibbles (neither of which are show-stoppers), we have to say that Logic Supply's Core-ML320 is an excellent option for consumers looking for a passively cooled NUC. Its industrial components lend itself to a multitude of applications such as digital signage, kiosks and the like (even in harsh environments). For DIY builds and those finding the cost of a full-blown pre-built system too high, Logic Supply also sells the chassis standalone (ML320) for $139.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
31 Comments
View All Comments
toyotabedzrock - Thursday, May 1, 2014 - link
You temp readings on the outside of the case do not have correct celsius to fahrenheit conversion. In the first image on the left you will see conversion errors.tarqsharq - Friday, May 2, 2014 - link
Also, they really need to do a border around the font to make it more legible...Thermalzeal - Friday, May 2, 2014 - link
I have some industrial clients that we've been looking at upgrading their PC's. After Kabini's launch and that awesome DC 19v mobo by Asrock, I've specked a system for $475 with all passive cooling. $1300 is way too high. My system has a 240GB SSD, 8GB of ram and the best processor in the Kabini lineup.Wall Street - Saturday, May 3, 2014 - link
I like the dropdown menu for the comparison table. Very cool.PaigeKnowleskag - Saturday, May 3, 2014 - link
goodhollovoid7 - Saturday, May 3, 2014 - link
I work in a large factory and can see these things working out very well in the equipment there. There is quite a bit of dust in some areas, and most machine cpus fall victim to it from the cooling fans getting plugged up, then fried as a result. As it is, nearly all PLC's now a days are fanless for that reason, the computer that drives the control interfaces should be as well.Roy2001 - Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - link
Pay extra $1000 for fanless?seamanjeff - Wednesday, May 7, 2014 - link
We have 4 of these in use displaying production schedules in a dirty/wet paper mill environment. The i3 was overkill so we went back to the Atom - with Ubuntu LTS, openbox and Chromium they are pretty sweet systems. Work like greased lightning. I no longer even see Windows in the rear-view mirror.M/2 - Friday, May 9, 2014 - link
I have a Mac Mini Server w/ i7 Quadcore and 2 SSDs that costs the same or less, has the same or better performance, and doesn't look like an industrial black box.nerd1 - Sunday, May 11, 2014 - link
I am actually among their target audience, and personally I think being fanless is not a big deal compared to being weatherproof. Are there ANY weatherproof embedded computer out there?